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Media & freedom of expression
RSS FeedBurundi: Stop menacing the media
2011-11-23, Issue 559
Burundi government officials should halt their intensifying pressure on journalists, Human Rights Watch said. In the last few weeks, journalists have been summonsed by state prosecuting authorities for questioning with increasing frequency in respons...
South Africa: Why the information bill matters
2011-11-24, Issue 559
This article explains why South Africa's controversial information bill, passed in the National Assembly last week, matters for a youth organisation working in townships to equip learners for tertiary education. 'The problem with the Information Bill...
South Africa: Factbox, a look at South Africa's secrecy bill
2011-11-24, Issue 559
South Africa's parliament passed legislation last week aimed at better protecting state secrets but the measure has been widely criticised for provisions that could help the government hide corruption. Reuters has a useful fact page that details the ...
South Africa: FXI condemns info bill vote
Freedom of Expression Institute Statement
2011-11-27, Issue 559
'The Freedom of Expression Institute wish to register our disappointment in the ruling ANC for voting in favour of the bill in its current form. We are particularly disappointed since the ruling party promised more consultation on the bill when the ...
Djibouti: Two radio reporters freed conditionally after being held for four days, tortured
2011-11-27, Issue 559
'La Voix de Djibouti' correspondents Farah Abadid Hildid and Houssein Robleh Dabar were released provisionally recently after being held by the gendarmerie for four days, during which time they were both reportedly tortured....
South Africa: Cosatu challenges secrecy bill
2011-11-27, Issue 559
COSATU plans to challenge the draconian Protection of Information Bill in the Constitutional Court. The bill, dubbed the 'Secrecy Bill' by the media, was pushed through the National Assembly by an ANC majority on Tuesday last week despite widespread ...
DRC: Concern about media environment
2011-11-27, Issue 559
With attacks on journalists and media continuing in the final run-up to the 28 November presidential and parliamentary elections and an opposition parliamentarian’s murder in Kinshasa adding to the tension, Reporters Without Borders appeals again to ...
Zimbabwe: Two journalists arrested and charged with theft and defamation
2011-11-16, Issue 558
Nevanji Madanhire, the editor of the weekly Zimbabwe Standard newspaper, and reporter Nqaba Matshazi, were arrested in Harare on Tuesday 15 November and charged with theft, unlawful entry and criminal defamation. It is believed the journalists were t...
Ghana: Civil society coalition launches campaign to bring transparency on the airwaves
2011-11-17, Issue 558
Civil society organisations in Ghana, including the Media Foundation West Africa (MFWA) on 15 November launched the Coalition for the Transparency of the Airwaves (COTA) in Accra, to ensure openness and accountability of the electronic media in the c...
Liberia: Court gives Liberia broadcasters second chance
2011-11-17, Issue 558
All three private radio and television stations shut down by the Liberian Government have been reopened. Love FM/TV, Power FM/TV and Kings FM/TV were ordered closed by the Justice ministry on the eve of the presidential runoff election for broadcasti...
South Africa: ANC attempts to steamroll Secrecy Bill, again
2011-11-20, Issue 558
Right to know activists were astounded when the Secrecy Bill returned to the National Assembly last week, making empty words of the ANC's promises of public consultation on the Bill. The ANC withdrew the Bill from the National Assembly agenda on 19 S...
Kenya: Draft Data Protection Bill critically limited
2011-11-20, Issue 558
ARTICLE 19 says the Draft Kenya Data Protection Bill 2009 currently undergoing internal review and stakeholder consultation is critically limited and calls on the Constitution Implementation Commission to revise it to be in line with acceptable inter...
South Africa: ANC may consider Info Bill amendment
2011-11-08, Issue 557
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has suggested the ruling party may yet heed calls from the media to write a public interest defence into the contested Protection of State Information Bill. Media organisations and civil rights groups have vowed to ...
Liberia: Opposition radio and TV stations closed down
2011-11-10, Issue 557
Liberian opposition radio and TV stations were shut down by the authorities on 8 November 2011 on the orders of a criminal court in Monrovia. The stations are being accused of spreading messages that the authorities said could incite violence. The st...
Egypt: Military extends blogger's detention
2011-11-14, Issue 557
Egyptian military prosecutors have extended the detention of a prominent activist and blogger, pending investigations into accusations that he incited violence and attacked military personnel during deadly protests. The extension will add 15 days to ...
Africa: Nigerian editor and two reporters scoop FAIR awards
2011-11-14, Issue 557
Nigerian newspaper NEXT shone like a million stars on 1 November as one of its editors and two of its reporters scooped two of the three awards on offer at the FAIR (Forum for African Investigative Reporters) African Investigative Journalism Awards ...
South Africa: Right2Know Campaign supporters to protest parliamentary vote
Right2Know Statement
2011-11-14, Issue 557
Right2Know is calling on all supporters to come to Parliament on Wednesday 13h00 for a protest. This follows the move to bring the Secrecy Bill back to National Assembly for further deliberations as confirmed by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip last ...
South Sudan: Two journalists detained
2011-11-14, Issue 557
Two South Sudanese independent journalists have been imprisoned over a column critical of President Salva Kiir, according to local journalists and news reports. On 1 November South Sudan National Security Services (NSS) agents in the temporary capita...
Liberia: Oldest radio station set ablaze
2011-11-14, Issue 557
One of Africa’s oldest radio stations, the Monrovia-based Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) has been burnt by unknown arsonists, sources said. ELWA is an American-owned Christian station that was not among the four that were ordered closed by the go...
Angola: Armed men threaten journalist in Cabinda
2011-11-01, Issue 556
Authorities in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of independent journalist José Manuel Gimbi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said following reports that unidentified armed men raided Gimbi's res...
Egypt: Thousands show solidarity with jailed blogger
2011-11-01, Issue 556
A few thousand Egyptians marched through the streets of downtown Cairo in a protest against military tribunals and solidarity for a jailed blogger on 31 October. The march started at Talaat Harb Square and went through busy streets all the way to the...
DRC: Attacks on journalists increase as election looms
2011-11-06, Issue 556
Just over three weeks before the presidential election on 28 November, Reporters Without Borders and Journalist in Danger (JED), its partner organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have written to Adolphe Lumanu Mulenda Bwana N’Sefu, the de...
Global: Civil society organisations ask UN to link access to info and the environment
2011-11-07, Issue 556
In an initiative led by ARTICLE 19, 77 civil society organisations which are members of IFEX and the Freedom of Information Advocates (FOIA) Network are calling on the United Nations to champion access to information laws, transparency and free media...
Zimbabwe: Info laws to stay
2011-10-25, Issue 554
The Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Patrick Chinamasa on 12 October 2011 said the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act will not be amended. In his concluding remarks in Gene...
Eritrea: Golden Pen award for Dawit Isaak
'It is unknown if he is still alive.'
2011-10-25, Issue 554
This year, 44 journalists have already been murdered, says the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), which launched a review of press freedom around the world during World Newspaper Week, held from 10 to 15 October in Vienna...
Nigeria: TV journalist shot dead
2011-10-25, Issue 554
Reporters Without Borders has called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the fatal shooting of Zakariya Isa, a reporter and cameraman for the state-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern st...
Global: Free flow of information online vital for all
2011-10-26, Issue 554
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, has urged governments to guarantee the free flow of information on the Internet, and to ensure that the Internet is made widely available, accessible and affordable to all....
Gambia: Justice minister confronted over missing journalist
2011-10-27, Issue 554
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) has challenged the Gambian Government to speak out on the whereabouts of journalist Ebrima Manneh. FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman and his Vice-President Foster Dongozi took Gambia’s Justice minister Edward ...
Libya: Killing Gaddafi
2011-10-30, Issue 554
This article from Media Lens looks at the mainstream media coverage of Gaddafi's killing. 'We suspect that most journalists are not actually unfeeling brutes. They are conformists wary of the high price they can be made to pay for even the suspicion ...
Egypt: Lawsuit over TV protest coverage
2011-10-18, Issue 553
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information says it has filed a lawsuit against the military council, prime minister, and minister of information for the misinformation and incitement against the protesters by the state TV during the events at Ma...
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