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Microsoft Corp's decision to play ball with the Chinese government by shutting down a dissident blog has evoked worldwide condemnation and criticism. CLOSED GATES: Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates stands in front of the logo for the new Microsoft operating system Vista during his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 4. Microsoft's business tack in China is being

The Jakarta High Court has upheld a defamation verdict against journalist Goenawan Mohamad and press group PT Tempo Inti Media Harian for one billion Indonesian rupees (nearly 100,000 euros) and ordered it to publish apologies in two national dailies. Businessman Tomy Winata, who brought the case, had lodged a score of complaints against the daily Koran Tempo and the weekly Tempo. HE HAS TO

MSPs have ordered a report into the state of Scotland's media following a swathe of job losses at the end of last year. Scottish Parliament researchers will look across television, newspaper and radio activity in Scotland over the next few weeks. Their report, expected in February or March, could then trigger a series of fresh hearings with media owners called to give evidence. Last month it...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has voiced outrage at an abduction attempt and attack on December 29 last on Juan Manuel Otero, the son of Daniel Otero, co-producer of the Azul TV programme 'Puntodoc,' whose family, especially his son, has repeatedly been the target of violence since he exposed school canteen food shortages in the Buenos Aires suburb of Florencio Varela in September 2004. "This

Already I know what my biggest pet peeve of 2006 is going to be: media-about-media coverage that automatically celebrates, as a good and interesting development, the launch of yet more subscription and pay-per-use portable media options -- like last week’s announcement from Starz about its new Vongo service. What we’re supposed to be excited about is getting "Unlimited Starz Movie Downloads" for...

The son of a Georgian politician and a Ukrainian mother, Gongadze studied in Lviv before starting in journalism in Georgia. In April 2000, he co-founded the newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda ("Ukrainian Truth"), publishing it online in an effort to avoid pressure from the government and businessmen. The newspaper soon produced a range of investigative articles about Ukraine's oligarchs and commentaries...

Press freedom organisations have expressed alarm at the decision of the Paraguayan Supreme Court of Justice to uphold the criminal defamation conviction of Aldo Zuccolillo, director of the Paraguayan daily ABC Color. The Court ordered Zuccolillo on December 28, 2005 to pay a fine of 1.3 billion guaraníes (US$ 200,000), the Asunción-based ABC Color reported. Zuccolillo faces 18 lawsuits over

RABAT – The public prosecution at the Court of First Instance in Casablanca has announced the opening of an investigation against a Spanish-language Moroccan weekly newspaper for carrying an article regarded as an affront to the royal regime and territorial unity. The official Moroccan News Agency, quoting a judicial source, said that the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed alarm at the failure of the Pakistani authorities to respond to inquiries about the fate of journalist Hayatullah Khan more than a month after he was seized by unidentified gunmen in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. WHO DUNNIT AGAIN: Pakistani tribal elders attend Jirga or a traditional meeting with government

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the arrest on criminal defamation charges of Cambodian journalist and human rights activist Pa Guon Tieng. The police arrested Pa and two of his associates on January 4 while they were reporting in northeastern Stung Treng province, the Cambodia Center for Human Rights (CCHR) said. Pa produces a popular call-in radio programme for CCHR