Portuguese media chilled by Angolan involvement
Portuguese journalists are increasingly concerned by Angola’s growing investment and influence in their country. Buoyed by petrodollars and diamonds, powerful Angolan interests have been indulging in a buying spree in their former colonial power. Angolan capital invested in Portugal increased 35 times in the past decade, according to news reports. In a process often acidly…
CPJ urges Azerbaijan to halt its crackdown on the press
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to bring to your attention the deteriorating climate of press freedom in Azerbaijan, which undermines your government’s commitments to press freedom and human rights, mars the country’s international image, and obstructs the transparency of the upcoming October presidential vote in which you reportedly plan to seek re-election. We call on you to start reversing this trend and allow the press to report freely without fear of imprisonment, attacks, or politicized lawsuits.
Newspaper director gets jail for defamation in Ecuador
New York, March 12, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prison sentence issued Friday to Yaco Martínez, director of the daily La Nación in the province of Carchi. Martínez was convicted of defaming a former governor with an article published in his newspaper, according to news reports.
DRC journalist jailed after story on Chinese-run hospital
New York, February 15, 2013–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should release pending appeal a journalist who was sentenced to six months in prison in December on defamation charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist was taken into custody on Tuesday. Police arrested Joachim Diana Gikupa, editor of the private daily La…
Brazilian journalist ordered to pay damages in libel case
New York, January 31, 2013–Appellate courts in Brazil should overturn a decision ordering journalist Lúcio Flavio Pinto to pay more than $200,000 in damages in connection with a libel suit, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist, who was initially found liable in late 2012, lost an appeal in a ruling publicized on…