Q&A with OSCE ‘Action against Terrorism Unit’ head September 9, 2011 Anthony Mills To mark the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the International Press Institute (IPI) interviewed Raphael Perl, head of the Action Against Terrorism Unit at the Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Prior to assuming his current position, Perl served as the senior analyst for terrorism policy with the […] Read more »
10 years after 9/11, journalists suffer September 9, 2011 Ten years after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the world has changed for those who practice journalism. Policies adopted in the aftermath of the attacks have led to profound impacts on civil liberties, in particular freedom of expression and press freedom, as governments – in some cases quite cynically – have used the […] Read more »
New Syria media law entrenches state control September 1, 2011 Naomi Hunt Legislative Decree No. 108, passed by the Syrian Cabinet on Sunday 28 August, will entrench government control over the media, criminalize criticism, and put media regulation in the direct control of the Syrian cabinet, according to IPI’s analysis of a summary published by the Syrian Arab News Agency. According to the SANA summary, the law […] Read more »
IPI welcomes arrest in Politkovskaya case August 31, 2011 Steven M. Ellis The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed news that Russian authorities have arrested the suspected organiser of the 2006 murder of Russian journalist and IPI World Press Freedom Hero Anna Politkovskaya. A Moscow court on Friday ordered the arrest of former senior police officer Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, who allegedly promised cash to the group that carried […] Read more »
Colombian journalist exiled August 29, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero Colombian reporter Mary Luz Avendaño has been forced to leave Colombia due to threats against her life, according toThe Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), which reported this week that she had fled the country for an indefinite period of time. Avendaño worked as the correspondent of El Espectador newspaper in Medellín, in the […] Read more »
Open letter to Leaders of Israel and Palestinian Territories: Leaders must protect journalists’ rights August 29, 2011 The joint open letter below was drafted at the initiative of the Steering Committee of the Israeli Palestinian Journalists Forum (IPI-IPJF) of the International Press Institute, the global free media network based in Vienna, Austria. The IPI-IPJF, which is comprised of journalists from Israel and the Palestinian Territories, met for the first time in Vienna, […] Read more »
Turkish police detain five journalists August 24, 2011 Steven M. Ellis The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned raids by police in Istanbul on the offices of Aydinlik newspaper and the Ulusal Kanal television station and the detention of five journalists. The journalists were taken into custody following raids on Thursday reportedly made in connection with the ongoing probe of the alleged “Ergenekon” plot by secular […] Read more »
Bloggers bear brunt of Asia online censorship August 11, 2011 Enid Portuguez Bloggers across Asia face criminal charges and significant prison time for their postings, highlighting the increasingly restrictive levels of online censorship in the region. In Vietnam, Pham Minh Hoang, a university teacher and blogger, was sentenced to three years in prison as well as three years of house arrest on Wednesday on a charge of […] Read more »
Sri Lankan journalist attacked August 1, 2011 Enid Portuguez The International Press Institute (IPI) condemns the brutal attack of Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, the editor of the Tamil-language daily newspaper Uthayan in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. According to reports on several Tamil news and human rights websites, the 59-year-old journalist was hospitalized for serious head injuries after the unidentified assailants beat him with iron bars outside his […] Read more »
SPECIAL FEATURE: Attacks on the media are attacks on the “material interests of the poor” August 1, 2011 Alison Bethel McKenzie In 1991, CNN took a bold step when it took cameras to Teferi Ber refugee camp in Ethiopia, near the Somalia border, to film a series on the famine that everyone expected to happen that summer. At the time, Will King, CNN senior international editor, told the Los Angeles Times that he hoped the information […] Read more »
Turkish court sentences Dink killer to 23 years in prison July 28, 2011 Steven M. Ellis A Turkish court yesterday sentenced the trigger-man in the 2007 murder of International Press Institute (IPI) World Press Freedom Hero Hrant Dink to almost 23 years in prison. A juvenile court in Istanbul imposed nearly the maximum sentence on ultranationalist Ogün Samast – who was 17 at the time of Dink’s killing – after convicting […] Read more »
Strasbourg overrules Slovak libel decision July 28, 2011 Steven M. Ellis Slovakian courts violated a publisher’s rights to freedom of expression and information when they ordered it to issue a correction and pay compensation over reports of a high-ranking police official’s alleged drunken public behaviour, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. A seven-judge panel on Tuesday unanimously overruled a decision against Bratislava-based multimedia publishing […] Read more »
Mongolian journalist released on bail July 27, 2011 Enid Portuguez Dolgor Chuluunbaatar, the editor-in-chief of Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar Times who was imprisoned in March for the alleged illegal privatization of a newspaper, was released on bail today on the grounds of poor health according to human rights organization Globe International. “He’s at home right now at a hospital getting treatment for an eye condition,” Globe International […] Read more »
Peruvian journalist sentenced to two years in prison July 27, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero A Peruvian court has sentenced a former television news program host to two years in prison on criminal defamation charges related to claims made by a politician he interviewed. The court sentenced Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez, 38, the former host of a news program for a local channel of Peruvian América TV, on 6 July […] Read more »
Zimbabwe journalists attacked by ZANU-PF July 26, 2011 Purity Murage Journalists were attacked by a mob of ZANU-PF supporters in Harare while covering a public debate on human rights legislation on Saturday, local news reports said. Levy Mukarati of the Financial Gazette, Tsvangirai Mukwazhi of the Daily News, Nqaba Matshazi of the Standard, Aaron Ufumeli of Newsday and John Cassim, a freelance photographer, were allegedly […] Read more »
FEATURE: Egyptian Information Ministry revived, media face etbacks July 20, 2011 Magda Abu-Fadil Egypt may get a freedom of information law, according to Al Masry Al Youm, but it comes in the wake of renewed harassment of the media and revival of the infamous Information Ministry that was eliminated following the January 25 revolution. “The proposed law would establish a process by which Egyptian citizens can access government […] Read more »
IPI concerned at alleged death threats against Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho July 19, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero Mexican journalist and human rights activist Lydia Cacho, 48, was threatened twice last month, according to news reports. On 14 June, the foundation which carries her name, based in Madrid, received an email warning Cacho to “keep her mouth shut” or she would be killed. Only three days later she received an anonymous phone call […] Read more »
IPI News Innovation Contest: Over 300 applications submitted July 18, 2011 The International Press Institute (IPI) has initiated the second phase of the IPI News Innovation Contest, and is reviewing 309 applications from the 23 February – 1 June submission period. The entries came in from all over the world; most, however, were from the contest’s focal regions: Europe, the Middle East and Africa. IPI also […] Read more »
IPI FEATURE STORY: The challenge of covering Syria July 13, 2011 Enid Portuguez The late American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron famously declared in a 1970 recording that “the revolution will not be televised.” In the case of the uprising in Syria, this phrase almost rang true. Unlike the closely documented protests in Tunisia and Egypt, in which 24-hour news coverage captured the historic fall of two long-standing […] Read more »
IPI calls for transparent investigation into attacks on journalists in Chiapas, Mexico July 8, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero The International Press Institute (IPI) urges the authorities to conduct a transparent investigation into recent attacks against, and harassment of, journalists in the Mexican state of Chiapas, in the southern part of the country. Jacobo Elnecavé Luttman, 31, has been in critical condition for almost three weeks after six individuals brutally beat him on 19 […] Read more »
Belarusian court sentences Andrzej Poczobut July 8, 2011 Piotr Stasiński Andrzej Poczobut – Belarusian correspondent of Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading Polish daily newspaper, and a Polish-Belarusian minority activist – was sentenced Tuesday on criminal charges that he insulted Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko. A closed-door court in Grodno, Belarus, sentenced Poczobut to three years imprisonment, but suspended the sentence and freed the journalist from jail, where […] Read more »
Sudanese journalist jailed for reporting on alleged rape July 6, 2011 Mina Nacheva The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the decision of a Sudanese court to sentence a journalist to one month in prison for reporting on the alleged rape of a female opposition activist by members of the country’s security forces. Fatimah Ghazali was jailed on Tuesday, 5 July, freelance journalist and human rights advocate Abdelgadir […] Read more »
UPDATE: Ethiopian journalists accused of planning to sabotage power and phone lines July 1, 2011 Naomi Hunt Yesterday, Ethiopian officials told the media that two journalists who were detained last week have been accused of planning to sabotage power and phone lines, and recruiting people to destabilize the country, Reuters and other news outlets reported. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the publication Awramba Times, and Reyot Alemu from the Feteh newspaper, were […] Read more »
Iranian sports journalist and photographer arrested June 30, 2011 Enid Portuguez Iranian sports reporter and photographer Maryam Majd has been arrested and jailed in Tehran’s Evin prison, according to the Los Angeles Times. The reason for her arrest is still unknown, but International Campaign for Human Rights reports that Majd phoned her family on 21 June, five days after she was taken from her home by […] Read more »
Yemen Times journalist to join panel at IPI World Congress June 29, 2011 In a session titled “Facebook Revolutions: The Media and the Uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East”, to be held on Monday, 26 September 2011, during the IPI World Congress in Taipei, panellists will examine the role that social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as online media outlets and the […] Read more »
Chinese investigative journalist sentenced to additional eight years in prison June 27, 2011 Barbara Trionfi Chinese journalist Qi Chonghuai, who has been jailed since September 2007, has been handed an additional eight-year sentence on the same charges, in breach of Chinese law. Until his detention in 2007, Qi had been working as a journalist and editor for different mainstream news media outlets, including the Fazhi Zaobao (“Legal System Morning News”), […] Read more »
Attacks on the media continue in eastern Africa June 24, 2011 Mina Nacheva The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the recent attacks on two radio stations, the detention of a journalist, and the ongoing trials against at least eight others in Eastern Africa. Local Somali radio stations Codka Hiiraan and Dhusamareb were seized on 22 June, and the editor of the latter was detained briefly on the […] Read more »
Global Coordinating Committee approves press freedom resolutions June 22, 2011 The Global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, at its meeting held in Vienna, Austria, on 17 June, 2011, agreed to adopt the following resolutions on the Americas and Turkey by unanimous vote of the members present. Members who voted in favour of the resolutions included representatives from the International Press Institute (IPI), the International […] Read more »
U.S. journalist, British activist brutally assaulted in Azerbaijan June 17, 2011 Mina Nacheva The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the brutal assault on an American freelance journalist and a British human rights activist in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. Amanda Erickson and Celia Davies Carys were followed to their home at around midnight on 15 June and attacked by four unidentified men outside the women’s apartment building, […] Read more »
Pakistani journalist found murdered June 3, 2011 Mina Nacheva The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the murder of a Pakistani journalist who was found dead 150km from Islamabad on 31 May. The body of Syed Saleem Shahzad, who disappeared on 29 May, was discovered floating in a canal in Pakistan’s northern Gujarat district, according to media reports. Shahzad was the Pakistan bureau chief […] Read more »
Two people receive life sentences for murdering a journalist in Nepal June 1, 2011 Mina Nacheva The Bara District Court in Nepal on 30 May handed down a life sentence to two people accused of the murder of journalist Birendra Saha in 2007, the International Press Institute’s (IPI) Nepal National Committee reported. Maoist activists Managar Giri and Ram Ekbal Sahani, who have already spent the last two years in judicial custody, […] Read more »
Governments continue to crack down on social media May 30, 2011 Mina Nacheva Chinese authorities have cracked down on social media in Inner Mongolia after days of unrest that forced the government to tighten security in the autonomous region. Information sources such as QQ instant messenger, internet chatting and text messaging have been recognized as playing a major role in organizing large-scale protests in the region and have […] Read more »
Three journalists in Italy handed prison sentences on defamation charges May 28, 2011 Barbara Trionfi Three Italian journalists have been handed prison sentences for defamation by a court in Chieti, Central Italy, in connection with a series of articles published in 2007 about an alleged investigation into the mayor of Sulmona, a nearby city, by the Financial Crime Investigation Unit (Guardia di Finanza), an Italian police force directly under the […] Read more »