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The Government of Pakistan has called for talks with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), to discuss the media crisis in the country since the Government imposed emergency decrees at the weekend. Pakistan’s Minister for Information, Mohammad Ali Durrani, will meet senior officers of the PFUJ and the Rawalpindi...

New York, November 8, 2007—The Pakistani government is continuing efforts to silence the press by harassing journalists, attempting to shut down printing presses, and censoring articles critical of the government, local journalists told CPJ today. News editors at the Urdu-language Daily Ausaf in Islamabad and at the English-language Express in Lahore said their papers were given written orders to...

(IPI/IFEX) - The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, expresses deep concern over a proposed amendment to Germany's telecommunications law that contains serious threats to press freedom. According to information before IPI, the German Bundestag on 9 November will discuss a bill, introduced by Justice...

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 25 October 2007, Ávila TV television station journalist Paulina Moreno was wounded by an explosive device while she was covering a forum about the constitutional reform proposed by President Hugo Chávez, held at the Caracas Pedagogical Institute. The constitutional proposal will be voted on in a national referendum in December. Ávila TV belongs to the Caracas municipal council and...

(Mizzima/IFEX) - Internet service has been restored in Burma but access is at a snail's pace. The service, which has been sporadic since the September protests, is again accessible, but Internet surfers in Burma said they are forced to wait hours before they are able to send an e-mail. In late September, Internet service was cut off completely. Since then, it has been on and off throughout October...

(FMM/IFEX) - The Free Media Movement is disturbed by two incidents in which media freedom was threatened on 8 November 2007. At the Tissamaharamaya base hospital, a group of villagers assaulted a two-member team from Sirasa TV covering the post-mortem of two villagers killed on the night of 7 November. The villagers assaulted journalist Wasantha Pradeep Masinghe and cameraperson Waruna. Their...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, November 8, 2007 - The Georgian government should immediately allow two private television stations to resume broadcasting, and it must lift a ban on news-gathering imposed on all other private broadcasters, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today. The government shut two popular Tbilisi-based television channels shortly before declaring a state of emergency Wednesday...

Journalists in Pakistan have called on the Government of Pervez Musharraf to implement its commitment to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that it would support a free and independent media. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an affiliate of the IFJ, has asked the IFJ to send a “crisis” mission to the country to remind government officials of their pledge to support...

DAKAR, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Senegalese authorities have arrested a third journalist in less than a month on charges of offending the head of state after he wrote an article blaming the government for price rises, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Pape Amadou Gaye, publisher of the private daily Le Courrier du Jour, was charged on Tuesday with insulting President Abdoulaye Wade and threatening state...

New York, November 7, 2007—The editor-in-chief of a pro-government daily paper in Azerbaijan has been sentenced to prison on criminal defamation and insult charges, making him the eighth journalist in the country currently serving jail time. This imprisonment cements Azerbaijan position at the top of the list of countries jailing journalists in Europe and Central Asia. Nazim Guliyev, head of Ideal...