An Iraqi in America: ‘Time is like a sword’ here
It has been almost nine months since I arrived in the United States. I can’t believe how fast life is moving and how different my family’s days are now are from the old days—that was a beautiful time. Everything is changing now. There’s no simplicity for us anymore.
Haiti’s Radio Tele Caraïbes lost its offices, not its mission
Radio Tele Caraïbes is out on the street after losing the use of its offices in the January 12 earthquake, but the Port-au-Prince broadcaster has resumed operations nonetheless. A makeshift newsroom has been set up in a tent in the middle of a street. Staff meetings and discussions are being held under the gaze of…
Released writer tweets about life in a Chinese prison
Siweiluozi’s Blog, an anonymous blog that covers various Chinese legal issues and current affairs, has translated a series of updates by Chinese writer Yang Zili, who was arrested in 2001 and later convicted of subversion against the state for online articles. Released last year after serving eight years, Yang joined Twitter and has been describing…
TV coverage guidelines drawn in Pakistan as violence rises
In November 2009, I received this e-mail message from a few people in Pakistan:TOP NEWS MANAGERS AGREE ON TV COVERAGE GUIDELINESISLAMABAD—Top news managers from Pakistan’s eight television channels have evolved a first-of-its-kind voluntary framework to standardize professional guidelines governing terrorism coverage. [A PDF of November’s message is here.]Since then there hasn’t been much more news about the issue,…
Community radio stations obliterated, off the air in Haiti
More than two weeks after earthquake that devastated Haiti, several community radio stations are still off the air. In the western and southeastern parts of the country, at least 16 stations are facing serious problems that have suspended their broadcasts, Sony Esteus, executive director of SAKS, a local organization of community radio stations, told CPJ. The earthquake…
After election, will Sri Lanka improve press record?
Sri Lanka’s Department of Elections today declared incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa the winner of the presidential election with almost 58 percent of the vote. The situation is still tense as his opponent, former Gen. Sarath Fonseka, threatens a lawsuit to challenge the entire process, from voter access to irregularities in computer counting, to name just two…
Press freedom gets red card as World Cup approaches
As South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup and “soccer fever” reaches its height, press freedom may be left on the benches. Police have recently subpoenaed two journalists working for private station e.tv to reveal their sources in a story about a scheme to commit violent crimes during the big event. On January 16, e.tv…
Haitian media casualties, damages mount
Working in an atmosphere of great confusion and grief, our sources in Haiti are compiling preliminary lists of media casualties, documenting damages to news facilities, and examining the challenges ahead. SOS Journalistes, a press advocacy group led by the prominent Haitian journalist Guyler Delva, reports that at least 11 journalists died in the January 12…
Report: Why haven’t Maguindanao gunmen been arrested?
International press freedom groups, including CPJ, have released a new, in-depth report into the November massacre of 30 journalists and two media support workers in Maguindanao province, Philippines. The 32-page document questions why roughly 100 gunmen believed to be involved in the election-related killings have yet to be arrested, and it emphasizes the need for…
Ben Brik, still jailed in Tunisia: ‘Chains will certainly break!’
“When people want to live, destiny must surely respond. Darknesss will disappear, chains will certainly break!”Journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, 49, spurred admiration among his relatives and lawyers at a Tunis appeals court on Saturday when he chanted these two verses by Abou El Kacem Chebbi, Tunisia’s most well-known poet. This unexpected recitation of Chebbi’s verses,…