MEXICO: Besieged Journalists Continue Publishing Paper

In the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, where activists say human rights violations and impunity are the norm, 31 employees of a newspaper that has been critical of the local government have been blockaded inside their building for three weeks.

AIDS-CHILE: More Condoms, Less TV

This September the Chilean government will launch an AIDS prevention campaign that places greater emphasis on the use of condoms, but will take only limited advantage of television as a means of spreading its message, a decision that health care specialists fear will make it less effective.

MEDIA: Inter Press Service Elects New Board

Inter Press Service International Association has elected a new Board of Directors and Director General to serve for the next three years.

MEDIA: Before Woodstein, There Were Upton, Lincoln and Ida

Most people in the United States under 40 have no idea what real investigative journalism is. Those old enough to remember Watergate and Deep Throat think it started with Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward and "All the President's Men".

MEDIA-YEMEN: Editors Report Threats From MP

A Yemeni newspaper says that a local ruling party politician, Sheikh Mohammad Ahmad Mansour, came to its offices last week with a group of armed followers and threatened the editors with violence if they did not stop publishing critical articles.

G8 SUMMIT: As Bloggers Will See It

For news on the summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations, Red Pepper, the British magazine "of the green and radical left," is inviting people around the world to forget the usual media channels and turn to coverage by its "grassroots writers" instead.

IRAQ: More Evidence Indicts U.S.

New evidence on U.S. war crimes and violations of international law was presented at the concluding session of the World Tribunal on Iraq at hearings in Istanbul Sunday.

MEDIA-UAE: ‘Lazy’ Journos and ‘Unwilling’ Officials

Many people working in the local and international media in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the Middle East's fastest growing nations, complain the country is doing a poor job of satisfying their needs.

MEDIA: IPS Honours G77 Chair With Special Award for 2004

The Inter Press Service (IPS) Special Award for 2004 was formally presented to Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar, the former chairman of the 132-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing countries.

LATIN AMERICA: Reg’l Meet Promotes Inclusive Information Society – In Theory

Non-governmental organisations and networks protested their exclusion from the Regional Preparatory Ministerial Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, held this week in Rio de Janeiro.

COMMUNICATIONS: Filling the Information Void

How can the information void on issues of development and globalisation be effectively filled? That question was addressed Wednesday at activities organised by the IPS news agency to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Tierramérica publication and the inauguration of the agency's Latin American regional headquarters in the Uruguayan capital.

U.S.: Surging Ethnic Media Speak in Many Tongues

Although largely ignored by advertisers, ethnic radio, television and newspapers in the United States now reach an astonishing 64 million people, about half of whom prefer them to the mainstream press, according to the first ever nationwide assessment of foreign-language and other ethnic media.

MIDEAST: Murder of Journalist Points to Rising Crisis

The prominent anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir was killed in a car explosion in a Christian residential neighbourhood of Beirut Thursday morning, in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.

MEDIA: Farewell to Fitzroy Nation, a Fine Jamaican

Fitzroy Nation, one of the finest Jamaican journalists, managed to handle many challenges and frustrations along his career and yet remain true to his ideals and principles. But he could not beat the liver cancer that stabbed him in the back. He died Tuesday in Amsterdam, at 52.

POLITICS: ‘World’ Bodies Under Fire for Serving the Few, Not the Many

The world's multilateral institutions - which preside over the political and economic destinies of more than six billion people - have come under heavy fire at a meeting of 350-plus representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) here.

ARGENTINA: First-Ever Permit for Indigenous Community Radio

The first operating licence ever granted by the Argentine government to an indigenous community radio station is being hailed as a major step forward in giving a voice to this sector of the population, while posing formidable challenges.

MEDIA-AUSTRALIA: Ethnic TV Channel Makes Debut Over Satellite

Members of an Australian innovative ethnic community television channel, which lost its broadcasting license a year ago, have taken to space to get their programmes seen in the country. They have now decided to beam their shows to Australia using satellite.

NEPAL: The Final Nail in the Coffin for Media Freedom

After months of sermonising on the need for a "nationalistic" and "responsible" media, the government of Nepal - directly controlled by King Gyanendra - passed an ordinance aimed at taming it.

MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: New Regional Network of the South is Born

Telesur, a regional public TV network envisioned as a Latin American version of the Arab world's Al Jazeera broadcasting group, was officially launched Tuesday at a ceremony in the Venezuelan capital.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: Press Freedom in the Spotlight

The International Press Institute kicked off its 54th general assembly Sunday, in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

MEDIA-U.S.: A Tale of Two Stories

Here's a question for international news hounds. Who is the ''son of a bitch'' referred to in this comment by a U.S. Defence Department spokesman?