The makers of Channel 4 documentary Undercover Mosque are to sue West Midlands Police, after the police force claimed the programme makers had edited the film misleadingly.
As President Musharraf announces that he will end Pakistan’s state of emergency on 16 December, Shirin B Sadeghi looks at how the media has responded to the crackdown
When President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on 3 November, one of the first casualties was the independent media.
Having shut down every broadcasting station but state run television, Musharraf’s government proceeded to raid the offices of independent news channels such as Geo News and Aaj television. Phone lines were cut, some stations reported jamming, and there were threats of long jail terms for broadcasters who would not comply. Hundreds of journalists were arrested. But two independent news channels continued to broadcast live. Geo News and ARY One World transmitted broadcasts from their bureaus in Dubai. The predictable surge in satellite dish purchases after the state of emergency was quickly followed by a government ban, but nonetheless Geo and ARY remained accessible within Pakistan.
Journalists in Georgia have felt the heat during recent upheaval in the former soviet state. Here, Winston Bean tells of the conditions he and his colleagues have faced in recent days
Earlier this week, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili decreed a state of emergency after the violent dispersal of anti-government protests, ordering the shutdown of independent media outlets and deploying troops throughout the capital.
While the government’s crackdown succeeded in restoring order in a country still recovering from years of civil conflict, the ruling administration’s reputation for liberal reform has been irreparably damaged, as it enforces emergency rule and a news blackout at the same time a snap election campaign gets under way.
The anti-government rallies, organised by a tenuous coalition of 10 political opposition parties, began on 2 November with tens of thousands of Georgians calling for earlier parliamentary elections. They soon progressed to angry but peaceful demands for Saakashvili’s resignation.
The protests unravelled into bloody street battles across the capital’s centre on 7 November, as riot police moved in to break up the crowds with tear gas, rubber bullets and batons.
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