Israel Throttles Palestinian Television

George Sahhar opens the door to a closet-sized control room, where a cacophony of wires, routers, papers, and computer screens are messily strewn across a desk.

Trinidad’s Broadcasters Rebel over Govt Airtime Demands

Nearly three years after it came to power promising to uphold press freedom, Trinidad and Tobago's coalition government is under fire for demanding free airtime from local broadcasters.

Q&A: “They Demanded I Behave. I Decided Not To”

Khadija Ismayilova has been threatened with blackmail by her own government. She has been branded an "enemy of the state", mainly for her exposés of official corruption.

Q&A: Exposing the Good, the Bad and the Lack of Media Freedom

Pansy Tlakula, the African Union's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, has done her best to address the continued harassment of journalists in the Gambia.

Q&A: Press Ethics Under Scrutiny in the UK

Upheaval over a new system of press regulation, which envisages stronger government intervention in the media, is posing a growing threat to Britain's age-old press freedom and to that same freedom worldwide.

Kashmiris Demand the Right to Know

Bashir Ahmad Malik was flabbergasted when a helicopter carrying an Indian official from Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar landed in his resident Drang village, just 17 miles away from its point of departure.

Tough Job? Try Reporting on Corruption in Kazakhstan

Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a 36-year-old reporter for an independent weekly in western Kazakhstan who was recently ambushed and nearly killed, was awarded the Peter Mackler Award for Ethical and Courageous Journalism this month – the first journalist from that country to receive international recognition in 10 years.

Rights Report on Iran Highlights Executions, Political Prisoners

More than a year into his mandate, Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, told the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly this week that the rights situation in Iran remains critical, especially as it pertains to human rights defenders, journalists, and religious and ethnic minorities.

TAJIKISTAN: Journalists Push Back Against Mounting Media Restrictions

In a country with no daily newspapers and soft-hitting state media outlets, the Internet is where an increasing number of curious Tajikistanis go for news and information. That’s apparently got officials worried.

Internet Becomes Newest Victim of Repression in Kashmir

Fayaz Ahmad’s Faim Internet Café in the Sopore township of Indian Kashmir was booming until a year ago, when police entered his premises without warning and seized all his computers.

Q&A: “Indian Reality Is Infinitely Complex”

One morning, Tarun Tejpal awoke to learn that five hitmen had been arrested for having a contract to kill him. Suddenly, the life of the prominent Indian journalist and editor was turned upside down.

Media Pluralism at Risk of Extinction in Chile

The announcement that the La Nación newspaper of Chile is closing down has drawn the attention of journalists, analysts and opposition lawmakers to the heavy concentration of press ownership, now in the hands of only two business groups, and to the lack of regulations to ensure media pluralism.

U.S.: Living with Hate in a Free Market of Ideas

U.S. President Barack Obama’s unequivocal defence of First Amendment protections of blasphemy and hateful speech during last week’s address to the 67th United Nations General Assembly defied calls from Muslim protesters and some foreign government leaders to ban a controversial YouTube video and support stronger restrictions to religious criticism.

Filipino Netizens Reject Cybercrime Act

A newly enacted cybercrime law in the Philippines has raised fears that not only online media but also ordinary netizens could be persecuted for exercising their freedom of expression.

U.N. Chief Jabs Media for Overblown Coverage of Hate Crimes

When the United Nations commemorated International Day of Peace last week, the celebrations were marred by news of widespread rage in the Islamic world, a continued bloody civil war in Syria, suicide bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan and violent demonstrations in Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh against a video caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

Alternative to Wikileaks Arises in Iceland

With the imprisonment of Bradley Manning and detainment of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks is effectively on hold. But that does not mean that leaks and whistleblowing activities have stopped.

Suu Kyi Backs Lifting of Final U.S. Sanctions on Myanmar

Speaking on Tuesday at her first public address in the United States, Myanmar’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said that she supported the lifting of the last remaining U.S. economic sanctions on her country, but also warned that all remaining political prisoners need to be released.

Fighting for a Free Press in Sudan

In Sudan’s newspaper district in Khartoum East, dozens of people sit beneath the trees sipping tea or reading newspapers. Most are journalists who once worked for the 10 newspapers that were either forced closed by the country’s security services or because of economic constraints that resulted after the government raised printing taxes in an attempt to prevent the media from reporting on anti-government demonstrations. 

Q&A: Harnessing the Power of the Press to Build Peace

Conflicts of interest can be viewed as drivers of societies and human development, although recourse to violence has destroyed millions of people’s lives and leaves generations wounded for decades and even centuries.

Belarus Heads for Election, not Democracy

Belarusians will vote for a new, but still regime-controlled parliament on Sep. 23. At least those who do not respond to calls for boycotting the poll.

Angola’s “Free and Fair” Elections Could Be Contested

Question marks hang over the legitimacy of Angola’s general election as Africa’s second-longest serving leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos has won a five-year term in office following his party’s landslide victory.