Legal protection falls short for Zimbabwe’s Insider
The Insider is a political newsletter about Zimbabwe, edited by veteran journalist Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was printed as a 12-page leaflet until 2003, when Zimbabwe’s hyper-inflation made it impossible to publish with annual subscriptions. Rukuni made the move to the Web, where he continued to archive and publish stories at insiderzim.com. Rukuni’s…
Gongadze murder suspect’s trial should be open to public
New York, August 16, 2011–The Pechersky District Court in Kyiv must open to the public the ongoing trial against Aleksei Pukach, a former interior ministry general charged with the notorious 2000 killing of independent journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today.
Chinese journalist targeted in hacking attack
New York, July 26, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a hacking attack on a Chinese journalist’s e-mail account reported by her employer on Saturday. The attack originated from a region of China where the journalist was investigating child trafficking.
Silencing global coverage, Syria detains, expels reporters
New York, July 14, 2011–The Syrian government has detained a local journalist who contributes to pan-Arab news outlets and expelled an international reporter, according to news reports, continuing a crackdown designed to silence global news coverage of the nation’s political crisis.
Security vs. risk: More on Facebook and Google+
It’s been fascinating watching the hothousing of a new social network in Google+. In the early days of Twitter, it was the users who invented social norms like “@”ing people, hashtags, and retweeting, which the designers of Twitter adopted and echoed in thee hardwired code of the website itself. Such affordances, as they are known,…
When rape is inevitable: Surviving imprisonment in Iran
As I read the account of Saeeda Siabi in an Iranian prison it became hard for me to breathe. Her descriptions of being raped in front of her 4-month-old son stopped the air in my chest. “They took me to a torture room and tied me to a bed,” she said. “I was wounded and…
Google+ for journalists at risk
When they’re creating new features, software designers talk in terms of “use cases.” A use case describes steps that future customers might perform with a website. “Starting a group with friends,” would be a use case for Facebook. “Buying a book” would be case for Amazon’s designers.
Belarus police detain and beat a dozen reporters
New York, June 30, 2011–In a new crackdown against the independent press, Belarusian police briefly detained and beat more than a dozen reporters, and broke their equipment at a Wednesday protest rally in Minsk and Brest, according to news reports and CPJ sources in Belarus.