From RSF:

Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the pressure being placed on the authorities by conservative religious leaders in the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist in the northern province of Balkh who has been detained since late October 2007 on charges of blasphemy and defaming Islam. The Council of Mullahs says he should be sentenced to death.

"The calls for the death penalty for Kambakhsh highlight the growing influence of fundamentalist groups on intellectual debate," the organisation said. "The blasphemy charges are an ill-disguised attempt to hide the desire of the local authorities to restrict press freedom."

This Washington Post series first ran in late September, but it's worth revisiting given the bad week that Canadian soldiers seem to be having in Afghanistan.

Howell Raines, who left the NYT in disgrace after the Jayson Blair affair, will be writing a media column for Conde Nast Portfolio.

From Time's Bill Saporito:

Yeah, it's true about me and steroids. I have to admit it now. Even though the Mitchell report didn't have a section on sports writers, ask yourself this: the Senator's staff spends months to produce a 400-plus page report documenting his investigation of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball, and within 24 hours a relatively small group of journalists produces 400,000 pages of newspaper stories, wire service copy and website reports. And just how do you think that gets done? Let me tell you, dear innocent reader, there's only so much coffee a laptop-toting journo can drink in a day.