Two reporters have received death threats from people believed to be members of pro-Gbago militias, while one was threatened for being pro-Gbago. Madeleine Tanou and Kesy B. Jacobs were approached on separate occasions, accused of being critical of...
CATEGORY: News and features

Circumventing censorship via small media
Amidst the hype over “Twitter revolutions”, have we forgotten the crucial role played by small media? To examine these crucial organising tools, the Small Media Initiative is partnering with Index on Censorship to create the Small Media Symposium 2011. Klara Chlupata reports
Bulletstorm game censored in Germany
Video game Bulletstorm will be released in heavily-censored form in Germany. Regulators will remove several features from the full version, including blood, dismemberment and "ragdoll effects". This censorship will be imposed even though the game...
Syria unblocks Facebook and Youtube
Syria has restored access to video sharing website youtube and social networking website facebook. Access to youtube had been blocked in August 2007 and Facebook was blocked in November 2007. Syrians were unable to directly access these websites...
Venezuelan journalist prosecuted for criminal libel
Journalist Gustavo Azócar is being prosecuted again on the charge of libelling an army officer in 2004. This comes as part of a series of actions which have been brought against him, and has provoked accusations of judicial harassment. The...
Iran: Journalist sentenced to four years in prison and 60 lashes
Iranian journalist Siamak Qaderi was sentenced to four years in prison and 60 lashes on 21 January. Qaderi, a blogger, was charged disseminating of false information liable to disrupt public order and publishing anti-government propaganda. Last...

Expelling journalists: a long-established FSB policy
Russia’s expulsion of the Guardian’s Luke Harding is part of a policy of attempting to control reportage, say Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan
Egypt: New accreditation rules for journalist
Egyptian authorities have started confiscating existing press cards from journalists and asking them to contact the Ministry of Information to obtain new temporary credentials, it was reported yesterday. Foreign journalists who are trying to cover...

Ben Ali and Mubarak: Brothers in arms
Tunisia’s uprising has transfixed Egypt’s elite but Mubarak’s survival strategy proves he has learnt nothing from Ben Ali’s fall, writes
Kamel Labidi

Obama intervention puts Yemen reporter in jail
Journalist Abdul-Elah Haidar Shaye should have been released from prison as part of concessions to protesters in Yemen. But a phone call from the US president has kept him behind bars. Iona Craig reports