Kenyan police assault journalists investigating corruption

Committee to Protect Journalists Two journalists were beaten by officers from Kenya's paramilitary police wing, the General Service Unit (GSU), at a cattle ranch in southeastern Kenya on April 18, according to news reports. Nehemiah Okwembah, from the privately owned daily Nation, and Reuben Ogachi, a cameraman for the privately owned station Citizen TV, were covering a story in Bombi, a village on the outskirts of the Agricultural Development Cooperation Galana and Kulalu ranch, 576km (358 miles) east of the capital, Nairobi. Citizen TV cameraman Reuben Ogachi is taken to hospital after being…Read more

Journalists assaulted, chased covering protest in Nigeria

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks on journalists covering a government workers' strike in Nigeria and calls on Nigerian authorities to ensure police launch a thorough and efficient investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice. About a dozen journalists were at the government secretariat in the southern state of Osun on Tuesday to cover a three-day strike called by one branch of the Trade Union Congress in Osun State, a national union that advocates for workers' rights, according to local journalists and news reports. The branch had…Read more

Malaysia extends sedition law to allow online censorship

Committee to Protect Journalists Malaysia's parliament has approved amendments to the country's sedition law, giving the government broad new powers to censor online media, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the legislative amendments and calls on the government to stop using the law to threaten and persecute independent journalists. Malaysian lawmakers aligned with the ruling United Malays National Organisation voted to stiffen the penalties of the 1948 Sedition Act, according to news reports. The penalties now include mandatory three- to seven-year jail terms for convictions, denial of bail for accusations…Read more

Social media law could chill free speech in Papua New Guinea

Pacific Freedom Forum Punishing social media use could remove an essential check and balance on abuse of power in Papua New Guinea, warns the Pacific Freedom Forum. "Long talked about plans for a new social media law could have a chilling effect on freedoms of speech," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi. "Social media are an effective control on political systems including corruption." Facebook and Twitter are hugely popular in Papua New Guinea, with hundreds of thousands using pages, groups and profiles. That popularity has alarmed government and others concerned at free-flowing and often…Read more

UK Labour manifesto pledge to change media ownership rules and implement Leveson recommendations

UK Press Gazette The UK Labour Party has today pledged “implementation of the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry” in its 2015 election manifesto. (Labour leader Ed Miliband pictured, Reuters) The party has also promised to “take steps to protect the principle of media plurality, so that no media outlet can get too big”. The Conservative Party’s manifesto has not yet been released, but last month George Osborne said the government would launch a consultation on whether to introduce tax breaks for the English local newspaper industry in his Budget speech. The Liberal Democrat…Read more

India’s free speech debate is alive and well

PEN International The Supreme Court of India's landmark decision on Tuesday [24 March 2015] signals a move towards greater protection of free expression in the world's largest democracy. But there is still much to do. India's highest court struck down section 66A of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 ("IT Act"), the vaguely worded and overbroad provision criminalizing the transmission over the internet of content that could be perceived as "grossly offensive" or has a "menacing character" or causes "annoyance," "inconvenience," or "insult"; the list goes on. The wording of the provision was…Read more

Five Malaysian Journalists Arrested in Crackdown on Independent Media

Reporters Without Borders Yesterday, the police raided the Kuala Lumpur offices of The Malaysian Insider, a news website also known as TMI, arresting managing editor Lionel Morais, Bahasa news editor Amin Shah Iskandar and features and analysis editor Zulkifli Sulong under the 1948 Sedition Act and the 1998 Communications and Multimedia Act. TMI chief executive Jahabar Sadiq and Ho Kay Tat, publisher of The Edge business weekly and CEO of the Edge Media Group, which owns TMI, were arrested today under the same two laws after responding to a summons from the police, who said…Read more

Swazi human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko placed in solitary confinement

Media Institute of Southern Africa As of 19 March 2015, Thulani Maseko has been placed into solitary confinement for the next 21 days, following a letter he wrote that became public. Maseko penned a letter to this family and friends on the one-year anniversary of his detention. His lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi was making a routine visit to Big Bend prison to see Maseko when he stated the following, as reported by OkayAfrica: “Kindly take notice that the Big Bend prison authorities have condemned Thulani Maseko to solitary confinement for a period of three…Read more

Low powered explosives hurled at TV channels’ vans, staff injured in Islamabad

Pakistan Press Foundation Unidentified motorcycle riders hurled low powered explosive devices, commonly known as crackers, at digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) vans of the private TV channels Dawn News, Dunya News and Abb Tak News in Islamabad. The incident, which occurred on Sunday, November 30, 2014, resulted in injuries to five media professionals. The attack took place after a political rally organized by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), when two men on a motorcycle hurled crackers at the parked television vans. DSNG engineer Ziaul Haq and cameraman Mohsin Ali of Dawn News, Nadir Hussain…Read more

Malaysia urged to repeal Sedition Act, not implement registration of Internet users

Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) views with incredulity the suggestion mentioned by the Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek for all social media users to register with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Aside from such registration creating huge bureaucratic, administrative and technological challenges, it will also constitute an infringement on freedom of expression. CIJ reiterates that curbs on freedom of expression cannot be imposed willy-nilly but only when a clear threat to national security, public order or public morality can be demonstrated, and the…Read more