"One of the authors of a controversial Sunday Times article alleging that Edward Snowden's actions endangered the lives of British spies defended the story in an interview on CNN Sunday.
Showing posts with label journalist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journalist. Show all posts
2 Feb 2015
Peter Greste 'won't give up' until colleagues are free
The family of Peter Greste, who has been released by Egyptian authorities after 400 days in prison, have said the award-winning Al Jazeera journalist's relief at being free is marred by the continued imprisonment of his colleagues. Baher Mohamed, a producer, and the channel's Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who were working on the same stories as Peter, are still in jail and on Monday started their 401st day behind bars.
Greste's brother Andrew said on Monday that Greste was still worried about the fate of his colleagues. "Straight up he's not going to forget his two other colleagues. There's no doubt that his excitement is tempered and and restrained and will be restrained until those guys are free," Andrew said at a news conference in Brisbane. "He won't give up until Baher and Mohamed are out of there," he added: "We are thinking of Baher, Mohamed and their families."
20 Aug 2014
US and UK try to identify Isis militant with British accent who killied James Foley
British and US security services are trying to identify the Islamic State (Isis) militant with a British accent who appeared in a video of the apparent beheading of US journalist James Foley, the UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has said. Hammond said intelligence agencies were trying to unmask the fluent English-speaking militant in the propaganda footage.
Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, SO15, also launched an investigation into the video as leading linguistics experts said the man sounded like he was from London or the south-east of England. Hammond said: "All the hallmarks point to [the video] being genuine. We're very concerned by the apparent fact that the murderer in question is British and we are urgently investigating – agencies on both sides of the Atlantic – are first of all looking to authenticate the video, to make sure that it is genuine, and sadly it appears to be, and then to see if we can identify the individual in question."
3 May 2014
Egyptian judge wishes al-Jazeera trio a happy Press Freedom Day then refuses bail
The judge trying three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt wished them a happy World Press Freedom Day before refusing them bail and adjourning their case until 15 May.
In a brief session on Saturday, one of the trio, al-Jazeera English's Cairo bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy, was allowed to leave the defendants' cage to explain to the judge the nature of journalism. The judge, Mohamed Nagy, then adjourned proceedings because Fahmy's lawyer had failed to turn up due to a private emergency.
Fahmy, the Australian ex-BBC journalist Peter Greste and a local producer, Baher Mohamed, have been in jail since late December, and stand accused of creating false news, smearing Egypt's reputation, and aiding terrorists. They are charged alongside five students with connections to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and prosecutors have tried to show that al-Jazeera is part of a pro-Brotherhood conspiracy.
23 Jun 2013
Michael Hastings Sent Email About FBI Probe Hours Before Death
Hours before dying in a fiery car crash, award-winning journalist Michael Hastings sent an email to his colleagues, warning that federal authorities were interviewing his friends and that he needed to go "off the rada[r]" for a bit.
The email was sent around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 17. At 4:20 a.m. the following morning, Hastings died when his Mercedes, traveling at high speeds, smashed into a tree and caught on fire. He was 33.
Hastings sent the email to staff at BuzzFeed, where he was employed, but also blind-copied a friend, Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, on the message. Biggs, who Hastings met in 2008 when he was embedded in his unit in Afghanistan, forwarded the email to KTLA, who posted it online on Saturday.
Here's the email, with the recipients' names redacted.
Subject: FBI Investigation, re: NSA
Hey (redacted names) -- the Feds are interviewing my "close friends and associates." Perhaps if the authorities arrive "BuzzFeed GQ," er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues.
Also: I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit.
All the best, and hope to see you all soon.
Michael
Rumors that the FBI was investigating Hastings began the day after his death, with a couple of mysterious WikiLeaks tweets. In a rare move, the FBI issued a statement denying that Hastings was under investigation.
28 Feb 2013
15 Feb 2013
World Press Photo 2012
Photo by Paul Hansen, Sweden, Dagens Nyheter
Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. Their father Fouad was also killed and their mother was put in intensive care. Fouad’s brothers carry his children to the mosque for the burial ceremony as his body is carried behind on a stretcher.
30 Jan 2013
Press Freedom Index 2013
After the “Arab springs” and other protest movements that prompted many rises and falls in last year’s index, the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index marks a return to a more usual configuration. The ranking of most countries is no longer attributable to dramatic political developments. This year’s index is a better reflection of the attitudes and intentions of governments towards media freedom in the medium or long term.
(click image for big picture)
The same three European countries that headed the index last year hold the top three positions again this year. For the third year running, Finland has distinguished itself as the country that most respects media freedom. It is followed by the Netherlands and Norway. Although many criteria are considered, ranging from legislation to violence against journalists, democratic countries occupy the top of the index while dictatorial countries occupy the last three positions. Again it is the same three as last year – Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea.
“The Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders does not take direct account of the kind of political system but it is clear that democracies provide better protection for the freedom to produce and circulate accurate news and information than countries where human rights are flouted,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “In dictatorships, news providers and their families are exposed to ruthless reprisals, while in democracies news providers have to cope with the media’s economic crises and conflicts of interest. While their situation is not always comparable, we should pay tribute to all those who resist pressure whether it is aggressively focused or diffuse.”
9 Jan 2013
Is Alex Jones the Conspiracy?
"Those familiar with radio host Alex Jones were not surprised by his fiery performance Monday night on Piers Morgan (part 1 – part 2), where Jones called the CNN host a "hatchet man of the New World Order" during an impassioned tirade in support of the second amendment."*
Alex Jones' ridiculous, crazy ramblings are no surprise to the TYT viewer. Well, after his legendary freak out on Piers Morgan's CNN show, Jones has some more conspiracy theories about who's out to get him now.
TYT - Related: Alex Jones Shirtless Rant Against TYT
8 Dec 2012
23 Oct 2012
Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis
The Dark Days of Jailing Journalists and Criminalizing Dissent
Turkish authorities are engaging in widespread criminal prosecution and jailing of journalists, and are applying other forms of severe pressure to promote self-censorship in the press, a CPJ analysis shows. CPJ has found highly repressive laws, particularly in the penal code and anti-terror law; a criminal procedure code that greatly favors the state; and a harsh anti-press tone set at the highest levels of government. Turkey’s press freedom situation has reached a crisis point.
A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists - Two of Turkey's leading journalists speak from jail
19 Sept 2012
Activists and Journalists beaten and detained in Belarus
Several people were detained and beaten in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday as they attempted to hold a rally calling for a nationwide boycott of this weekend's parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic.
"Opposition activists were going to hold another picket near the Frunzensky store in Minsk calling on people not to vote in the elections to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly," the opposition Charter 97 group said on its website. (RIA Novosti)
Agents in plainclothes repeatedly hit several journalists covering an opposition protest organized by activists calling for a boycott of Sunday's parliamentary vote, according to news reports. Sergei Grits, a photographer for The Associated Press, said his face was covered with blood after one of the assailants punched him and broke his glasses, according to AP.
All of the journalists were shoved into a minivan with no license plates and driven to a police station where their equipment and documents were confiscated with no explanation, news reports said. Police held the journalists without charge for two hours and then released them, the AP reported. The officials also deleted the images and video recordings from the journalists' cameras before returning the equipment, Reuters reported.
3 May 2012
Press Freedom Index 2011-2012
(Click image for big version)
“This year’s index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th annual press freedom index. “Many media paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of survival for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also highlighted the leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news.
1 Mar 2012
22 Feb 2012
Journalists killed in Homs
Marie Colvin, the respected Sunday Times journalist, was killed today alongside French photojournalist Remi Ochlik in Syria.
The veteran correspondents were killed by a rocket as they fled the house they were staying in, which was hit during shelling in Homs, a witness told Reuters. Colvin, the only journalist from a British newspaper in the besieged city, had covered conflict for The Sunday Times for the past two decades. French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse confirmed the deaths.
At least two other Western journalists, and seven activists were reported to have been injured after in excess of ten rockets hit the house. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was investigating reports that a British photographer was also injured in the incident.
Yesterday government troops heavily shelled the districts of Baba Amr, Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun in Homs, which is considered to be a stronghold of resistance. Ochlik, the founder of the picture agency IP3 Press, was an award-winning photojournalist who covered events including the 2004 rioting in Haiti and last year’s Arab Spring.
Colvins last report on CNN yesterday:
12 Nov 2011
Ethiopia charges six journalists with terrorism
A judge in Ethiopia's federal high court charged six journalists with terrorism on Thursday under the country's antiterrorism law, bringing the number of journalists charged under the statute since June to 10, CPJ research found.
Twenty-four people, including imprisoned dissident blogger Eskinder Nega and five other journalists critical of the government who work online and in exile, were charged, according to the court charge sheet obtained by CPJ. Nega, a contributor to U.S.-based Ethiopian diaspora news websites; editors Mesfin Negash and Abiye Teklemariam of the U.S.-based Addis Neger Online; Abebe Gellaw of the U.S.-based Addis Voice; Abebe Belew of the U.S.-based radio station Addis Dimts; and Fasil Yenealemof Netherlands-based station ESAT were charged with providing support to Ginbot 7, a banned opposition movement that the government formally designated a terrorist entity under the sweeping 2009 antiterrorism law this year, the charge sheet said. The law criminalizes any reporting that authorities deem "encourage" or "provide moral support" to groups the government has labeled terrorists. The five journalists in exile were charged in absentia.
From left: Nega, Gellaw, Negash, Teklemariam, Yenealem, and Belew.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, government spokesman Shimelis Kemal accused the journalists of "abetting, aiding, and supporting a terrorist group." Kemal accused Ethiopia's neighbor, Eritrea, of involvement in a vague plot against the country. "They have received from the Eritrean government weapons and explosives for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities in Ethiopia," Kemal said.
29 Oct 2011
New promises, old results in unsolved russian journalists murders
The Togliatti murder investigations illustrate the systemic problems that afflict the other 15 unsolved journalist murders committed in Russia since 2000. Despite the incremental progress Russian authorities have made in combating impunity, most investigations continue to fail due to a lack of political will. In the cases of Valery Ivanov and Aleksei Sidorov, new promises of commitment have given way to old habits of neglect. Vladimir Sidorov put it this way: “The system is a corporate organism. An individual cannot do anything on their own.” Russian authorities must work hard to prove Sidorov’s skepticism wrong. And they can do that only one way—by finding, prosecuting, and convicting the killers of Valery Ivanov and Aleksei Sidorov. The real ones.
9 Oct 2011
Assassination studies U.S. Could Target Journalists For Assassination
"Can you imagine being put on a list because you're a threat? What's going to happen when they come to the media? What if the media becomes a threat? ... This is the way this works. It's incrementalism," Paul said.
"It's slipping and sliding, let me tell you."
9 Sept 2011
BBC Journalist Killed By U.S. Forces In Afghanistan
NATO has admitted that a U.S. soldier shot a BBC journalist to death in July. The Guardian was the first to report the news that Ahmed Omed Khpulwak was killed by an American. Khpulwak was one of at least 19 people to die during a fight that erupted between the Taliban and American forces after the Taliban attacked an Afghan television station.
NATO said that the death was accidental, and military officials met with his family on Thursday to apologize for the "mistake." Khpulwak had worked as a stringer for the BBC since 2008. He also worked for an Afghan news service.
The official report (pdf) from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said that Khpulwak, 25, had died because of "mistaken identity." He was hiding from the fight when, according to ISAF, a soldier mistook him for a surviving Taliban fighter and took his movements as a sign that he was a suicide bomber.
Khpulwak's brother, Jawid, spoke to the Guardian after NATO's admission. "They thought he was a suicide bomber, but how?" he said. "He spoke English and would have been showing his press card." The BBC reported that Khpulwak sent Jawid two text messages during the attack. The first read: "I am hiding. Death has come." The second read: "pray for me if I die."
26 Aug 2011
Masked men break hands of critical Syrian cartoonist
Ali Ferzat, a famous Syrian cartoonist critical of the government, was abducted and severely beaten by masked gunmen as he left his office early on Thursday in Damascus, international media reported. The attackers stomped on his hands and said the beating was a warning, the Associated Press said. He was dumped bleeding on a roadside several hours later.
"Since the start of the uprising, stories of brutality against journalists in prison have surfaced but the beating of Ali Farzat shows publicly the intensity of the violence against the critical press," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The international community must condemn this attack and make clear to the government in Damascus that it will be held accountable for this and all attacks on journalists."
Ferzat, 60, is renowned in the Arab world for his caricatures of authoritarian leaders including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who has sought to quell protests across the country this year and silence critical media.
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