Press freedom in the news 8/26/08

Agence France-Presse is covering the abduction of two foreign journalists, their fixer, and driver in Somalia. Australian Nigel Brennan and Canadian Amanda Lindhout, along with their Somali support staff were kidnapped outside Mogadishu as they traveled to report on local humanitarian aid camps.

We released an alert urging their release yesterday. AFP quotes Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes as saying, “Somalia continues to be the most dangerous place for local and foreign journalists in Africa.”

On the blogs today, War Is Boring has a post about the kidnapped journalists, as does Not Ready for my Burqua. The CNN Wire blog is also posting updates on the story

The Sri Lankan Web site Lanka Business Online has coverage of the indictment on terrorism charges of Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam. CPJ released an alert yesterday condemning the court’s decision.