Documentary captures a fixer’s harsh reality
In New York, the Tribeca Film Festival showed a strong documentary, The Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, on Sunday. After the screening, I moderated a panel that featured director Ian Olds and Naqeeb Sherzad, a close friend of Ajmal, shown at left. The panel also included U.S. journalists Christian Parenti, who helped produce the…
Press freedom in the news 12/01/08
South Africa’s Mail & Guardian has more coverage of the Mikhail Beketov case today. Beketov, an editor of a Moscow-based newspaper, was brutally beaten and left for dead more than two weeks ago and remains in a coma. The Houston Chronicle also has a story on Beketov, as well as the dangers of reporting in…
Press freedom in the news 11/10/08
The release of CBC correspondent Mellissa Fung, who had been abducted by a criminal gang in Afghanistan, is the focus of a few stories today. The Associated Press has coverage of her month-long ordeal, and that piece has been picked up by various papers including The Boston Globe and The Baltimore Sun.
And then there was one …
Each year, CPJ compiles an annual census of journalists imprisoned around the world, and every year since 2001, the U.S has figured on this list of infamy. During this period, journalists have been imprisoned right here in this country for refusing to reveal their sources; imprisoned by the U.S. military in Iraq for long periods…
Press Freedom Awardees draw attention
We announced the 2008 International Press Freedom Award recipients on Tuesday, and the news has been well-received worldwide. Bilal Hussein of Iraq, Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad of Afghanistan, Andrew Mwenda of Uganda, and Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez of Cuba will all be honored by CPJ on November 25 for their courageous work. Beatrice Mtetewa, of Zimbabwe will…
Sitting on death row in Afghanistan
The BBC published an interview today with imprisoned Afghan journalism student Parwez Kambakhsh in Kabul’s main prison. The interview was also broadcast on the BBC’s “Today” program. Kambakhsh told BBC journalist Alastair Leithead: “The whole trial was unfair from the beginning.” Security officials detained Kambakhsh in October 2007 on blasphemy charges and a closed court…