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Committee to Protect Journalists
CPJ Blog
Press Freedom News and Views
Senegal
Political violence in Senegal from Committee to Protect Journalists on Vimeo.
Last week's unexpected coup d'etat in Mali somewhat overshadowed, in the international news cycle, a relatively peaceful transition of power in the neighboring democracy of Senegal. In a second-round vote, opposition leader Macky Sall on Sunday defeated his former mentor, 85-year-old incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade; and while European Union observers deplored some irregularities, they largely praised the election and the Senegalese news media for a "positive role" in informing voters.
Last week, a judge in Senegal convicted a man of assaulting three journalists outside their newspaper's office in the capital Dakar last month. The attack was not related to journalism, but the quick arrest and prosecution of the perpetrator serves as an instructive contrast between the handling of an ordinary crime and the handling of abuses against journalists in the line of duty - cases which are usually politicized, stalled, or both.
The Senegalese state-controlled radio and TV Corporation, Radio Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS), is experiencing an internal struggle for editorial freedom as Senegal moves toward a presidential election on February 26, 2012.
Senegalese journalists say justice is not on their side when they are victims of abuse by powerful officials or security forces. I met recently in Dakar with journalists targeted with criminal acts in apparent reprisal for their work. In these two high-profile cases, CPJ has found evidence of political influence on the judiciary.
Fifty years after independence, the profession of journalism seems to have retained its prestige with the general public in 
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has written a response to a recent CPJ protest letter. While we welcome his attention to the issues we raised about press freedom last month, we note with great concern the president’s comments about the ongoing criminal case of two journalists assaulted by police in 2008.
A year ago last week in Senegal, two reporters
covering a soccer match were assaulted with tasers, handcuffed, and abused by
police officers after the reporters refused to halt a post-game interview at
Léopold Sédar Senghor Stadium in the capital, Dakar. A year on, Senegalese law
enforcement has fallen short in bringing to account those responsible for this and
other abuses against the media.
In the Senegalese
capital, Dakar, speculation surrounded Air Transport Minister Farba Senghor after unidentified men using
a government vehicle ransacked the
newsrooms of 24 Heures Chrono and L'As,
two independent newspapers. The attacks came just three days
after Senghor threatened
unspecified retaliation against the papers over critical stories. CPJ issued an alert on Tuesday, calling attention the situation.
In
The incident, which came amid a flurry
of threats and violence against independent media, triggered protests actions in Senegal, and recently
in Chicago,
and a news
blackout as well as the formation of a local Committee for the Protection
and Defense of Journalists. In a surprising twist however, authorities have
accused the victims of triggering the incident by assaulting one of the
policemen, a claim ridiculed by journalists. A senior judge is overseeing the
case, but a larger national and international debate about
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