With the death on Monday of Guinean President Lansana Conté, uncertainty hangs over what–or who–is to follow. Yet, as recently as last week, coverage of the poor health of the reclusive autocrat, who ruled this mineral-rich but poor West African nation since 1984, proved risky for the Guinean independent media.
Dear Mr. President: We urge you to reject the recently passed Kenya Communications Amendment Bill, which includes provisions that would severely harm press freedom. Legislators approved the measure on December 10, ignoring concerns raised by journalists, media company owners, and even fellow lawmakers.
New York, December 18, 2008—For the sixth consecutive year, Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its end-of-year analysis. The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ history.
This morning, police in Burkina Faso summoned four leaders of a march over the weekend that called for a renewed investigation into the unsolved 1998 assassination of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo. Among those questioned was Jean-Claude Meda, the president of the Association of Journalists of Burkina Faso, who told me that he received a call…
New York, December 10, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by reports that a journalist who was summoned to the Gabonese presidential office ended up in intensive care from a severe beating on December 5. The office called in journalist Habib Papy Boubendji for questioning over a November 27 column that raised pointed questions…