Asia
2009
CPJ calls for release of detained Tamil doctors
Following the recent arrest and continued detention of three Tamil doctors–Thangamuttu Sathiyamorthi, Thurairaja Varatharajan and V. Sunmugarajah –by the Sri Lankan military after they supplied local and international news media with causality figures in Vanni during the last stages of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, we issued this statement…
No news on Zhao is good news for Communist Party
News of the coming posthumous publication of Zhаο Ziyаng’s memoirs hit the stands this week–outside China, anyway. Local media did not cover the story on Friday, and officials have yet to comment. Neither the Chinese nor the English version of the book, Prisoner of the State, reportedly transcribed while the former Communist Party general secretary was under house…
CPJ asks Malaysia PM for reforms on press freedom
Dear Prime Minister Najib: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its longstanding concerns about Malaysia’s restricted media environment and to urge you to undertake reforms that allow for greater press freedom, both for the mainstream and fast emerging online news media.
CPJ calls on North Korea to release journalists
In response to a North Korean statement that American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, arrested on March 17 along the border with China, will be put on trial on June 4, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued this statement…
One year after Sichuan, six after SARS, 33 after Tangshan
One of our news alerts on Monday detailed the harassment reporters faced as they tried to cover the anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, one of China’s greatest natural disasters. Today, on the anniversary, newspapers marked the event with strong coverage. That’s a world of difference from the years of coverage that obscured the breadth of…
Journalist escapes captors in Pakistan
Khawar Shafiq, the Daily Waqt (Daily Time) correspondent in Faisalabad, told colleagues he managed to escape from abductors on April 11, 2009, four days three bearded men grabbed him by his home near Faisalabad and shoved him into a car. He said the men made him inhale fumes from a liquid that made him lose…
One year on, China stifles reporting on earthquake victims
New York, May 11, 2009–After the recent harassment of several foreign journalists and the arrest of least one local writer, the Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in Sichuan province to allow journalists to report freely in the area on the one-year anniversary of the devastating May 12, 2008, earthquake.
CPJ concerned by South Korean pressure on media
Dear President Lee: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by your administration’s increasing pressure on the Republic of Korea’s media. The arrest on April 28 of four staff members with your country’s second-largest broadcaster, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), is only the most recent step in what appears to be a broader effort to stifle independent reporting critical of government policies.