With media plan, ANC copies Nigeria’s military rulers
While South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) discusses the party’s proposal for a media appeals tribunal, delegates should take note of a landmark ruling in Nigeria this year in which a High Court judge declared a government-dominated press council unconstitutional.
As Zenawi speaks, editors are grilled in Ethiopia
On Wednesday, just a few hours before Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi delivered the keynote address at the World Leaders’ Forum at New York’s Columbia University, two journalists back in Addis Ababa endured nearly seven hours of police interrogation.
Somali journalist lives under threat, in fear in South Africa
Violence has cut through the life of 28-year-old journalist Abdulahi Ibrahim Dasar, from his high school days in Kismayo, the third-largest city in Somalia, to his life as a refugee in South Africa. The turbulence of Dasar’s life also explains his entry into journalism, a profession that has made him a target of assassination by…
Paper will curb coverage to protect reporters’ lives in Juárez
The major daily in the war-wracked Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, El Diario, surprised media around the globe on Saturday when it published an unusual editorial that openly compromises the paper’s coverage in order to preserve its journalists’ lives.Under the headline, “What do you want from us?,” the editorial pleads for the cartels to stop killing journalists, and asks…
Russian police selectively target media’s ‘pirated’ software
Western companies that venture into Russia ought to remember this police rule: “Everything you say can and will be used against you.” In this particular case–any attempt to bring civilized rules to the Russian market game could, instead, turn into a colossal blow to your image.
Microsoft moves to fight anti-piracy raids in Russia
On September 11, The New York Times reported on the use of aggressive anti-piracy raids by Russian authorities to intimidate advocacy groups and independent media outlets. The article noted that these raids are usually prompted by false reports of pirated Microsoft software, sometimes from individuals claiming to represent Microsoft. This is a trend that CPJ has…
Le Monde sues French president’s office
The newspaper Le Monde against the Elysée Palace, the office of the president of the French Republic: Two of France’s main symbols of influence and power are facing each other in a judicial battle that promises to be a litmus test in the running battles between the press and Nicolas Sarkozy’s so-called “imperial presidency.”
Nothing: What Pakistan is doing to find Cheema’s abductors
Just in case you were one of the few people in Pakistan or any other part of the world, for that matter, who thought that the six-hour abduction of Umar Cheema over the weekend of September 4 and 5 in Islamabad was going to be investigated and the culprits–men “dressed in police uniform”–brought to justice, here is…
Why South Africa’s media fight matters to Botswana
For Batswana journalists, news that their South African colleagues are busy warding off a proposed statutory media tribunal from the ruling African National Congress sounds all too familiar. For more than a decade, the government of Botswana has been trying to push a media law that would effectively shift the whole media under state control.This was eventually…