2010
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…
Ugandan media celebrates, fights on after sedition ruling
With surprise and relief, Ugandan journalists, who routinely face the police’s “media crimes” unit, welcomed a partial victory for press freedom on Wednesday. The country’s constitutional court had ruled that criminal sedition was unconstitutional. Even so, there was a consensus that more legal press battles lie ahead.
Togo bans paper over story on president’s half-brother
New York, August 26, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Wednesday’s ruling by a criminal court judge in Togo to indefinitely ban the distribution of a Benin newspaper that had raised questions about the alleged involvement of a half-brother of President Faure Gnassingbé in drug trafficking.
Lauría op-ed on Mexico in El País
In an op-ed in the Spanish newspaper El País, CPJ senior program coordinator for the Americas Carlos Lauría argues the wave of violence that has hit Mexico in the current war between powerful drug cartels has let to widespread self-censorship in Mexican media. Lauría describes how the situation has become untenable for reporters covering issues…
Jailed Iranian journalist Goudarzi receives NPC award
The National Press Club has announced the recipients of the 2010 John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award, which is given each year to individuals who have contributed to the cause of press freedom and open government. This year, the international recipient is Iranian blogger Kouhyar Goudarzi, who is being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison–notorious…
Video: Who is killing Honduran journalists?
With another journalist murdered in Honduras on Tuesday, bringing the total killed since March to eight, the country’s press is understandably jittery. In a new documentary jointly produced by the Inter-American Press Association and the Video Journalism Movement, Carlos Mauricio Flores, the executive director of Tegucigalpa-based El Heraldo newspaper says, “We journalists are living in uncertainty and fear.”
Trial upcoming for two suspects in Moscow double murder
In an encouraging ruling last week, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow ordered that two suspects in the January 2009 double murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anastasiya Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov be kept in custody pending trial.
Honduran radio reporter shot in latest journalist murder
New York, August 25, 2010–Honduran radio reporter Israel Zelaya Díaz was found shot to death on Tuesday along a rural road near the northern city of San Pedro Sula, the latest in an alarming string of journalist murders in the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Honduran authorities today to conduct an immediate…
Somali journalist killed in Mogadishu crossfire
New York, August 24, 2010–Veteran radio journalist Barkhat Awale, at left, was killed by crossfire today in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports. He is the second journalist killed on duty in Somalia this year, according to CPJ research. Awale, 60, director of the community radio station Hurma Radio, was…