Venezuelan weekly reopens, executives still charged
New York, August 30, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by ongoing criminal cases against two executives from the Venezuelan newspaper 6to Poder, but welcomes a judge’s decision to allow the weekly to resume publishing. The paper’s owner and a top executive were charged last week with inciting hatred, insulting a public official, and…
Omani judiciary attempts to silence newspaper before trial
New York, August 25, 2011–Charges against prominent Omani journalist and filmmaker Youssef al-Haj should be dropped immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Al-Haj’s trial over an article he wrote that allegedly accused the Ministry of Justice of corruption began on August 14 but was postponed until this Sunday. At the August 14 hearing,…
Venezuelan newspaper shut, executives charged
New York, August 24, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of the Venezuelan newspaper 6to Poder after a judge ruled on Monday that the weekly cease distribution. The newspaper’s owner and a top executive were charged with incitement to hatred, insulting a public official, and publicly denigrating women after the paper published a…
Chinese TV producer suspended for crash reportage
New York, August 2, 2011–The suspension of a state television producer for his coverage of last week’s fatal train crash sends a disturbing message to Chinese media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Information authorities intensified media restrictions at the end of last week in an effort to restrain the unusually probing media treatment of the July…
Mission Journal: Media under growing pressure in Turkey
Turkey is awash in media. The newsstands of Istanbul are buried under some 35 dailies of every format and political stripe. The airwaves are thick with TV channels and Internet penetration is tracking an economy growing at Chinese speed. Yet quantity does not equal quality. Nor does the array of titles mean diversity and freedom…
A legal attack accompanies assault on Pakistani journalists
Concerned that so many Pakistani journalists have been threatened, abducted, killed, or beaten recently? So are they. When I was in Karachi and Islamabad in late April and early May, I found that they are starting to take steps to protect themselves with increased safety training and protective gear at the larger media houses that…
Otunbayeva must halt persecution in Kyrgyzstan
President Otunbayeva: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the ongoing prosecution of two media owners and the imprisonment of a reporter on charges of inciting and participating in violent ethnic conflict last year. The persecution of Khalil Khudaiberdiyev, Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev, and Azimjon Askarov–all ethnic Uzbeks–tarnishes your stated commitments to press freedom and rule of law, and derails your government’s efforts to rebuild interethnic trust in a nation deeply divided by the June 2010 conflict.
Acquitted: A Kenyan journalist struggles to report freely
A court in Kisumu, western Kenya, recently acquitted journalist Bernard Okebe, at left, of graft charges after a two and a half year case against him. While the case is finally over, Okebe is still dealing with the fallout of being accused of blackmail.In December 2008, the police chief of Nyamira, a town in western…