Doha, Qatar | AFP | Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera has travelled a long and bumpy road from the early 2000s when it was best known for airing tapes of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It now cultivates a loyal youth audience on social media alongside the satellite channels which …
Read More »PROF CHIBITA: Well managed communication landscape key to democracy
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Management of the fast-changing communication landscape in Uganda will have a bearing on the country’s democracy. “A free communication landscape should contribute to a more informed polity. Such a polity should then be better equipped to hold their representatives accountable,” said Professor Monica Chibita on …
Read More »Prof Chibita’s Inaugural Lecture to focus on media freedom, regulation
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Dr Monica Chibita will deliver her Professorial Inaugural Lecture entitled “Between Freedom and Regulation: Reflection on Uganda’s Communication Landscape” on Friday January 17, 2020 at Uganda Christian University (UCU) in Mukono. She will examine Uganda’s regulator environment, effects of media regulation, the shift from the old …
Read More »US officials believe Iran accidentally shot down Ukraine airliner
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had “suspicions” about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran as US media reported it had been mistakenly shot down by Iran. Unnamed officials told American media that Iranian air defense systems likely accidentally shot down …
Read More »Harry and Meghan warned over new media strategy
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Like his mother Princess Diana before him, Prince Harry has had a complicated relationship with the media, which has tracked his every move as part of Britain’s most famous family. But after increasingly outspoken complaints about press coverage, he and wife Meghan now want …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Bobi Wine consultations
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY BOBI Wine Consultations: How People Power plans to dodge police roadblocks THE LAST WORD Kampala grinding to a halt: How NRM politics has made Kampala a dysfunctional city and what cannot be done about …
Read More »Moroccans rally in support of journalist detained over tweet
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Hundreds of people demonstrated Saturday outside Morocco’s parliament demanding the release of a journalist detained for criticising a judge in a tweet. Omar Radi, 33, was detained Thursday in Casablanca and immediately put on trial for the tweet about a judge prosecuting protest leaders, his …
Read More »African Media Houses need own policies on reporting about China
COMMENT | Ronald Kato | China today features prominently in the news across the globe for varying reasons. The press China gets is mainly because it has grown from a relatively obscure, poor country in East Asia into a global power. Its economy is the world’s second-largest and by some …
Read More »Ugandan media in crisis
Recent protest against police attacks exposes weakness within Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Polly Namaye, the deputy spokesperson of the Uganda Police Force, on Oct. 31 walked into the offices of the Uganda National Examinations Board. The exam body was holding a press conference to explain preparations for the …
Read More »Tanzania backsliding on freedoms under Magufuli
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | President John Magufuli has presided over a crackdown on media and civil society in Tanzania that has seriously undermined democratic freedoms as the country approaches elections, global rights groups said Monday. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tanzania was backsliding under Magufuli, whose …
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