Censored

Israeli forces have arrested Iran's Al-Alam News Network's correspondent reporting from the occupied Palestinian territory. Khezir Shahin reporter of the Al-alam international News Network was taken in custody by the Israeli forces on Gaza Strip on Monday, the network reported Tuesday. The Israeli army issued a statement claiming the reporter was trying to illegally cover the Israeli operation...

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) condemned Monday the attacks committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinian media in Gaza. In addition, PEC, in a statement issued in Geneva, said that it also deplored the fact that Israel is not allowing non-resident media in Gaza to cover the current conflict. PEC called upon Israel to implement UN Security Council resolution 1738 that forbids any attacks...

The Israeli ban on foreign journalists from entering Gaza to cover the conflict is a dangerous violation of press freedom that adds to "ignorance, uncertainty and fear" in the region, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said. IFJ says that the presence of independent reporters on the ground is needed to ensure that there are no flagrant abuses of human rights by combatants. IFJ's...

Myanmar's (Burma) censorship board has stopped issuing licenses to 11 weekly journals and 20 magazines which failed to renew their license, sources in the Yangon (Rangoon) literary community said, according to Mizzima news agency. Mizzima reported: [ Link] An editor of a weekly journal, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the censorship board, which is under the Ministry of Information, has...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed disappointment at Azerbaijan's National Television and Radio Council’s decision to ban foreign radio stations from broadcasting on local FM and medium wave frequencies from January 1. The December 30 decision withdraws the licences of foreign radio stations to broadcast on local frequencies. As well as RFE/RL, Voice of America and BBC, the measure...

The Iranian government has taken advantage of Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip to crack down harder on its critics, closing an opposition newspaper and dispatching its supporters to step up a campaign of intimidation against human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi. The Commission for the Authorisation and Surveillance of the Press ordered Kargozaraan’s suspension on December 31 under articles 5...

The Kyrgyzstan government has refused to resume local retransmission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service unless it submits programmes for prior approval. The demand was made on December 15 by Melis Eshimkanov, head of state-owned broadcaster UTRK, who told a RFE/RL delegation its programmes were “too negative and critical.” “This political decision is intolerable,” Paris-based...

The Madagascar government has closed down Viva TV after it broadcast a message by former president Didier Ratsiraka on December 13, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The authorities accused the station, owned by the mayor of Antananarivo, of broadcasting statements liable to “disturb public order and security.” Ratsiraka has lived in exile in Paris since 2002. “Viva’s closure signals a...

Authorities in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria have prevented four Arab journalists and human rights activists from attending the Arab Free Press Forum, an annual gathering in Beirut, Lebanon, that examines how independent media can be effective despite widespread repression in the region. The travel restrictions drew condemnation from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the organiser of...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the sidelining of journalist Javier Molina of Ecuadorian TV station Cablenoticias, which has been state-run since July 2008. Molina was the host of the political programme 'Sobremesas de entorno'. The journalist received three warnings from the new government-appointed management after the station was taken over, ordering him to modify his...