2011
Pro-opposition journalist abducted, beaten in Azerbaijan
New York, March 28, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the abduction and beating in Baku this weekend of Seimur Khaziyev, a reporter for the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg (Freedom), and called on Azerbaijani authorities today to thoroughly investigate the incident and bring all the assailants to justice.
Online writer indicted, another missing in China
New York, March 28, 2011–Police indicted one online writer on anti-state charges in Sichuan today and another disappeared in Guangzhou on Sunday, according to international news reports. Both cases appear part of the Chinese Communist Party’s strenuous efforts to suppress their critics and pre-empt a “Jasmine Revolution” in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said…
Syria cracks down on press; attacks in Libya, elsewhere
New York, March 28, 2011–Facing the nationwide spread of political unrest, Syrian authorities barred three Reuters journalists from reporting, blocked journalistic access to a hotbed of political dissent, censored a critical satellite station, and detained a political blogger. The widespread repression in Syria came on the same weekend that Libyan security agents forcibly barred a…
Somalia arrests 2 Shabelle staffers over insecurity report
New York, March 28, 2011–Security agents with Somalia’s Interim Transitional Government arrested the director and news editor of Radio Shabelle on Sunday after the independent station aired a report saying the president was unable to visit areas recently captured by government and AU forces due to security concerns, according to news reports and CPJ interviews.…
Cameroon bans paper, gives editor suspended sentence
New York, March 28, 2011–Authorities in Cameroon must end judicial harassment of journalists reporting on public corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a court handed an editor a suspended prison sentence and banned his newspaper for reporting on alleged mismanagement of a transportation company.
In Ivory Coast, Gbabgo and Ouattara camps attack press
New York, March 28, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns ongoing attacks, threats, and intimidation against journalists and news outlets covering the bloody political standoff in Ivory Coast. The government and supporters of incumbent ruler Laurent Gbagbo have been targeting newspapers critical of Gbagbo while rebel fighters backing his U.N.-backed rival Alassane Ouattara have also…
Ethical quandary for social sites
The New York Times’ Jennifer Preston cites CPJ Internet Advocacy Program Coordinator Danny O’Brien in an article on how social media companies accommodate the growing use of social media for political purposes. The article was published on March 27. Click here for the full story
A Somali journalist still gets taunting threats in exile
It was February 2008 when Bahjo Mohamud Abdi received her first anonymous phone call. It was a man’s voice asking her to confirm who she was. Abdi was a presenter and correspondent for the state radio in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Abdi confirmed her identity and thought no more about it. But then she…
In well-wired South Korea, all is not well for press freedom
CPJ ranks North Korea, with no independent media, as the world’s most censored state. South Korea, with a wide-open press, seldom comes in for criticism. The high-tech, economic powerhouse is ranked as one of the most intensely wired nations in the world, and South Koreans enjoy near universal Internet access. But all is not well…