The Ethiopian Supreme Court today ruled against four independent media houses, forcing them to pay fines that were originally rendered void under a 2007 pardon. The four publishing companies, Serkalem, Sisay, Zekarias and Fasil, must now pay a total of 295,000 Birr (approx. €16,100) - more than the average Ethiopian would earn in a century, according to income figures from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.[more]

The Kanifing Magistrate Court on March 8, 2010 remanded Edwin Nebolisa Nwakaeme, a local human rights defender and a Director of Programmes of the Banjul-based Africa in Democracy and Good Governance (ADG) in police custody for allegedly “giving false information”.[more]

WAN-IFRA and IASN welcome release of kidnapped journalists [more]

A free media is a critical component in the creation and maintenance of a healthy and vibrant democracy. It plays a key monitoring, evaluation and watchdog role over both private and public institutions. [more]

MISA Malawi has issued an appeal to the country’s president Bingu wa Mutharika to intervene on reports that government departments have been given a directive to stop advertising with some private media houses in the country, among them, Nation Publications Limited (NPL), publishers of The Nation, Weekend Nation, Nation On Sunday and Fuko. [more]

ARTICLE 19 welcomes the recent bold move by the Uganda Parliament to pass the Whistleblowers Bill, a critical milestone in the country’s efforts to stem corruption and embrace transparency and accountability.[more]

On 1 March 2010, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) expressed extreme shock at the decision of the military prosecutor to try blogger and student Ahmed Mostafa, 20, in a military court for allegedly publishing false information about the military establishment, after an unusually quick investigation, according to ANHRI lawyers of the Legal Aid Unit who attended the interrogation sessions.[more]

Voice of America (VOA) reported today that its transmissions to Ethiopia are being electronically jammed. The Ethiopian government denied responsibility. [more]

Reporters Without Borders today expressed deep concern about the plight of two sports journalists working for South African M-Net Supersport television who were kidnapped on 1st March and are still being held hostage.[more]

Whose election is this? That was the question I am left with at the end of a fascinating week where I have heard directly from a top Labour campaign strategist, Welsh voters, and LSE political pundits. If you believe the mainstream media it is in the hands of the spin doctors and journalists. The pollsters and professors say it’s ‘motorway man’ in the marginals. I am not so sure.[more]

ARTICLE 19 expresses grave concerns that press freedom in Rwanda is deteriorating and that criminal charges being brought against journalists in Rwanda will contribute to the silencing of independent media voices ahead of the presidential elections later this year.[more]

Tsvangirai’s sanctions comment fuels state media propaganda The recent furore over Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s sanctions comments reignited debate over the power of television to selectively quote politicians and the weakness of politicians who make public statements that can be used to support issues they do not necessarily agree with.[more]

Last month, I had the pleasure to meet again with Shaazka Beyerle, Senior Advisor at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, during her visit to Washington.[more]

New York, March 4, 2010—Voice of America (VOA) reported today that its transmissions to Ethiopia are being electronic jammed. The Ethiopian government denied responsibility.[more]

Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that local retransmission of the French TV news station France 24 resumed yesterday in Côte d’Ivoire after the National Council for Audiovisual Communication (CNCA), which is responsible for regulating broadcasting, decided to rescind the suspension order it issued on 22 February.[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns firmly the physical assault and violence by security operatives and supporters of the opposition Sierra Leone people’s party (SLPP) in Bo, Southern Sierra Leone against ten journalists.[more]

The Angolan government is targeting human rights defenders with intimidation, harassment and detention, says Human Rights Watch. The lethal attack on Togolese football players by Angolan separatist rebels in January was also used as an excuse to round up critics of the government. At least eight activists have been arrested since the attack and journalists have been threatened. [more]

Security forces fired on anti-government protesters in the city of Gagnoa, Ivory Coast, killing five and injuring several others on 19 February, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). French TV news station France 24 was suspended after its coverage of the incident and opposition newspapers have been threatened. [more]

The Center for Media Studies & Peace Building (CEMESP) has launched the 3rd edition of its account of threats to freedom of expression with calls for the government and authorities to recognize and support the inalienable rights of others to dissent.[more]

New York, March 2, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the safety of two sports journalists, one South African and one Nigerian, who were seized by unidentified gunmen in military uniforms on Monday. The gunmen stopped a bus carrying 21 crew members of M-Net’s SuperSport channel, a South African private satellite television station, and took the three journalists hostage, local journalists told CPJ. Another Nigerian journalist was able to escape.[more]

New York, March 1, 2010—A Zimbabwean freelance journalist was arrested today for the third time this year—this time for taking footage of prisoners outside a courthouse in the capital, Harare, according to local journalists.[more]

Freelance photojournalist Andrison Manyere has been released from police custody after paying US$20 admission of guilt fine for disorderly conduct in a public place.[more]

The re-run elections for a new executive of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) held in Bulawayo on 27 February 2010 have yet again sparked controversy with some members of the union describing them as null and void.[more]

A newly-launched privately-owned newspaper, Swazi Mirror, is being sued to pay damage of E800 000 (US $150 000) by the publisher of a rival paper, the Times of Swaziland.[more]

Freelance photojournalist Andrison Manyere was on 1 March 2010 arrested at the Harare Magistrates Courts while filming the arrival of accused persons charged with attempting to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe.[more]

Lucia Afate, a parliamentary deputy for Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is suing journalist Jose Vasco da Gama over a story that appeared in the weekly paper “Magazine Independente” (MI) in 2009, which claimed that Afate had secretly married Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in a traditional ceremony in the northern province of Nampula.[more]

Ghana’s Supreme Court on February 24, 2010 awarded 2,000 GH Cedis (approximately US$1400) in favour of privately-owned Accra-based TheDaily Dispatch newspaper, its editor, reporter and publisher, Ben Ephson, Akwasi Mensah and Allied News Limited respectively, as legal costs, in a 2003 defamation case brought against them.[more]

Reporters Without Borders condemns university student Ahmed Abdel Fattah Mustafa’s trial by court martial for blogging about army human rights violations. Held incommunicado since his arrest by state security agents on 25 February, he appeared today before a Cairo military court on charges of “publishing false news” and trying to “undermine people’s confidence in the armed forces.” The trial was adjourned.[more]

Only 24% of persons seen, heard, or read about in the news are female. This is one of the key findings of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). The preliminary report is being released on 2 March 2010 at a panel discussion and debate on the occasion of the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. [more]

Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, was finally freed today along with around 100 ordinary offenders under a presidential pardon issued in honour of Mawlid (the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday). [more]

ARTICLE 19 today releases its analysis of the Kenya Communications (Broadcasting) Regulations, which came into force in January 2010, and recommends several changes to bring the Law in line with international standards.[more]

Mahoso’s ghost resurfaces MMPZ welcomes the official appointment of commissioners to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) and hopes that this will finally expedite the licensing of new newspapers.[more]

Last week, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a workshop in Freetown to discuss the issue of sexual violence in Sierra Leone and ways in which the media could serve a positive role in drawing attention to the matter.[more]

SOME Zanu PF PF youths on Wednesday detained freelance photo-journalist Andrison Manyere for filming a demonstration held in the capital, Harare.[more]

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about politically motivated censorship in Ivory Coast after authorities banned international French broadcaster France 24 on Monday on bogus allegations of unprofessionalism over coverage of political unrest in the West African nation.[more]

Journalists in Malawi will now be issued accreditation cards for easy recognition and identification by members of the public. This follows the launching of ethics and accreditation booklets by the Media Council of Malawi (MCM), a body that looks into issues of journalism ethics, complaints, arbitration and accreditation. [more]

Three journalists were sentenced to prison on Monday in Rwanda over a story reporting on an extramarital affair between the mayor of the capital, Kigali, and a government minister, according to local journalists and news reports.[more]

MISA - Zimbabwe welcomes the announcement by Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone services provider Econet Wireless of its advanced plans to link the country with the rest of the world through a fiber optic cable through the Zambian capital of Lusaka. [more]

Eligible and qualified individuals and/or organizations have an opportunity to own broadcasting stations in Malawi following advertisement by the country’s Communications and Regulatory Authority (MACRA) for broadcasting applications. [more]

Job cuts are looming at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as the new board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Solly Mokoetle strive to slash costs and reduce the bloated head count of nearly 4 000 employees. Details of the staff cutbacks are yet to be finalised, possible reduction of wage bill, a requirement of the R1.47billion state guarantee as well as being a recommendation of the report handed to the new board by the interim board at the end of its term office.[more]

Nairobi, A mobile phone suspended on a belt round the waist, or from the neck, is a common sight among members of church congregations in Africa. Now, church leaders are heaping praise on mobile phones, sometimes called cell phones, because they say the instruments help congregations grow.[more]

President Robert Mugabe on 11 February 2010 gazetted the establishment of the long awaited Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) amid expectations that the Commission will immediately call for applications for licenses for new and old players in the print media. [more]

Today, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) released a trial observation report, The Gambia: Freedom of Expression on Trial, which raises concerns with respect to the Gambia’s compliance with fair trial standards and the application of criminal law to seven journalists who legitimately and peacefully exercised their right to freedom of expression. [more]

Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of a Somali radio journalist held by the armed group al-Shabab, apparently after a report was broadcast alleging the group had killed a man in the Wanleweyn district.[more]

New York, February 22, 2010—Militants from the Al-Qaeda-allied insurgent group Al-Shabaab abducted a reporter in Somalia on Sunday, according to local journalists and news reports.[more]

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders condemns the Zimbabwean authorities' repeated harassment and intimidation of "The Zimbabwean", a privately-owned newspaper that is edited in Britain and printed in South Africa. In the latest instance, criminal charges of "publishing falsehoods" have been brought against the directors of Adquest, the company that distributes it inside Zimbabwe. No date has yet been set for their trial.[more]

Editing a newspaper is about motivating a team of people to give of their best, and produce gritty, powerful journalism, writes Anton Harber in Business Day. Judging by the air of depression that seems to be pervasive in many newsrooms, too few editors are succeeding in doing that. Anton Harber writes in Business Day: [more]

The SA National Editors’ Forum is concerned at a new clamp down on foreign and local media in Zimbabwe despite promises by the government that the country’s repressive media laws were under review and would be amended to restore media freedom, according to a media release.[more]

Nana Darkwa, the opposition party sympathizer who was remanded for allegedly implicating Ghana's former president Jerry John Rawlings in a fire that gutted Rawlings' house, was on February 19, 2010 granted bail by an Accra High Court, following an application to that effect by his counsel.[more]

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) the African organization of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) once again condemned the policy of the Tunisian authorities in systematically repressing the independent journalists. [more]

A Civil Law Court in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on February 17, 2010 ordered the New Democrat, a privately-owned newspaper to pay an outrageous amount of US$ 900,000 as damages for defaming the reputation of Consolidated Group Incorporated, pay per view provider in Liberia. [more]

A Circuit Court in Accra, capital of Ghana, on February 18, 2010 remanded Nana Darkwa, a contributor to a radio discussion programme, into prison custody for two weeks over comments he made on a radio station allegedly implicating Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings in a fire that gutted his (Rawlings’) own house on February 14.[more]

Repressive law used to ‘intimidate’ private media This week’s attacks on the private media by the chief of police and the subsequent charging, on criminal defamation, of distributors for the foreign - based, privately owned Zimbabwean newspapers, fuels growing cynicism about government’s sincerity in implementing media reforms guaranteed under the Global Political Agreement (GPA).[more]

Four Radio Benghazi journalists who worked on a programme that specialises in covering corruption were arrested yesterday evening outside the station in Benghazi (650 km east of Tripoli) and were released at midday today. Their arrests come amid a general crackdown by the Libyan authorities on news media, especially independent news websites.[more]

Journaliste en Danger (JED) has praise as well as concerns for a new media law passed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 31 December 2009. [more]

The Ghana National Coalition on the Right to Information has expressed concern over the manner in which the government is rushing to pass the Right to Information Bill without regard to due constitutional process as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.[more]

“I didn’t wear the bulletproof jacket and helmet that Reuters gave me,” explained veteran Somali journalist Sahal Abdulle to a packed crowd at Nairobi’s Serena Hotel for CPJ’s launch of Attacks on the Press. “It didn’t seem right when my colleagues, local journalists, were risking their lives trying to cover the same event.” Abdulle, like all Somali journalists, faces immense challenges in covering the story in his war-ravaged country. According to this year’s findings in Attacks, nearly all the journalists killed in the line of duty in 2009 were local journalists—and nine of them were killed in Somalia.[more]

Authorities censored coverage of armed conflict and human rights violations in the mineral-rich eastern Kivu provinces. Insecurity reigned in the volatile region, despite the presence of the world’s largest U.N. peacekeeping force. Tens of thousands of people continued to die every month from conflict, disease, and famine, while human rights groups detailed pervasive rape and sexual violence. The vast Central African nation remained among the region’s riskiest for journalists three years after it transitioned to democracy in historic U.N.-backed elections. Throughout the country, officials harassed and obstructed journalists who criticized local officials.[more]

Ahead of national elections scheduled for May 2010, the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) further curtailed the limited freedom of the country’s small number of independent newspapers. The government enacted harsh legislation that criminalized coverage of vaguely defined “terrorist” activities, and used administrative restrictions, criminal prosecutions, and imprisonments to induce self-censorship. In all, four reporters and editors were being held when CPJ conducted its annual census of imprisoned journalists on 01 December 2009.[more]

Authorities jailed six journalists after their publications said President Yahya Jammeh had been insensitive in televised remarks about the unsolved 2004 murder of prominent Gambian editor Deyda Hydara. The six, convicted in August on baseless charges of sedition, were sentenced to two years in prison but were freed in September after Jammeh, facing considerable domestic and international pressure, issued pardons.[more]

Malagasy journalists faced censorship, threats, and arrest as former president Marc Ravalomanana and new head of state Andry Rajoelina used their partisan media empires in a struggle for control of this Indian Ocean island nation. One journalist was killed in the midst of violent unrest. [more]

In an audacious bid to maintain power, President Mamadou Tandja pushed through constitutional amendments repealing presidential term limits and tightening his control of the state media regulatory agency. Facing heavy criticism in the run-up to an August referendum on the constitutional changes, the Tandja administration silenced dissent by imprisoning critics, intimidating news media, and issuing an emergency decree dissolving both the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court. Official results showed that the amendments passed with 92 percent approval, but opposition politicians and their supporters had boycotted the vote, which they called a mockery of the constitution.[more]

With 21 national dailies, 12 television stations, and several emerging online news sources, Nigeria continued to boast one of the most vibrant news media cultures on the continent. But a series of attacks fanned fears in the press corps and prompted self-censorship.[more]

Somalia was among the world’s deadliest countries in 2009, surpassing violent hot spots such as Iraq and Pakistan. As conflict continued between the weak Transitional Federal Government and multiple insurgent groups, nine journalists were killed in direct connection to their work, seven of them in the volatile capital, Mogadishu. An exodus of local journalists continued throughout the year, and few international journalists dared travel into the country for firsthand reporting, according to CPJ research. As a result, the amount and quality of news coverage of Somalia’s political and humanitarian crisis suffered greatly, CPJ found.[more]

Violent protests broke out in Kampala in September when security forces blocked leaders of the traditional kingdom of the Baganda, Uganda’s largest ethnic group, from visiting Kayunga district for a planned rally, according to local news reports. More than 25 people were killed and 846 people arrested in two days of clashes that underscored political tensions between the government and the kingdom, according to official figures reported in the press.[more]

Press freedom deteriorated in the first full year of Rupiah Banda’s presidency. Tensions mounted between Banda’s government and the leading independent daily The Post. Politicized criminal charges were leveled at Post staff members concerning the circulation of photos that Banda labeled “obscene” but others saw as a shocking look at a government health-care problem. Ruling party supporters were tied to a series of attacks against The Post and other journalists.[more]

In a measure of the deplorable state of press freedom in Zimbabwe, a year marked by harassment and obstruction was considered a small step forward. “Journalists continue to be followed, detained, and abducted; phones and e-mail messages are intercepted; the output of news from government reminds one of Radio Moscow during the Soviet era,” Geoff Hill, exiled Zimbabwean journalist and author, told CPJ.[more]

High numbers of local journalists have fled several African countries in recent years after being assaulted, threatened, or imprisoned, leaving a deep void in professional reporting. The starkest examples are in the Horn of Africa nations of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, where dozens of journalists have been forced into exile. Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and the Gambia have also lost large segments of the local press corps in the face of intimidation and violence.[more]

We are writing to draw your attention to conditions that undermine press freedom as guaranteed in Article 29 of the Ethiopian Constitution.[more]

African journalists faced a vast array of violations of their right to press freedom and freedom of expression in 2009. These included intimidation, harassment, threats, attacks, beatings, illegal detentions, arrests and imprisonment. Their equipment was confiscated and destroyed; many were forced to flee their home countries or stop reporting. Media houses were censored and sometimes shut down; their broadcast signals were jammed and copies of their publications were seized. Newspapers, broadcasters and journalists alike faced spurious lawsuits. Many reporters were slapped with criminal charges, often for alleged defamation and sedition, and very often for covering corruption or the activities of security forces. [more]

The text of a speech by Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo to the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), Cape Town: It is a privilege and an honour to have been asked to address members of the press, in particular, those affiliated with such a distinguished organisation as SANEF. The American founding father Thomas Jefferson famously quipped, “If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”[more]

“The man who lacks sense enough to despise public opinion expressed in gossip will never do anything great” - this is from Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1822). It's no secret that at CommGAP, we're all big advocates for public opinion, nevertheless we need to be aware of some of the problems that public opinion poses in its role as political factor.[more]

The Mozambican police have being harassing reporters who visit Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the country’s main opposition party, Renamo, at his residence in the northern city of Nampula, the independent daily “O Pais” reported on 10 February 2010.[more]

One of the findings on a study done by MISA-Mozambique on behalf of UNESCO on the landscape of media development in Mozambique is that Mozambique has a political and legal framework that is generally favorable to freedom of expression, and to pluralism and diversity in the media, although constraints still persist in the practical application of media-friendly laws and policies. The findings were launched at a conference on 10 February 2010 in Maputo.[more]

GOVERNMENT will table the Freedom of Information Bill-immediately after parliament resumes its sitting this month. Information and Broadcasting Services Minister RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA says government has already reached an advanced stage in pushing for legislation of the Act.[more]

Johannesburg, (PlusNews) - A sexy new South African television drama is set to show people that love, life and the risk of HIV does not stop after they turn 30. [more]

Government steps up stranglehold on media market News in the week that government was forging ahead with plans to launch a second state television channel while making no effort to license private broadcasters provided more worrying evidence of the authorities’ disdain for the media reforms they agreed to under the Global Political Agreement (GPA).[more]

New York, February 9, 2010—Security agents in Cameroon have detained two journalists since Friday in an apparent effort to learn the source of a purported memo from the chairman of the state oil company about the purchase of a luxury boat, according to local journalists and news reports. [more]

The 3 UN, ACHPR, OAS Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression together with a OSCE representative adopted a declaration on the 10 key threats to Freedom of Expression on the 3rd of February 2010 in Washington.[more]

In this issue: Media freedom violations and prospects for reforms in 2010: by Sandrah Mtetwa, Rawlings Magede, Fadzai Gambe and Charles Saki.[more]

In this issue: Shifts on the public broadcasters’ management and freedom of expression questioned: by Tumelo Tshabalala [more]

While Article 39 of Kenya’s Revised Harmonised Draft Constitution makes giant steps in guaranteeing media freedom, Henry Maina finds it still lacking. Maina explores Article 39’s shortcomings in the areas of licensing, censorship and confidentiality and suggests some fundamental safeguards as solutions.[more]

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the harsh, two-year jail sentence which a court passed yesterday on Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, at the end of an incomprehensible and arbitrary trial. Dehah, who was not freed in December on completing a six-month sentence of a charge of violating public decency, was convicted this time on charges of violating public decency, inciting revolt and “criminal publication.”[more]

Press freedom is still in danger in Africa despite 20 years of democratisation. Independent journalism continues to be a perilous profession on the continent, both in the peaceful arena as well as in conflict zones. [more]

ARTICLE 19 today releases its analysis of a Draft Law on Access to Information in Ghana, and recommends several amendments to bring the Law in line with international standards. [more]

It is a universal truism that governments and the media are like poles, which always repel whenever attempts are made to link them. In every country or state, media freedom is measured against the state or government controls and the journalist’s utopia might be where government simply does not exist. This is not only impractical, but unwise.[more]

In Uganda, a ruling this week in a landmark case of two journalists seeking to compel their government’s disclosure of multinationals oil deals highlighted the challenges to public transparency just before media leaders, press freedom advocates, officials, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter gather in Ghana next week at the African Regional Conference on the Right of Access to Information.[more]

An opinion column in Uganda’s leading independent newspaper suggesting parallels between President Yoweri Museveni and former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos led to criminal libel charges against two journalists today, according to local media reports.[more]

MMPZ views with grave concern the recent escalation of offensive and inflammatory language in the state-owned media against perceived ZANU PF opponents, particularly the MDC component of government led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, in flagrant violation of Article 19(e) of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned today the continued harassment and intimidation of the reporters of the Plateau Radio and Television Corporation (PRTVC) by soldiers in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. [more]

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), African Regional Organization of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), is concerned about the frequency of violations on press freedom and the deplorable tendency of political actors to take journalists and the media as scapegoats to solve their f political problems. [more]

Lawyers representing e.tv will make representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelani on 4 February 2010 regarding subpoenas served on two of its journalists. e.tv was expected to make representations on 28 January 2010 but requested extension to strengthen their representations to the director. Simelani is looking at the request considering whether to grant them the extension.[more]

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has promised to pass freedom of information legislation in 2010 that will grant citizens access to information held by public bodies. [more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today issued its report on journalists and media workers who died in the exercise of journalism in 2009.[more]

An Accra High Court on January 28, 2010 dismissed a four year-old defamation suit brought against “Akosua”, a cartoonist of the privately-owned Accra-based Daily Guide newspaper.[more]

An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, according to local journalists.[more]

On 31 January 2010, the Intellectual Property Unit Specialist, Kingsley Nkonde, has warned community radio and television stations in the country to desist from broadcasting movies and music videos without owners' rights, the Zambia News and Information Service (ZANIS) [more]

The National Broadcasting Board (NBB) announced on January 26, 2010 the issuance of another public broadcasting license, and this time to RB2. This follows 5 years of Radio Botswana (RB1) being awarded the same license in December 2005. The two stations had since their inception been operating without licenses.[more]

Comment: Was ZMC a victim of ‘horse-trading’? The authorities’ professed commitment to genuine media reforms as promised under the Global Political Agreement suffered another blow during the week following renewed accusations of manipulation in the selection process for nominations to the board of the Zimbabwe Media Council (ZMC). [more]

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) during its Steering Committee Meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia noted with deep concern and condemned in the strongest possible terms the continued threats against journalists Thierry Ngogang, editor in chief of the private channel STV2, Alex Gustave Azebaze, independent journalist and second secretary of the National Union of the Journalists of Cameroun (SNJC), Anani Rabier Bindzi, journalist of the private television channel Canal2 International and Manassé Aboya Endong, Director of publication of Africa Top Secret, who have all be summoned to appear before the penal court of Douala on January 12, 2010[more]

Hundreds of people are expected to converge at the Kwame Nkurmah Circle on Wednesday January 27, 2010 in Accra, from where they will march to the offices of the country’s Attorney General to present a petition to the government on the status of the Right to Information Bill which was approved by cabinet in November 2009.[more]

The recent controversy about an e.tv story featuring two criminals who threatened robbery and violence during the 2010 World Cup, has raised once again the controversial issue of whether journalists should have a right to protect their confidential sources of information.[more]

When Arab information ministers meet in Cairo on 24 January they are to discuss a joint proposal by the Egyptian and Saudi governments for the creation of a regional office to supervise Arab satellite TV stations.[more]

THE Freedom of Expression Institute will be asking the Law Reform Commission to urgently review the Criminal Procedure Act's subpeona provision in the light of its impact on the media, and will be asking for a shild law to protect journalists, according to an FXI statement.[more]

Roger Stringer, a Harare publishing consultant, is challenging the Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo to explain the verification process that led to the short-listing of nominees subject to final appointment to serve on the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).[more]

On 23 January 2010 the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) banned ‘The Post’ Newspaper Reporter Kalumiana Kalumiana from talking to Zambian soccer team players at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.[more]

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia Chapter has observed that Zambia is running out of time to prepare for the mandatory migration of broadcasting services from analogue to a digital platform.[more]

The case against two e.tv journalists subpoenaed by police was postponed indefinitely in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on 25 January 2010, pending mediation between e.tv lawyers, the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) and the police. eNews Editor Ben Said and Reporter Mpho Lakaje were subpoenaed under Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act to reveal their sources.[more]

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), is calling on the Zambian authorities to immediately end attacks on Zambian media as they work to establish self-regulatory mechanism. [more]

The Year 2009 can be considered as one of the worst years for press freedom in the African continent. Considering the year under review, 13 journalists were killed across the continent; 32 journalists imprisoned, a significant number of journalists arrested, some violently attacked and wounded, while threats and intimidation against journalists continued unabated.[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the four year jail term handed down to Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous on 13 January by a court for his reporting on the demonstrations against unemployment and corruption in the mining town of Gafsa in 2008.

e.tv journalists appears in court for concealing sources [more]

1. General Comment As Zimbabweans anxiously celebrated the beginning of a new decade, their hopes for comprehensive political, social and economic reforms remained clouded by uncertainty as none of the current developments appear to guarantee anything like the envisaged transformation that civil society has been demanding.[more]

The Banjul Magistrate Court on January 7, 2010 granted bail to Sulayman Saidy, a reporter with the Gambia News and Report, a privately-owned Banjul-based weekly magazine. [more]

eNews journalists subpoenaed after story on thugs' world cup plans[more]

(Freedom House/IFEX) -Freedom House condemns the arrest of 19 activists in Egypt - among them leading bloggers, political party representatives, and journalists - and demands their immediate release without harm. [more]

On 10 January 2010, a journalist with the privately-owned Times of Swaziland newspaper, Manqoba Nxumalo, was attacked, harassed and had his notebook confiscated by church-goers whilst he was covering a church service in Manzini, Swaziland’s second main city. [more]

THE Public Service Broadcasting Bill is constitutionally flawed in a number of respects, says the SOS - Supporting Public Broadcasting Coalition in a media release, and there should be thorough policy review process before such radical change to the broadcasting sector should be attempted. [more]

MISA-Namibia condemns the attack on freelance journalist John Grobler and calls on the Namibian government and law enforcement agencies to create a conducive environment were media practitioners can continue to operate without fear, or intimidation from any political sources.[more]

The Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) has condemned the action by The Guardian Limited of Tanzania to send its junior journalists on an indefinite leave, terming the decision “un-procedural and unlawful”.[more]

Tanzania government has de-registered Leo Tena newspaper and suspended the publication of Kulikoni for 90 days effective from Monday, 11 January 2010.[more]

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), is calling on the Zambian authorities to immediately end attacks on Zambian media as they work to establish self-regulatory mechanism. [more]

Alleged political interference has led to unanticipated departure of the Acting Director General (DG) of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, Mathew //Gowaseb. [more]

MISA-Zimbabwe cautiously welcomes the final appointment by the President of commissioners that will serve on the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).[more]

MISA-Zimbabwe cautiously welcomes the final appointment by the President of commissioners that will serve on the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC).[more]

The newly elected Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) executive on 29 December 2009 opted to stand down and allow fresh elections to be held on 27 February 2010. [more]

Traditional media - mainly newspapers - still generate the bulk of the information that reaches the public, according to a research report by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. A study into the 'news ecology' in Baltimore, US, found that new media platforms and services like Twitter mainly repeat information generated elsewhere.[more]

The fundamental flaw in the new Public Service Broadcasting Bill is an assumption that the state is the only custodian of development, writes Jane Duncan in SACSIS. While the attempt to push the SABC away from a commercial direction is to be welcomed, this can only be truly developmental when it encourages a clash of ideas. [more]

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is concerned over the continuing violence being directed towards the journalists in Somalia following the injury of Radio Journalist in Beletweyne town of Hiran region on Sunday 10 January 2010. [more]

The Government of Swaziland has banned the privately-owned Times of Swaziland Sunday newspaper from publishing weekly opinionated articles by leader of the banned opposition party, Mario Masuku, who is President of the Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO).[more]

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Ronnie Shikapwasha, says government has abandoned its demand that media associations should establish a credible, self-regulatory system within six months, failure to which it would legislate for a statutory one. [more]

A court in the capital N’Djamena yesterday found the privately owned weekly La Voix “not guilty” of charges against it and lifted a provisional order for automatic seizure of all copies of the paper made on 3 December 2009. An appeal will be heard on 13 January[more]

The 2009 is a year of darkness, death, displacement, detention and violence against journalists and the entire media fraternity in Somalia, according to the annual report unveiled today by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ)[more]

How can the digital technologies be more extensively and appropriately harnessed to address the major development issues - from global to local - we all face? [more]

The weekly newspaper KOLL ENNASS, published in Arabic in Tunis, has three times lashed out at Tunisian human rights defenders and journalists. Kamel JENDOUBI, Sihem BENSEDRINE and Slim BAGGA have been accused of being Israeli agents allegedly pursued by some ‘Palestinian factions’.[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called for more action from governments and the United Nations to protect media as it announced a grim total of 137 journalists and media personnel killed during 2009. The number of targeted killings at 113 is one of the highest ever recorded says the IFJ[more]

MISA-Zimbabwe has been following with particular interest the seemingly contentious issue of shortwave radio stations within the context of the ongoing SADC mediation process. [more]

After setting up an Nairobi office in early 2008, Article 19 now issued the first newsletter of a monthly newsletter series on media developments and frreedom of expression in East Africa. [more]

Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo has banned its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, from speaking to the press. According to a report issue on 2 December 2009 in the local independent daily "O Pais", Renamo has threatened violence against any reporters who try to visit Dhlakama at his residence in the northern city of Nampula. [more]

Three editors of independent Amharic-language weekly Addis Neger have fled Ethiopia, saying that the government intends to prosecute them under Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009, promulgated on 28 August 2009. The last edition of the newspaper, which has been closed down, appeared on Saturday, 28 November.[more]

Darfuris will this week tune into the first episode of an IWPR co-produced programme on local and international justice issues, aired by a diaspora radio station, which is estimated to regularly attract over a million listeners in the Darfur region. [more]

A new report entitled: Public Broadcast Services in Africa Series has urged the government of Zimbabwe to commit to media reforms. Citing the highly controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which established the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Commission, a body that has immense power to make or break all media in the country; the report, launched in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, urges the government to place top priority in ensuring that: ‘Laws inhibiting the free operations of the media are repealed without delay.’[more]

1. Comment: As this update was being compiled, The Herald (2/12) unwittingly revealed the defects of Article XIX of the Global Political Agreement under which the coalition vaguely undertook to ensure the establishment of “a free and diverse media environment” while at the same time advocating the closure of foreign-based Zimbabwean private radio stations.[more]

In the absence of any independent media, RWB condemns the state-owned media’s totally one-sided coverage of the campaign for the 29 November presidential election. After winning the 2002 election with 97.1 per cent of the votes, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has “promised” to win this one with more than 97 per cent again.[more]

The professional associations and bodies which are behind this initiative, particularly the NPAN, must do everything possible to ensure that their members demonstrate total support and commitment to it. There can be no room for a half-hearted belief in this.[more]

I am sure that there are others here who will also have some ideas on possible additional sources of funding and revenue for supporting the work of the Ombudsman. Let us put all the ideas on the table and explore them. But whatever funding mechanisms are adopted, it is important that the process be clear and transparent so that the issue does not become mired in controversy, which can undermine the credibility of the Office. [more]

Concerns about this possibility resulted in a declaration in 1989 by the editors of all national newspapers, in a country with a highly competitive media industry, that: “We, having given due consideration to criticism of the Press by Parliament and the public, accept the need to improve methods of self-regulation. Accordingly, we declare today our unanimous commitment to a common Code of Practice to safeguard the independence of the Press from threats of official control”.[more]

We must acknowledge that over the last several years, there have been increasing criticisms of press behaviour, some of it legitimate, others orchestrated and designed to weaken the media institution by powerful interests that are uncomfortable with a vibrant press beaming its searchlight on their questionable activities.

1. Comment: Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s complaint about ZBC’s unprofessional conduct in his address at the launch of a report on Zimbabwe’s public broadcast media in Harare, during which he also raised fundamental points on media reforms, was vindicated by the broadcaster’s censorship of this newsworthy event. [more]

ISA-Zimbabwe Harare Advocacy Committee held a public discussion on 23 November 2009 at the Harare press hub, The Quill Club, aimed at assessing and stimulating investigative journalism in Zimbabwe as inspired by the now deceased Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso.[more]

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have teamed up to revive the campaign to have the Access To Information (ATI) Bill enacted. This was agreed at a meeting held on 12 November 2009 at Korean Gardens Lodge in the Capital Lilongwe. The meeting, which was organized by MISA-Malawi in partnership with a human rights organization known as Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) aimed at soliciting input from various stakeholders on strategies to have the bill tabled in the National Assembly. [more]

Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda announced on 24 November 2009 that the South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will receive a state bail-out of R1, 473 billion. This follows the approval by the Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.[more]

HARARE - A senior government official says plans are underway to reform repressive media laws in the country that have seen the closure of many publications such as the independent Daily News newspaper and its sister publication, The Daily News On Sunday.[more]

The Moroccan authorities are ratcheting up their attacks on independent journalists. A week rarely passes without the authorities hitting hard on the press for alleged infractions, cracking down on printed as well as online media. Press freedom watchdogs like Reporters Without Borders [1] judge the situation of Press freedom in the country now as “difficult,” condemning a “judicial system [that] deploys an arsenal of sanctions designed to intimidate and financially asphyxiate the independent press.”[more]

1. Comment: MMPZ condemns ZBC’s continued violation of Article XIX of the GPA and its public service charter, compelling it to give fair and balanced coverage to all political parties. Its coverage of the three coalition partners during the week illustrates this inequity. Of the 49 stories the national broadcaster allocated to the parties, 47 (96%) were on ZANU PF activities while the remaining two focused on the activities of breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today denounced the disproportionate sanctions imposed by the National Council of Communication (CNC) in Gabon on November 10, 2009 against eight private newspapers which have been struck with temporary prohibition of publication as well as the suspension of a very popular television program.[more]

Togolese authorities on November 11, 2009 gave hints of their intention to reinitiate a new proposal to replace the October 30 Media Regulatory Amendment Bill that the country’s National Assembly passed strengthening the powers of the Higher Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC) to deal decisively with the Togolese media.[more]

Benin’s media regulatory body, the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), on November 4, 2009 suspended for thirty days, Capp FM, a privately-owned Cotonou-based radio station, for hosting a civil society programme that the HAAC considered as serious and could endanger the security of the state.[more]

“Today in Guinea, if you invite any journalist to participate in any media discussion programme, he or she would not turn up for fear of being attacked by the soldiers”, “Apart from journalists other human rights defenders and citizens also live in fear”. These were the exact words of a Guinean human rights lawyer, when he addressed a public forum on Guinea at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra, the capital of Ghana.[more]

The Zimbabwe government contends that they are very much aware of the problematic and repressive provisions of laws such as AIPPA and POSA and that plans are under way to rectify these laws and ensure that they are in sync with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s rights.[more]

A United Nations report released today criticizes the judicial process in a Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) military court in connection with the trial of a murdered Congolese journalist, including the alleged bribery of the presiding judges.[more]

Lusaka Chief Resident Magistrate Charles Kafunda on 16 November 2009 acquitted Post News Editor Chansa Kabwela of the case in which she was charged with one court of circulating obscene materials or things that corrupt moral contrary to section 177 1 (b) of the Penal Code chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia. Kabwela allegedly circulated the pictures between June 1 and 10, 2009 in Lusaka and the Zambian Government premised their case on the notion that the images tended to corrupt morals.[more]

MISA-Namibia has pledged its full support to Media Ombudsman and the Media Complaints Committee. The Namibia’s Media Ombudsman was launched on 13 November 2009 in Windhoek.[more]

THE Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the suspension of six private newspapers by the government-controlled media-monitoring body, the National Communications Council, in Gabon, according to a media release.[more]

Comment: MMPZ condemns the authorities’ relentless attempts to emasculate professional journalistic activity at ZBH in their efforts to retain control of the national public broadcaster as the unbridled mouthpiece of ZANU PF. [more]

Three employees with the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), O’brien Rwafa, Jacob Phiri and Freedom Moyo, were last week suspended for 10 days after being accused of leaking information on a government directive to stop covering government ministers who are members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. [more]

NEWS ALERT According to human rights organization "Zimbabwe Democracy Now", state owned Herald newspaper published a story about Major Samudzi committing suicide in a military cell.[more]

Togolese authorities have approved an amendment to the Act establishing the High Authority of Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), giving it power to impose severe sanctions on the country’s media.[more]

Back in 1991 the Oxfam press office was worried about the lack of coverage for unreported food-shortages and conflicts in the horn of Africa. So they got a 747 from British Airways and flew a group of UK journalists around a series of ‘war-torn’ ‘famine stricken’ states like Ethiopia.[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) denounced today the vote on Friday October 30, 2009 by the National Assembly of a legislation reinforcing the powers of the High Authority of Audio-visual and Communication (HAAC) and which seriously threatens press freedom and freedom of expression in Togo. [more]

Ghana’s Cabinet, at its last sitting last week, approved the Right To Information (RTI) bill after it was reviewed by a subcommittee that was charged to study the draft memorandum.[more]

Another local television, Bukedde TV, officially hit the airwaves on 30 October, bringing to eight the number of television stations in Kampala.[more]

The Acting Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) Commissioner Bahame Tom Nyanduga has urged Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to re-dedicate themselves to the fight against dictatorships, bad governance and other human rights challenges in Africa.[more]

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) is deeply disappointed by the signing into law of the Films and Publications Amendment Act 3 of 2009 (Amendment Act). The Amendment Act constitutes a grave intrusion of the right to freedom of expression.[more]

TOP executives from African media houses gather in Lagos on Thursday for two days of consultations on how to sustain the development of good journalism on the continent, writes Boakai Fofana for allafrica.com.[more]

The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has expressed disdain over recent media reports regarding the ongoing investigation in the scandal at the Ministry of Information.[more]

MISA is calling on the public broadcaster NBC to speed up the process of revising and implementing an alternative and equitable air time allocation for political parties participating in the 27-28 November 2009, Presidential and National Assembly elections. [more]

Abuja — Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspaper, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, has questioned the relevance of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) as a regulator in an age where technology has created a borderless world.[more]

Baidoa — The National Union of Somali Journalists has strongly condemned a wave of arrests of journalists and media house raids across Southern Somali regions last week.[more]

On the occasion of the European Development Days, ARTICLE 19 joins with the Africa Forum for Media Development, the African Media Initiative, the Global Forum for Media Development, the International Federation of Journalists and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers in calling for stronger dedicated European Union support to media freedom in Africa.[more]

Luanda — The Angolan ambassador, Luís Neto Kiambata, said Wednesday in Luanda it is "essential" and "indispensable" for the Angola Press Agency (Angop) management to pay more attention to the training of its personnel and keep pace with world technological evolution.[more]

Opinion- Sometimes when we remain inside the box, any small hole in that box becomes the only windowpane that helps to shape the social reality that we perceive to exist outside the box.[more]

At the end of a recent four-day conference on Communication Education and Practice in Africa in Accra-Ghana, Daily Champion reports that Nigeria is likely to drive the African Council on Communication Education (ACCE)'s desire for observer status at the African Union (AU).[more]

Governments and development agencies have devoted many years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing democratic governance in countries around the world.[more]

Tanzanians have made significant progress since independence, but the struggle, as they say, continues, for ours is still counted among the world's ten poorest countries.[more]

Windhoek — A joint study by The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa)'s Namibian Chapter, Misa Namibia, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Media Tenor South Africa on the media coverage of the 2004 Namibian Presidential and National Assembly Elections found that elections did not appear on the radar until three weeks before polling day.[more]

Reporters Without Borders today condemned mistreatment by Zimbabwean intelligence agents of two journalists working for Arab satellite TV station al-Jazeera.[more]

Welcome to The Gambia, the land of "His Excellency President Professor Alhaji Dr AJJ Jammeh", a sign at airport tells visitors to the West African nation.[more]

Press Release: Reporters Without Borders condemns the latest disturbing escalation in the Guinean military’s clampdown, consisting of denying entry to French TV crews and reporters on their arrival at Conakry international airport.[more]

The problem of stereotypes in the media is a fundamental one, because it is largely a cultural matter. We all find ourselves belonging to a culture or another, most often by chance, not by choice.[more]

Sometimes you go to a meeting and someone produces a moment of elegance, that is, a moment that neatly sums up an area of experience.[more]

User-generated comments, and text messages in particular, are causing umbrage in Namibian government circles. Their unhappiness highlights the historic shift of media away from unidirectional, univocal information.[more]

Andrew Puddephatt’s Exploring the Role of Civil Society in the Formulation and Adoption of Access to Information Laws defines the main contours of Access to Information (ATI) movements in 5 countries (Bulgaria, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom).[more]

Article 19 welcomes the Resolution on the Right to Freedom of Expression adopted by consensus today at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).[more]

Harare – President Robert Mugabe’s decision to pack boards of state media companies with trusted loyalists ensures he has enough manpower to undercut whatever reforms his unity government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is looking to implement in the media sector, analysts told ZimOnline on Tuesday.[more]

If local journalists reported more of the news to Western audiences, their sources and the story’s context would be different...[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins today its affiliate the Syndicat national de la presse marocaine (SNPM) in condemning the Moroccan government's campaign to muzzle critical journalists.[more]

Press freedom monitoring officers from 11 East African countries have raised the red flag about the media crackdown currently underway in Uganda.[more]

So what would you do if you had a big bunch of money (which I do not, I hasten to add) and you were interested in funding media development? How would you invest those funds? What principles would guide that investment? What results would you expect?[more]

The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) is mulling over a new law that could deprive people of their freedoms including freedom of expression and association.[more]

Gone are the days when news stories had to be vetted by colonial-era authorities. But, as delegates have said at the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Conference on Censorship, Media and Freedom of Expression in Southern Africa, today anyone can write anything they wish, but the article may the last for the writer and his or her media house.[more]

The appointments of individuals to the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) and Zimbabwe Newspapers Group, New Ziana, and Transmedia by the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Honourable Webster Shamu gives the immediate impression of a lack of transparency and accountability to the Zimbabwean public.[more]

An initial look at the field indicates that there is a broad consensus between researchers, UK government and the relevant parts of the UN in three main areas[more]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned firmly today, the violence and death threats by the military junta against journalists in Guinea.[more]

On 21 September 2009, press freedom in Swaziland came under renewed threat with a Senator calling for what he termed a "stringent" law that would "deal" with the media in the country.[more]

Mugabe stuck to his well known script, Amanpour and CNN fumbled all over. Thus after the highly expected interview of Mugabe by senior CNN Journalist, Christiane Amanpour, on Thursday 24 September, it came out, in my view, to a victory for Mugabe, if we take it as a contest. Amanpour failed to rise above the familiar frames of the western media’s analysis of Zimbabwe, dictatorship, hunger, land, and white farmers.[more]

“We’ve been funding this radio station for four years now. Both your own evaluations and our own assessment make us conclude that it’s achieved far more than we could possibly have hoped. For the first time, people really feel that their elected leaders are answerable to their citizens in this region.[more]