2009

  

Radio director and civil society leaders arrested

New York, January 8, 2009–Detained Gabonese journalist Gaston Asseko, who is in need of medical attention, must be released immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

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Working between the bombs in Gaza

Today I spoke on the telephone with Ibrahim Barzak, an Associated Press correspondent in Gaza whose home was destroyed on December 30 in an Israeli strike. He now sleeps in his office and continues to file news stories. There is no downtime; with an Israeli ban on the entry of foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip, Ibrahim…

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Media directors arrested over Jainism articles

New York, January 8, 2009–B.V. Seetaram and his wife, Rohini, who head the media group Chithra Publications in Karnataka state, southern India, have been in judicial custody since Sunday in connection with two-year old criminal charges relating to their newspapers, according to local news reports.

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Diplomatic pressure needed to protect journalists

New York, January 8, 2009–With today’s murder of the editor-in-chief of the The Sunday Leader newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on concerned ambassadors in Colombo to weigh in forcefully and immediately with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to put an end to the attacks raining down on Sri Lanka’s media. 

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Aftermath: Video of the attack on Mexico’s Televisa

Masked gunman threw a grenade at Mexican TV broadcaster Televisa on Wednesday and shot up the building. We released an alert yesterday condemning the attack and calling for the federalization of laws for crimes against the press in Mexico.

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Press freedom in the news 1/08/2009

Yesterday’s attack on Mexican TV network Televisa is making headlines in the world press today. The Washington Post has coverage of masked gunman threw a grenade at the TV station, allegedly in retaliation for reporting on drug trafficking. The article quotes CPJ’s Carlos Lauria, who said that the “attack in Monterrey is another example of how…

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Journopalooza: Battle of the bands benefits CPJ

The stakes are high. Journalist-formed rock bands with names like “Suspicious Package” and “The Surge” will compete this Friday night, January 9, at the usually austere National Press Club in Washington. The question of which band will walk away as the “single undisputed champion” will be decided, according to the official Journopalooza Web site, in…

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Security agents seize hospitalized editor

New York, January 7, 2009–Kazakh authorities should immediately release Ramazan Yesergepov, ailing editor of the independent weekly Alma-Ata Info, who was seized from an Almaty hospital on Tuesday by government agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

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Ugandan reporters under police harassment

New York, January 7, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the ongoing police persecution of two Ugandan journalists. The police’s Media Offences Department has repeatedly interrogated the two over a story critical of the government’s handling of an international security operation against the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army last month, according to a local…

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Targeting Palestinian media in Gaza

As part of their military campaign in Gaza, Israeli forces seem to be targeting Hamas-affiliated media outlets, a practice that is of concern to CPJ. The Hamas-run broadcaster Al-Aqsa television was bombed on December 28, and then on January 5, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appear to have hit the newsweekly Al-Risala as well its…

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