Press Freedom

MEXICO: Community Radio Stations Under Fire

By IPS Correspondents
One of the 12 community radio stations operating legally in Mexico has literally come under fire, and its journalists have received death threats and been arrested; another has received warnings for covering the activities of social movements; and a third was closed down at gunpoint by supporters of the local government.

MEDIA: Journalists Targeted for Traveling Outside Iran

By Omid Memarian
In a new blow to free expression in Iran, security forces arrested three members of a 15-woman delegation of journalists en route to a training workshop in India last week, accusing them of infringing national security interests and threatening them with trial.

MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: From Turning Pages to Downloading Them

By IPS Correspondents
Piles of fast-selling newspapers on many a street corner, with early morning queues of commuters killing time reading and discussing the day's top stories... This scene from the 1980s and 1990s in Zimbabwe is now a distant memory, recognisable only to older urbanites.

MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: Last Independent Voice May Disappear

By Moyiga Nduru
The last of Zimbabwe's independent media voices would disappear if the publisher of the country's two remaining private newspapers loses his Zimbabwean citizenship, warn civil society activists and journalists.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Bloggers Rebel at New Censorship

By Omid Memarian
In a bid to clamp down even harder on information disseminated through the Internet, Iran's hardliner government has demanded the registration of all websites and weblogs sourced in the country by Mar. 1, drawing objections from many Iranian bloggers who say the move clearly violates free speech.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Fewer Political Prisoners, But Little Progress

By Dalia Acosta
The number of people in prison for political reasons in Cuba fell last year, but only by an insignificant margin, and there is no sign of a change in official policy since the "temporary" withdrawal from public life of President Fidel Castro due to illness last July, dissident sources said.

POLITICS-US: More Subpoenas Come Down in Watada Case

By IPS Correspondents
In a case that could have repercussions for free speech and press freedom in the United States, the U.S. military has subpoenaed two peace activists and a journalist in its case against Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to serve in Iraq.

/CORRECTION*/MEDIA-COLOMBIA: Journalist in Jail for New Year

By Constanza Vieira
"Jorge Eliécer" is the alias attributed by Colombian authorities to Fredy Muñoz, correspondent in Colombia for the Caracas-based Telesur Latin America TV news network, who was arrested on Nov. 19.

POLITICS-US: Reporter Summoned to Testify Against War Resister

By IPS Correspondents
The U.S. military subpoenaed an independent journalist Thursday, demanding she testify as a witness for the prosecution of First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to be court-marshaled for refusing to serve in Iraq.

MEDIA-CROATIA: Journalists Suspended over Some Old Quotes

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
A new debate has broken out in Croatia over freedom of expression after two editors with the state television were suspended for airing a clip from an old speech by President Stipe Mesic.

FIJI: Coup Leaders Gag Media

By IPS Correspondents
Fiji's leading daily newspaper and sole television station have suspended operations after attempts to censor their news by the military, which seized control of the country on Tuesday, ousting the elected government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Reporting the Truth Can Be Fatal

By Zofeen Ebrahim
''I just reported the truth,'' says 38-year-old Dilawar Wazir Khan wearily, explaining to IPS over the telephone why he was kidnapped and tortured.

MEDIA-IRAN: Policing of Internet Will Continue

By IPS Correspondents
Iranian officials have scorned the labelling of this country by a journalists' rights watchdog as one of the world's 13 Internet ‘black holes' and said they will continue to protect what they claim are the morals of society.

MEDIA: South-South Communications Lag Behind Trade Flows

By Mario Osava
Vigorous expansion of trade between developing countries has created "a new geography of global trade," but communications have lagged behind this and other processes that have increased the gravitas of the South, participants agreed at a seminar in Brazil.

ARGENTINA: Curbing Discriminatory Use of Government Advertising

By Marcela Valente
With the backing of journalists and lawyers, an Argentine non-governmental organisation has launched a proposal for regulating official advertising, in order to prevent the arbitrariness with which governments reward media outlets that support them and cold-shoulder the rest.

ST. LUCIA: Media Groups Applaud End to Criminal Libel Law

By IPS Correspondents
For three years, it hung like an albatross around the necks of the people here, and especially the journalists.

MEDIA-BURMA: Exiled Cartoonists Deliver Darts With a Smile

By IPS Correspondents
They have completely different styles, but they are bound by a common goal - a free Burma.

RIGHTS: Finnish Artists Honour Murdered Russian Journalist

By IPS Correspondents
Several Finnish artists and journalists have come together to produce a song to honour the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

MEDIA: Honouring the Best Who Cover the Worst

By Stephen Leahy
"I am not afraid of being killed," says Egyptian journalist Abeer Al-Askary, who has been repeatedly threatened and beaten by Egyptian government security forces.

MEDIA-THAILAND: Coup Masters Ban Community Radio

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
While Thailand's military-appointed prime minister seeks international approval and Bangkok's affluent citizens continue to praise last month's coup, a different reality is unfolding in the country's north and north-east provinces. One word sums it up: censorship.

ARGENTINA: Very Little Freedom of Information

By Marcela Valente
The decree that protects freedom of information in Argentina is weak, limited and ineffectively enforced, say civic organisations in Argentina that monitor the state's compliance with the right to public information.
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