China’s recent decision to reverse its pledge for open and uncensored Internet access during the upcoming Olympics is the topic of many stories around the world this morning.
Agence France-Presse is running a wire story outlining the concerns surrounding the controversial policy switch. The First Post, a Web-only magazine based in the UK, has a short piece called “The Great Firewall of China” and England’s Daily Telegraph is also covering the story. The online edition of The South China Morning Post has an article stating that the IOC has apologized for “misleading foreign journalists” on the issue.
The Web site RaWa News follows up yesterday’s coverage of the arrest of Naseer Fayyaz, discussing the outcry over his arrest from CPJ and other human rights groups.
In other news from early today, The Toronto Star is running an editorial about concerns surrounding police and military members impersonating journalists in hostage situations. The issue has come to the forefront since the July 2 hostage rescue mission in Colombia, in which members of the military concealed themselves as journalists and aid workers.
Reuters ran a story late yesterday that focused on our coverage of violence against a local editor in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. The attack occurred last Friday when Zurab Tsechoyev, editor of the website Mashr, was allegedly abducted, tortured, and interrogated for five hours.
Also late breaking was afrol News’s coverage of the suspension of independent radio station “Harvest FM” in Lesotho. We released an alert condemning this action on July 28.