This timeline has moved home to: http://www.dipity.com/Journalismcouk/International-Journalism-updates-from-Journalism-co-uk-media-freedom-around-the-world
Created by jtownend on 07/12/2008
Last updated: 12/03/10 at 07:49
Tags: international journalism press freedom journalism.co.uk events and awards world reporting kidnapping arrests prison citizen journalism war reporting media repression censorship
B.V. Seetaram, chairman and chief editor of Chitra Publications, has been arrested by police in the district of Udupi in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-calls-for-immediate-release-of-editor-arrested-in-india
FrontlineBlogger: "The Zimbabwe government has announced new restrictive measures for media workers working with foreign news organisations. It will cost up to US$4 000 to practice journalism in Zimbabwe for one year, according to a report in The Zimbabwe Times."
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=the_cost_of_reporting_zimbabwe&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
CPJ reports that Hadil Emad, 25, an editor for Biladi TV, 'was critically wounded after leaving work near a checkpoint on al-Jadriyya Bridge in al-Karrada district of Baghdad, according to local and international news reports.'
http://cpj.org/2009/01/video-editor-shot-by-us-military.php
The International Federation of Journalists ( IFJ) has condemned Israel over an attack on a television station in Gaza during its military offensive against Hamas in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The IFJ today welcomes "the ten-point agreement between the Nepal government and the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), which led to the cancellation of a nation-wide demonstration over growing attacks on the media."
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-welcomes-ten-point-agreement-between-federation-of-nepali-journalists-and-government#4469552a3dfb62e0e34b1096f69c2cbb
Two journalists were among the seven people killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the Government Polytechnic College in Dera Ismail Khan in northern Pakistan, reports the Frontline Blogger via Dawn.com.
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=two_journalists_killed_in_pakistan&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Colin Freeman and José Cendon have been freed after spending 40 days 'in a lawless wilderness of arid mountains and dusty caves, four hours' bumpy drive south-west of Somalia's port city of Boosaasoo,' the Telegraph reports.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/4109371/Telegraph-journalists-Colin-Freeman-and-Jos-Cendon-freed-by-kidnappers-in-Somalia.html
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in a statement that he had signed into law a controversial media bill imposing new restrictions on the press, reports AFP.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jyZnmaZakKKO_J_bPt_DQpMVTDgw
RSF has reiterated its call for the release of leading free speech activist Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), who has been held in a secret location since his arrest on 8 December. Liu was reportedly placed under a form of house arrest under article 57 of the code of criminal procedure, RSF reports.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29856
Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan was gunned down by a member of a pro-government militia in Afgooye, 30 km south of Mogadishu, RSF reports.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29851
It has been officially confirmed that Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian blogger, has been detained in Tehran. Reporters Without Borders calls on the judicial authorities 'to clarify' he has been detained since 1 November.
"The judiciary’s spokesman yesterday reportedly said he was being held in connection with comments he posted online about key figures of the Shiite faith," RSF reports.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29843
RSF is 'more concerned than ever' about the internet freedom in Thailand, after an announcement that access to more than 2,300 websites was blocked in 2008.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29847
Kazakh authorities must launch a thorough investigation into the stabbing of Artyom Miusov, a reporter with the opposition weekly Taszhargan, the CPJ has said.
http://cpj.org/2008/12/reporter-for-opposition-newspaper-stabbed-in-almat.php
Statistics on press freedom for 2008.
'Better figures despite a hostile climate and more internet repression,' RSF says.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29797
Three US mainstream broadcast networks, namely ABC, CBS and NBC, have stopped sending full time correspondents to Iraq. At the same time the channels are trying to bolster their numbers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Frontline blogger reports, via The Ledger.
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=major_tv_channels_pulling_out_of_iraq&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Hamza Shahin, a photographer with the Shihab Media Agency in the Gaza Strip, has died of injuries he suffered some two weeks ago when Israeli tanks attacked in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, a Frontline blogger reports, via IFJ.
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=hamza_shahin_killed_in_gaza&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
RSF condemns the Zimbabwean authorities 'kidnap' of journalist and human rights activist Jestina Mukoko in early December. RSF reports that she has been held incommunicado and that authorities are "now accusing her and several other members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of a terrorist plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. She faces a possible death sentence."
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29792
Violations of human rights, and threats to press freedom will continue over the next week, even if many countries are celebrating with festivities. However, this timeline will see limited updates until January 2 when normal service will be resumed and events added in. Send any suggestions to judith at journalism.co.uk.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) 'has condemned three months jail sentences handed down by a court in Algiers against two journalists in a defamation case warning that the judgement threatens the fabric of press freedom in Algeria.'
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-dismayed-by-jailing-of-journalists-in-algeria#f9b29c07be40b21115aa2c1d0fbf7d0e
"The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the repeated attacks against offices and personnel of the Himalmedia group of publications, by individuals believed to be associated with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the principal constituent of the ruling coalition in Nepal."
"Reporters Without Borders calls on the judicial authorities to overturn the jail terms that were passed on blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi (http://rooznegaar.blogfa.com) on 15 December, coinciding with a European Union appeal to Iran to respect the rights of its detainees. A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced Mirsayafi to two years in prison for “insulting” the Islamic Republic’s leaders and six months in prison for “publicity against the government."
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29767
RSF confirms that three bloggers have been arrested in the past seven weeks: Reda Abderrahman Ali (http://www.elaphblog.com/page.aspx?U=459&page=2), Mohammed Adel (http://43arb.info/meit) and Abdelaziz Mogahed (http://elmogahed02.blogspot.com).
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29755
"For the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its end-of-year analysis. The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ history."
http://cpj.org/reports/2008/12/for-sixth-straight-year-iraq-deadliest-nation-for.php
IFJ has said, after completing an emergency mission to Korea, that "the government in Seoul must act urgently over fears for the future of press freedom in the country.
"The call is among a number of IFJ proposals to end the deadlock between staff and management in a 154-day battle over editorial independence at the broadcaster YTN, a 24-hour news network. The IFJ says sacked workers must be reinstated and a joint agreement to guarantee editorial independence must also be put in place."
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/korean-government-must-speak-out-for-media-freedom-to-break-television-deadlock-says-ifj#d96aade4f81a526ee541daa327cdf7ce
"A journalist who disappeared in Zimbabwe on Saturday may be in police custody, journalists in Harare told CPJ."
http://cpj.org/2008/12/photojournalist-missing-in-zimbabwe.php
"Ebenezer Viwami, editor in chief of Alerte Info, was picked up outside a prison in Abidjan, Ivory Coast at the weekend. The Ivorian Internal Affairs and Justice Ministries, said Viwami falsified the reporting of a prison riot stating that three prisoners were shot dead when the official report said six prisoners were slightly injured prisoners and no-one was killed".
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=ebenezer_viwami_under_arrest_in_ivory_co&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
CPJ reports: "Shanxi public security officials told local journalists on Monday that Guan Jian, a reporter for Beijing-based weekly Wangluo Bao (Network News) who had been missing for 15 days, is in custody in neighboring Hubei province on suspicion of accepting bribes, according to local news reports. According to Chinese law, authorities must inform family or colleagues of an arrest within 24 hours."
"In a separate case, four plainclothes officers from Taiyuan arrested another journalist, Li Min, from state-run China Central Television - also on bribery charges - in her Beijing home on December 4, according to Beijing Qingnian Bao (Beijing Youth Daily)."
http://cpj.org/2008/12/two-chinese-journalists-face-corruption-charges-in.php
"The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the regional group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), today expressed great concern about the state of photo journalism in Europe following an EFJ seminar in Paris this weekend."
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/efj-concerned-about-state-of-photo-journalism-in-europe#ddc8b575bc9c0a71e1b3070bef8c9f44
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says the reporter who threw shoes at United States President George Bush over America's role in Iraq should be set free. His protest "reflected deep anger at the treatment of Iraqi civilians during the US occupation over the past four years of which journalists have been major victims," says the IFJ.
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-backs-calls-for-release-of-journalist-in-shoes-protest
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has 'condemned the absence of press freedom in much of the Arab world and has called on governments in North Africa, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf to end their repressive policies and release all imprisoned journalists, bloggers and freedom of expression advocates'.
http://www.wan-press.org/article17982.html
"The International Federation of Journalists ( IFJ) says the reporter who threw shoes at United States President George Bush over America's role in Iraq should be set free. His protest, says the IFJ, reflected deep anger at the treatment of Iraqi civilians during the US occupation over the past four years of which journalists have been major victims."
http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-backs-calls-for-release-of-journalist-in-shoes-protest#5e7fc91dbe061e8cec00acb03e70290e
There has been "a refusal by a plenary session of the Damascus appeal court to grant journalist and human rights activist Michel Kilo early release. The judges overturned an earlier ruling by the court in favour of Kilo’s release from Adra prison, in a Damascus suburb."
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29686
RSF reports that the Tehran prosecutor general Said Mortazavi announced yesterday that the 'special prosecutor’s department for Internet crimes' will henceforth work directly with the intelligence services.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29653
The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern for the welfare of prominent activist and writer Liu Xiaobo, who has not been heard from since authorities detained him in Beijing on Monday, according to his wife and lawyer.
http://cpj.org/2008/12/prominent-writer-missing-after-being-detained.php
"A Port-au-Prince court sentenced journalist and press freedom advocate Guyler Delva to one month in prison on Wednesday for defaming a former senator. Delva said he has received death threats he believes are linked to the case. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the court's decision today, and urged Haitian authorities to investigate the threats against Delva."
http://cpj.org/2008/12/journalist-sentenced-to-prison-for-defamation-1.php
Ohio's Toledo Blade newspaper has gained access to deleted emails from Seneca County commissioners through an 'open records law request'. The Supreme Court ordered officials to search for the missing emails - some had been handed over to the paper by the county.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/11/rcfp-ohio-newspaper-allowed-access-to-deleted-state-emails/
NUJ condemns police treatment of photographers at Greek Embassy
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/10/nuj-speaks-out-against-met-police-heavy-handedness-at-greek-embassy-protests/
There has been a presidential pardon for a journalist in Iraqi Kurdistan who had been sentenced to six months in prison, in direct violation of the region's press law.
CPJ reports: "Adel Hussein, a medical doctor and a freelance journalist with the independent weekly Hawlati, was found guilty of violating 'public custom' on November 24 by a court in Arbil, the regional capital, for publishing an article in April 2007 in Hawlati about sodomy and health. He was sent to an Arbil prison the same day. Instead of using the region's new press law, the sentence handed down was based on the outdated 1969 Iraqi penal code, said Luqman Malazadah, Hussein's lawyer."
http://cpj.org/2008/12/journalist-jailed-for-sodomy-article-released.php
AllAfrica.com reports via Vanguard that "the publisher of the Niger-Delta Detail and Isoko Detail Newspapers, Mr. Richard Ogbage, has been arrested by police detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Delta State Police Command Headquarters in Asaba for publishing an alleged libelous report concerning how the chairman of a local government council in the state spent the sum of N400 million in four months.
"The publisher had on his October edition ran the story with the headline, "Squandermania: How Isoko South N400m was spent in 3 months", but, the story ignited the anger of the council boss, who lodged a complaint with the police."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200812090202.html
'You are powerful' released, a video to mark 60 years of the UN Declaration of Human Rights
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/10/amnestys-viral-video-campaign-to-mark-60-years-of-universal-declaration-of-human-rights/
Trial continues of cyber-dissident Habib Saleh; Reporters Without Borders (RSF)reiterates call for his release. "The first supposedly public hearing in his trial took place before a Damascus court of assizes on 1 December but his daughter was the only member of the public allowed to attend and the hearing began without his lawyers being present," RSF reports.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29601
Police attempted to stop photographers reporting on a blockade of the Greek Embassy by Greek and British anarchists in London on Monday December 8.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/10/police-attempt-to-confiscate-photography-equipment-at-the-greek-embassy-protests/
RCFP reports: "After failing to persuade a federal judge of his First Amendment right to protect his confidential sources, Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter tried a new tactic Monday to keep their secret."
"He invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself."
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=7249
Kenyan editors are demanding the government withdraws a bill from parliament that could give the state powers to raid media houses and seize broadcasting equipments at will.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/09/journalism-in-africa-kenyan-editors-reject-draconian-communications-bill/
The Kyrgyz state television and radio company KNTR said on Friday that BBC's local radio service and U.S-funded Radio Liberty have been taken off-air, for 'violating' obligations, Reuters reports.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/08/reuters-bbc-radio-and-radio-liberty-banned-in-kyrgyzstan/
The proposition that UK reporting restrictions which - if broken - would contravene the British Contempt of Court Act, seem increasingly irrelevant.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/12/04/reporting-restrictions-who-can-access-them/
AP: Two men arrested in connection with kidnap of journalists in northern Somalia. The journalists have still not been named out of concern for their safety.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD94NBVGO0
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