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Tuesday, November 10, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Press Freedom
EGYPT: State Media has New Bosses, Old Habits
Six months since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the state media organs that once glorified the dictator's policies and glossed over his failures have new leaders. Yet the mindset of decades of authoritarian rule remains intact, say media experts.CHINA: Microbloggers Launch Long March to Freedom
China’s rapidly growing legion of microbloggers is proving a worthy foe against ongoing government efforts to monitor, influence and censor information on the country’s vast Internet. Government efforts have failed to curb an outpouring of anger and grief in the wake of the recent Wenzhou train disaster.People Find Online Power Now in Malaysia
Following a major rally involving tens of thousands of protesters calling for electoral reforms in Malaysia, someone set up a Facebook page calling for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down. Within ten days, the number of people who said they "like" the page crossed 200,000.Freedom of Expression Can Be Limited Only in “Exceptional Circumstances”
The United Nations Human Rights Committee confirmed the central role of freedom of expression in human rights, making it clear that it can only be limited in the most exceptional circumstances, and calling for the first time for unrestricted public access to official information.ECUADOR: President Wins Defamation Suit Against Newspaper Execs
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador has won a libel suit against the newspaper El Universo over an op-ed column that referred to him as the "Dictator" and accused him of committing "crimes against humanity."
Q&A: The Full Impact of Wikileaks Will Be Felt a Few Years Down the Road
Even before he was hired as spokesman for the Wikileaks whistleblower web site in July 2010, 49-year-old investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson realised that the new initiative would have the power to bring about transformations simply by informing society, starting in his own country, Iceland.POLAND: Hate This Speech
"What Hitler started, we will finish...go to the gas chamber, Jews, go to the oven." When Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski read this and similar comments in discussion forums, he decided to go to court.CARIBBEAN: Legal Threats Surpass Physical Risks for Journalists
Caribbean journalists meeting here last weekend celebrated the news that not a single colleague was killed during the first six months of this year.
MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: The Seduction of Power
The governments and big private media groups in Latin America are waging a war to win over public opinion, the ultimate arbiter of legitimacy, and the only solution would appear to be to strike up an alliance.
Chinese Dissident Artist Ai Weiwei Freed
Ai Weiwei, the renowned artist who is among the most prominent dissidents detained in China's sweeping recent crackdown on dissent, has been released on bail after confessing to tax evasion.
MIDEAST: Where Freelance Means Abandoned
Sitting by the hospital bed of freelance photographer Mohammed Othman, Ashraf Abu Amrah knows that nobody owns a freelance journalist from Gaza who gets injured, or dies.
EL SALVADOR: Radio Station under Threat in Mining Region
Manuel Navarrete fiddles with the buttons and adjusts the volume on the control panel at the Radio Victoria community radio station in northern El Salvador, while he reads over the microphone the latest communiqué in which social organisations express their solidarity with the station's journalists, who have received death threats.Female Journalists Break Silence on Sexual Violence
On Feb. 11, while the world was celebrating former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's fall from power, CBS television correspondent Lara Logan was being "mercilessly assaulted" by a group of well over 200 men in a dark corner of Tahrir Square.ELECTIONS-PERU: Partisan Media Distort Information
Attacks, fear and disinformation are widespread in news coverage of Peru's election campaign, with the leading media outlets taking the side of rightwing Keiko Fujimori in her contest against Ollanta Humala for the presidency.MEDIA-PAKISTAN: What Price Truth
When journalist Umar Cheema, 35, first heard of the death of his colleague Syed Saleem Shahzad, considered an expert on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, on May 31, he could not help but relive his day-long captivity with one of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies last year on Sept. 4.Media War Blurs Picture in Syria
Since pro-democracy protests began over two months ago, Syria has been engaged in a fierce media war - with journalists arrested and international press banned from entering the country. This has severely curtailed the flow of information out of the country.UKRAINE: Murder Case Reopens Can of Worms
Accused of being unfriendly towards journalists, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich has surprised the world by starting an investigation for abuse of power against former president Leonid Kuchma over the murder of an opposition journalist in 2000.Social Media Takes a Far Right Turn
Social media is being heralded as a revolutionary weapon for the empowerment of discriminated groups such as migrants. But so far it is the xenophobic far right that has made the most of it.EUROPE: Media Complicit in Rise of Xenophobia
As European leaders increasingly question the concept of Europe without borders and follow each other in announcing the end of multiculturalism, the media response has been mostly to present migrants as destabilising Europe’s labour markets and welfare states.World in the Throes of a Human Rights Revolution, Says Amnesty
The growing demands for democratic reforms spreading across the Middle East and North Africa - along with the dramatic rise of social media networks - have triggered "a human rights revolution on the threshold of a historic change", says Amnesty International (AI).
MEDIA: Uniting in the Face Of “Unnatural” Disasters
"In my opinion, there is no such thing as a natural disaster," says Sylvia Richardson, a volunteer broadcaster, mother of two, assistant librarian, and the new vice president of the North American region of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).« Previous Page — Next Page »
Journalism is dangerous work. Dozens of reporters and other media workers are killed in the line of duty each year. Hundreds more face threats, intimidation, and harassment as they risk their lives to let us know what is going on in war zones and as they root out corruption. In the Information Age, the Internet provides us with new ways to disseminate the news even as it poses new threats to press freedoms.
IPS Director General Farhana Haque Rahman was invited by UNESCO as a panelist at the World Press Freedom Day 2017 gathering in Jakarta, in the Plenary Session: Quality journalism: a public good for just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
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