Journalists marched and radio stations fell silent in Ecuador yesterday in protest against a government-backed communications bill the media has described as a “gag law,” according to local reports. The draft Ley Orgánica de Comunicación (Organic Law on Communication), delivered to the National Assembly’s Secretary-General on Saturday and scheduled for debate in the Assembly on 10 December, […]

24 November 2009 – Two Indian TV channels belonging to the CNN-IBN network were violently attacked by activists of the Shiv Sena political group on Friday, 20 November. In a series of three separate attacks, Shiv Sena activists vandalised the offices of television channels IBN Lokmat and IBN7 in Mumbai and Pune and beat up […]

Concerns are mounting in Germany over the political independence of public broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), with the approach of a Friday 27 November Administrative Council meeting during which members will decide on the future of current editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender. Brender, an award-winning journalist with a reputation for staunch independence, has led the ZDF editorial […]

Kazakhstan’s parliament adopted on Thursday 19 November a controversial privacy bill which critics say will place even greater constraints on journalists’ ability to carry out investigative journalism. The bill gives authorities the power to shut down publications and jail journalists for alleged violation of privacy. The bill, which needs only President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s signature before […]