15 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Journalists from television channel TVi have written an open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, demanding that he intervene to stop the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) pressuring journalists. SBU has demanded that TVi present them with documents regarding a tender, the deal angered rival companies affiliated with the SBU’s director, Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, whose wife runs one of TVi’s competitors. Journalists expressed concerns that SBU is turning into “a structure which backs personal and business interests of the head of the SBU, Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, and members of his family”. And in a seperate incident on Tuesday, Ukrainian police intimidated journalists and camermen at the newspaper Ekspres. The paper’s director was arrested in Livy on charges of tax evasion. Journalists who came to the police station to cover the story claim they were handled brutally by police. The paper had published an investigative report on corruption among lawmakers, triggering protests that disrupted traffic on a busy highway near Lviv. The attack is the fourth such incident involving journalists since the inauguration of President Viktor Yanukovych to the presidency in February.
15 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Acting Moldavian president, Mihai Ghimpu, has condemned the arrest of a journalist in the breakaway republic of Transnistria. On April 7, Ernest Vardanean, a reporter for the Transnistrian Now Region 2 news agency, was arrested and charged with treason. He is accused of being a spy for Moldova, and could face 20 years in prison if found guilty.
9 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
A draft decree by the Fiji’s military-backed regime calls for tighter control of the media and increased press censorship. The proposals, announced on Wednesday, would require daily monitoring of all news stories, as well as new restrictions on cross-media ownership. This would directly affect Fiji Times, one of the nation’s oldest and largest newspapers which is owned by the Australian company News Limited. Breaches of content regulation could result in media organisations, publishers and journalists being fined and imprisoned for up to five years.
8 Apr 2010 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
Security forces assaulted and obstructed the journalist covering protests on the streets of Cairo on April 6. In response to an appeal made by the 6th April Movement, dozens of civilians gathered on Midan Al-Tharir, in central Cairo, to call for constitutional change and more democratic elections. As the protesters marched through the capital, the Egyptian police intervened. Journalists reported being prevented from covering the incident, they were surrounded, insulted and violently attacked by police officers, many also had their cameras seized. Al Jazeera TV’s Cairo bureau chief, Hussein Abdel Ghani, told Agence France Press (AFP) his cameramen were searched and their video footage confiscated. Many demonstrators reported their mobile phones, with which they took pictures and videos of the assault, were seized.
