Douala, Cameroon | AFP | A Cameroon military tribunal has dropped a lawsuit against a TV presenter from the country’s restive anglophone region who was detained for several days last week accused of “attacking state security”, her lawyer said Monday. Mimi Mefo, who heads English news for privately-owned Equinoxe broadcasting, …
Read More »Press freedom advocates freed after detention in Tanzania
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two press freedom advocates taken from their hotel in Tanzania by security officers and questioned were released on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) campaign group said. South African journalist Angela Quintal, who is the CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator, and her Kenyan colleague Muthoki …
Read More »Angola court acquits journalists of insulting the state
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Two Angolan journalists were acquitted by a judge on Friday over an article of accusing a former attorney general of corruption, in a verdict welcomed by press freedom activists. Investigative journalist Rafael Marques and editor Mariano Lourenco faced charges of insulting a public authority over …
Read More »COMMENT: How press freedom is won
Recent events show that no media market is immune to erosion of press freedom but resistance is possible COMMENT | LEON WILLEMS | Every year on May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – news producers and consumers pause to reflect on the state of global media. This year, as journalists …
Read More »Press Freedom in Uganda not getting any better – Journalists
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Media practitioners have said media space in Uganda has been reducing despite good laws in support of press freedom. The concern comes as Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Press freedom under the global theme for this year “Keeping Power …
Read More »Jailed Egyptian photographer wins UN press freedom prize
Paris, France | AFP | Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, will be awarded UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Prize, the United Nations’ cultural body said Monday. Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted …
Read More »Three Tanzanian NGOs file suit at regional court over press law
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Three Tanzanian NGOs on Tuesday filed a complaint at the East Africa Court of Justice over a 2016 law that they argue violates press freedom. The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Legal and Human Rights Centre, and Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition said in their …
Read More »Hundreds protest Morocco trial of journalists
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Hundreds protested on Thursday outside a Moroccan court in support of four journalists being tried for publishing content deemed confidential. The journalists stand accused of publishing in late 2016 excerpts of a parliamentary commission’s debates over huge deficit at the national pension fund. A member …
Read More »Journalists protest Philippine move to close news website
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Philippine journalists took to the streets Friday in support of a news website facing state-enforced closure, accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of trampling on press freedom. The government withdrew the corporate registration of the Rappler website this week and has summoned its chief executive to answer …
Read More »Almost 70 media outlets close in Venezuela in 2017, attacks on journalists up: union
Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Venezuela saw almost 70 newspapers, TV and radio stations close in 2017 while attacks on journalists rose, the main union representing the media said Wednesday, accusing the socialist government of trying to “silence” the press. The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) said 46 radio …
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