African Journalists Strategize at WAJA Conference
For some delegates, just getting to the West African Journalists Association (WAJA) regional conference in Dakar, Senegal, was an impressive achievement. While his colleagues used more conventional modes of transportation, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) president Frank Kposowa navigated his way out of the country by night in a hired motorized dugout canoe. The…
An Interview With Alex Redd
Liberian broadcast journalist Alex Redd became the focus of international attention late last year when he was kidnapped and tortured by state security forces for attempting to investigate and report on the murder of political opposition leader Samuel Dokie, his wife, and two family members. Upon release, Redd was arrested and tried for inciting the…
1998 Awards – Gorriti speech
Gustavo GorritiLa Prensa Following is the text of remarks by Gustavo Gorriti, a Peruvian investigative reporter with La Prensa in Panama, upon receiving the 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Award in ceremonies November 24, 1998, at 9 p.m. at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. We journalists, historians of first resort, do not just report our…
1998 Press Freedom Awards – Boucar
CPJ home | IPF Winners Grémah Boucar Besieged broadcaster Grémah Boucar, director of Niger’s only private radio station, exemplifies the experiences of Africa’s few truly independent radio broadcasters as he continues to face down numerous attempts by military ruler Gen. Ibrahim Ba’are Mainassara to force the station permanently off the air.
Introduction
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caucasian republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have declared their desire to model themselves after Western European societies, with free – market economies and democratic government. But their passage from communism to a new social order has been rife with contradictions. In the current transition period, leaders of…
Azerbaijan’s Media Navigate a Legal Maze
Editors of Baku’s leading newspapers were thrown into turmoil in early November 1996. The Milli Medjlis had just amended the law on mass media to require licensing in addition to registration with the Ministry of Justice before newspapers could begin, or continue, operating. Fourteen chief editors of newspapers and news agencies gathered in December to…
Key Media Officials in Azerbaijan
Minister of Press and Information: Siruz Khudat ogli Tabrizli, born 1942 in Tabriz, Iran. A writer, poet, former journalist. Holds democratic views but is a strong supporter of President Heidar Aliyev. Member of parliament and a leader of Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party. Serves as minister under the “List of 18” exception which allows 15 percent…
Armenian Officials Tout Press Freedom But Bully the Press
There are two views of the press in Armenia today. The first holds that the press is entirely free to report as it chooses. The second is that the press is irresponsible. One thing is certain: In the absence of censorship, Armenian officials resort to verbal pressure and sometimes physical retribution, to knock journalists into…