IPI remembers Anna Politkovskaya October 7, 2011 Steven M. Ellis The International Press Institute (IPI), marking the fifth anniversary of the murder of Russian journalist and IPI World Press Freedom Hero Anna Politkovskaya, today called on authorities to identify and hold accountable the mastermind of the killing. The move came amid reports that investigators announced the indictment of Chechen native Lom-Ali Gaitukayev in the slaying […] Read more »
Executive Director’s Blog: ‘Friend of IPI’ Desmond Tutu turns 80 October 7, 2011 Alison Bethel McKenzie Today a good friend of the International Press Institute (IPI) is celebrating his 80th birthday. It is with sincere respect and gratitude that we say Happy Birthday to Bishop Desmond Tutu, a staunch supporter of press freedom, freedom of speech and other basic human rights. It was just last year that Bishop Tutu sent us […] Read more »
From Bolivia to Honduras, 12 Latin American journalists receive death threats October 4, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero Mónica Oblitas is in danger. She feels lost, uneasy. Everything has changed for this Bolivian journalist since she published, in La Prensa newspaper, an investigative report about alleged corruption in the Bolivian Forensic Research Institute. She has received anonymous threatening phone calls, text messages and emails; she and her son have been followed and the […] Read more »
More press freedom attacks in Egypt September 30, 2011 Naomi Hunt The International Press Institute is alarmed at continued reports of press freedom violations in post-Mubarak Egypt, particularly as an opposition newspaper was prevented from being distributed. Copies of the opposition Sawt Al-Ummah newspaper were confiscated and destroyed before they could be distributed, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and Al-Arabiya reported. Chief Editor […] Read more »
IPI World Congress 2011: Q&A with former Beijing bureau chief of Austria’s ORF broadcaster September 28, 2011 Lin King Cornelia Vospernik is the former Beijing Bureau Chief of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) and current Head of News, of ORF Eins. She began her career freelancing for a local ORF studio in the Austrian province of Carinthia at the age of 15. From 2000 to 2002, she was the ORF London bureau chief, and […] Read more »
IPI World Congress 2011 in Taiwan: Tweeting the revolutions from across the Middle East September 26, 2011 Nayana Jayarajan At the IPI World Congress 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan, attention on Monday focused on the role of social media as a catalyst for the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions. Speaking on a panel titled “Social Media Revolutions: The Media and the Uprisings in North Africa, the Middle East, and Elsewhere”, Global Post founder Charles Sennott said: “When […] Read more »
IPI General Assembly Resolution 2011: Hungary The members of the International Press Institute (IPI), meeting at their 60th Annual General Assembly during the IPI World Congress on 26 September 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan, adopted by unanimous vote a resolution expressing concern over media restrictions in Hungary. Hungary’s new media law, enforced this year, has been heavily criticized by European Union politicians, […] Read more »
IPI completes Philippines press freedom mission September 24, 2011 Barbara Trionfi The International Press Institute (IPI) wrapped up a press freedom mission to the Philippines on Friday with a call on the Philippines government to end impunity in the killing of journalists. The IPI delegation comprised: IPI Vice Chair Galina Sidorova, who is also chairperson of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism – Foundation 19/29, in Russia; […] Read more »
Venezuelan hackers intimidate reporters September 22, 2011 Mariela Hoyer Guerrero The International Press Institute is concerned about the recent hacking of journalists’ and news outlets’ Twitter accounts, both in Venezuela and in the United States. On 3 September, three critical Venezuelan journalists, three columnists and five opposition activists were unable to access their Email and Twitter accounts because their passwords had been stolen, EFE reported. […] Read more »
International Press Institute, UDN group announce IPI annual World Congress September 20, 2011 Nayana Jayarajan The International Press Institute (IPI) today formally announced the launch of its annual World Congress, to be held in Taipei, Taiwan, from 24-27 September 2011. This is the second time Taiwan is hosting the Vienna-based press freedom organization’s annual World Congress, 12 years after IPI first held its annual Congress in Taiwan, in 1999. The […] Read more »
IPI welcomes EU resolution on Eritrea September 19, 2011 Naomi Hunt The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed the European Parliament resolution of 15 September in which the body called on Eritrea to “to lift the ban on the country’s independent press and to immediately release the independent journalists and all others who have been jailed simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression.” The […] Read more »
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 »