2008
Still no word, five years after editor disappeared
New York, August 11, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the failure of the Egyptian authorities to shed light on the disappearance of a prominent journalist, five years ago today, in one of the most secure districts in Cairo. Reda Helal, a senior editor at Egypt’s leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram, mysteriously vanished on…
Journalist dies of gunshot wounds in the Philippines
New York, August 11, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of radio commentator Dennis Cuesta, who died in a General Santos City hospital on Saturday after gunmen shot him near his office on August 4. Local press freedom groups told CPJ that they believe his murder was related to his work.
Two killed, several injured or missing in South Ossetia
New York, August 11, 2008–Two journalists were reported killed, at least eight were injured, and two have gone missing since fighting erupted between Georgian, Russian, and local forces in the disputed region of South Ossetia. No press-related casualties have been immediately reported in the conflict in another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.
News Wrap for 8/11/08
On The Huffington Post this morning, Magda Abu-Fadil has a blog entry that closely examines the situation for journalists in Mauritania and mentions our alert on the bloodless coup and how it might affect the domestic media.Also this morning, the Web site The Editors Weblog has a short article about censorship in Dagestan, where we…
Olympics: Gee whiz, good-bye
A few days ago I posted a gee-whiz piece about Qik.com, and a brief video piece posted on the site by Noel Hidalgo, who works under the online handle noneck. Hidalgo had beat all the news agencies covering the group of pro-Tibetan demonstrators who climbed two light poles outside the Bird’s Nest stadium and managed…
Olympics-China Media Watch: New attacks are reported in Xinjiang
Xinhua News Agency in Chinese is reporting a series of early morning “terrorist” attacks on markets, bars, and government targets today in Kuche county, in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang. A security guard died in the attacks. A second security guard, two paramilitary police, and two civilians were injured, and many buildings were damaged, according…
Olympics: Media control at work
China’s media response to the story of the stabbing of two Americans was standard procedure: The government took charge of a sensitive story and determined what would be said. Hong Kong reporters might break new ground, but look at the mainland’s media coverage (here’s Kristin Jones’s analysis) and the only story you will see is…
Olympics-China Media Watch: Xinhua sole news source on tourist attack
Today’s news of an attack on tourists at a popular sightseeing spot in Beijing has been handled by Xinhua News Agency alone. Other news outlets are simply re-posting its account. This is the norm for sensitive issues. Xinhua is a part of the central government’s State Council and undergoes rigorous pre-censorship, which sets it apart from other Chinese news outlets (which are censored to…
Olympics: Know rules of the road
CPJ has a lot of friends at the Foreign Correspondents Club of China; they have been a go-to resource for us for years. They released a statement early yesterday, on the morning of the day the Games opened. FCCC president Jonathan Watts (and The Guardian’s Beijng correspondent) outlined the situation going into the Games very…