International Press Institute (IPI)

Journalist Sedef Kabaş was detained on 22 January after she quoted a Circassian proverb on TV: “An ox does not become a king as it ascends to a palace, but the palace becomes a barn.” She was charged with “insulting the president”.

In South Korea, some journalists suspect their phone records were accessed in an attempt to discover their sources.

Kostas Vaxevanis faces four criminal charges and up to 20 years in prison for his newspaper’s reporting on the Novartis pharmaceutical scandal. Ioanna Papadakou also faces charges in relation to the Novartis case and the so-called “Lagarde list” of possible tax evaders.

Journalists worry about the state of press freedom after government detains a journalist and shuts down press club.

“Journalists across Kazakhstan are currently working in extremely challenging conditions while documenting the unrest. It is vital that the safety of all journalists and media workers is guaranteed and that the freedom of the press is fully respected in the wake of the unrest” – IPI

In the last 12 months, the most deadly countries for journalists were Mexico, Afghanistan, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

IFEX joins media freedom and journalists’ groups in expressing concern over the “Lex-TVN” bill, stressing that it represents a direct attack on the independence of the country’s biggest private broadcaster, U.S-owned TVN, and its news channel TVN24.

The ruling is an important step toward safeguarding media coverage of protests in Turkey, which have recently been marred by cases of police violence.