Arnada’s Supreme Court appeal continues in Indonesia
Here’s a quick update on the Indonesian Supreme Court’s ongoing hearing to review its decision to sentence Playboy Indonesia editor Erwin Arnada to two years in jail for “public indecency.” It’s a case I’ve been following closely, because the outcome is an indicator of which direction Indonesia will be moving in the coming years –…
Government threatens press in pre-election Tanzania
As the October 31 national elections draw near, Tanzania’s media is in a frenzy trying to cover the close race between the two leading presidential candidates. But government threats and draconian media laws may be getting in the way of objective coverage.
Iraq war logs: US fails to answer for deaths of journalists
The Guardian quotes CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem in the article “Iraq war logs: US fails to answer for deaths of journalists” carried on October 22. Following Wikileaks’ recent publication of American military documents the Guardian describes how Iraq has been one of the most dangerous recent wars for the…
Internet Blotter
A powerful advocate for press and Internet freedom, Persephone Miel sadly passed away in June. The Pulitzer Center, in partnership with Internews, has launched a memorial fellowship in her name. How the Great Firewall of China breaks the global Internet: stories of Chinese re-routing and censorship affecting services in Chile, the US, and even the…
Protecting journalists from Firesheep
There’s been a great deal of coverage in the last day or so of Firesheep, a plugin for Firefox that lets you take over the Facebook and Twitter accounts of others on your local network. If you use Firesheep, you can pick one of the people on, say, the same open wireless at your nearby…
Journalists in Pakistan remain under threat
New York, October 25, 2010–Pakistan must take immediate steps to rein in police and government agencies that threaten reporters. Two cases in recent days–those of journalists Hafiz Imran and Umar Cheema–demonstrate how reporting on stories that are critical of the authorities can bring officials’ wrath down on reporters.
In South Africa, echoes of Black Wednesday
On October 19, 1977, South Africa’s government banned The World newspaper, along with Weekend World, the paper’s weekly magazine, and Pro Veritate, a Christian publication. Authorities also detained scores of activists and outlawed 17 anti-apartheid groups during the one-day crackdown, which came to be known as Black Wednesday.