Flickr removes college student Obama/Joker photo art

The increasingly popular picture of Obama with make up “a-la-Joker” was removed from the Flickr service. This story published on Read Write Read explains the details  and poses the question: copyright infrigement or political censorship? Read the story here.

Iranian government shuts down opposition newspaper

The main opposition newspaper in Iran, Etemad-e-Melli, was shut down by the government for publishing what authorities refer to as “illegal” and “criminal” content.  The newspaper editor-in-chief is former presidential candidate and clerical reformist Mehdi Karrubí. To read the rest of the story click here.

Petition to release two U.S. journalists held in North Korea

Reporters Without Borders 2009

Reporters Without Borders and the International Media Women’s Foundation are collecting signatures to release American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee held unjustifiably and unjustly in North Korea.

To read more about this situation go to:

http://www.rsf.org/American-reporters-get-very-severe.html

To sign the petition go to:

http://www.iwmf.org/subcatdetail.aspx?sc=letter#commentblock

Know your universal rights

Subpoena for UCSB Student Newspaper Photos Dropped

Source: Santa Barbara Independent

Public Defender Sought Unpublished Photos From Anti-War Protest. (Continue Reading)

Zimbabwe bans political rallies

Source: BBC News

Zimbabwean police have banned political rallies “with immediate effect”, amid growing tension over the country’s disputed presidential election. (Continue Reading)

Cuban blogger wins award for journalism

By Monica Cruz
Source: The Daily O’ Collegian
Spanish newspaper El Pais awards the Pulitzer Prize equivalent for Spanish speaking journalists. The Ortega and Gasset prize in the digital category was awarded to independent blogger Yoani Sanchez. Her merit goes beyond good writing and the blog’s popularity, which registered 1.2 million hits in February. (Continue reading)

To read the winning blog click here

Professors Protest `Political Censorship’

Source: The Korean Times
By Park Si-soo

A group of professors opposing President Lee Myung-bak’s cross-country canal project condemned the government for putting what they call clandestine censorship on anti-canal campaigners.

China blocks YouTube

BEIJING (AP) — Internet users in China were blocked from seeing YouTube.com on Sunday after dozens of videos about protests in Tibet appeared on the popular American video Web site.

The story of Abed Tavancheh

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Blogger Abed Tavancheh released on bail
Reporters Without Borders welcomes the release on bail, on 11 July 2006, of blogger Abed Tavancheh. Bail was set at 50 millions tomans (about 50,000 euros). He is due to go on trial shortly, but the date of the hearing has yet to be fixed. The blogger was arrested on 26 May at Teheran University where he is a student, during demonstrations which led to clashes between young democrats and the Basij militia – students who are controlled by the authorities.