Press Freedom

POLITICS-TUNISIA: Little Room for Taking Government to Task

By IPS Correspondents
The plight of Tunisian attorney Mohamed Abbou has been in the spotlight for several weeks now, with U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher being quoted earlier this month as saying Washington was "very concerned" about Abbou’s imprisonment.

/ARTS WEEKLY/LITERATURE-VIETNAM: Writers Becoming State Puppets?

By IPS Correspondents
The long absence of good literary works from Vietnam has set off some soul-searching questions among authors here, with many asking whether government grants given to members of the Vietnamese Writers' Association (VWA) have been put to good use.

MALAYSIA: Freedom of Information Still Under Gov’t Prerogative

By Baradan Kuppusamy
In a society where even the number of chairs and tables in a ministry is classified as official secrets, a U.S.-style Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) might seem to be the best way to force Malaysia's government to share information with the public.

MALAYSIA: They Still Ban Books and Shackle Minds?

By IPS Correspondents
-When Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took over the reins of power in Malaysia in late 2003, he was widely expected to usher in a new era of openness and tolerance of differing views. But, of late, a slew of books offering alternative or critical views on a range of subjects have been banned, confiscated or monitored while their authors have come under fire or indirect pressure.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Sierra Leone’s Libel Laws Under Fire

By Lansana Fofana
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), Sierra Leonean journalists aren't so much celebrating media freedom as girding themselves for a legal battle over press rights.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Murdered Tamil Journalist, a Symbol of Courage

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
For Sri Lanka's reporters, World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday took on added poignancy this year due to one name, Dharmeratnam Sivaram - the South Asian island nation's best journalist on Tamil affairs.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Nepali Journalists Live Dangerously

By IPS Correspondents
Press freedom in Nepal is in peril. And on Tuesday to mark World Press Freedom Day, about 1,500 journalists braved arrest to march through the capital in a bid to remind the international community that many of their colleagues are still languishing in detention centers since King Gyanendra seized power in February.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Murder Capitals for Journalists Named

By Thalif Deen
The Philippines, Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh, and Russia are the world's ''most murderous'' countries in which to be a journalist, New York-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Monday.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Secrecy, Propaganda Seen Sweeping U.S.

By IPS Correspondents
Freedom of the press is in decline in the United States amid increased government secrecy and propaganda, say media veterans, analysts, and advocates.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY-ZIMBABWE: Less Press, Little Freedom

By IPS Correspondents
Last year, Zimbabwe earned itself a place on a list of the ‘World’s Worst Places to Be a Journalist’, published by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Twelve months on, little has changed.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Thai On-Line Crusader Fights Silent Battle

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Every May 3 is dedicated to world press freedom, a day to remember and stress the importance of a free press in a free society. Yet, Somkiat Juntursima is a name that barely registers on the radar of Thailand's media world. Nor the publication he edits, 'Prachatai', an on-line news website in Thai.

MEDIA: Censorship by the Bullet

By IPS Correspondents
Neither of the two journalists who fearlessly crusaded for human rights and free speech despite violent threats will be accepting their 2005 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Awards in person next week.

MEXICO: Drug Trade a Deadly Subject for Journalists

By IPS Correspondents
In the space of less than a week, a Mexican reporter was murdered, another disappeared, and a third was shot nine times, yet miraculously survived. All three crimes were perpetrated by drug traffickers, who very likely had the help of police officers eager to silence damaging information.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Bad News From All Sides

By Marty Logan
Jail is just one threat facing Nepal's under fire journalists.

MEDIA-US: Bush Shows No Remorse for Fake Newscasts

By IPS Correspondents
Despite a rising chorus of condemnation from journalists and media critics, the George W. Bush administration shows no signs of abandoning its distribution of taxpayer-funded "news" to U.S. newspapers, radio and television stations.

RIGHTS-THAILAND: A Media David Takes On the Premier’s Goliath

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
As she prepares for a groundbreaking legal battle against one of the country's most powerful conglomerates, a 31-year-old Thai woman is gaining prominence as a heroine for democracy.

MEDIA: 78 Journalists Killed Last Year

By Sanjay Suri
Seventy-eight journalists were killed last year in the course of their work, a survey by the Vienna-based International Press Institute shows.

MEDIA: Iraq Toll Makes 2004 Worst Year for Press in a Decade

By IPS Correspondents
Violence in Iraq claimed the lives of 23 journalists and 16 media support workers in 2004, making it the most deadly year for press freedom in a decade, according to the annual report of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

MEDIA-EAST TIMOR: A Daily Becomes the Prime Minister’s Punching Bag

By IPS Correspondents
Press freedom in the world's newest nation, East Timor, is under attack with a major daily newspaper being harassed by the government after it reported on famine deaths in the island.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Think of These Three Women

By Sanjay Suri
International Women's Day asks you to think of half the world, but two writers groups asked Tuesday for attention particularly to three women "under attack for using new information technology to challenge their governments."

NEPAL: Global Condemnation Secures Release of High Profile Journalist

By IPS Correspondents
The arrest and quick release late Monday of prominent Nepali journalist Kanak Mani Dixit underscores the current perils of Nepal's free press and highlights the dilemma of the present palace-appointed government.
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