In DRC, a nationwide pattern of attacks raises alarm
Mr. President, We are writing to express our alarm at a disturbing nationwide pattern of attacks on the news media. Since the arrival of your government on February 24, eight broadcasters were raided by government security forces in connection with their news coverage, and one journalist was killed amid increasingly insecure conditions, according to CPJ research. These events undermine Information Minister Toussaint Tshilombo’s statement on World Press Freedom Day that press freedom is respected in the DRC.
Radio station in DRC shut down for broadcasting `bad French’
New York, June 15, 2007— Intelligence agents in the Democratic Republic of Congo shut down a privately owned radio station for “intoxicating the population” and “broadcasting in bad French.” It was the sixth Congolese broadcaster this year to be raided by security forces over its coverage. Radio Canal Satellite remained off the air today after…
Police in Congo arrest suspects in journalist’s murder
New York, June 14, 2007— Police arrested two suspects today in the killing of a broadcaster for United Nations-sponsored Radio Okapi in the eastern border town of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the station’s journalists told CPJ. CPJ is investigating to determine whether Serge Maheshe was killed because of his work as a…
In DRC, police disrupt media group meeting, assault journalists
New York, June 1, 2007—A journalist remained hospitalized today after police in the central diamond mining town of Mbuji-Mayi disrupted an official meeting of a prominent Congolese media group on Thursday, assaulting dozens of journalists and seizing personal items, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and local journalists. François Luboya, the…
DRC broadcaster closed after drawing governor’s ire
New York, May 23, 2007—Authorities in the central diamond mining town of Mbuji-Mayi closed down a private broadcaster on Sunday in connection with comments critical of the provincial governor that aired on two programs last week, according to local journalists and press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). Police sealed the studios of Radiotélévision Debout…
In DRC, reporter suspended after airing dissident general’s interview
New York, May 15, 2007—The broadcast on public radio of an interview with dissident Congolese Gen. Laurent Nkunda led officials in the eastern border town of Goma to indefinitely suspend a reporter last week, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and local journalists. This month, CPJ named the DRC one of…
In DRC, journalist jailed after seeking comment from official
New York, May 10, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by the detention since Sunday of a private newspaper director in the capital, Kinshasa, after he sought comments from a government official. CPJ last week named DRC one of the world’s worst backsliders on press freedom. Jean Pierre Phambu Lutette, director of the…
Backsliders: The 10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated
New York, May 2, 2007–Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are among the places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia, where the government launched a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers and jailing editors,…