State Control

Reporters Without Borders today condemned as an act of political revenge the cancellation of a television station’s licence, seven months after the same action was taken against radio La Voz de Bagua Grande, also in the Amazonas region. Televisión Oriente, based in Yurimaguas in the north-east Peru, lost its broadcast licence on January 15 on the order of the Transport and Communications Ministry...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern about a ruling by Jordan’s highest appeal court, published on January 13, that news websites and electronic media are subject to the country’s press and publications law. Media and communications minister Nabil Al-Sharif told the Jordan Times that the court’s decision was reached independently and should therefore be applied. The ruling poses a...

The Iranian government, struggling to silence the many critical voices in the country, has arrested 11 journalists since Sunday, including former International Press Freedom Award recipient Mashallah Shamsolvaezin and the prominent writer Emadeddin Baghi, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. CPJ condemned the arrests and called for the release of all detained...

The weekly Semana has just revealed the existence of an instruction manual for employees of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), Colombia’s leading intelligence agency, that explains how they should spy on, threaten, intimidate and discredit NGOs, judges and journalists who create problems for the government. The revelation is the latest in a series of scandals implicating the DAS...

Iranian authorities censored coverage of the death of a leading reformist cleric, shut down yet another reformist newspaper this week, and continued to arrest journalists in recent days, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The BBC reported on Monday that the Iranian Labor News Agency was warned by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to report less on...

A Tajik government decree charging privately-owned media for access to public information has been described as “utterly grotesque” by press freedom organisation Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Issued on October 31, the decree “On the recovery by state institutions of the costs of presenting information” took effect on November 19. The media were not consulted about the decree, which was not...

Iranian authorities decided on Monday to shut the reformist daily Hayate No. The Press Supervisory Board revoked the licence of the Tehran-based daily Hayate No “for working outside the regulations,” the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local news reports. The agency provided no details of the alleged violations. Hayate No is considered supportive of...

There is a climate of fear to which Ethiopia’s independent media are currently exposed. The Addis Ababa-based weekly Addis Neger suspended publication Friday after several of its editors fled the country in the past few days because they were afraid they would be arrested. “The spectre of the 2005 crackdown on the opposition and on the independent press is resurfacing in the run-up to the May 2010...

Harassment of critical journalists has been escalating in Tunisia since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali threatened to prosecute anyone who casts doubt on his reelection for a fifth five-year term in office on October 25. Journalists Zuhair Makhlouf and Taoufik Ben Brik were both sentenced to jail terms in the past week, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Ben...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has deplored the reported intention of the majority of the board of the German public television network ZDF – who are led by members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat Union – to reject the director-general’s request to renew editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender’s contract for another five years. The press freedom organisation believes the opposition to...