Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

Renewed call for protection plan after third journalist murdered

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders appeals again to the Indian government to set up a national plan for the protection of journalists amid a continuing wave of physical attacks on media personnel. Raghavendra Dube, the 44-year-old owner and editor of Khushboo Ujala, a local weekly in Mumbai, the capital of the western state of Maharashtra, last week became the third Indian journalist to be murdered this year. His body was found near Mira Road police station, in a Mumbai suburb, at around 5:30 a.m. on 17 July, just half an hour after…Read more

Journalists arrested in Zambia for publishing allegedly classified documents

Committee to Protect Journalists Zambian authorities have arrested two journalists and accused them of publishing classified documents, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrests and calls on Zambian authorities to release them immediately. Police today arrested Fred M'membe, editor of the independent daily The Post, and Mukosha Funga, the paper's reporter, at the Woodlands Police Station in the capital, Lusaka, after summoning them to the station, according to news reports. The two have been charged with publishing classified documents, according to news reports. Police said the charges were in…Read more

Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigerian journalist

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to ensure the safety of a Nigerian journalist who received a death threat from a suspected member of the Islamist militant sect Boko Haram. Adeola Akinremi, the features editor of the independent daily ThisDay in Lagos state, told CPJ about the threat earlier this month. Akinremi told CPJ he received an email on May 10 from an individual who said he was Abu Musab Abul-Barnawi. In a January 2015 YouTube video, a man identifies himself as Abul-Barnawi and says he…Read more

Gambia should disclose whereabouts of radio journalist

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Gambian authorities to disclose the whereabouts, health, and legal status of Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay, a radio journalist who was last seen on July 2 with individuals reported to be Gambian state security agents. "Gambian security agents have long stoked a climate of fear for journalists working in the country," said Peter Nkanga, CPJ West Africa representative. "We call on Gambian authorities to immediately release Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay and to stop trying to silence the media through intimidation." Ceesay, the managing director of…Read more

Uganda Communications Commission directive threatens election reporting

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda A directive issued to all broadcasters by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) poses a serious threat to freedom of expression and the media, as it attempts to restrict journalists' ability to report freely on the upcoming presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections in Uganda. “As a media rights organization, we believe that this is a bold step by UCC solely intended to gag the media and compromise its independence ahead of the upcoming political developments in the country,” observed the HRNJ-Uganda National Coordinator, Robert Ssempala. Freedom…Read more

Nigerian journalists investigating smuggling are beaten

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on two journalists who, according to one of the journalists and news reports, were left with serious injuries after being beaten and threatened on the grounds of the Nigeria Customs Service offices on June 25. Yomi Olomofe, executive director of the privately owned community monthlyPrime Magazine, and McDominic Nkpemenyie, a correspondent with the state-funded Tide Newspaper, were assaulted by a group Olomofe claimed were smugglers, according to news reports. Olomofe told CPJ the attackers threatened to kill them to serve as…Read more

Jail term and radio station raid fuel concern in Zimbabwe

Reporters without Borders Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government seems to be taking a tougher line with the media, raiding a community radio station and imposing a prison sentence on a journalist in the space of a week. The latest events follow weeks of gathering storm clouds for the media in Zimbabwe, a country that saw 22 media freedom violations in 2014 and whose president who is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “Predators of Press Freedom.” “The two latest developments have sounded a new alarm for media freedom, which is already very…Read more

Ugandan press freedom group’s office raided for second time in 2 years

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda A media rights body, Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) has lost vital information and property to unknown persons who broke into their office premises in Kayanja Triangle Zone in Rubaga, a Kampala suburb, and made away with all desktop computers, laptops, documents and unspecified amount of money for project activities. “It is hard for us to comprehend. This was a highly sophisticated intrusion. The organization is paralyzed, a lot of our important information was taken, we can't tell what they intend to use it for.…Read more

In India, second journalist killed, burned in two weeks

Committee to Protect Journalists The burned body of a journalist was found in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday, the day after he had been kidnapped, according to news reports. The murder of Sandeep Kothari is the second such one of a journalist in India in less than two weeks. "The horrific murder of another journalist in less than two weeks is alarming and is symptomatic of India's entrenched culture of impunity," said CPJ Asia Program Research Associate Sumit Galhotra. "We call on Indian authorities to launch an independent investigation into Sandeep…Read more

Journalist shot and thrown out of a car in Assam, India

International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) in condemning the attack on a journalist in Assam, India on Thursday night, June 18, 2015. The IFJ and IJU are extremely concerned about the rise in attacks on journalists in India in recent weeks and call on the Indian Government to take immediate action. Prasanta Kumar, the Khairabari correspondent of Assamese daily Asamiya Pratidin, was shot and attacked by a group of five people while returning home from dropping a friend on his motorbike.…Read more