Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Media owners have been tasked to be at the forefront in the struggle to end attacks on journalists by security agencies. The Executive Director of Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, Robert Ssempala says that media owners have not made use of their influence and …
Read More »Uganda slips further in World Press Freedom rankings
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | “Acts of intimidation and violence against reporters are an almost daily occurrence in Uganda. The security services, which are the leading press freedom violators, often target journalists, arresting them arbitrarily and sometimes holding them incommunicado,” read the entry on Uganda by Reporters Without Borders, …
Read More »Journalists become increasing ‘targets’ for killings: watchdog
Washington, United States | AFP | Journalists faced growing dangers of being targeted for killing for their work in 2018 even as the risks from war and conflict declined, a media watchdog said Wednesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists said 34 of the 53 journalists killed on duty this year …
Read More »Khashoggi, other targeted journalists named Time ‘Person of the Year’
New York, United States | AFP | Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at his country’s Istanbul consulate, was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” Tuesday, an honor he shared with other targeted journalists recognized as “guardians” of the truth. Among those named with Khashoggi were …
Read More »Journalist critical of Philippines’ Duterte pays bail
Manila, Philippines | AFP | The journalist who leads a news site that has battled Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte paid a cash bail Monday on a tax fraud charge she says is an effort to intimidate the publication. Maria Ressa’s Rappler has been hit by a string of government efforts …
Read More »Media watchdog slams Gabon over ‘erosion’ of freedom
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Freedom of the press is being eroded in Gabon, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Wednesday, after the government suspended a newspaper for commenting on the hospitalisation of President Ali Bongo. Gabon’s media regulator, the High Authority for Communications (HAC), on Friday handed a three-month suspension …
Read More »Army court drops lawsuit against Cameroon journalist: lawyer
Douala, Cameroon | AFP | A Cameroon military tribunal has dropped a lawsuit against a TV presenter from the country’s restive anglophone region who was detained for several days last week accused of “attacking state security”, her lawyer said Monday. Mimi Mefo, who heads English news for privately-owned Equinoxe broadcasting, …
Read More »Press freedom advocates freed after detention in Tanzania
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two press freedom advocates taken from their hotel in Tanzania by security officers and questioned were released on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) campaign group said. South African journalist Angela Quintal, who is the CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator, and her Kenyan colleague Muthoki …
Read More »Angola court acquits journalists of insulting the state
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Two Angolan journalists were acquitted by a judge on Friday over an article of accusing a former attorney general of corruption, in a verdict welcomed by press freedom activists. Investigative journalist Rafael Marques and editor Mariano Lourenco faced charges of insulting a public authority over …
Read More »COMMENT: How press freedom is won
Recent events show that no media market is immune to erosion of press freedom but resistance is possible COMMENT | LEON WILLEMS | Every year on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – news producers and consumers pause to reflect on the state of global media. This year, as journalists …
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