An intruder broke into the home of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, threatening to kill him, on 1 January. The Danish cartoonist, whose depictions of the prophet Mohammed were among the cartoons that caused international outrage when newspaper...
Radio 4 looks back at the year in media
The Ministry of Justice is to conduct a comprehensive review of England's defamation laws, which will be experted to report in mid-March, it was revealed today. The ministry's seemingly strong new commitment comes after over 10,000 people signed a...
Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment on 25 December. He was charged with subversion after his part in the drafting of Charter 08, a document calling for free speech and the rule of law. Western journalists and...
Michael Smyth: Strasbourg’s defence of journalists’ right to protect sources is welcome
Matt Malone on the Iranian government’s assault on the press following the death of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri
A hit television series has been prevented from continuing according to newspapers in China. The drama “Snail House” was set in a fictional mainland city and the plot centered on rising housing prices and the “fangnu,” or mortgage slaves, as they...
Cameroonian journalist Innocent Ebodé was abducted from his home in the Chadian capital N'Djamena on 21 December. A military source said that he is safe in Kousséri, across the border in Cameroon, but Ebodé's family and lawyer have not heard from...
The Canadian Supreme Court ruled on 23 December to strengthen the public interest defence in libel cases. The chief justice stated that the law as it stood did not "give adequate weight" to free expression. The court also moved to change the...
The killing of 12 journalists in Mexico this year and the impunity that follows poses a serious problem for Mexican democracy, argues Ángel García Català
Three people have been killed and several others injured after a suicide bomber attacked a club for journalists in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar and a dozen more injured according to police. The incident took place when a bomber blew...
A criminal case has been filed against the photographer and documentary film maker Umida Akhmedova in Uzbekistan for "slander" and "insult". Akhmedova is incriminated for her involvement in "Women and men: from dawn till dusk" photo album, produced...