Thai webmaster conviction chills press freedom online
San Francisco, May 30, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s conviction of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of the Prachatai discussion board, under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act. The court’s decision, which affirms that website operators can be criminally liable for the content of user comments, chills online press freedom in the country, and leaves Thai news…
Sina ‘information credit score’ restricts Weibo users
Sina’s Twitter-like microblog service Weibo has released new guidelines to restrict users who share banned content, according to international news reports. It’s the first time such guidelines target users who adopt puns, homonyms, and other veiled references to discuss censored news stories without using keywords on the propaganda department’s blacklist, the reports said.
One year later: Saleem Shahzad’s case is buried
On May 21 this year, a military court convicted three Pakistani naval officers of negligence and dereliction of duty for their actions during an attack on the main naval airbase in the heart of Karachi on May 22, 2011. After the incident had ended, the military said 10 security guards were killed, two aircraft were…
Charges against Indian video journalist must be dropped
New York, May 25, 2012–Local authorities in India must drop the criminal charges filed against video journalist Mukesh Rajak, an apparent attempt to prevent him from reporting on local government expenditures, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Solidarity, a key to security, eludes Salvadoran press
No other journalists are remembered quite like this. Visitors looking through the glass display at the Monsignor Romero Center & Martyrs Museum in San Salvador see the pajamas and other clothes that three Jesuit university priests were wearing when they were shot down by automatic rifle fire. A series of clear containers are filled with…
At CPJ Debrief, Gettleman cites Somalia danger, reward
Jeffrey Gettleman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent, says he travels with “a small militia” whenever he reports from Somalia, the East African country afflicted by armed insurgency, poverty, and hunger. As intrusive as the security detail might be, he feels far more fortunate than the local reporters who face sustained and often deadly…
Even by Pakistani standards, a terrible month for press
May has been a terrible month for journalists in Pakistan, a country that has ranked as the world’s deadliest place for the press for two consecutive years. Two journalists have been killed, two more shot and wounded, and one attacked while in police custody, all in less than a month, according to news reports.
Journalists targeted during protests in Nepal
New York, May 23, 2012–Authorities in Nepal must protect journalists seeking to report on developments in the volatile run-up to Sunday’s deadline for a new constitution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Dozens of journalists were reportedly attacked by ethnic activists during a three-day general strike that began Sunday, according to news reports.