Censored

Carabobo Stereo 102.3 FM, a radio station based in the northern state of Carabobo, has been off the air since the evening of March 18 when around 30 representatives of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) turned up unannounced with soldiers, shut it down and seized its equipment, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Claiming to be carrying...

A news blackout has been imposed by Iraqi authorities on events at Camp Ashraf, a camp in northern Iraq that houses 3,500 Iranian exiles. An attack by the Iraqi army yesterday reportedly resulted in the deaths of around 30 residents and many wounded. According to several news organisations, the camp is surrounded by armoured vehicles and army trucks. Journalists have been forced to remain at the...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the closure of a provincial Ecuadoran radio station and called on local regulators to allow the station to resume broadcasting. Voz de la Selva Esmeralda Oriental Canela radio, known for its critical coverage of local authorities, had appealed an order to close the station on bogus administrate violations, according to CPJ research. The...

Bahraini authorities lifted a ban on the main opposition newspaper Sunday after its three top editors resigned to save the paper from a campaign to muzzle anti-government media and crack down on the Shiite opposition in the Sunni-ruled Gulf nation. Al-Wasat, the country's most popular newspaper, did not appear Sunday after Bahrain's Information Ministry ordered it to close down. Al-Wasat's online...

Security agents of the semi-autonomous government of Southern Sudan confiscated 2,500 copies of the independent biweekly newspaper, The Juba Post, on Wednesday, according to Chief Editor Michael Koma. Security officers briefly detained the paper's distribution officer on Thursday morning at Juba airport. The agents also summoned Koma for questioning, but the editor declined to appear, he told CPJ...

Local retransmission of Radio France Internationale (RFI) was disrupted in Cotonou on the morning of March 29 just as it was broadcasting a phone-in programme focussing, on this occasion, on Bénin’s March 13 presidential election, the result of which is disputed by the opposition. Called “Appels sur l’actualité” and hosted by Juan Gomez, the programme is extremely popular in Africa. According of...

Radio stations and newspapers in the capital of Togo suspended their normal activities for a day in March in protest against three radio stations having been shut down since December, report the Media Foundation for West Africa and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Following the media group SOS Journaliste en danger's declaration of a "No Media Day", radio stations only played music on 10 March...

Two Guangzhou-based journalists, who advocate for political reform amid tightening restrictions on free expression, have been dismissed. While several bloggers and activists have disappeared or been detained in the last month after anonymous calls for demonstrations in support of political reform were published online, journalists in traditional media are now also being targeted, according to New...

The Côte d’Ivoire Telecommunications Agency (ATCI) announced in a directive dated March 24 that it intends to block access to several independent and anti-Gbagbo websites. Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has obtained a copy of the directive and is distributing it. “Internet operators and service providers are prohibiting access from within Côte d’Ivoire to the...

Syrian authorities have imposed censorship on national and foreign news media seeking to cover events in the southern city of Deraa. The security forces have blocked access to the city so that there is no one to witness their ruthless crackdown on the protests that have been taking place there during the past few days, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)...