State Control

One year before the 2008 Olympics open in Beijing, the Chinese government is violating commitments on media freedom it made to the International Olympics Committee by continuing to harass, intimidate and detain foreign journalists and their local colleagues, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In this video image released by Students for a Free Tibet, Canadian Tibet supporters...

Iran has closed down prominent pro-reform daily Shargh (East) three months after it was allowed to resume publicaiton following a ban, its director said on Monday. Shargh is the second publication critical of the government to be shut down since July. The closure of Shargh coincides with what rights groups and diplomats say is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is...

Burma’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board has prohibited non government newspapers and magazines in the country from carrying advertisements in all foreign languages except English. The ban comes in the aftermath of English-language Myanmar Times carrying an advertisement by a Denmark-based satirical art group with a hidden message calling the country's top military ruler Gen Than Shwe a...

Opposition-aligned Venezuelan TV channel RCTV has been allowed by the country's Supreme Court to remain on cable, just hours before a government-set deadline that could have removed it from the cable lineup. The Supreme Court of Justice said in a statement Wednesday that it suspended the telecommunications commission's order for Radio Caracas Television and other cable channels to register as...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the government’s political exploitation of the fact that a much-commented TV report about pork buns made with cardboard supposedly turned out to have been fabricated. The authorities have used it to launch a campaign against fake news reports with "heavy penalties" for the journalists responsible. "Journalist Zi Beijia’s arrest has enabled the institutions...

New York, July 23, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for greater transparency in the arrest of a Chinese reporter accused of fabricating news. Police arrested Beijing TV reporter Zi Beijia last week and are holding him in criminal custody following accusations that he faked a report on contaminated steamed buns, according to state news reports. “Whether or not Zi Beijia was guilty of...

Armenian Parliament has decided against adopting two draft laws that would have banned future broadcasts of foreign media, specifically Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). This step, welcomed by free speech organisations, is said to be a step towards safeguarding media freedom in a democratic setup. A demonstration in Yerevan on July 2. After the voting, an RFE/RL report quoted Victor...

The resumption of broadcasting by Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) on cable and satellite on 16 July 2007 has been followed by an announcement by information and communication minister William Lara that the law will amended to oblige pay-TV cable and satellite broadcasters to carry the same occasional government programming that terrestrial broadcasters are already obliged to transmit. The system...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the government’s decision to obstruct foreign and Burmese press coverage of a national convention that has the job of writing a new constitution. No foreign journalist has been given a visa, while Burmese journalists were granted only very limited access to yesterday’s opening session. “This convention is in fact an institutional sham, and the military...

(Mizzima/IFEX) - The Burmese junta has imposed restrictions on media coverage of the National Convention on the drafting of the constitution, to be held on 18 July 2007. Burma has been without a constitution since 1988, when its 1974 charter was suspended following a coup led by a new junta regime. In invitation letters to local media and foreign news agencies in Rangoon, the convening committee...