CPJ welcomes Ivory Coast’s release of Hermann Aboa
New York, January 5, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Friday’s decision by a judge in Abidjan to release on bail former Ivorian state television presenter Hermann Aboa and calls on prosecutors to drop the politicized charges against him.
A year of blogging, threats and silence
In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ data shows nearly half of the 179 held in jail in 2011 worked primarily online. Al Jazeera highlights some of the challenges facing online journalism in the Middle East and around the world in 2011.Click here for the full story.
In Ethiopia, Swedish journalists handed prison terms
New York, December 27, 2011–In a highly politicized trial, two Swedish journalists have been sentenced in an Ethiopian court to 11-year jail terms after being convicted of supporting terrorism and entering the country illegally, according to news reports.
Responding to Turkey’s appalling press freedom record
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would like to take credit for Turkey’s economic growth and increasing regional influence, but when challenged on his country’s abysmal press freedom record he tends to blame others, including the media itself which, he says, exaggerates the problem. But the facts speak for themselves, as I noted in a letter…
How to survive in Tanzania’s press
There is one simple rule for survival in Tanzania’s media – whether you are an editor, reporter, columnist, printer, or even news vendor: don’t be critical. Thanks to repressive laws on Tanzania’s books, an article considered libelous by the state can get anyone in trouble, even prominent journalists such as Absalom Kibanda — the chairman…
CPJ condemns journalist arrests in Turkey
Prime Minister Erdoğan: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to condemn the arrests of as many as 29 journalists in raids on Tuesday as well as the ongoing media repression that has earned Turkey a reputation as one of the world’s worst press freedom violators and done grave damage to the consolidation of Turkish democracy.