Government secretly enacts repressive media legislation
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the apparently secret enactment of two new laws that threaten press freedom in the Gambia. Your Excellency signed these laws on December 28, 2004, but their promulgation was not made public until two months later, according to news reports and local sources. CPJ raised its concerns about these laws in a March 14, 2005, meeting with your ambassador to the United States, H.E. Dodou Bammy Jagne in Washington, D.C., attended by CPJ board member Clarence Page and CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford.
Attacks on the Press 2004: Africa Analysis
Overviewby Julia Crawford With the rule of law weak in many African countries, journalists regularly battle threats and harassment, not only from governments but also from rogue elements, such as militias. Repressive legislation is used in many countries to silence journalists who write about sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses. If…
In a year of war, murder still top cause of work deaths for journalists
New York, January 3, 2005—Even in a year of combat casualties brought on by war, murder remained the leading cause of work-related deaths among journalists worldwide in 2004, an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Thirty-six of the 56 journalists who died in the line of duty in 2004 were murdered, continuing…
CPJ concerned by repressive media legislation
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by new legislation that threatens press freedom in the Gambia. Last week, the National Assembly passed two pieces of legislation that impose criminal penalties for press offenses and could limit media ownership and development. CPJ urges Your Excellency not to sign this legislation into law.
