Journalism

The Independent and The Independent on Sunday to Close

Society of Editors (UK) The Independent and Independent on Sunday newspapers are to close, it has been confirmed today. ESI Media has confirmed The Independent will close its print edition on 26 March 2016 and focus on digital-only content while The Independent on Sunday's last edition will be on 20 March 2016. The i newspaper has been sold to Johnston Press it was also announced. In an email to staff Evgeny Lebedev, the proprieter of the titles said: "Today the Independent titles announce an historic transition. At a time when our journalism is read and…Read more

Third journalist shot while covering political events in Uganda

  HRNJ-Uganda    On 16 November 2015, Delta TV journalist  Kugonza, was shot in the head by police and rushed to Mulago National Referral hospital in critical condition. Blood was oozing from his head and mouth. Another unidentified woman was also reportedly shot in the scuffle, as police arrested the Capital City's Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago. Delta TV news editor, Prossy Margaret Kisitu told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda that Isaac' skull had been cracked, “A scan shows that his skull has cracked. He is in severe pain. He can't open his mouth,…Read more

Cook Islands urged to withdraw media injunction

Government in the Cook Islands must withdraw an injunction stopping media from publishing a constitutional opinion that criticises overspending, says PFF, the Pacific Freedom Forum. "Using the courts to prevent publication of a public document discussing public issues around public spending is not democratic," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi. "Nor is this a good look for a country that was praised for introducing the region's first freedom of information laws in 2008", she says. The decision by the competing daily newspaper to initially kill a story on this issue for fear of legal…Read more

Commonwealth Correspondent wins CNN African Journalist Award

Femi Asu, a young Commonwealth Correspondent and reporter from Nigeria, has been announced as the winner of a prestigious CNN African Journalist Award. Femi, who writes for The Punch national daily newspaper in Lagos, was presented the Ecobank Economics and Business category award by Richard Uku, former Communications Director at the Commonwealth Secretariat at a gala ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya. Femi was one of 31 finalists from 15 African countries to be shortlisted. He started his journalism career as a student reporter at the University of Ado-Ekiti and became a Commonwealth Correspondent in 2012,…Read more

Online newspaper editor gunned down in Mozambique

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders is alarmed to learn that Paulo Machava, the well-known editor of the online Diario de Noticias newspaper, was gunned down on a Maputo street today against a backdrop of tension for media personnel in Mozambique. Machava was shot at around 6 a.m. as he was jogging along Vladimir Lenin Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares, before going to work. Witnesses said the shots were fired by gunmen in a car. Previously employed by the independent weekly Savana and state-owned Radio Moçambique, Machava recently expressed support for…Read more

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

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