Attacks on the Press in 2008: Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party, startled by balloting that threatened their 28-year rule, unleashed a brutal crackdown on opposition supporters and the press. Veteran journalist Geoff Hill described the weeks between the first round of voting in March and a runoff in June as “the worst time for journalists in Zimbabwe’s history,” a…
Q & A: Reporting in a ‘culture of fear’
Freelance journalist Frank Chikowore visited CPJ this week after receiving the Tully Center Free Speech Award at Syracuse University. Chikowore received the award for his brave, ongoing reporting on the crisis in Zimbabwe. He has worked for two newspapers in Zimbabwe, including The Nation and the Weekly Times, which was closed down in 2005.
How diamond rings silence Zimbabwe’s foreign press
The Hong Kong police announced on Monday they would investigate the alleged assault on photographer Richard Jones by Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace Mugabe, while she was on vacation. On January 15, Jones claimed Mugabe ordered her bodyguard to hold the photographer down while she punched him repeatedly in the face near Hong Kong’s exclusive Shangri-la…
Journalist returned to custody despite torture allegations
New York, January 9, 2009–Zimbabwean photojournalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere, who was arrested on December 24, was remanded in custody today by a court in Harare despite allegations that he was tortured while in police detention, according to local journalists. Manyere is expected to return to court on January 23.
Carole Gombakomba: A unique Zimbabwean voice is lost
Zimbabwe’s media has suffered much from repression, exile, and worse, and on December 18 it lost one of its most beloved and compassionate voices. Caroline Gombakomba, a reporter and radio host since 2003 for the Voice of America’s Studio 7 broadcasts to the Southern African country, died in Silver Spring, Maryland. Gombakomba, 40, had been fighting breast cancer…
CPJ International Press Freedom Awards 2008
18th Annual Awards Dinner To benefit the Committee to Protect Journalists Tuesday, November 25, 2008Grand Ballroom, The Waldorf-Astoria, New York CityWe would like to thank all of our supporters and dinner chair Jeff Zucker for an immensely successful event that raised $1.25 million for CPJ. Read more about the dinner here and view the overview…
Spotlighting imprisonments, CPJ honors six press leaders
New York, November 26, 2008 –The Committee to Protect Journalists honored five journalists with its 2008 International Press Freedom Awards in a ceremony Tuesday night that highlighted journalists imprisoned worldwide. A Zimbabwean media lawyer who has successfully defended numerous journalists facing prison was honored for her lifetime achievements.