Africa

2013

  
Police attempt to arrest a supporter of Erias Lukwago outside his home on December 2. (Monitor)

Uganda: Block the opposition and block the press

Getting rid of an influential opposition figure is a simple two-step process for Uganda’s ruling party, the National Resistance Movement: Dismiss the opponent and ensure the press cannot cover it.

Read More ›

Malian government accused of censoring news site

New York, December 10, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports a Malian website based in Paris has been threatened by Mali’s government after posting an Associated Press (AP) story today implicating Malian soldiers in extrajudicial killings. 

Read More ›

Journalists protest outside a government building in Kenya. (CPJ)

Kenya parliament passes draconian media laws

Nairobi, December 5, 2013–Kenya’s National Assembly today passed contentious anti-press legislation, the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Act and the Media Council Act, which will effectively silence critical reporting through a new government-controlled regulator and the threat of hefty fines.

Read More ›

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, November 2013

Photo credit, Barbara Nitke (CPJ) Journalists honored at CPJ’s annual award ceremony Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef was among four journalists who received CPJ’s 2013 International Press Freedom Award on November 26. Youssef has used humor to report on and criticize government failures to improve the economy and public services, and its efforts to suppress opinion.…

Read More ›

Take this survey on digital safety, then take these steps

It is an extraordinarily difficult time to be a journalist. Nearly every month, the digital security landscape shifts–new surveillance concerns are unearthed and freshly drafted laws are introduced that seek to curb freedom of expression under the guise of national security.

Read More ›

Republic of Congo regulators suspend three newspapers

On November 13, 2013, the state-run media regulatory board High Council on Freedom of Communication (CSLC), suspended three private weeklies from circulation for nine months in connection with articles they published that were critical of the authorities, according to news reports. The 11 members of the council are hand-picked by the president and have the…

Read More ›

A banner tied to the gates of Parliament protests a media bill under review. (CPJ/Tom Rhodes)

Kenya’s press takes to the streets against bill

“Mr. President, you gagged us!” said a banner tied to the gates of Parliament today. Kenya’s Editors Guild and the Kenya Correspondents’ Association organized peaceful demonstrations across the country to protest a media bill currently under parliamentary review. Protests were held in every county in the country, according to William Janak, chairman of the correspondents’…

Read More ›

Photojournalist briefly detained in Ethiopia

Police in Ethiopia’s western region of Gambella on November 1, 2013, detained Robin Hammond, a freelance photojournalist with dual U.K. and New Zealand citizenship, while he was on assignment for U.S. magazine National Geographic, according to news reports and local journalists.

Read More ›

After UN resolution on impunity, more work to be done

For all the people who have been working on the problem of impunity for so long, the announcement on November 26 that the Third Committee of the United Nation’s General Assembly had passed a resolution on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, setting November 2 as the “International Day to End Impunity…

Read More ›

CPJ

Interactive Timeline: 12 months of impunity at a glance

In December 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 27 partner organizations launched Speak Justice: Voices against Impunity as part of an international effort to seek justice for the hundreds of journalists who have been murdered around the world. Today, on International Day to End Impunity, we are taking a look back at what has…

Read More ›

2013