State Control

The two American women journalists who were arrested at the border between North Korea and China on March 17 have been transferred by the North Korean authorities to Pyongyang for questioning, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The detention of Euna Lee (who is of Korean descent) and Laura Ling (who is of Chinese descent) was confirmed by the North Korean press on March 21. The fact...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ ) has condemned the timing of the Senegalese government's announcement that private broadcasters faced closure for nonpayment of licenses fees made on March 22, which was also local elections day in the country. "It is extraordinary for the goverment to make a statement directly threatening the closure of certain private media on the most important...

Three-month bans have been imposed on two opposition party newspapers in Malaysia— Suara Keadilan of the Keadilan party and Harakah of the Islamic party PAS—just days ahead of Najib Razak’s expected installation as Malaysia’s new prime minister on March 28. The two newspapers were notified of the bans in fax messages that gave no reason, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “There is...

The media in Myanmar (Burma) are alarmed at the plan of the junta's Press Scrutiny and Registration Board—better known as the Censors' Board—to censor the digital copies of articles to be published in Burmese journals and magazines, according to Mizzima News. Burmese journalists said they see this new system as impractical as the Internet speed in the country is too slow for downloading and...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of the manager of the Poobalasingam Book Depot bookshop in Colombo, who was arrested by anti-terrorism police at his home in the Colombo suburb of Wellawatte on March 5 for sending copies of Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil weekly magazine published in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to another branch of the same bookshop in Jaffna, in the...

Chinese authorities in Tibet should open the region to foreign journalists and release imprisoned Tibetan journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule. Foreigners, including journalists, were ordered out of Kangding City, a Tibetan region of Sichuan, today after two homemade explosives were thrown at police...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned the harsh ruling by Tetuan misdemeanours court against Moroccan journalist and blogger Hassan Barhoun for allegedly circulating false news. On March 6, in a hasty trial that took only one hearing session, the court sentenced him to six months in prison and a 5,000 Moroccan dirham fine (approx US$570). Some lawyers withdrew from...

MISA-Namibia has expressed surprise at a ban on chat shows by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). In a statement on 3 March 2009, Andrew Kanime, Acting Director General of the NBC, announced that the National Chat Show programmes hosted in the morning shall cease. Members of the public used to phone in to express views on and discuss a number of issues. The government and the ruling party...

Christoph Müller, a leading Swiss TV reporter and producer, was handcuffed and arrested on arrival in Thailand on February 27, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He was freed on bail 24 hours later but the police confiscated his passport and he is forbidden to leave the country until further notice. His employer, the German-language Swiss TV station SF, has described the measures as a...

Guinea-Bissau’s broadcast media were allowed to resume operating shortly after midday on Monday after being ordered off the air Sunday night following the murder of the armed forces chief of staff, which was followed in turn early Monday by the murder of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira. “Amid the current instability, we urge all of Guinea-Bissau’s actors, especially the armed forces, to...