Newspaperindex - the blog | Newspapers of the world, media and free speech

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday hosted the launch of a new book by murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the first by her to be widely available in her native land and language. Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and reporter of human rights abuses in Chechnya, was shot dead last October. Investigators say her unsolved murder was linked to her reporting. Gorbachev, 76, hosted the launch at his political institute in Moscow alongside Politkovskaya’s son, daughter and estranged husband, who edited the book. Politkovskaya’s death sparked outrage in the West but little emotion in Russia, where previous books by her were never properly published. Her reports appeared only in the fringe intellectual newspaper ‘Novaya Gazeta’, part owned by Gorbachev. The 988-page hardback book, entitled ‘What for’ and priced at around 600 roubles (EUR 17), arranges work by Politkovskaya around different themes. Friends and colleagues at the launch criticized the slow pace of the investigation into her death. ‘It’s essential that the investigation is brought to a swift conclusion, the killers are found, they are prosecuted and justice is delivered,’ said Aidan White, General-Secretary of the worldwide journalists’ union the International Federation of Journalists, to applause from Gorbachev and others. White was in Moscow to attend a conference which called on governments to do more to catch reporters’ killers. (Reuters via ABC News)

A columnist in Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper on Tuesday accused a senior British diplomat in Harare of directing an anti-government ‘terror and propaganda campaign,’ and warned she could end up dead. An opinion column signed by David Samuriwo charged that Gillian Dare, an embassy political and media officer, had a large fund to pay Zimbabwean journalists, academics and opposition politicians to attack President Robert Mugabe. ‘Gillian Dare, the purse holder and financier of the violence being perpetrated by the MDC, should be aware that by throwing away all diplomatic etiquette into the dustbin and putting on her combat gear, she has become a prime target for deportation,’ Tuesday’s column said. ‘It will be a pity for her family to welcome her at Heathrow airport in a body bag, just like some of her colleagues from Iraq and Afghanistan,’ Samuriwo added. (Reuters via ABC News)

With jumper cables and a 12-volt battery, a Saddam era radio station roared to life last week and now four Iraqis are doing what has never been done as they launch independent radio and television in war-torn Iraq. ‘We respect the Maliki government and all religious leaders,’ says Rafed Mahmood, general manager of the Independent Radio & Television Network (IRTN). ‘But our voice is independent. No one tells us what to say.’ Four Iraqis - two Sunnis and two Shia - are becoming the voices of sectarian reconciliation, unity and freedom. Their 3000kw Italian radio transmitter is cabled up the 350-meter tower that the Japanese built for Saddam in 1986. As al Qaeda and insurgent forces gather in the neighbouring towns of Buhriz and Ba’qubah, Coalition Forces are protecting the media centre while rooting out the terrorists. On March 25th, IRTN launched their UHF television broadcasts. IRTN radio is on the air 14-hours a day and reaches nearly 11m Iraqis. They launched their website this week (www.IRTNiraq.com) and hope that through a combination of advertising sales, licensing and eCommerce they can generate enough revenue to sustain their operations while producing enough courage to unleash freedom in Iraq. (Elitestv.com)

Time Inc. said on Monday it would stop publishing Life, the iconic photography magazine that has been a weekly newspaper insert since 2004. It is the latest magazine to shut down as more readers desert print publications for online news and photos. Time is laying off 15 editorial workers and 27 in its business department in connection with the shutdown, said spokeswoman Dawn Bridges. Time will make Life’s collection of 10m images available online, with ‘the most important collection of imagery covering the events and people of the 20th century’ available for free for personal use, it said. The announcement comes after the company launched a redesigned version of its US newsweekly Time. Earlier this year it announced plans to cut 289 jobs from its estimated 11,300 work force to lower costs as it invests more in the internet.

The European Commission on Thursday announced it would take Greece to court over its failure to liberalise its broadcasting services, seeking heavy fines as punishment. ‘The European Commission has decided to refer Greece to the European Court of Justice for failure to fully comply with the court’s ruling of April 14, 2005,’ the EU’s executive arm said in a statement. That ruling confirmed that Greece had failed to implement EU competition law for its television and radio services, particularly digital broadcasting. The Commission is therefore referring Greece back to the court, seeking fines, consisting of daily lump sums totalling EUR 48,442.80 for Greece’s continued infringement. A 2002 EU directive aims at ensuring that competitive market conditions prevail across the European Union in electronic communications networks and services. All member states except Greece have notified measures to implement it. (AFP via EU Business,March 26, 2007)

China plans tighter control of blogs and webcasts under a new Internet publishing law, state media on Tuesday quoted the country’s top media supervisor as saying. ‘Advanced network technologies such as blogging and webcasting have been mounting new challenges to the government’s ability to supervise the Internet,’ then official Xinhua news agency quoted Long Xinmin, the head of China’s Press and Publications Administration, as saying. The government is drafting a law to bring blogs and webcasts under Internet publication regulations to ensure a ‘more healthy and active Internet environment’, Long said. Long gave no details of specific measures but said the new law would ‘fully respect and protect Chinese citizens’ freedom of speech’, the agency said. LOL (The Jakarta Post via Asia Media,March 15, 2007)

A revelation by a Turkish magazine of the existence of a list that classified journalists on the basis of their perceived attitude towards Turkey’s powerful military establishment has prompted a judicial inquiry as well as widespread outrage in the country’s media. The 17-page report listing journalists depending on their alleged ‘pro-military’ or ‘anti-military’ bias was published on Thursday by the magazine Nokta. The Turkish military has not denied the existence of the document and has launched a judicial probe to discover who leaked the ‘black list’ to the magazine. The document, dated November 2006, was prepared by the Office of the Chief of General Staff Public and Press Relations Bureau and is entitled ‘A reassessment of accredited press and media organs’. Journalists and media organisations that want to follow the activities of the Office of the Chief of General Staff need to be accredited by the office. The document lists all the country’s mainstream national broadcast and print media outlets and journalists, categorising them according to their comments and reports on the Turkish military. It also includes comments and recommendations on whether the media accreditation handed out to individuals should be granted, denied or revoked. (AKI News,March 12, 2007)