Since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra took office five years ago, dozens of journalists who criticized the government have been fired or sued for libel, television talk shows have been canceled and radio stations yanked off the air. Thaksin, a telecom tycoon-turned-politician, has repeatedly blasted reporters who question his policies as ignorant and unpatriotic. He and his close associates have...
Local journalists, long frustrated by what they see as a general lack of access to public documents, are welcoming a suggestion by the Constitutional Review Commission that freedom of the press and access to information receive constitutional protection. "I have to say that it is a pity that we need a constitutional amendment or an amendment to the law at all to ensure what should have been the...
The thugs that attacked reporters, including one from Thanh Nien, who were covering a betting scandal that involved senior officials will be brought to justice, Hanoi police told Thanh Nien Sunday. The police visited Thanh Nien newspaper in Hanoi Sunday after one of its reporters was assaulted Thursday taking pictures of a state official arrested in connection with a multi-million dollar scandal...
NEARLY a year ago Ethiopia was viewed by western donors as reform-minded, progressive, and on a path to growth and political liberalisation. Today it is state of repression and fear. As a result of a massive crackdown on the opposition and the press, more than a dozen journalists are in prison on charges that could bring the death penalty, according to a recent report released by the New York...
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra took office five years ago, dozens of journalists who criticized the government have been fired or sued for libel, television talk shows have been canceled and radio stations yanked off the air. Thaksin, a telecom tycoon-turned-politician, has repeatedly blasted reporters who question his policies as ignorant and unpatriotic. He and his...
As Argentina remembered the March 24, 1976 coup that began Latin America's worst-ever military dictatorship, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) paid homage to all journalists who fell victim to what the military called 'el proceso,' which continued till 1983. Those who disappeared or were murdered during the final years of the preceding Peronist government (1973-76) were included in the tribute. THE
Independent journalists in many countries throughout the Americas continue to face violence, government harassment and an array of legal attacks that have constrained their abilities to exercise fully their rights to free expression, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has concluded during its annual mid-year meeting. ALWAYS RED ALERT: Policemen patrolling in voilence-ridden Nuevo Laredo
The new repressive resolution of Uzbekistan that targets journalists working for foreign news media who dare to criticise government policies has found its first victim. THERE'S THE FOREIGN HAND: Protestors demonstrating against the Andijan incident in UK. The new media restrictions follow a government crackdown on independent journalists since foreign media carried news of a May 13, 2005 massacre
Conditions for Nigerian journalists are as trying as ever despite the military regime's fall in 1999, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. In the past 30 days RSF has registered three physical attacks on journalists, one arbitrary arrest, one case of intimidation, one unfair dismissal and one censorship order. END OF THE JUNTA: On May 29, 1999, military president Abdulsalam Abubakar, right
