State Control

The Niger communication ministry has decided to close down Niamey's House of the Press, a centre used by journalists for various activities, including training seminars organised by the French and US embassies. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) voiced its support for the journalist organisations and House of the Press members who issued a joint statement on July 2 saying they were...

The government of Botswana has gazetted a media practitioners' bill which is expected to regulate the media by, among other things, setting up a statutory press council. The bill, passed on June 27, also seeks to register media practitioners residing in Botswana and provides for hefty penalties for any violation of the law, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). As an example...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed alarm at a draft law in Iran that would extend the death penalty to include crimes committed online. Passed by parliament on first reading on July 2, the proposed law would, for example, apply the death penalty to bloggers and website editors who "promote corruption, prostitution or apostasy." "This proposal is horrifying," Paris-based RSF said....

A reporter for Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper was denied entry into Beijing this week, the paper's chief editor said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. With just over a month to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the newspaper, known for its pro-democracy stance and critical Chinese reportage, said one of its senior reporters had been turned away at Beijing on July 1 and had...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the arrest of seven Zimbabwean and foreign journalists on June 27 during the run-off presidential election that was a foregone conclusion. "In its negotiations with Robert Mugabe, the African Union should remind the outgoing head of state that journalism is not a crime," Paris-based RSF said. British freelance photographer Richard Judson and Zimbabwean...

Burma’s military government should immediately release all journalists arrested in connection with the Cyclone Nargis disaster, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Four journalists are being detained by Burmese authorities, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners Burma (AAPP), a Thailand-based assistance and rights monitoring group, and the Burma Media...

Systematic harassment of the Association of Iranian Journalists by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government took a new turn on June 24 when Labour Minister Mohammad Jahromi threatened to dissolve the organisation. "This is yet another attempt by the Iranian authorities to silence those who defend free expression in Iran," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. "It is vital that...

Burmese authorities on Sunday deported South Korean freelance journalist Lee Yu Kyong and confiscated four compact discs containing photos she had taken of damage caused by Cyclone Nargis. Lee was met in the early morning of June 22 by five police officials at her guesthouse in Rangoon and told she must leave the country that same day because she had entered on a tourist rather than journalist...

The ministerial council of Arab information ministers, held in the headquarters of the Arab League on June 20 and 21, has sought to further restrict satellite television broadcasting. The meeting resulted in the release of a document employing overly broad terms to define a proposed regulatory framework for satellite channel transmissions, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights...

A woman journalist covering the plight of Cyclone Nargis victims seeking aid from international NGOs in Rangoon has been detained by for over two weeks, according to her publication, Mizzima News has reported. Eint Khaing Oo, 24, a journalist with the weekly journal Ecovision, was arrested on June 10 as she covered the story of cyclone victims approaching NGOs for aid, according to an executive...