A breakfast show anchor for Television New Zealand has resigned after being accused of racist behaviour. Paul Henry was shown laughing at the mispronunciation of the name of the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, which should sound more like...

Turkey: Journalist faces 9 charges, 79 years in prison
Turkish journalist Ismail Saymez could be jailed for 79 years if convicted of charges related to newspaper articles he has written. He has been charged with "violating the secrecy of an investigation" for his reporting on the Ergenekon trials. He...
Lebanon: Festival urged not to show Iranian protest film
State censors in Lebanon have asked Beirut International Film Festival not to show an Iranian opposition film during a visit from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Originally scheduled for screening on 13 October, the day of Ahmadinejad's arrival, the...
Serbia: Protest against gay pride march turns violent
A protest against a gay pride march in Belgrade on Sunday ended in violence and looting. Riot police attempted to protect participants from protesters throwing petrol bombs, bricks, and shouting "death to homosexuals." Once police...
Indonesia: Playboy editor jailed for “indecency”
The former editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia has begun a two-year prison sentence for publishing images of women in underwear. Erwin Arnada was found guilty of violating indecency laws during a closed trial at the Supreme Court in August,...

Liu Xiaobo win prompts Chinese media blackout
One of China's best-known dissidents Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday night. Liu is currently serving an 11 year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power” after the former litarture professor circulated Charter 08, a...
Bolivia: Newspapers Protest Proposed Anti-racism Law
Several Bolivian newspapers are protesting a proposed law which would allow the government to shut down any media outlets it deems guilty of racism. The protest is motivated by concerns that the law could be used to curtail political criticism or...
A life in truth
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2010, Liu Xiaobo is treated as a subversive criminal in China, currently serving an 11-year sentence for incitement to subvert state power.
Lauren Davis reports
Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel peace prize
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the 2010 Nobel peace prize. He was praised by the Nobel committee for his "non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights". Currently serving an 11-year prison sentence on charges of subversion, Liu...
In China’s murky censorship machine detention is rarely legal
Last month, Xie Chaoping, author of The Great Migration, was detained for 30 days on the trumped up charge of operating an illegal business. The Great Migration is about the repairing of the Sanmen dam in Weinan, Shaanxi Province and the residents...
Anna Politkovskaya: In the Russian media
Anna Politkovskaya: In the Russian media
Mario Vargas Llosa: The obligation of a writer
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel prize in Literature 2010, explains in an article first published in Index on Censorship in 1978 why Latin America’s writers became the most reliable interpreters of political reality