Press Freedom

THAILAND: Thaksin’s Friends Defy Junta, Hold Rallies

By IPS Correspondents
Thailand's military-installed government and supporters of deposed leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, are engaged in games of political chess centred on freedom of speech and political gatherings ahead of elections planned in December.

AFGHANISTAN: Media, Civil Society Stake Bold Claim as Leaders

By IPS Correspondents
Scan the pages of major newspapers around the world and the only news coming out of Afghanistan is about bomb blasts and the escalating conflict between the Taliban and NATO forces in the country's south.

MEDIA: Freedom Fight Against ‘Freedom Champions’

By Dahr Jamail
The al-Jazeera television network could be emerging as a freedom champion against U.S. pressures on the channel, leading media figures say.

PAKISTAN: Media in General’s Crosshairs

By Zofeen Ebrahim
After enjoying relative freedom under the eight-year-old regime of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, independent media groups are suddenly finding themselves in a hostile environment marked by raids and denial of government advertisements.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Custody of Female Journalist Reeks of Repression

By Amantha Perera
The unjustified four-month incarceration of female journalist Munusamy Parameshwari under anti-terrorist laws is being seen here as an example of the repressiveness that she was reporting on.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: “This Dictator Must Be Brought Down”

By Moyiga Nduru
Zimbabwe's outspoken Catholic archbishop, Pius Ncube, has volunteered to lead peaceful, mass protests to remove President Robert Mugabe from power, as Cardinal Jaime Sin did to unseat dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines more than two decades ago.

AFGHANISTAN: Italian Scribe Swapped for Five Taliban Prisoners

By IPS Correspondents
Freed Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo returned to Kabul Tuesday after being in Taliban custody for 15 days on charges of "spying" for the British.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Give Italy Three Days for Italian Reporter

By IPS Correspondents
The Taliban may have sent their clearest signal about the fate of abducted Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo by executing his driver, preceded by a taped warning that the Italian government has "only two days to save his life by starting negotiations."

AFGHANISTAN: Italy Talks With Taliban Over Abducted Journalist

By IPS Correspondents
A day after an Italian journalist kidnapped in Afghanistan appeared in a video, shown over television, appealing to Prime Minister Romano Prodi to work for his release, both the Italian Embassy in Kabul and the Taliban have confirmed they are in negotiations.

CHILE-PERU: Censorship or Prudent Relations?

By Daniela Estrada
Fears of censorship were triggered by a decision by Chile's public television station to postpone the broadcast of a documentary on the 1879-1883 war between Chile, Peru and Bolivia in response to a request by Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley, who had been contacted by the Peruvian government.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Kidnapping Motivated by ‘Press Freedom’?

By IPS Correspondents
The Taliban, the Islamist movement that dominated Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 and now is an outlawed rebel force, showed a new political facet when it kidnapped an Italian journalist this week.

IRAN: Defiant as Sanctions Begin to Bite

By IPS Correspondents
While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has chosen to defy Western plans to deepen sanctions against his country for its hugely contentious nuclear programme, criticism is growing louder at home for exposing Iran to avoidable risks and hardship.

CULTURE-CUBA: Exorcising the Ghosts of the Past

By Dalia Acosta
The expansion of a debate among a group of intellectuals in Cuba that began as an e-mail discussion at the beginning of the year would seem to demonstrate the need to bury once and for all the cultural restrictions of the past and open up spaces for dialogue, debate and diversity.

IRAQ: Another U.S. Military Assault on Media

By Dahr Jamail
Iraqi journalists are outraged over yet another U.S. military raid on the media.

CORRUPTION-HONDURAS: A Murky Transparency Law

By Thelma Mejía
The "law on transparency and access to public information" in force in Honduras since January is in violation of international conventions on freedom of expression and against corruption, and creates loopholes for preventing the declassification of "reserved" or restricted information.

MEDIA-CHILE: Community Newspapers Take to the Web

By Daniela Estrada
Political science student Vlado Mirosevic, 20, is the proud editor of El Morrocotudo, Chile's first community newspaper, where hundreds of people like him post news items of local interest on the Internet.

SRI LANKA: Newsprint Shortage Adds to Curbs on Media

By Feizal Samath
Residents of the embattled northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna who get to see the ‘Uthayan’ newspaper often get a copy that is thumb-worn and soiled from having passed through the hands of many avid readers.

MEDIA-IRAN: Self-Imposed Sanctions

By IPS Correspondents
Iran's nuclear programme, an undeniably serious issue for Iranians and the rest of the world, has overshadowed the country's deplorable human rights situation, including severe censorship of books and publications.

RIGHTS: Helping the World’s Most Persecuted Writers

By IPS Correspondents
A survivor of a secret Khmer Rouge prison where 14,000 people were brutally murdered is among the 45 recipients of this year's Hellman/Hammett grants, awarded each year to individuals who have shown extraordinary courage in the face of political persecution.

MEDIA: Iraq Leads Another Bloody Year for the Press

By IPS Correspondents
It was another dangerous year for the press around the world as the number of killed and imprisoned journalists rose in 2006, according to an annual report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

POLITICS-US: Officer Who Wouldn’t Serve Goes on Trial

By IPS Correspondents
Supporters of the first commissioned U.S. officer to refuse to serve in Iraq plan to pack the courtroom at Fort Lewis, Washington where First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a court martial Monday.
« Previous Page — Next Page »
*#*