Mass media

Freedom of the press must be protected in Turkey without any exceptions, Vuslat Do?an Sabanc?, the chairwoman of daily Hürriyet, told a meeting held to mark the 67th anniversary of the newspaper on Sept. 1. 

The Baku Court of Serious Crimes on Tuesday convicted Khadija Ismayilova, one of Azerbaijan's most prominent investigative reporters.

She was found guilty of illegal business, tax evasion, abuse of power, and embezzlement, and sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison, according to local press reports quoted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Representatives of opposition political parties criticized police raids on media outlets of the Koza Media Group on Sept. 1, with a main opposition party forming a commission to examine pressure on media outlets in Turkey.

Many western countries voiced swift disapproval after an Egyptian court on Aug. 29 handed down three-year prison sentences to three Al-Jazeera reporters whom they have long demanded be released.

An Egyptian court sentenced three Al-Jazeera TV journalists to three years in prison on Aug.29 for operating without a press license and broadcasting material harmful to Egypt, a case that has stirred an international outcry. 

The bodies of around 50 refugees have been found in an abandoned truck in eastern Austria on Thursday, the daily Kronen Zeitung is reporting.

Preliminary indications suggest that they suffocated after being trapped inside the vehicle, Sputnik is quoting the paper.

A group of protesters read a press statement near the Rize Governor?s office against the decision to resume the construction of a road project in the Black Sea region.

The group named F?rt?na Initiative protested the construction of the ?Green Road,? a controversial 2,600-kilometer road project to connect highland areas in eight provinces in northern Turkey. 

It’s long been an “open secret” on the Internet, yet as the BBC writes, a former Russian internet “troll’s” court case has exposed a propaganda machine for the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.
Lyudmila Savchuk was awarded one ruble in damages after she sued her ex-employer to expose it as a propaganda “factory”.

Studio B, a symbol of media freedom in the era of Slobodan Milosevic, has been sold for just over half a million euros.

The station is the largest media outlet in Serbia to be sold so far under the recent media privatisation programme.

The sales of two other major media companies, Tanjug news agency and the Novi Sad-based daily, Dnevnik, failed due to the lack of bidders.

A pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) media tycoon has succeeded in his unusual lawsuit, with a court ruling to block reports on 50 news websites quoting his reflections on the ?divine love? between himself and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.