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Outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his chosen successor Dmitry Medvedev are benefitting from partisan broadcast media coverage in their favour, presidential election monitoring by the Centre for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES) has shown. CJES Thursday released results of its monitoring of media coverage of candidates for the March 2 presidential election as well as of the

The police in the Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, Thursday forced a popular radio station off the air and confiscated its equipment over commentary critical of the government during a call-in programme, according to local journalists, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Magic FM is the third broadcaster summarily closed by authorities within a week in response to...

Conditions for domestic journalists remain poor in China despite the government’s promises to improve the press freedom environment before the Beijing Olympics, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China Thursday. Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Programme Coordinator, told the commission in Washington that China is holding at least 25...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the recent closure of Zanan, Iran’s leading women and pro-reform magazine, after authorities said it provided a “dark picture” of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “The Iranian regime must end its censorship of the media and intimidation of journalists and activists fighting for decent rights for women in the country,” says Aidan White...

Press freedom in Pakistan requires the revocation of two anti-press freedom ordinances implemented by President Pervez Musharraf’s caretaker government since emergency rule was declared on November 3, 2007 and an independent journalist-designed code of ethics, according to a new report Emergency in Pakistan: Crisis Mission Rapid Assessment. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the...

Leaders of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed the “historic reform” within Tunisian journalism following the creation of a new union of journalists and the lifting of a two-year ban on the IFJ’s website, only weeks after the federation accused the government of being “stuck in a political groove of media manipulation.” Tunisia’s journalists created a national trade...

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked China to honour its international obligations and release all jailed journalists before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asking for the immediate release of a journalist who has spent 12 years in prison, the Paris-based WAN and WEF referred to China’s promise to "follow...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today accused the Slovenian government of trying to spin its way out of trouble within the European Union over controversial claims that it is interfering in press freedom at home. EFJ said in a statement that political meddling with media in Slovenia cast a shadow over the country’s presidency of the European Union. It has criticised the government...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), have called upon all political parties in Pakistan to sign a declaration that they will not support any move to pass anti-media laws after national elections on January 8. PFUJ’s President, Huma Ali, and Secretary General, Mazhar Abbas, will meet the heads of all political parties...

Independent newspapers in the Arab world are demonstrating they can be commercially successful while maintaining their editorial independence. But to do so, they must negotiate a minefield. And for the vast majority of independent media in the Middle East, censorship and repression remain the norm. Those were the lessons from the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum, which drew independent journalists and...