Umbrellas cast shadow over ‘open’ trial in China
We cover all kinds of censorship here at CPJ. Recently we documented the cunning application of scissors to prevent readers from accessing China-related articles in hard copy magazines. But it’s been a while since we’ve had chance to write about one favored implement of information control in China: the umbrella.
Election corruption grave threat to Pakistan’s media
“Elections will not be fought, but will be bought,” is a saying being used by political tacticians in Pakistan. Hope for the legitimacy of the country’s first fair transfer of power between two civilian governments with the oversight of unbiased media is disappearing quickly. Billions of rupees are pouring into media outlets through secret sources,…
Broadcaster Raajje TV silenced in the Maldives
New York, August 7, 2012–Authorities in the Maldives must immediately investigate today’s attack on the opposition Raajje TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The attack came just days after police accused the station of making false allegations against security forces, according to news reports.
No right to information in Sri Lanka
You would think that with fighting between government forces and secessionist Tamils finished in May 2009, the Sri Lankan government might ease its grip on public information–information which is really the property of the country’s citizens, not whichever administration happens to be holding political power. In 2004, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike’s cabinet did approve a…
Burmese authorities suspend two news publications
Bangkok, August 1, 2012–Two weekly news publications were suspended indefinitely in Burma on Tuesday, marking a significant reversal of the government’s earlier loosening of media restrictions and pre-publication censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Time to reassess U.S. military counterinsurgency tactics
One year ago, on July 28, 2011, Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, 25, was killed by American troops during a brutal close-quarters battle with a Taliban suicide squad backed by gunmen. Khpalwak was one of 22 people killed in the hours-long siege on government buildings that included the governor’s office and police headquarters in Tarin Kot, capital…
Viewing the London Olympics coverage from China
Chinese propaganda officials must be thrilled that they’re not responsible for the Olympics coverage in the British papers. Back during the Beijing Games, they worked hard to censor unrest and dissatisfaction in the domestic media. Reports of China’s press freedom and human rights abuses were blocked, the kind of information control idiomatically referred to as…
Stressed out: How should newsrooms handle trauma?
The rampage inside a Colorado movie theater that killed 12 people and injured dozens more is the most recent reminder that a journalist anywhere can face sudden, great emotional stress. Any story involving tragedy–from domestic violence to natural disasters–can inflict an emotional toll on field journalists. The very empathy that makes a journalist a good…
For journalists, danger lurking in your email
This week, Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill Marczak of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab provided a disturbing look into the likely use of a commercial surveillance program, FinFisher, to remotely invade and control the computers of Bahraini activists. After the software installs itself onto unsuspecting users’ computer, it can record and relay emails, screenshots, and…