Uncategorised

KANO, Nigeria: Niger's government is struggling to control information about a nascent rebellion in its northern desert — suspending local media accused of backing the fighters and banning foreign reporters from the area. The rebels, though, have a Web site and satellite phones. The Niger Movement for Justice started a campaign against the government early this year. They charge that the...

Malaysia has banned the mainstream media from reporting on an explosive issue concerning the very nature of the country's constitution that points to the problematic relationship between law and religion. Following the Internal Security Ministry's directive on July 19, several journalists and editors have already retracted some commentaries on the topic scheduled for publishing that day, according

Compliance with international standards of freedom of expression is still a long way away in Tajikistan, ARTICLE 19 hass revealed in a new report. A decade since the end of the civil war, Tajikistan is still recovering economically and psychologically. Emomali Rakhmonov speaks to the public in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, November 6, 2006. The last presidential elections took place in November

(MISA/IFEX) - On 17 July 2007, security personnel at the Livingstone International Airport attempted to stop Edward Mulenga, a bureau chief of the "Times of Zambia" newspaper, and other journalists from taking pictures. They also threatened to confiscate Mulenga's camera. Mulenga and the other journalists were trying to photograph an airplane with Djibouti's President Ismail Guelleh on board...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the government of Guinea-Bissau to help end the intimidation of journalists covering the trafficking of drugs in the country and to ensure appropriate compensation is paid to the journalists who were victims of a road accident in 2005, following a recent court ruling. "We are very worried for the security of our...

Prompted by rising delivery costs and pressure to grow profits, leading magazine wholesalers are making unprecedented steep distribution cuts across all magazines, with a sharp focus on their least-profitable ones, those with a $2.50-and-under cover price. The News Group and Source Interlink Cos. have made significant cuts since May 1, following a similar move by Anderson News Corp., which sources...

As Azerbaijan prepares to marks National Press Day on 22 July 2007, Reporters Without Borders today condemned its repeated violations of the opposition media’s rights, especially the use of jail terms to silence journalists, of whom a total of seven are currently in prison. “Four criminal code articles with provision for long sentences are above all being used to imprison journalists - articles...

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 14 July 2007, the Chief of Defence Staff of Niger's Armed Forces (FAN), General Moumouni Boureima, threatened to kill Moussa Kaka, a correspondent for Radio France International (RFI) in Niger, over his coverage of the rebellion in the Northern part of the country. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that General Boureima threatened the journalist...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has hailed the 19 July 2007 release of Abdirahman Mohammed Habane of "Jamhuuriya", a daily based in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway state of Somaliland. He had been held since 12 July because of a controversial article about the swearing-in of a traditional leader. He was freed after the Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA), "Jamhuuriya"'s...

(PPF/IFEX) - On 18 July 2007, police stopped two senior journalists and a cameraman from entering the North Waziristan Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan that border Afghanistan. Dr. Shahid Masood, the host of a locally popular TV show, and Rahimullah Yusufzai, the executive editor of "The News" in Peshawar, were en route to Miranshah, the administrative...