26 July 2009
Volume 10 - 2001 Issue 41 (16 Oct.)
Singapore
Citing a lack of financial backing due to the perceived sensitivity of its media monitoring activities, Singapore's three month-old MediaWatch Community (MWC) closed its doors in September, according to channelnewsasia.com. The fledgling organisation was formed in March by a group of former journalists and intellectuals to promote better media standards, improve media literacy and "encourage fair representation for alternative views" in the press, according to the "Straits Times".
International
South African journalists and media organizations are encouraged to submit nominations for the 2001 Human Rights through Journalism Award. Part of the Duma Nokwe Human Rights Awards created by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), the prize awards an individual or group who has contributed to the promotion or protection of human rights in South Africa. Nominations should include a resume or profile of the nominee, a complete description of the nominee's contributions, and a general picture of the nominee's long-term contribution to human rights in South Africa. Nominations must be submitted by 12 November.
Bangladesh
Journalists were the targets of numerous attacks in Bangladesh last week, following elections which saw a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition sweep to power, reports Media Watch. As many as eight separate incidents involving attacks on individuals or groups of journalists were counted â at least four of which were perpetrated by members of the BNP's student wing Chattra Dal.
China - Tibet
The Voice of Tibet (VOT), an independent Oslo-based radio station whose daily programmes provide listeners in Tibet with a "lifeline to the free world," is again being targeted by the Chinese government, reports the Norwegian Forum for Freedom of Expression (NFFE). According to the VOT Foundation in Oslo, Communist Party officials have intensified efforts to jam the station's short wave signal since late 1999, with high-ranking authorities reportedly stating that the VOT "should be silenced once and for all."
Peru
Journalist and professor Antero Gargurevich Oliva was released from prison on 5 October after serving eight and half years, reports the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC). Oliva was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison for having alleged links to the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrilla group. According to WiPC, the only evidence produced in court to prove Oliva's links were a number of Shining Path documents and some Marxist literature given to him by several of his students. Oliva had been doing studies on violence in Peru. According to the National Association of Journalists, Peru, a colleague of Oliva's at the Technical University of Callao fingered him after being subjected to torture by the police.
Afghanistan
"Journalists are being bullied and harassed by all sides in a conflict that calls for professionalism and independence from media ? not propaganda and censorship," declared the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last week, following numerous reports of arrests and detentions of journalists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Calling for governments to lift pressure on journalists who are attempting to report on the conflicts in those countries, IFJ, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) drew attention to the cases of six journalists who are currently being detained.
Azerbaijan
Government authorities used "violent force" to disperse a demonstration by 40 journalists in Baku who were protesting the continued detention of their colleagues and the poor state of freedom of expression, reports the Journalists' Trade Union (JuHI). Held on 10 October 2001, the demonstration coincided with an appeal by the Azerbaijani Council of Editors to President Heidar Aliev calling for the release of imprisoned journalists.
Jordan
In the wake of the 11 September attacks on the United States, the government of Jordan last week approved amendments to the Penal Code to combat terrorism, arguing that they were aimed at preventing some of the country's 14 weekly publications from publishing "lies and sensational stories" against the government, reports the "Jordan Times." However, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and Reporters sans frontières (RSF), these sweeping amendments indiscriminately target all publications and "seriously threaten press freedom."