State Control

A new law that, if passed, will allow the Kenyan government to determine the content, style, manner and schedule of broadcasting, has drawn fierce resistance from the media industry. The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2008, which is now in its final stages of the legislative process in Kenya's Parliament, proposes to set up a communications commission appointed by the government to issue

Iran has lifted a ban on a film magazine which was ordered to halt publication in March for printing "decadent and corrupt" articles on foreign film stars, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting Fars news agency. Branch 27 of Tehran's public court has lifted the ban on Donya-ye Tasvir (World of the Image), Fars said. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We now hope to publish the new issue of...

The government-controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Cooperation (SLBC) censored the BBC Sinhala and Tamil service programmes broadcast on November 27, five press freedom groups have said. Sections of the programme on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V Prabhakaran's "Hero's Day" speech and a Defence Watch press conference were censored, making them inaudible to listeners. Defence Watch...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the defeat of so-called BKA law (anti-terrorism law) in the Bundesrat (Upper House of the German Parliament). Several Federal States abstained from the voting. "This is a very important victory for press freedom in Germany and in Europe," said EFJ President Arne König. "Our German affiliates, also in cooperation with all major media...

The staff of Channel 34 in the Ukranian city of Dniepropetrovsk have launched a hungerstrike protesting the liquidation of the company and the firing of its management. The employees of the Dniepropetrovsk Tele-visual Service (also known as Channel 34) announced the hungerstrike on air November 24, according to weekly PIK Ukrainy. From one day to the next, there has been expectation of an armed...

Bahman Totonchi, a former contributor to weekly Karfto, has been arrested in Sanandaj, the capital of the northwestern Iranian province of Kurdistan. Another journalist was stabbed and seriously wounded in a neighbouring province after writing about gas shortages in the region, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Totonchi was arrested on November 18 at his Sanandaj home by intelligence...

Two independent newspapers that were dropped from official distribution networks for criticising the government have signed contracts that will allow them to appear in the state postal monopoly Belpocha’s newspaper subscription catalogue and to be on sale in the state-owned Belsayuzdruk’s chain of newsstands. The two newspapers are weekly Narodnaya Volya and fortnightly Nasha Niva, Reporters sans...

Seven-year jail sentences have been handed down to Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung, editor and manager respectively of the privately-owned Myanmar Nation, which has since closed down, Reporters sans Frontières and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. The two were sentenced on November 28 by a court in Thingangyun, near Rangoon under the Printers and Publishers Registration Act for being in...

An independent Jordanian newspaper has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) negotiations department, refused to...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed great concern over the extent of surveillance by the German Telekom including against journalists, which has taken alarming dimensions in Germany. “It is not acceptable that Telekom could misuse data retention to violate protection of sources and press freedom by engaging in surveillance of journalists, work council representatives and...