Liberia: Punch FM Seeks US Ambassador’s Intervention into Controversial License Suspension

2 july, 2018 / By Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, frontpageafricaonline.com Monrovia – One Media Incorporated appears to be seeking mitigation into the Liberian government’s recent decision to suspend all new operating licenses issued to media outlets beginning this year. The firm, which has been planning to launch two media subsidiaries – Punch FM and television – this…

Democracy Has No Ideal Form

28 June, 2018 / By Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg (This is the fifth of a series of columns on economic growth and the challenges to democracy. Read the other parts here: The Democracy Dividend: Faster Growth;  Hardliners Learn That Democracy Can Pay Off; Central Bankers Shouldn’t Have to Rescue Democracy; Democracy’s Dividend Is the Right Kind of Growth.) According to the Economist…

‘Downright stupid, smacking of hypocrisy’ – RT’s Paula Slier on ban from OSCE conference in Ukraine

27 June, 2018 / By RT The irony is glaring: Kiev government banning journalists from attending a conference on freedom of speech. If the Ukrainians don’t see the problem, they need more than a conference to appreciate what press freedom is all about. I write this sitting in the departure lounge of Boryspil airport in…

2018 Press Freedom Index: Documenting the Decline of Democracy

26 June, 2018 / by Fair Observer n this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to Rebecca Vincent, UK bureau director for Reporters Without Borders. Reporters Without Borders, known internationally as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), recently launched its 2018 Press Freedom Index that chronicles the decline of press freedom worldwide. It shows that journalists are operating in…

The World Cup of Press Freedom

26 June, 2018 / By Christophe Deloire, Project Syndicate Russia today has more reporters behind bars than at any time since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. With Russia under the spotlight as the host of soccer’s quadrennial global tournament, the international community has a rare opportunity to push President Vladimir Putin to end his…

Russia’s OSCE envoy blasts Kiev’s entry ban for journalists More: http://tass.com/politics/1010993

26 June, 2018 / By TASS Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Alexander Lukashevich has condemned Ukraine’s entry ban for Russian reporter Yevgeny Primakov and RT’s correspondent Paula Slier. “We strongly condemn the deportation of reporters working for Russian mass media outlets, Primakov (VGTRK) and RT (Slier), who flew to…

UNESCO report focuses on trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development

25 June, 2018 / By Dev Discourse UNESCO’s report on World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development was the focus of a lively discussion at the annual conference of the International Association of Media and Communication Research, held in Oregon, USA, last week. Six academics from six countries compared the report’s global trends to those…

17 int’l press freedom bodies write open letter to future Turkish president

21 June, 2018 / By Stockholm Center for Freedom Seventeen international organizations defending freedom of expression and the press published a joint letter on Wednesday on the Index of Censorship website addressing all the Turkish presidential candidates in the upcoming election on June 24. “Your term starts in critical times. Freedom of expression in particular has declined…