Censored

The government of Gabon has launched a crackdown on independent media coverage of President Omar Bongo's hospitalisation and potential succession issues. Bongo, Africa's longest-serving head of state, has been in a Spanish hospital since earlier this month amid conflicting reports about his condition. On Saturday, the state-run National Communication Council (known by its French acronym as CNC)...

The Thai government has announced its plan to regulate the programme content of radio stations and cable and satellite TV stations in the country, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported quoting media reports. The Bangkok Post quoted on May 14 Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey as saying the government will ban any programme, whether broadcast over community...

Pro-reform Iranian daily Yas-e-no was closed down on May 16, immediately after it brought out its first issue in five years, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The mouthpiece of the Participation Front, the main opposition party, it was closed on the orders of the Commission for Press Authorisation and Surveillance (an offshoot of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance...

A new wave of obstacles has been imposed by Myanmar's junta on Internet usage besides expelling two American journalism teachers on May 6. It is getting steadily harder for the Myanmarese (Burmese) to send emails or access websites while all means of communication were cut on May 14 around opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s home. “The increased restrictions on Internet usage following Aung San...

US President Barack Obama intends blocking the court-ordered release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Given the administration’s pledge last month not to fight the court ruling, as well as President Obama’s emphasis on promoting transparency and open government when he took office, the decision is very disappointing,” Paris-based...

Fiji's military government, which has been questioning several local journalists in custody, should immediately rescind emergency regulations censoring the island nation's media, the Committee to Protect Journalists has urged. At least a dozen local journalists have been interrogated by police since the regulations came into force on April 10, according to the Associated Press (AP). Initially...

Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned Monday morning’s decision by the Israeli internal security ministry to shut down the Palestinian media centre that had been set up in the East Jerusalem district of Sheikh Jarrah in advance of the Pope’s visit. The media centre was a temporary one that had been installed in a conference room of the Hotel Ambassador to provide documentation...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has written to the DRC communication and media minister Lambert Mendé condemning the government’s decision to suspend local retransmission of the French public radio station Radio France Internationale (RFI) in the northeastern city of Bunia, and voicing concern at the possibility that the measure could be extended to the rest of the country. “We easily understand...

Yemen has banned eight newspapers that have covered unrest in the southern part of the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Dozens of journalists gathered on May 7 in front of the country's press syndicate in the capital, Sana'a, to protest the government's decision to suspend the newspapers, the Associated Press reported. A similar demonstration was held in the...

After confiscating thousands of copies of a critical independent newspaper, authorities laid siege on May 4 to the paper's offices in Aden, Yemen. The daily, Al-Ayyam, has been covering the ongoing conflict in the country's southern region. Bashraheel Bashraheel, general manager of Al-Ayyam, told CPJ that after three consecutive days of authorities confiscating thousands of copies of the newspaper...