Step forward in 1975 East Timor murders
New York, November 19, 2007– The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes an Australian coroner’s Friday ruling that five journalists were deliberately killed in 1975 by Indonesian armed forces seeking to prevent them from reporting on Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor. The killings may qualify as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and Australian law, according…
Two Pakistani news networks are shut down in Dubai
New York, November 16, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly alarmed that news channels on the Pakistani networks GEO TV and ARY Digital were ordered by authorities to halt transmission today from the United Arab Emirates after refusing to sign a Pakistani government-mandated “code of conduct.” GEO TV was ordered by the UAE Information…
In Malaysia, photographer beaten unconscious, reporter threatened
New York, November 15, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of two journalists with the Tamil-language daily Malaysia Nanban. One was beaten and is now in a coma, and another received death threats after reporting on local Malaysian Tamil schools facing closure, according to Gayathry Venkiteswaran of the country’s Centre for…
A crackdown on “fake” reporters in China draws a rebuke
New York, November 12, 2007—The Chinese government should abandon its crackdown on so-called “fake” foreign journalists in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ expressed alarm that the government’s plan, which includes amassing records of thousands of foreign journalists seeking Olympics accreditation, is a pretext to block critical…
Pakistan demands broadcasters sign conduct code
New York, November 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by pressure being exerted by the Pakistani government on broadcasters to sign a 14-page government-mandated “code of conduct.” Station owners say they have been told that if they do not sign the agreement, they will not be allowed to return to the air.…
Pakistan continues to silence news media
New York, November 8, 2007—The Pakistani government is continuing efforts to silence the press by harassing journalists, attempting to shut down printing presses, and censoring articles critical of the government, local journalists told CPJ today. News editors at the Urdu-language Daily Ausaf in Islamabad and at the English-language Express in Lahore said their papers were…
29 Journalists spend China’s National Journalists’ Day behind bars
New York, November 7, 2007—As China celebrates National Journalists’ Day tomorrow, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges the Chinese government to address the cases of 29 journalists in prison for practicing their profession. Twenty-three of those journalists have been imprisoned since the first official Journalists’ Day was celebrated in China in 2001, the same year…
Nepal’s Birendra Shah is dead, Maoists say
New York, November 5, 2007—Maoist authorities issued a statement today confirming the murder of Nepalese journalist Birendra Shah on October 4, the day he was kidnapped, by members of their party, according to Guna Raj Luitel, news editor of Kantipur Daily in Kathmandu. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) had distanced itself from the murder,…
Pakistan targets media outlets
New York, November 5, 2007—Pakistan’s government has escalated its efforts since the weekend to silence the press by harassing journalists, attempting to shut down printing presses, and ordering that articles critical of the government be altered, Pakistani journalists told CPJ. According to news editors at the Urdu-language Daily Ausaf in Islamabad and at the Express…
CPJ urges Musharraf to allow Pakistan’s media to operate freely
New York, November 4, 2007—The government of President Pervez Musharraf should withdraw the severe restrictions it has placed on Pakistan’s news media and allow independent television and radio stations to resume coverage of the country’s political crisis, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “President Musharraf’s drastic steps to silence news coverage make a mockery…