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30 July 2007

Turkey: Court orders historian and "Agos" weekly to pay retired ambassador compensation for "violating" his personal rights

(BIANET/IFEX) - The Ankara 13th Civil Court of First Instance has accepted part of the court case filed by retired ambassador Sükrü Elekdag against the "Agos" weekly newspaper and historian Taner Akcam. Akcam wrote an article entitled "Gündüz Aktan and the Saik Problem in the Genocide". It was published by "Agos" on 6, 20 and 27 January and 3, 10 and 17 February 2007. Elekdag filed a suit for 20...

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30 July 2007

Four state television journalists detained for "trying to destabilise RTNC"

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the continuing detention of journalists Vincent Hata, Michel Shango and Eugène Risasi Tambwe of the public broadcaster RadioTélévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), who were arrested for union activism on 26 and 27 July 2007. Reporters Without Borders partner organisation in Democratic Republic of Congo, Journaliste en Danger (JED), said a fourth...

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30 July 2007

Russia: Newspaper issue faces publishing, distribution difficulties

(CJES/IFEX) - The 20 July 2007 edition of "Mordovia Segodnya", an independent weekly newspaper published in the city of Saransk, the capital of the central Russian republic of Mordovia, was devoted to the recent arrest of the paper's founder, editor Anatoly Sardayev (see IFEX alert of 19 July 2007). On the front page, the words "There is no free press in Mordovia!" were written in large letters...

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30 July 2007

Mags migrate from building content to buying it

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It took a little while, but most magazine and newspaper publishers eventually accepted the need to establish web versions of their cherished print properties; it was pixelate or risk perishing. But now those same publishers are demonstrating a growing belief that while those companion sites are necessary, they are not sufficient. Hearst Corp. acknowledged as much last week...

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30 July 2007

In Gambia, government-held reporter sighted at hospital

New York, July 30, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that a Gambian reporter, arrested a year ago and since held incommunicado without charge or trial by the government, was briefly admitted last week to Gambia’s main hospital in the capital, Banjul. “Chief” Ebrima B. Manneh, the State House correspondent for the private, pro-government Daily Observer, was arrested...

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28 July 2007

Arab bloggers pay toll for truth

CAIRO: When Egyptian officials denied reports of a disturbance in downtown Cairo last year, Wael Abbas showed the truth: A political protest had turned ugly, and a group of young men had gone on a rampage. Amid widespread allegations of police abuse, Abbas turned up a video of a police beating. He applied his sleuthing to stories about government-paid thugs beating up demonstrators. Abbas...

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27 July 2007

Kazakhs, Uzbeks strengthen media grip ahead of slated elections

July 27, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Two Central Asian republics are scheduled for elections in the coming months, with parliamentary elections set for mid-August in Kazakhstan and legislation calling for a presidential poll in Uzbekistan in December. Few people expect either event to provide much surprise, with ruling elites likely to stay in power. But authorities in both places appear to have strengthened...

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26 July 2007

Editor of independent Zimbabwe news site shot in South Africa

The editor of an independent Zimbabwean news Web site is in critical, but stable condition after being shot and seriously wounded near his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. Witnesses at the scene say ZimOnline editor Abel Mutsakani was shot by three gunmen as he parked his car near his home late Monday. A ZimOnline deputy editor, Abel Chapatarongo, has told VOA that Mutsakani had surgery to...

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26 July 2007

Who still reads magazines? Just about everybody

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In an era when new forms of media and technology seem to sprout up almost weekly, you would think that much of it would be embraced by younger consumers. And you would also think the younger digerati would begin to shun some of the more traditional media venues. Turns out that's not entirely so. As new forms of media consumption, including web surfing, downloading and time...

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26 July 2007

No progress in Cuba press freedom situation in year since Raúl Castro took over

There has been no improvement in the human rights and press freedom situation in Cuba since Raúl Castro took over from his older brother Fidel as acting President of the Council of State a year ago, on 31 July 2006, Reporters Without Borders said as Cuba today celebrated the 54th anniversary of a rebel attack on the Moncada Barracks. With Fidel Castro still hospitalized, Raúl presided over today’s...

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