A panel of public prosecutors found probable cause to file murder charges against the person who allegedly hired the gunman and the gunman’s accomplices in the killing of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) dwAR broadcaster Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega.

PRESS FREEDOM  | Two Philippine radio journalists, Dennis Cuesta and Martin Roxas, were slain in 2008 after reporting on local controversies. CPJ research over 17 years shows that the Philippines and Russia have been among the deadliest nations for the press�and among the worst in solving the murders.

HUMAN RIGHTS  By Alan Davis and Ma. Cecilia L. Rodriguez  |  In his radio broadcasts, Aresio Padrigao attacked city hall, the local government and, too, the local police and the local Department of Environment and Natural Resources office for what he saw was a failure to catch illegal loggers. On Nov. 17, he was shot dead.

PRESS FREEDOM   By Carlos H. Conde |  A Right of Reply law will undermine the Bill of Rights. It will intimidate journalists and prevent them from performing their watchdog functions because the potential cost of doing their job is rather high � fine, imprisonment or closure.

By Carlos H. Conde |  Perhaps with the exception of the mosquito press during the martial-law years, the Philippine press has never quite shown us why it deserves to be called the �fourth estate.�

BANGKOK, Thailand (SEAPA) – Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), called on Southeast Asian journalists to promote the rights of the region�s people�including their rights to know and to be heard�and in so doing help build a more open, more progressive regional community.
Speaking during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Southeast Asian Press …

�The right to reply should be looked upon not as an infringement on the freedom of speech and expression now being enjoyed by the media. It is an expansion of the right of the people to express the other side of a controversy in which they are unduly maligned,� he said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. today urged Congress to stop dilly-dallying on the bill decriminalizing libel which has been proposed a long time ago to make the law less harsh for journalists who are punished for reports that are unfair and defamatory to certain individuals.

New York, September 16, 2008�The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor courageous journalists from Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, and Cuba with its 2008 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November.
Bilal Hussein of Iraq, Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad of Afghanistan, Andrew Mwenda of Uganda, and H�ctor Maseda Guti�rrez of Cuba have all risked imprisonment, harassment, and, above all, their …