26 July 2009
Volume 11 - 2002 Issue 43 (05 Nov. 2002)
International
The thorny question of whether there ought to be international standards on freedom of expression on the Internet is expected to highlight an international symposium next week in Paris, France.
International
The Daniel Pearl Foundation and the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) have launched a new journalism fellowship in honour of slain "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl to promote press freedom and foster East-West understanding.
International
Since 1992, the International Press Institute (IPI) has been based in Vienna, Austria, and has seen its membership expand from 70 to 115 countries. To mark its first ten years of press-freedom campaigning since moving its offices from London to Vienna, IPI has announced plans to hold a series of events running from 20-24 November.
International
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has postponed its world conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, due to lack of funding and an unstable political situation that has raised concerns over safety.
International
The Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network (CASCFEN) will hold its first general meeting and conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, next March, where it will officially launch a founding declaration, plan future activities and present country reports on the state of press freedom in Central Asia.
Liberia
Liberia's President, Charles Taylor, has given the first indication that journalist Hassan Bility, secretly detained since June on suspicion of collaborating with rebels, may soon be released, says Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).
United States
Internet free-expression campaigners may have cause for hope: the United States Congress is considering a bill calling for the creation of a special office to combat Internet censorship in authoritarian regimes around the world, report International Journalists' Network (IJNet) and the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER).
Chile
For the first time in 10 years, Chileans will be able to see more than 1,000 films that had previously been banned following Senate approval of a new law abolishing film censorship, reports PERIODISTAS (la Asociacion para la Defensa del Periodismo Independiente).
Namibia
It seems Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may be setting an example for his counterpart in Namibia. As Mugabe has clamped down on the media to muzzle public criticism of his policies, so has Namibian President Sam Nujoma increasingly made moves to rein in dissent from the country's mostly free press. And it has many journalists in Namibia worried.
International
Attacks on journalists, the growing number of lawsuits launched against the media and the existence of media laws designed to muzzle press freedom continue to characterise the press-freedom situation in the Americas, said the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) at the conclusion of its recent general assembly.