Tanzania bans Kwanza Online TV for 11 months citing ‘misleading’ Instagram post on COVID-19

Tanzanian flag with fabric structure Tanzania’s broadcasting regulator should immediately lift its suspension of Kwanza Online TV and stop weaponizing regulations against critical media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, the Contents Committee of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, a department within the country’s broadcast regulator, sent a letter to Kwanza Online TV, a privately owned local broadcaster, requesting its management to appear before the regulator and provide a written submission the following day, according to a copy of the summons seen by CPJ. In that summons, the…Read more

Pakistan media regulator suspends 24NewsHD broadcaster indefinitely

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should immediately lift the suspension of independent news channel 24NewsHD, and allow it to broadcast freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 3, the regulator ordered the station off the air indefinitely for the alleged “illegal transmission of news and current affairs content” in violation of its broadcast license, according to a statement by the regulator on social media, as well as news reports and a report by 24NewsHD. The statement alleged that the outlet was only credentialed to air entertainment programming, not news. The Association of Electronic Media…Read more

Malaysian editor Steven Gan charged with contempt of court over reader comments

Malaysian authorities should drop the charges against Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and stop using legal threats to intimidate the independent news outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, a seven-member federal court panel agreed to hear contempt of court proceedings against Gan and his news website over five comments posted by readers that were allegedly critical of Malaysia’s judiciary, according to news reports. As charged under Section 114A of the Evidence Act, Gan and Malaysiakini are deemed to have published the comments, because they appeared on the outlet’s website, according to those reports. The…Read more

Mozambican journalist Omardine Omar convicted of civil disobedience, fined

Mozambican authorities should not contest journalist Omardine Omar’s appeal and should allow him and all members of the press to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 30, the Ka Mpfumo court in Maputo, the capital, convicted Omar, a reporter for the privately owned news website Carta de Moçambique, on charges of civil disobedience, the journalist told CPJ via messaging app. A fixer and another individual who were with Omar at the time were also convicted, he told CPJ. Judge Francisca Antonio ignored the prosecutor’s request that charges be…Read more

Nigerian journalist Ike-Jacobs Nwosu beaten at Imo state legislature

Nigerian authorities should investigate the attack on journalist Ike-Jacobs Nwosu and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 15, Uche Ogbuagu, a legislator in Nigeria’s southeastern Imo state, approached Nwosu, a reporter for the privately owned Eastern Lead Express newspaper, while he was at the state assembly building in Owerri, the state capital, and accused Nwosu of misquoting him, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Nwosu said that report, written by a different Eastern Lead Express journalist, cited Ugbuagu alleging that Frank Ugboma, another…Read more

Journalists arrested, charged with ‘nuisance’ in Botswana

Authorities in Botswana should drop all charges against journalists David Baaitse and Kenneth Mosekiemang, and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 2:30 p.m. on June 18, intelligence agents arrested Baaitse, a reporter for the privately owned Weekend Post weekly, and Mosekiemang, a photographer for the outlet, after they photographed a building linked to the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, the country’s domestic and international intelligence agency, according to Baaitse and his editor, Aubrey Lute, who spoke to CPJ via phone and messaging app. Over a period of…Read more

Photojournalist Christoff Griffith killed at crime scene in Barbados

Authorities in Barbados must thoroughly investigate the killing of photojournalist Christoff Griffith and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Griffith is the first journalist CPJ has recorded as killed in relation to his work in Barbados. On June 22, in St. Michael, southwest Barbados, an unidentified man attacked and killed Griffith, a photojournalist working with The Nation newspaper, according to news reports and Carol Martindale, executive director of The Nation, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Griffith had traveled to the area to cover a crime scene; he…Read more

Tanzanian government revokes license of Tanzania Daima newspaper

  • Posted on June 30, 2020
  • /Under Coercion
Tanzanian flag with fabric structure Tanzanian authorities should immediately restore Tanzania Daima’s license and allow all newspapers to publish freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a June 23 statement, Tanzania’s Information Services Department, which registers print media, announced it would revoke Tanzania Daima’s distribution and publication license as of June 24, according to news reports and a copy of the statement, which CPJ reviewed. The statement accused the publication of breaching the law and professional ethics, and banned its distribution domestically and abroad. The statement did not cite specific content from the newspaper that…Read more

Sierra Leone journalist Sylvia Olayinka Blyden detained, charged over social media posts

Authorities in Sierra Leone should release journalist Sylvia Olayinka Blyden immediately and drop the charges against her, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 1, police arrested Blyden, publisher of the Awareness Times newspaper, at her home in Freetown for alleged “cyber-related” offenses, according to Messeh Leone, a legal activist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app and phone, and a June 4 police statement, which CPJ reviewed. On May 22, authorities charged Blyden with sedition, defamation, and “perversion of justice” over her social media posts, according to Leone…Read more

Indian journalist shot and killed after reporting on land dispute; 3 suspects arrested

Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh state must thoroughly and transparently investigate the killing of journalist Shubham Mani Tripathi, and ensure that all responsible are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 19, two assailants shot and killed Tripathi, a reporter with the local Hindi daily Kampu Mail, in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, according to news reports and his brother Rishabh Mani Tripathi, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. According to a complaint Rishabh filed to police on the night of June 19, which CPJ reviewed, Tripathi was returning home on a motorcycle…Read more