World Watch Archive / July 2008
France
Le Monde staff strikes over job cuts
On May 6, presses stopped for the third time since April at the French daily Le Monde newspaper.
In a staff meeting April 4, management proposed 129 job cuts, mostly in the newsroom, to curtail financial losses. The newspaper stopped the presses for the April 15 and April 18 issues. The Web site was also not updated.
Unions have deemed the planned cuts unacceptable. Groupe Le Monde journalists have voted to negotiate a new plan with management to hold onto media assets sold under the plan.
Losses for 2007 were reported at 20 million euros, adding to a total debt of 150 million euros, according to Reuters.
Daily circulation of the afternoon paper was estimated at 310,000 in 2007, higher than in 2006, but still short of generating profit.
Le Monde hopes to get back in the black in 2010. The plan includes voluntary redundancy and forced layoffs, Chief Executive Eric Fottorino wrote in a public statement on the newspaper’s Web site.
Indonesia
New guidelines to protect journalists
The Indonesian Press Council released new guidelines April 28 to protect journalists from violent attacks, censorship and other obstructions to publication.
In order to be protected, journalists must follow the press code of ethics, The Jakarta Post reports. The guidelines say journalists cannot be forced to write stories that violate the code of ethics. They also prohibit others from intimidating, torturing or killing journalists. Journalists must also carry assignment letters, proof of insurance and proper safety equipment.
The Indonesian government says it protects press freedom, but has drafted legislation that allows journalists to be brought to court for libel and inciting hatred of the government. Human rights organizations have criticized the proposed law, arguing it is harsher than the existing criminal code.
Malaysia
Malay blogger charged with sedition
Police seized two computers belonging to Raja Petra Kamarudin, owner and blogger of the Malaysia Today Web site, May 2.
The Straits Times (Singapore)reports the search was supposedly in response to a post by Raja Petra implicating Deputy Premier Najib Razak and his wife in the murder of model Altantuya Shaariibuu in October 2006. The political news blog is considered controversial because of his no-holds-barred postings.
The April 25 post titled “Let’s Send The Altantuya Murderers To Hell”was said to contain nine paragraphs of seditious words. The case is the first time a blogger has been arrested in violation of the Sedition Act. According to Malaysian law, sedition includes inciting contempt toward the government and promoting discontent among the public.
Raja Petra refused bail and was taken to Sg Buloh prison, according to The Star (Malaysia). A hearing has been set for the week of Oct. 6. If convicted, he faces a maximum fine of $2,100, up to three years in prison, or both.
According to The Straits Times, Raja Petra has clashed with the law before. In March Raja Petra was charged with libel and ordered to pay $3 million to Northern University of Malaysia Vice-chancellor Dr. Nordin Kardi. In July 2007 he was questioned by police for allegations of insulting the Malaysian king. No charges were pressed.
Pakistan
Arrest made in murder of journalist
Pakistani media reported April 16 that former provincial government minister and tribal leader Altaf Unar was arrested for the killing of journalist Munir Sangi, a cameraman for the Sindhi-language Kawish Television Network. He was shot in May 2006 while reporting a gunfight between two rival tribes in Larkana, Sindh province.
Sangi’s death was first reported to be accidental, but it is now believed that he was purposely targeted in the crossfire for his coverage of a tribal council of the leaders of the Unar tribe, CPJ reports. Unar has stated to the media that the new government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is targeting him.
CPJ further states that the arrest is the first since the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Since that time, 14 journalists have been murdered in the country.
Russia
Politkovskaya’s murderer charged
Thirty-four-year-old Chechen Rustam Makhmudov was charged May 12 in abstentia by the Investigative Committee at Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office for the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in October 2006, CPJ reports. There is an international warrant out for his arrest.
Makhmudov’s name was first leaked to the Russian press in late March, but this is the first official confirmation of his identity. Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov claims the leak is responsible for allowing the suspect to continually evade arrest.
His three brothers — Ibragim, Dzhabrail and Tamerlan — are among the seven people currently in jail as suspects in the journalist’s murder. Shamil Burayev, the former head of the Achkhoi-Martan administrative district of Chechnya who is claimed to have organized the murder, is also in custody. Two other suspects were released but are banned from leaving the country, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
Saudi Arabia
Blogger released from jail
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information reported that Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan was released from jail on April 26. Al-Farhan had been in prison in an undisclosed location since Dec. 11, 2007, for reasons still yet to be disclosed by the Saudi government, the network said.
The blogger had posted a note on his Web site claiming he knew the Ministry of the Interior was investigating him because of his blogging about political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. His Web site is currently on the Saudi government’s blacklist that has blocked out over 400,000 web sites with “questionable” content.