2008

March 28, 2008 Sean Langan, freelance ABDUCTED A Taliban-linked group kidnapped freelance British television journalist Sean Langan and his translator near the town of Torkham on the border with Pakistan. He was working in Afghanistan on a documentary series for publicly owned U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, according to U.K. news reports.

MwanaHalisi CENSORED OCTOBER 13, 2008 The Ministry of Information, Sports, and Culture banned the private weekly MwanaHalisi for three months starting October 13, for “inciting public hatred against the president.”

November 25, 2008 Tom Van de Weghe, VRT ATTACKED Eight assailants pulled Belgian journalist Van de Weghe, an Australian cameraman, and a Belgian assistant, from their vehicle before beating them and stealing money and equipment during a reporting job in Henan province, central China, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China and international news…

The now infamous incident of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing his shoes at President George Bush became primetime news throughout the world. In the Middle East it has been shown on television almost endlessly. 

NOVEMBER 5, 2008 Shahrvand Emrouz CLOSEDIran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance shut down the moderate weekly magazine Shahrvand Emrouz on November 5, saying that the magazine had breached the terms of its licensing agreement.

New York, December 17, 2008–A journalist who disappeared in Zimbabwe on Saturday may be in police custody, journalists in Harare told CPJ.

In response to the approval yesterday by the Uruguayan Senate of a bill that repeals criminal defamation on issues of public interest involving officials, and eliminates a disrespect provision, we issued the following statement today…

China has blocked access to BBC and VOA Chinese Web sites, according to reports released yesterday. The Associated Press is covering the story with two releases today that both quote CPJ’s Bob Dietz, who said in a statement: “It’s clear that China has no intention of fulfilling the hopes it raised when it was awarded the…

I last saw Deyda Hydara alive on December 14, 2004, only two days before his death. To this day, the gunmen who shot dead the Gambia’s best-known journalist as he drove home from work are still at large. The crime remains unsolved.

New York, December 16, 2008–Police should observe Chinese law and proceed transparently in the investigation of two journalists arrested on bribery charges in northern Shanxi province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.