Journalists wounded in Iraq blast flown to Germany
New York, January 30, 2006—A U.S. news anchor and a cameraman wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq were flown to Germany today where doctors described their injuries as very serious. ABC World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff, 44, and ABC cameraman Doug Vogt, 46, were evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany…
Internet reporter held without charge in Ethiopia
New York, January 30, 2006—Ethiopian security forces have detained a correspondent for the U.S.-based Web site Ethiopian Review, its publisher Elias Kifle said today. Journalist Frezer Negash has been held without charge in Addis Ababa since Friday, Kifle told the Committee to Protect Journalists. “We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16…
China: Dissident Internet writer formally arrested
New York. January 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the January 20 arrest of Internet writer Yang Tongyan (known by his pen name Yang Tianshui) on suspicion of “subversion of state authority.” Relatives received formal notice of the arrest from the Zhenjiang city public security bureau last week, according to CPJ sources. Authorities have…
Belarusian police seize ‘antistate’ video from Ukrainian TV crew
New York, January 30, 2006—Belarusian police stopped a Ukrainian television crew at a border checkpoint on Friday and seized video footage they described as “antistate,” according to local and international press reports. A crew with the independent Inter network was returning to Kyiv from assignment in the Gomel region of Belarus when a border patrol…
ABC News anchor and cameraman wounded in blast
New York, January 29, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about ABC World News Tonight co-anchor Bob Woodruff and ABC cameraman Doug Vogt who were seriously wounded in a bomb attack while traveling with the Iraqi army today near Baghdad. The two journalists were embedded with the U.S. military’s 4th Infantry Division accompanying…
Renewing a battle, Thai government lashes out at media owner
Bangkok, Thailand, January 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Thai government’s recent moves to disrupt the signal of the satellite-based television news station Asian Satellite TV (ASTV) and to block access to a popular news Web site. Both actions appeared to be aimed in part at veteran journalist and media owner Sondhi Limthongkul,…
CPJ delegation alarmed by worsening press situation in Yemen
Sana’a, Yemen, January 26, 2006—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm today at the deterioration of press freedom in Yemen. Over the last several months, a growing number of Yemeni journalists have been the victims of brutal assaults, arrests, intimidation, and government-sanctioned newspaper closures. They now also face the prospect of a…
Vietnam: One Internet journalist freed; two others still jailed
New York, January 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of freelance Internet journalist Nguyen Khac Toan but deplores the continued imprisonment of two other online reporters in Vietnam. Authorities in Hanoi freed Toan on Tuesday, according to Doan Viet Hoat, a prominent U.S.-based dissident, and international news reports. Toan had been sentenced…
Imprisoned for libel, a Polish journalist is released
New York, January 26, 2006—A Polish journalist convicted in a rare criminal libel prosecution has been freed two days into his prison term after the country’s top constitutional court ordered the suspension of his sentence, according to news reports. Andrzej Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly Wiesci Polickie in the town of Police, was released from…
Venezuelan judge issues gag order in high-profile murder case
New York, January 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Caracas judge’s decision on Monday to issue a gag order prohibiting news outlets from reporting on the investigation into the 2004 murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Judge Florencio Silano, acting at the request of Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez, barred the “publishing, spreading or exposition”…