Press freedom

April 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) sent the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling on her to condemn a recent ruling by a prominent Saudi cleric against two Saudi journalists for reporting what he considered heretical articles.

Barack Obama mural, Brooklyn: Photo by Erica (CC)

According to recent reports, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak issued a fatwa last month stating that two journalists should be put to death if they did not retract their articles. Last week, over 100 Arab rights groups also condemned the fatwa.    » read more »

31 March 2008 -- A U.S.-based press freedom organization has criticized Venezuela's growing restrictions on freedom of the press, Cuba's jailing of journalists and U.S. court pressure on reporters to reveal confidential sources.

The Inter American Press Association wrapped up its midyear meeting Sunday in Caracas with a statement that accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of using attacks and intimidation to curb criticism of his government.

Last year Mr. Chavez refused to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television and replaced it with a state-run channel that airs government propaganda.

The IAPA also said Cuba's detention of 25 journalists amounted to a demonstration of total intolerance.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is giving high praise today to the Utah Supreme Court for adopting the state’s first reporter privilege rule. The Utah Supreme Court adopted the draft of Rule 509 Reporter Privilege, a proposal that had been supported by the Attorney General. Shurtleff has been working with legislators, prosecutors, journalists and the Supreme Court for the past two and a half years to come up with a workable and reasonable rule that would allow reporters to protect confidential informants.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. --- January 18, 2008 -- Freedom in the Middle East took a step backwards in 2007, Freedom House reported in a worldwide survey of freedom released yesterday.    » read more »

Joint statement by competitors shows alarm at deteriorating conditions

18 January 2008 -- Washington -- In response to growing challenges in reaching their audiences around the world, the five most influential international broadcasters have joined together for the first time to condemn what they describe as the “grave and rising threats to the right to gather information and communicate it across national borders.”    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- November 15, 2007 -- The closure of three independent radio stations by the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) earlier this week has left war-torn Mogadishu virtually devoid of reliable media outlets as the situation in Somalia becomes increasingly desperate, Freedom House said today.

The station closures coincide with the arrests of human rights activists Ali Farah Mohammed and Amir Hashi Ibrahim of the Center for Peace and Democracy (CPD), a human rights organization in Mogadishu that was also temporarily closed earlier this week.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) again today urged the Senate to consider important legislation to protect the public’s right to know by shielding the flow of information between reporters and their confidential sources.    » read more »