Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)

The killing of journalists in the Philippines is continuing, with 134 killed in the line of duty out of a total number of 201 killed since 1986. Two of the most recent killings depart from the usual pattern, in that Manila-based journalists were targeted.

During President Aquino’s State of the Union Address in Manila, a police officer allegedly attacked two journalists and damaged cameras and other equipment during the dispersal of protesters.

If the killing of photojournalist Mario Sy in the Philippines was work-related, he will be the 16th media practitioner killed in the line of duty since the Benigno Aquino III administration came to power in 2010 and the 134th since 1986.

Over 30 IFEX members write to President Rafael Correa, calling on him to submit the recently-approved Ecuadorian Communications Law to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a Consultative Opinion.

The daughter of one of two newspaper columnists slain in the Philippines said that the killing might be work-related; this is a rare case of Manila-based journalists being killed.

Conflicts between public interest and the interests of the owners of the news media are almost inevitable, whether in the Philippines or in those other countries where private ownership is the dominant form of media ownership.

A television news broadcaster in Manila, Philippines tweeted a screen grab of a threatening text message she received after airing a report on a tax evasion case against a lawyer of one of the Ampatuans.

IFEX members issued a joint call for amendments to a deeply-flawed draft media law in Somalia before it goes to parliament for approval in August.