Ethiopia / Africa

  
CPJ board member Kati Marton presents a 2010 International Press Freedom Award to Nadira Isayeva. (Getty/Michael Nagle)

Journalists on the frontlines of press freedom honored

New York, November 24, 2010–Outstanding journalists at the forefront of the battle for press freedom in Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela were honored Tuesday evening at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 20th Annual International Press Freedom Awards benefit dinner.

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Dawit Kebede IPFA 2010 Video

Dawit Kebede is managing editor of the Awramba Times in Ethiopia. After the government’s crackdown on the press in 2005, he survived a 19-month prison term to restart the only remaining independent media outlet in Ethiopia. Kebede is a 2010 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee. Read about other awardees here.

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Left to right: Nadira Isayeva, Dawit Kebede, and Laureano Márquez in Washington. (CPJ/Rodney Lamkey Jr.)

CPJ Press Freedom Awardee: ‘I always wanted answers’

The last few weeks have been extremely busy for everyone at CPJ as we’ve been preparing for the 2010 International Press Freedom Awards. Today’s press conference in Washington will be followed by a series of events culminating in our awards ceremony Tuesday in New York. As always, the awardees make it special. 

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In exile in the U.S., Ethiopian journalist struggles forward

After almost a year in exile in America, an icy ocean away from his home in Ethiopia, journalist Samson Mekonnen, left, only recently received his work permit in Washington. In the interim, like most journalists undergoing the emotionally and financially grueling resettlement process, he has relied on friends, family, and international organizations like CPJ to…

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Ethiopian journalist jailed without charge since September

New York, October 29, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls upon authorities in Ethiopia’s northeastern region of Afar to release a journalist who has been held without charge since September 11.

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Choice is important, Zenawi says. But editors back home are not always free to make their own choices.

As Zenawi speaks, editors are grilled in Ethiopia

On Wednesday, just a few hours before Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi delivered the keynote address at the World Leaders’ Forum at New York’s Columbia University, two journalists back in Addis Ababa endured nearly seven hours of police interrogation. 

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Assault, vandalism reported at Awramba Times

On August 17, 2010, two men barged into the offices of the Awramba Times, the independent Amharic-language weekly in the capital, Addis Ababa, and assaulted Moges Tikuye, a security guard, the paper reported. Tikuye suffered minor injuries. Early the next morning, assailants smashed the windows and doors of the office.

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Tampered mail sent to the Awramba Times.

Ethiopian newspaper reports tampering of its mail

New York, June 29, 2010—Ethiopia’s postal service should a conduct thorough and transparent investigation into the tampering of mail addressed to the country’s leading critical newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Awramba Times Editor-in-Chief Dawit Kebede said the paper has complained to the Ethiopian Postal Service at least three times since June 6 after finding opened and…

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Ethiopia expels American journalist reporting in rebel area

New York, June 18, 2010—Authorities in Ethiopia expelled an American journalist on Thursday who had been reporting near a rebel area in the east of the Horn of Africa country, according to local journalists.

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Sandhya Eknelygoda and her two sons. (CPJ/Bob Dietz)

Journalists in Exile 2010

An exodus from Iran, East Africa At least 85 journalists fled their home countries in the past year in the face of attacks, threats, and possible imprisonment. High exile rates are seen in Iran and in the East African nations of Somalia and Ethiopia. A CPJ Special Report by María Salazar-Ferro

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