Censored

Voice of America (VOA) reported Thursday that its transmissions to Ethiopia were being electronically jammed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Ethiopian government has denied responsibility. VOA cited “international shortwave radio monitors” and complaints from listeners in Ethiopia since February 22 about static on the US government-funded station’s daily, hour-long...

Although a number of journalists and netizens have been freed in in Iran during the past few days, the crackdown on media and journalists is continuing. The daily Etemad was suspended on March 1 and the weekly Iran Dokht’s licence has been cancelled. At the same time, journalists continue to be arrested in Tehran and many others throughout the country have received summonses, according to...

Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) authorities banned international French broadcaster France 24 on Monday on bogus allegations of unprofessionalism over coverage of political unrest in the West African nation, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Speaking to Reuters on Wednesday, Frank Anderson Kouassi, the president of Ivory Coast’s National Broadcasting Council (known by its French...

Four Radio Benghazi journalists who worked on a programme that specialises in covering corruption were arrested Wednesday evening outside the station in Benghazi (650 km east of Tripoli) and were released at midday Thursday, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) reported. Their arrests come amid a general crackdown by the Libyan authorities on news media, especially independent news websites. “We firmly...

Three weeks after the earthquake, the Haitian press has just had its first serious run-in with the US military. Homère Cardichon, a photographer working for the daily Le Nouvelliste, had his camera confiscated by US marines Thursday while covering a demonstration by disgruntled residents outside the US embassy in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabarre. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) urged culture...

A court order issued on Monday banned all Kazakh media and printing houses from publishing “any information that discredits the honor and dignity” of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, a high-ranking energy executive, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. According to the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Kazakh service, the Medeu District Court in...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for Saudi-run satellite operator Arabsat to return to air the Iranian-owned Arabic-language satellite channel Al-Alam, which stopped broadcasting January 27 without prior notice. In a statement published on its website, Al-Alam said that “Arabsat, in continuation of its censorship policies and as a move to confront the news networks which...

Venezuelan regulators have ordered cable and satellite operators to stop carrying one of the country’s best known broadcasters, RCTV International, along with five other stations, alleging that the broadcasters violated a requirement to air President Hugo Chávez’s speeches., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On orders from the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL)...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned as an act of political revenge the cancellation of a television station’s licence, seven months after the same action was taken against radio La Voz de Bagua Grande, also in the Amazonas region. Televisión Oriente, based in Yurimaguas in the north-east Peru, lost its broadcast licence on January 15 on the order of the Transport and Communications Ministry...

Tanzanian Information Minister George Mkuchika announced the suspension of leading investigative weekly Kulikoni on Friday, citing a sales and distribution ban for a period of 90 days beginning January 11, according to local journalists and news reports. The ruling was linked to a November 27, 2009, story that alleged cheating in the national exams for the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces, the...