Burkina Faso’s media regulator suspends BBC Africa and Voice of America
Dakar, 26 April 2024– The Burkinabe authorities should immediately lift the suspension of BBC Africa and Voice of America, and reverse the directive seeking to control local outlets’ coverage, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday. On Thursday, the Superior Council of Communication (CSC), Burkina Faso’s media regulator, suspended the British government-funded BBC Afrique…
CPJ joins renewed call for release of Burundi journalist Floriane Irangabiye after 1 year in prison
Nairobi, August 30, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, the Burundi Human Rights Initiative, and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, August 30, renewed their call for Burundian authorities to unconditionally release journalist Floriane Irangabiye, who has been detained for a year. Irangabiye was arrested on August 30, 2022, and is serving a 10-year prison…
Sudan tightens cybercrime law as army pursues “fake news”
Dura Qambo was on vacation in Egypt in July when a friend called to warn her to stop criticizing the Sudanese army online, she told CPJ. Earlier that day, the army had announced on Facebook that it had appointed a Special Commissioner in May to sue anyone who insults or defames the military on the…
CPJ, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International express concern over Somalia’s amended media law
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International today sent a joint letter to the president of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, expressing concern over a restrictive amended media law and asking the president to take concrete steps to safeguard press freedom and journalist safety during upcoming elections. The…
Undiscoverable: How Al-Jazeera’s Snapchat channel disappeared from three Gulf nations
Search for “Al-Jazeera” on Snapchat, and the first result that comes up is a ubiquitous publisher channel in the app’s famed vertical layout. That is, unless you are in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), or Bahrain. Users in these counties are instead offered a list of stores and restaurants that bear a similar…
Self-Restraint vs. Self-Censorship
How much should journalists hold back when covering terrorism in Europe? By Jean-Paul Marthoz European journalists are on edge. Since the brutal execution of eight colleagues at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015, they have become acutely aware that they are in the firing line of extremists.
CPJ, HRW call on president of European Olympic Committees to engage with Azerbaijan on press freedom, human rights
A delegation of representatives from CPJ and Human Rights Watch met yesterday with Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committees, at the Dublin headquarters of the Olympic Council of Ireland. The delegation discussed the dismal state of press freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan, the host of the first-ever European Games in June and…
Media restrictions in Papua underscore Indonesia’s wider problems
With more than 50 years of restricted media access, one of the least covered armed conflicts in the world is the long-simmering struggle between Indonesia’s military and the secessionist Free Papua Movement. Under Indonesia’s seven successive post-independence governments–the early ones led by autocratic strongmen, the recent ones more or less democratically elected–the world has been…
Pressure by CPJ, other groups keeps Karimov out of Prague
The Committee to Protect Journalists this week joined a campaign spearheaded by Human Rights Watch and Uzbek human rights defenders urging Czech President Milos Zeman to cancel Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov’s visit to Prague. Zeman had invited Karimov to visit this month despite the Central Asian leader’s notorious intolerance to freedom of the press and…
Uruguayan broadcast bill could be regional model
“Governments pass, but laws stay,” said Uruguayan President José Mujica. During a meeting with CPJ, and representatives from Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders at the president’s executive office in Montevideo, the political capital, the former member of the leftist guerrilla group Tupamaros reflected on the upcoming congressional debate over new broadcast legislation. “It…