She is a fearless journalist, she has endured numerous death threats because of her uncompromising professionalism, and her journey to bring out the truth has been the full of roadblocks. Yet, the passion doesn’t seem to die in the courageous Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a 44-year-old Mexican journalist. Cacho received Courage Award by International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) recently for her
On a sweltering summer day of August 11, 2003, Reda Helal left his office like any other day, but this time never to reach home. No one knows where he disappeared, nor is anyone bothered to know. Today, Reda Helal, a senior editor at Egypt’s daily Al-Ahram, has been long forgotten. Four years after Helal disappeared in central Cairo, in a special report 'The Forgotten Man', the Committee to
He was an uncompromising journalist, he demanded press freedom in an east African country, and he was imprisoned for six years without any trial. Till today, Dawit Isaak awaits his fate in one of the 314 prison centres scattered throughout Eritrea. An Eritrean with Swedish citizenship, Isaak was arrested in September 2001 in Asmara along with 10 other journalists, including newspaper owners and
For the second year in a row, the Kurt Schork Memorial Awards have honoured a journalist killed in Iraq because of critical reporting. Sahar al-Haideri, a mother of four and contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) as well as Iraqi media, was gunned down in June in Mosul after receiving death threats for a series of campaigning stories highlighting the influence of religious
A look at Israeli television channels and one can have a fair idea how far Israel lags behind in representing minorities. A regular TV viewer in Israel may never come across an Arab doctor advising on a flu virus, or an Arab lawyer giving tips on labour laws. Thanks to the almost no Arab presence on TV and radio. A recent study by the Israeli Centre for Strategic Communication has revealed some
The Niger government is taking major repressive steps to stifle news and commentary on the rebellion of nomadic Tuaregs in northern Niger. Live debates and discussions on the issue have been banned along with Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Aïr Info slapped with suspension. Warnings to Liberation, L’Opinion, and L’Evenement have been issued on the same grounds. The bimonthly Aïr Info
Two new pieces of legislation in the United States will help protect reporters' sources and promote Internet freedom. The US House of Representatives approved a legislation on October 16 that would bolster reporters' ability to keep their sources confidential in federal court cases. PEN American Centre said it was elated by the overwhelming (398-21) House vote, calling the Free Flow of Information
Nearly 90 per cent of the journalists killed in the line of duty during President Gloria Arroyo's rule since 2001 were exposing corruption. The rest were killed for reporting on and criticising illegal gambling and the drug trade in their localities. These are among the findings of the annual report on the state of press freedom released by the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on
Reuters and Nokia have joined hands for a project that, they claim, will change the face of journalism worldwide. The two organisations have showcased their first project, a new mobile application, which gives journalists everything they need to file and publish news from the most remote regions of the world. Through an ongoing trial that started this summer, selected Reuters journalists around
