2011
BBC reporter released in Tajikistan
New York, July 14, 2001–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent, detained in June in Tajikistan and calls on authorities to fully exonerate him and remove restrictions on travel. Tajik authorities released Usmonov on bail but continue to charge him with extremism while imposing a…
Hong Kong’s accelerating media freedom decline
As a former resident of the Special Administrative Region, the classification given Hong Kong when it reverted to China’s control in 1997, I’ve always watched the media there with the appreciative eye of a news consumer. The concept of “One Country, Two Systems,” put forward to explain how the former British colony’s capitalist economy and…
Tajikistan continues to hold BBC journalist
New York, July 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Tajik prosecutors in Khujand, northern Tajikistan, to drop politicized extremism charges against BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov, and calls for his immediate release. The journalist is being charged with failing to report the activities of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir to Tajik law enforcement agencies, Usmonov’s lawyer,…
DRC’s Kabila government bans broadcaster favorable to rival
New York, July 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ban of a private broadcaster favorable to opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. The blocking and ban of the broadcaster since Saturday is in violation of the country’s press laws.
Central African Republic journalists released, fined
New York, July 12, 2011– Two Central African Republic journalists were fined and released from custody Monday after being jailed for weeks in connection with their coverage of public protests by retired military officers who say the government failed to direct European Union funds to them as intended, according to news reports and local journalists.
Security vs. risk: More on Facebook and Google+
It’s been fascinating watching the hothousing of a new social network in Google+. In the early days of Twitter, it was the users who invented social norms like “@”ing people, hashtags, and retweeting, which the designers of Twitter adopted and echoed in thee hardwired code of the website itself. Such affordances, as they are known,…
In Liberia, silencing press critics through libel lawsuits
During Liberia’s 14-year civil war, the press was silenced through violence. Journalists now say they are the victims of a more subtle assault. They say a corrupt judiciary and a vindictive use of libel suits are a threat to an otherwise burgeoning free press.
For safety’s sake: New journalist safety rules in Pakistan
I got an early version of the Khyber Union of Journalists’ (KhUJ) list of safety rules and tips for field reports around June 16, after the June 11 double bomb in a crowded market that killed two journalists in Peshawar. Yousaf Ali, KhUJ’s general secretary had forwarded the list. It was quickly drawn up after…
Journalists detained, released in Vietnam clampdown
Bangkok, July 11, 2011–Authorities must stop harassing journalists reporting on public demonstrations in Vietnam, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Sunday, police detained and interrogated three reporters who were covering anti-China protests in Hanoi where around a dozen demonstrators were arrested.