Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)

The call comes after reports of an unscheduled speech made by ousted Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare on the national broadcaster, NBC.

“The order to cease publishing of the Kiribati Independent as per the Newspapers Act would avoid perceptions of political interference by clarifying to all what the steps are, and how long it will all take,” says PFF.

In partnership with PFF, IFJ released its first Press Freedom in the Pacific report at a press launch held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to celebrate World Press Freedom Day.

A minute of silence before a WPFD Editors Forum will honour the late Yehiura Hriehwazi, one of Papua New Guinea’s leading journalists, who died suddenly on 8 January 2012.

Twenty-seven IFEX members appeal for end to impunity in recent brutal attacks on journalists in Kazakhstan, including near-fatal attack on Luqpan Akhmedyarov in April.

NBC journalist Mark Kayok was stepped in to stop a fight and when he identified himself as a journalist to police, they turned on him too.

Any proposed legislation which takes jobs away from Palau’s citizens, and impacts on the independent flow of news and information to the public, raises the question of the agenda behind the changes, says PFF.

An open letter by 44 organisations calls Iraq’s proposed Information Technology Crimes law a threat to the fundamental freedoms necessary for the evolution of free speech and a vibrant press. The law will come to vote in the Iraqi Council of Representatives in April.