Bloggers on hit-list posted by supposed Islamist group in Bangladesh

Reporters Without Borders A group identifying itself as Islamist has claimed responsibility for three murders, including that of Rajib Haider, a blogger whose throat was cut on 15 February 2013, and has named other future victims including Asif Mohiuddin, a blogger who narrowly survived a stabbing on 14 January 2013. The group, which calls itself Ansar al Islam Bangladesh (Defenders of Islam), posted the message on a newly-created Facebook page on 15 November, just hours after the fatal stabbing of sociology professor Shafiul Islam, one of the murders claimed by the group. Since then, the Facebook page seems to have…Read more

CPU MT Chairman elected to top European post

European Newspaper Publishers Association (EPNA) 11th November, 2014, Brussels – ENPA, representing publishers of newspapers and news media in Europe, announced today the appointment of Lord Black of Brentwood (Guy Black), Executive Director of the Telegraph Media Group (UK), as the new President of the association. Lord Black was elected during ENPA’s General Assembly which took place in Oslo at the weekend.A prominent figure in the international publishing sector, Lord Black has spent 20 years working for press freedom at national and global level. He has been director of the Press Complaints Commission in the UK…Read more

Rwanda’s media self-regulator subjected to intimidation campaign

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Reporters Without Borders calls on the Rwandan authorities to defend the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), the media self-regulatory body, against all the attacks it has received for objecting to the suspension of the BBC's Kinyarwanda-language broadcasts on 25 October. The attacks began in earnest yesterday [6 November 2014], with dozens of tweets in the space of a few hours lambasting the RMC, the legality of its mandate, and its president, Fred Muvunyi. Muvunyi dared argue that, as a broadcast frequency regulator, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), the government agency that suspended the…Read more

Hindu deity complaints further demonstrate need for Sedition Act repeal in Malaysia

Centre for Independent Journalism - Malaysia The repeal of the Sedition Act becomes increasingly urgent, as calls for its use become increasingly ludicrous. The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) finds the call for a water bottling company to be investigated under the Act, for featuring pictures of the popular tourist destination Batu Caves, both worrying and farcical. The image comes from a Malaysian tourism site and is featured in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2014. The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) has called for the bottlers to be investigated under the Sedition…Read more

Impunity condemned while another Pakistan assassination takes toll to 14

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) deplore the brutal assassination of a journalist in Sindh province yesterday [November 5, 2014] and demand the immediate arrest and persecution of the murderers. The IFJ said Pakistan leads its global death toll as the most dangerous country for journalists and media workers, outranking Syria and Iraq in journalist killings for 2014. Jewan Arain, a journalist of Dharti TV, was killed in Ghambat Khurha, Sindh, in Pakistan's Southeast, on November 5. According to reports,…Read more

Kenyan journalist covering police detained, harassed

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kenyan police to stop harassing and threatening a journalist in Kisumu city, western Kenya. Last month, police threatened and briefly detained Justus Ochieng, a reporter for the privately owned daily The Star, in connection with a story he wrote that alleged criminal activity by police officers in the region, the journalist told CPJ. Ochieng told CPJ that in Kisumu on October 2, three police officers with Kenya's Criminal Investigations Department threatened him with "dire consequences for exposing their colleagues." The Star reporter said he filed police…Read more

Zimbabwe’s first lady lashes out at privately-owned media

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) MISA-Zimbabwe notes with very grave concern recent attacks and threats against the privately owned media, by Zanu PF and government officials, including the First Lady Grace Mugabe, which pose serious risks to the safety and security of journalists. While the media is not immune to criticism, the First Lady's inciting statements particularly against journalists working for the Daily News at a Zanu PF rally in Marondera on 17 October 2014, were indeed frightening, as experienced and recounted by the affected journalists. Daily News journalist Fungai Kwaramba was among the posse…Read more

Cameroon journalists questioned in military court for withholding information

Committee to Protect Journalists Two journalists in Cameroon accused of withholding information from the state have been interrogated by a military court and ordered not to leave the country, according to news reports. A closed military court in Yaounde on Tuesday questioned for several hours Félix Cyriaque Ebolé Bola, a senior reporter for the privately owned daily newspaperMutations and the president of Cameroon's National Union of Journalists, and Rodrigue Tongue, a senior reporter and the head of the political desk for the privately owned daily Le Messager, according to news reports. A lecturer at a journalism school, Baba…Read more

World’s Press Calls for Greater Protection for Journalists

WAN/IFRA The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has called on governments worldwide for greater protections for media working in conflict areas, in the wake of the widely reported murders of two photojournalists in the Middle East. A resolution issued by the Board of WAN-IFRA, meeting Sunday on the eve of the World Publishing Expo in Amsterdam, also called for a concerted global effort to end impunity for the killers of journalists. “The targeting of journalists represents a serious threat to maintaining free, independent media. Stronger protections, more resources and better…Read more

Fiji rejoins Commonwealth as a full member

Commonwealth Secretariat Fiji was reinstated as a full member of the Commonwealth following a decision by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) at their 44th meeting in New York. The group concluded that Fiji’s suspension from the Councils of the Commonwealth should be lifted in recognition of the credible elections held on 17 September 2014 and the assumption of office by a democratically elected government. The Pacific island state was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth in 2006 following a military coup d’état. This meant that Fiji could not attend intergovernmental Commonwealth meetings,…Read more