Zimbabwe police raid station studios, detain journalist
Nairobi, March 1, 2013–Authorities in Zimbabwe have stepped up their crackdown on independent news coverage in the country by raiding the production studios of a radio station and confiscating radios distributed by nongovernmental organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Zimbabwean police seize radios in run-up to elections
Nairobi, February 28, 2013–Zimbabwean authorities’ seizure of hand-cranked and solar-powered radios distributed by nongovernmental organizations prevents local citizens from accessing diverse sources of information in the run-up to the country’s general elections in July, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Do news blackouts help journalists held captive?
At any given time over the past two years, as wars raged in Libya and then Syria, and as other conflicts ground on in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, a number of journalists have been held captive by a diverse array of forces, from militants and rebels to criminals and paramilitaries. And at any given…
As Kenya votes, journalists must take precautions
Election-related violence is a worry for journalists in many countries, but perhaps nowhere more so than Kenya, where presidential polls will be held March 4. In the aftermath of the nation’s last presidential elections in 2007, over one thousand people were killed in ethnic and political violence, live news broadcasts were banned, and the press…
Will talk of stronger Somali justice lead to action?
Spirits of journalists in Somalia, the most dangerous country in Africa to practice the profession, were lifted slightly this week after Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon made several auspicious announcements. The key concern on the minds of journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, is access to justice–both in terms of journalists’ own court appearances and in…
Burundi police attack journalists marching for Ruvakuki
On Tuesday, Burundi’s press corps did what it has done for the past three weeks: protest the imprisonment of one of its own. Hassan Ruvakuki is a reporter jailed since November 28, 2011 on anti-state charges; for the first time, the journalists wore white t-shirts showing Ruvakuki in his green prison uniform. But this time,…
DRC journalist jailed after story on Chinese-run hospital
New York, February 15, 2013–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should release pending appeal a journalist who was sentenced to six months in prison in December on defamation charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist was taken into custody on Tuesday. Police arrested Joachim Diana Gikupa, editor of the private daily La…
Nigeria harasses, intimidates journalist for critical weekly
Abuja, Nigeria, February 15, 2013–Authorities should halt their harassment of a Nigerian journalist whose paper published allegations of extrajudicial detentions being carried out by the country’s special army unit, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Armed officers of Nigeria’s Joint Task Force and members of the State Secret Service (SSS) raided the Kaduna home of…
Attacks on the Press in 2012: CPJ Risk List Video
CPJ’s Robert Mahoney identifies the 10 countries where press freedom suffered the most in 2012. They include Syria, the world’s deadliest country for the press; Russia, where repressive laws took effect; Brazil, where journalist murders soared; and Ethiopia, where terror laws are used to silence the press. (3:26)