Two years ago, Niger’s media ombudsman judged the local press healthy. In 2001, that assessment seemed optimistic at best. Journalists in this vast, impoverished country remained at odds with the administration of President Mamadou Tandja. In January, three local media rights groups accused public authorities of “suffocating the press.” The Niger Press Association (ANEPI), the…
PRESS COVERAGE OF ARMED CONFLICTS CONTINUED TO STIR THE HOSTILITY of governments and rebel factions alike and claim reporters’ lives, but the prominent role of the press in the often-volatile process of democratization also brought unprecedented challenges to journalists working in Africa. CPJ confirmed that in 2000, five journalists were killed specifically because of their…
NIGER JOURNALISTS WORKED IN RELATIVE CALM during President Mamadou Tandja’s first year in office. After Tandja’s electoral victory in December 1999, a semblance of democratic government returned and flows of much-needed foreign aid resumed. Meanwhile, prospects for independent journalism seemed bright in May, when the country’s media ombudsman praised “the good health” of the press…
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in NIGER New York, October 27, 2000 — Niger authorities have arrested three local journalists for publishing an article on an ongoing border dispute between Niger and neighboring Benin, sources in the capital, Niamey, told CPJ. Tahirou Glos, editor of the independent Niamey weekly L’Enquêteur, and…
By Claudia McElroyAll over Africa, conflict continued to be the single biggest threat to journalists and to press freedom itself. Both civil and cross-border wars were effectively used as an excuse by governments (and rebel forces) to harass, intimidate, and censor the press–often in the name of “national security”–and in some cases to kill journalists…
Niger’s journalists won praise from international observers for maintaining objectivity in a volatile political environment. Following the April 9 assassination of strongman Ibrahim Bare Mainassara by soldiers under the command of Maj. Daouda Mallam Wanke, local independent media joined forces with nongovernmental organizations, political parties, and international bodies to urge an immediate return to democratic…
The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists who have courageously provided independent news coverage and viewpoints in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, and threats of death. The following five journalists will receive the 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in ceremonies…
For some delegates, just getting to the West African Journalists Association (WAJA) regional conference in Dakar, Senegal, was an impressive achievement. While his colleagues used more conventional modes of transportation, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) president Frank Kposowa navigated his way out of the country by night in a hired motorized dugout canoe. The…
Six months after the coup in Niger led by General Ibrahim Mainassara, during the July 1996 national elections, Radio Anfani managing director Gremah Boucar faced down numerous attempts by Mainassara’s military regime to force the station permanently off the air, including a one-month period where soldiers stormed and occupied the Anfani studios. Almost a year…