26 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Legislators in the state of Ciudad Juarez have voted to impose life sentences on the perpetrators of a wide-range of crimes, including murdering journalists. A life sentence for those who kill journalists will be applied only if the victim dies in the line of duty. 27 journalists have been slain in Ciudad Juarez since 2000, which represents more than a third of the nationwide total. This welcome move follows stalled efforts to increase legal protection of journalists at the federal level despite President Felipe Calderon’s assurance that it is high on his agenda.
26 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Webster Shamu, a Zimbabwean minister, yesterday said that his country should draw lessons from China when defining the role of the media. In particular, he praised China’s ability to counter negative stereotypes and derogatory messages in the Western media. His comments came yesterday in Harare as he opened a two-day photography course sponsored by his ministry, the Chinese Embassy and Xinhua News Agency. He also said that information and media ministers from developing nations had met in July to discuss media dissemination.
26 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Turkey’s Radio Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has fined a Turkish news channel for airing an interview which criticizes the current government. CNN Turk had broadcast the opinions of Hasan Basri Özbey, Secretary General of the Labour Party, which included his criticisms of past policies by both the current President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The International Press Institute (IPI) National Committee has criticized RTÜK’s decision, remarking that “RTÜK chose one of these opinions to penalize by equating the critic with the broadcaster.”
26 Oct 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire has been accused of working with a terrorist group. Following her arrest last month, prosecutors now say they have evidence that she colluded with a former officer of a Hutu militia in a manner that threatened national security. If she is found guilty on all charges, including spreading “genocide ideology”, she could receive a life sentence. Upon her return to Rwanda in February, she called for Hutus victims of the genocide to be remembered in the same way as Tutsis. Appealing to ethnic identity in such a manner is illegal.
