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MANILA - The biting tongues of Filipino broadcast commentators deliver some of the unkindest cuts for corrupt politicos, local warlords, police officials and soldiers. Nearly everyone in the Philippines listens to talk radio, and broadcast journalists are dying for speaking their minds. The immense popularity of on-air yakking explains why broadcast criticism of foul deeds is one of the country's...

Much of what people in modern societies know about the world beyond their direct experience comes from the media. To the extent that news content is believed, it helps shape the society, culture and politics. Since media plays an important role in creating a context for social and political action, right to know remains significantly important to serve the society and the public best. The right to...

The mother of a Ukrainian journalist slain nearly six years ago still doubts that a body in the morgue is that of her son, Heorhiy Gongadze, and will continue to refuse burial, a Ukrainian newspaper reported Monday. Gongadze, who wrote about high-level corruption on an Internet news site, was abducted in 2000. A beheaded body - identified by government authorities as his after numerous forensic...

New York, June 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores today’s decision by an Egyptian court to sentence two journalists to a year in prison for publishing a report critical of President Hosni Mubarak, his family, and other top officials. The court in Al-Warrak, north of Giza, sentenced Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent weekly Al-Dustour, and Sahar Zaki, a reporter for the...

Many demonstrators at Friday's rally were protesting alleged interference in Somali affairs by Ethiopia, the country's longtime enemy. The Islamic militia that has seized control of Somalia's capital said Saturday the killing of a Swedish journalist was planned by a foreign enemy that wants to shatter weeks of relative peace in this Horn of Africa nation. Martin Adler, 47, was killed instantly...

The Islamist militia now controlling the Somali capital says it will protect foreign media following the murder of Swedish journalist Martin Adler. Mr Adler, 47, was shot dead as he filmed a rally in Mogadishu on Friday. The chairman of Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, sent condolences to Mr Adler's family and promised to track down the killer. The rally was in support of...

CHISINAU, June 24 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Novosadyuk) - Moldovan national Igor Velchev, suspected of killing Russian journalist Ilya Zimin February 26, will be tried in his country, Moldova's first deputy prosecutor general said Saturday. Valery Gurbulya said it was "international practice when a person charged with such crimes is tried by the country whose national he is, [and] extradition in such...

In March 2004, WorldNetDaily reported on Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and my efforts to free him. Choudhury, a Muslim, was accused of spying for Israel after his 2003 articles warned Bangladeshis about the rise of Islamists there, urged his country to recognize Israel, and advocated religious equality and mutual respect. Then, as he was about to board a plane for Bangkok on...

New York, June 23, 2006—A journalist imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo since April on defamation charges was secretly convicted and sentenced to four months in jail over a week ago, a press freedom group reported today. The Kinshasa-based organization, Journaliste en Danger (JED), told the Committee to Protect Journalists that one of its lawyers found evidence of the verdict in a...

New York, June 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a proposal sent to Panama’s President Martín Torrijos to stiffen penalties for defamation, including a doubling of prison terms. A commission of lawyers and academics, which was set up by Torrijos to examine penal code reform, made the proposals in a draft bill last week, Jean Marcel Chéry, a reporter for the Panama City...