2010
Earp in the Guardian: Will China listen?
In the Guardian Comment is Free, CPJ Senior Asia Program Researcher Madeline Earp argues; in China “reform and opening-up is not possible without a free and independent media. China’s leaders must make, and meet, specific commitments to release imprisoned journalists and allow independent reporting and comment, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. Chinese…
How many beat the world’s Net censors?
Here’s a great study by the Harvard’s Berkman Center, estimating the actual usage of anti-censorship tools by Internet users in countries with pervasive website blocking.Berkman estimates that 3% or less of the total Net population in these countries bypass censorship via web and http proxies, virtual private networks, or circumvention software like Tor and Psiphon.The…
Attackers lob grenade at Puntland radio station
New York, October 19, 2010–A pair of assailants lobbed a grenade Monday evening at Horseed FM, a private radio station broadcasting from the port city of Bossasso, the economic capital of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, according to local reports. After the grenade exploded, one of the attackers began shooting at an adjacent café, Horseed Managing…
Internet Blotter
Omid Memarian gives insight into the Iranian hardliner in-fighting that led to “blogfather” Hossein Derakhshan’s arrest and sentencing.Pakistan blocks Facebook, but doesn’t block militant jihadi sites.What happened when the authorities shut down the Internet in China’s Xinjiang province.”Deleted” Facebook photos can stay available for years (from the excellent Ars Technica, now banned in Iran).Quote of…
Abdel Dayem on Al Jazeera
CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem appeared on Al Jazeera English’s the Inside Story. The half hour show focused on the recent developments in Egypt and whether there is a plan to silence the most critical voices in Egypt ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections. The episode of Inside Story…
Mission Journal: A visit to Russia’s Supreme Court
At the end of our recent mission to Moscow, our delegation squeezed in one final official meeting. Vyacheslav M. Lebedev, the chief justice of Russia’s Supreme Court, had sent word only the night before that he would receive us. The meeting had been brokered by Aleksei Venediktov, the legendary founder of the radio station Ekho…
Censored in Rwanda, editors work from exile
Though it has been a dark year for Rwanda’s press, it has also been a year of resistance and turning to a new sort of reporting–from exile. Ever since Rwandan authorities began cracking down on the nation’s independent press before the presidential elections in August, the space for critical reporting has been dissipating.
Asia program now on Facebook, Twitter
Until now, CPJ’s Asia program has relied largely on email blasts to get the word out when we post something new on CPJ.org. Today we launched our Facebook and Twitter pages. Like us and follow us for an inside look at the Asia program and quick, timely updates on our alerts and blogs. We also…
Petition highlights Nokia sales to Iran
Access, a global Internet freedom advocacy group, has launched a “No To Nokia” petition as part of a campaign supporting Iranian journalist Issa Saharkiz’s lawsuit against Nokia Siemens. The Saharkiz lawsuit claims that Nokia Siemen’s sales of mobile tracking technology to Iran was instrumental in allowing the Iranian government to locate the journalist when he…