Asia

  
Umar Cheema

Nothing: What Pakistan is doing to find Cheema’s abductors

Just in case you were one of the few people in Pakistan or any other part of the world, for that matter, who thought that the six-hour abduction of Umar Cheema over the weekend of September 4 and 5 in Islamabad was going to be investigated and the culprits–men “dressed in police uniform”–brought to justice, here is…

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Korea Times: Censorship on pro-NK websites tightens

The Korea Times documents the disturbing increase in censorship of writing about North Korea, with the police forcing website operators to remove 42,787 pro-North Korean comments. This may be due to an increase in North Korean government attempts to enter the online debate, but some point to the general anti-Net sentiment of the Lee administration.…

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Colleagues try to pull NBC soundman Bill Latch to safety during violence in Bangkok 25 years ago. Latch and correspondent Neil Davis died in the unrest. (Reuters)

In Thailand, remembering Neil Davis, Bill Latch

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) hosted a memorial Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of the deaths of NBC cameraman correspondent Neil Davis and soundman Bill Latch. The two journalists were killed by military fire on September 9, 1985, while covering a failed coup attempt in the Thai capital. 

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Murder, ‘suicide,’ crossfire: A week of journalist killings

Today we will report another murder of a journalist. This one was in Argentina. The last one we documented was a couple days ago–Alberto Graves Chakussanga was shot in the back in Angola. These tragedies are part of our daily work at CPJ, but this week was different. There have been eight killings of journalists…

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The significance of Umar Cheema’s abduction

With all the problems in Pakistan–the flooding in the country that might be the worst ever; the increasingly devastating sectarian and separatist violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of Pakistanis and at least four journalists–focusing on what happened to Umar Cheema, a reporter for The News, might seem almost a sidebar story. But it’s not. It’s something much larger.

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A mother and her daughter stand in flood waters in Badin district, northeast of Karachi (AP /Pervez Anjum)

Pakistani union appeals for flood-affected journalists

The Pakistani Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) is appealing to the international community, media workers, and human rights organizations to support journalists affected by the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history. PFUJ has compiles a list of some 230 affected journalists, citing at least 213 who have had their homes washed away in the floodwaters, and journalist Asma…

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A Blackberry logo is prominently displayed in Ahmadabad, India. (AP)

What should journalists know about BlackBerry fights?

The discussions between Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, and governments such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India continue to hit the headlines. In each case, disagreements center on providing customer communications to security and law enforcement services. The rumblings from these nations over monitoring powers aren’t just limited to RIM:…

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Global Voices Advocacy: Great Firewall of China Upgrade?

Oiwan Lam reports widespread disruption for users of Freegate, the popular circumvention software in China: According to the RFA report, users from several provinces across the country have encountered similar problem and they believe that it is due to the upgrade of Great Fire Wall. Apart from the Freegate, when running UltraSurf and FreeU the…

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President Aquino, here with his cabinet at Malacañang Palace, has frankly addressed issues like impunity and journalists' rights. (Reuters/Romeo Ranoco)

Despite fatal shootout, Philippines officials meet with CPJ

About 18 hours after eight hostages and the gunmen holding them in a tourist bus were killed in a shootout with police in the heart of Manila, officials broke away from the demands of the moment to meet with a CPJ delegation in the president’s offices at Malacañang Palace. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was…

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Families at the graves of Maguindanao victims. (Aquiles Zonio)

From grief of Maguindanao, a ‘family’ emerges

Today marks nine months since the Maguindanao massacre, the deadliest event for the press that CPJ has ever recorded.  On November 23, 2009, at 10 a.m., a convoy traveling to the provincial capital of Shariff Aquak to file gubernatorial candidacy papers stopped at what appeared to be a routine military checkpoint. Hours later, authorities would…

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