Internet freedom on trial in Thailand
Hearings commenced today in the trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, executive director of the Thailand-based independent news website Prachatai. She stands accused of 10 different violations of the country’s draconian 2007 Computer Crime Act (CCA), each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Russian media combats false piracy prosecutions
Some good news out of Samara. As we’ve reported previously, trumped-up piracy accusations have been frequently used in Russia to intimidate independent media. Sergei Kurt-Adzhiyev, a Russian editor, has spent years fighting piracy prosecutions against himself and his publications in the region. This week, he was declared not guilty. Russia’s Finance Ministry was ordered to…
Mauritius no heaven for news media
American author Mark Twain once quoted a Mauritian as saying that heaven was copied after this Indian Ocean island paradise. Mauritius is cited today as one of the few havens of press freedom in Africa, but for Raj Meetarbhan, left, editor-in-chief of the island’s largest newspaper L’Express, the country is fast losing its glow.Meetarbhan was…
Diplomats divert from issues at UNESCO symposium
UNESCO’s International Symposium on Freedom of Expression at the world culture organization’s Paris headquarters January 26 brought together a wide range of experts to construct a full picture of the state of freedom of expression in the world today. Not everyone in the audience liked what they heard.
In Kashmir, Tehelka takes on press freedom abuses
The latest issue of India’s Tehelka weekly magazine carries some great reporting on press freedom issues, an effort supported by CPJ and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The article, by Pragya Tiwari, includes many examples of journalists being harassed and assaulted while reporting on clashes between security and separatist groups in Jammu…
Egypt rejoins the Net
Internet connectivity has been restored to Egypt, though it’s hard to tell from the outside just how reliable that connection is. Monitoring organizations Renesys and BGPMon provide technical details on their blogs. For a more dynamic display, RIPE, the community which helps co-ordinate the European Internet, has a live graph of the numbers of Internet…
Is Taiwan’s media independence under threat?
As business relations develop between China and Taiwan, concerns are growing that Taiwan’s media freedom may be compromised. The culprits include some journalists themselves, promoting China to preserve their own business interests, and Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) government, apparently attempting to exert control over the media through legislation.
What the Internet loses from Egypt’s disappearance
Last night at 20:54 UTC, Noor Group, the only remaining Internet service provider in Egypt with a consumer broadband service, depeered with the rest of the Internet. There are now only 12 Egyptian networks connected to the Net, none of which appear to be offering public connections.
Mideast stations circumvent Al-Jazeera blockage
As massive protests endure throughout Egypt, the regime continues to disrupt the media as well as phone and Internet service. CPJ is closely following the censorship of the news, and will update on our blog today as developments break. Here’s what’s new:
Government lies are exposed in Egypt’s Tahrir Square
Hosni Mubarak’s regime has had 29 years to perfect its always brazen but never convincing justifications for repressing journalists who expose the travesties he and his henchmen regularly visit upon the people of Egypt. It has also long enlisted state-owned media to disseminate the ruling party’s half-truths and outright lies. But over the past week,…