CPJ asks Indonesian president to intervene in Playboy case
Dear President Yudhoyono: We are greatly concerned about the case of Erwin Arnada, the editor of Indonesia’s defunct version of Playboy magazine, who was sentenced to two years in prison for indecency by the Supreme Court. The court tried the case on an appeal from the attorney general’s office in July 2009 and some time after that sentenced Arnada to two years in prison for public indecency for publishing purportedly indecent pictures in a 2006 issue of the magazine. The magazine closed in mid-2007 after printing 10 issues.
Le Monde sues French president’s office
The newspaper Le Monde against the Elysée Palace, the office of the president of the French Republic: Two of France’s main symbols of influence and power are facing each other in a judicial battle that promises to be a litmus test in the running battles between the press and Nicolas Sarkozy’s so-called “imperial presidency.”
Why South Africa’s media fight matters to Botswana
For Batswana journalists, news that their South African colleagues are busy warding off a proposed statutory media tribunal from the ruling African National Congress sounds all too familiar. For more than a decade, the government of Botswana has been trying to push a media law that would effectively shift the whole media under state control.This was eventually…
CPJ urges Indonesia to reverse Playboy editor’s conviction
New York, September 9, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about an Indonesian Supreme Court ruling against Erwin Arnada, editor of the now-dormant Playboy Indonesia. Arnada faces up to two years in jail after prosecutors said recently that they would enforce a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that found the magazine’s editor guilty of…
Argentine government feud with Clarín deepens
A grave accusation by the administration of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner against Argentina’s two leading newspapers, Clarín and La Nación, has prompted claims that the government is attempting to control the press, and stirred up a heated debate on the state of freedom of expression in the country. The administration is alleging that the papers colluded with a…
Barzani’s KDP targets paper that alleged oil smuggling
New York, August 5, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, to drop a defamation complaint against an opposition weekly, Rozhnama. The complaint, filed under Saddam Hussein-era criminal statutes, seeks US$1 billion in damages and the closing of the newspaper.
Over protests, Medvedev signs bill expanding FSB power
New York, August 2, 2010—A measure signed into law on Thursday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will expand the powers of security agents and contribute to a climate of fear among government critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
No Wikileaks, but cocoa piece typifies fight over leaks
WikiLeaks’ publication of tens of thousands of pages of confidential U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war has drawn a lot of attention, perhaps overshadowing the many, more common cases around the world in which journalists publish stories based on leaked documents. This week, for instance, three journalists in Ivory Coast were found guilty of…
