CPJ welcomes release of six Eritrean journalists
Nairobi, January 23, 2015–Six Eritrean journalists who worked for the government-controlled station Radio Bana have been released from jail, according to Eritrean journalists in exile who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The journalists–Basilos Zemo, Bereket Misguina, Ghirmai Abraham, Meles Nguse, Petros Teferi, and Yirgalem Fesseha–were among the Radio Bana staff arrested in a…
DRC halts Internet access and cellphone services amid protests
New York, January 22, 2015–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday shut down Internet access and SMS service for mobile phones throughout the country after nationwide demonstrations led to deadly clashes with police, according to news reports.
Burundian journalist arrested, charged after not revealing source
Nairobi, January 21, 2015–Burundian authorities imprisoned the director of the privately owned Radio Publique Africaine on Tuesday and charged him with complicity in murder, according to news reports. The arrest followed the station’s broadcast of an interview in which an unidentified guest said he was involved in the September murder of three Italian nuns, news…
Gambia radio station censored, director harassed after foiled coup
Abuja, Nigeria, January 8, 2015–An independent radio station that Gambian authorities ordered to stop broadcasting from January 1 to 4 after a failed coup attempt in the country has been allowed back on air, but ordered to play only music, according to news reports and local journalists.
Congolese journalist killed in Goma, North Kivu
Nairobi, December 29, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities to thoroughly investigate the murder of state radio reporter Robert Chamwami Shalubuto in the eastern capital Goma, North Kivu Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and bring those responsible to justice.
Mission Journal: Ethiopian journalists must choose between being locked up or locked out
A sharp increase in the number of Ethiopian journalists fleeing into exile has been recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists in the past 12 months. More than 30–twice the number of exiles CPJ documented in 2012 and 2013 combined–were forced to leave after the government began a campaign of arrests. In October, Nicole Schilit…
Benin’s parliament should expunge criminal defamation from the media bill
Abuja, Nigeria, December 23, 2014–Benin Republic’s parliament is set to vote on a media bill that threatens to jail journalists for insulting the president or other government officials, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on parliament to scrap any measures in the bill that could send journalists to prison for doing…
Slideshow: Journalists killed in 2014
In 2014, at least 60 journalists and 11 media workers were killed in relation to their work, according to CPJ research. Local and international journalists died covering conflicts, including in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine, while many others were murdered reporting on corruption and organized crime in their own countries. Here, CPJ remembers some of the…