For investigative reporters, many risks and some answers
Reporters who dig up carefully buried facts about those in power can easily find themselves in danger. In countries where a tradition of watchdog journalism has not yet taken hold, the risks of practicing investigative reporting can be real and physical for those reporters that take it on.
Former CPJ award winner acquitted in Burundi
The staff at CPJ was relieved to hear that former CPJ Press Freedom Award winner Alexis Sinduhije was released from prison today. The former radio station director and veteran Burundian journalist was acquitted by a Bujumbura court after serving four months of a two and a half year jail sentence for “insulting the president.” A…
Swazi columnist criticizes king, gets fined … in cows
About two weeks ago, traditional authorities in the mountain kingdom of Swaziland slapped the nation’s most outspoken political columnist, Mfomfo Nkambule, with a fine–to be paid in cows–for criticism of the administration of King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute ruler.
Madagascar media outlets raided during political crisis
New York, March 10, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Saturday’s ransacking of a TV and radio broadcaster by security forces in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar. The raid was part of ongoing government efforts to censor independent media coverage of political unrest, stemming from a bitter power struggle between opposition leader Andry Rajoelina…
CPJ calls for investigation into Kenya murder
Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express our concern over the lack of progress in the police investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri. In January, CPJ urged the police to investigate Nyaruri’s murder, whose slashed and decapitated body was found January 29 in Kodere Forest near his hometown of Nyamira.
In CAR, private daily suspended for a month
In a ruling issued on January 9, 2009, the state-run media regulator, the High Communication Council, suspended from circulation the private daily Le Citoyen for one month for allegedly violating journalism ethics, according to news reports and local journalists.
Court rejects jailed Senegalese journalist’s appeal
An appeals court in the Senegalese capital of Dakar upheld a three-year prison sentence against imprisoned editor El Malick Seck on February 23, 2009, according to international and local news reports. The case involved an editorial implicating President Abdoulaye Wade and his son Karim in an alleged money-laundering scandal.
Yahoo France reacts to Burkina Faso e-mail death threats
A week ago today, CPJ sent a letter of concern to President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso urging his government to investigate a series of death threats sent in the past year or so via e-mail to independent journalists there. Using Yahoo France accounts, senders have boasted about intimidating the press in impunity by referencing…