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Reporters Without Borders today condemned legislation that enabled a Warsaw court on 30 October to order that the editor of national weekly Gazeta Polska, Tomasz Sakiewicz, and his deputy, Katarzyna Hejke, should be held in police custody for two days prior to the start of a libel trial on 14 December in order, the court said, to ensure they attend. “We condemn article 212.2 of the Polish criminal...

(Globe International/IFEX) - Globe International is launching a six-month project, "Protecting Journalists' Confidential Sources and Repealing the Criminal Defamation Legislation", to provide greater protection for Mongolia's media. The project, funded by the US Embassy, is aimed at promoting the media's role in contributing to transparent and accountable governance and curbing corruption by...

(PPF/IFEX) - Draconian curbs were imposed on the Pakistani media as part of the state of emergency declared by President General Pervez Musharraf on 3 November 2007. The measures to control and restrain the media included suspension of broadcasts of all international news channels as well as national private television channels throughout the country until further notice. Cable operators have been...

New York, November 5, 2007—Pakistan’s government has escalated its efforts since the weekend to silence the press by harassing journalists, attempting to shut down printing presses, and ordering that articles critical of the government be altered, Pakistani journalists told CPJ. According to news editors at the Urdu-language Daily Ausaf in Islamabad and at the Express in Lahore, the papers were...

PARIS (Reuters) - A French journalist arrested with members of the Zoe's Ark group in Chad as they tried to fly 103 African children to Europe said on Monday they had displayed "dramatic amateurishness" and lied about their plans. Marc Garmirian, one of three French reporters released on Sunday, interviewed members of the group during the operation and filmed them putting bandages on children to...

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The man convicted of murdering British Broadcasting Corp. journalist Jill Dando began a second appeal today with his lawyer arguing that vital information used to secure his conviction is ``unsafe.'' ``An important plank,'' of the evidence used to convict Barry George in 2001 is unreliable, his lawyer, William Clegg QC, told the Court of Appeal. Dando presented the news for...

Arbil, Iraq, November 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists concluded a two-week fact-finding mission to Iraqi Kurdistan today by calling on Iraqi Kurdish leaders to investigate a spate of unsolved assaults on outspoken journalists, and by urging legislators to remove vague prohibitions from a press bill now before parliament. CPJ met with dozens of journalists from the official and...

President Thabo Mbeki's political adviser, a foreign ministry official, and a businessman have made a bid to take over Johncom, one of South Africa's most influential media groups, including a newspaper which has frequently been critical of the government. The move has drawn criticism from Mr Mbeki's opponents, who accuse him of hurting South Africa's democracy by purging opponents and stifling...

(MEAA/IFEX) - The Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia makes for disturbing reading - charting, as it does, the gradual and widespread erosion of media freedoms in this country, according to the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. Despite Australia's proud international reputation for the strength of its democratic institutions and civil rights records, our media - a key...

Reporters Without Borders today spelled out its concerns about press freedom in France as journalists’ unions demonstrated as part of a European action day, “Stand up for Journalism”. The worldwide press freedom organisation is seeking a raft of reforms which would allow journalists to work in a “positive environment”. These were a guarantee of journalists’ right to protect their sources, better...