Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator
Despite official repression, Sri Lanka media report attack
Details are emerging of Sri Lanka’s effort to control media coverage of an ugly attack on demonstrators by security forces last week. In Rathupaswala village in the town of Weliweriya, outside Colombo, on August 1, soldiers beat and fired on people protesting what they feared was contamination of their drinking water by a nearby factory.…
Afghan journalists in good hands–their own
I’ve been making the rounds of journalists and organizations in Kabul for the last several days. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been asked to come up with a support plan for journalists after next year’s presidential elections, the drawdown of international troops, and an expected reduction in international aid.
For Afghan journalists, elections, not troops, are key
I’m in Kabul for several days, making the rounds of journalists’ organizations and media houses. My brief is to see what, if anything, can be done to protect journalists after the withdrawal of NATO troops during and after 2014. But “post-2014” has much different connotations for the Afghans with whom I’ve spoken or been in…
In China, foreign correspondents see worsening conditions
Many international correspondents in China believe reporting conditions have worsened over the past year, according to a new survey by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China that also finds the Chinese government has “increasingly resorted to threats and intimidation against foreign media.”
Colleagues call for Walsh’s return to Pakistan
In our report, “Roots of Impunity: Pakistan’s Endangered Press and the Perilous Web of Militancy, Security, and Politics,” we included a long list of recommendations for the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to undertake to combat assaults on journalists and impunity in their murders. But there is a step Sharif could take immediately…
Sharif’s challenge: Work with Pakistani press, not against it
Pakistan’s general elections in May, though marred by violence that left more than 100 dead, was a reaffirmation of the people’s commitment to the democratic process. Voters proved once again that they can make decisions based on their own political interests–and not because of intimidation by those who would perpetrate violence. The media, with their…
Sri Lanka tries new ways to crush independent media
In Sri Lanka, where there has seldom been good news for the media in recent years, things have taken a further turn for the worse, as well as a turn for the bizarre. With President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government secure in its 2010 electoral mandate, its leaders have made fresh moves to tighten their control of…
An open plea: Xi and Obama can accomplish one thing
Dear President Xi and President Obama, You will both have received many public and private letters of advice prior to your meeting on Friday and Saturday in California. They will urge you to take up specific issues ranging from military and trade concerns to human rights. That diversity of concern is an indicator of how…
Anxiety for jailed Tibetan filmmaker as release nears
In a better world, it is usually a time for joy when a prisoner nears his or her release date. Jailed Tibetan journalists and their families do not live in that world. They live in a crueler place, where freedom is a distant mirage that might never be reached, and exhaustion or death is the…
Hamid Karzai goes conservative on media
As if a faltering media industry and rising risks to endangered journalists as NATO reduces its forces in 2014 aren’t bad enough, add in a president pandering to religious conservatives in a pre-presidential election run-up. Reporting from Kabul, Reuters said Wednesday: