In Ghana, soldiers enforcing COVID-19 restrictions attack 2 journalists

Ghana’s military should investigate the recent attacks on the press by soldiers and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 5, in the Aboaba Akurem community in south-central Kumasi city, a group of soldiers attacked and briefly detained Yussif Abdul Ganiyu, a reporter with the German government-funded Deutsche Welle news agency and the local privately owned Zuria FM radio station, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via phone and messaging app, and statements by the Ghana Journalist Association and Deutsche Welle spokesperson Christoph Jumpelt,…Read more

Zambia cancels broadcaster Prime TV’s license, police shutter office

Zambian authorities should restore Prime TVs broadcast license and cease harassing the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 9, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, Zambia’s broadcasting regulator, cancelled Prime TV’s license “in the interest of public safety, security, peace, welfare or good order,” according to a statement from the regulator, which CPJ reviewed. The statement said that Prime TV must surrender its license and cease broadcasting immediately. It did not specify any broadcasts or actions by the station’s employees that prompted the decision. On the same day, police arrived at…Read more

Five Zimbabwean reporters arrested while covering coronavirus lockdown

Zimbabwe is currently Africa’s biggest press freedom violator in connection with coronavirus crisis, with no fewer than five arrests of journalists in the past 12 days. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to give the police clear instructions to let journalists work freely instead of detaining them. The five journalists were all arrested while covering the lockdown that went into effect on 30 March and was ordered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa with the aim of containing the spread of the virus. The latest victim was Beatific Ngumbwanda, a reporter for the weekly TellZim, who was arrested for…Read more

UPDATE: Coronavirus and the 2020 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda

The next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is scheduled for June 2020 in Kigali in Rwanda. The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Rwanda are monitoring developments regarding the spread and impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We have been in constant communication with the Government of Rwanda and we have set timelines and milestones that will allow us to carefully monitor and assess different options for CHOGM depending on how the pandemic evolves. An announcement is anticipated as soon as our plans have crystalised. In all these conversations, we have given priority to…Read more

Indian Supreme Court denies government request for prior censorship of COVID-19 news

The Indian government, on 31 March, approached the Supreme Court seeking a directive to news outlets to refrain from publishing any COVID-19-related news without clearance from the government, according to an affidavit filed by the government in the court and a report by the legal news website Live Law. The Supreme Court denied the request, according to the judgment reviewed by CPJ. The government had justified the request for the blanket order by claiming that “fake or inaccurate” reporting could cause panic in the country and had proposed setting up a “separate mechanism” for clearance of any coverage…Read more

Journalists assaulted by police amid coronavirus lockdown in India

Authorities in India must stop assaulting journalists and allow them to do their work freely and without restrictions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police in Hyderabad and Delhi assaulted at least four journalists yesterday, as India began a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a statement yesterday, reiterating that journalists are exempt from the lockdown and are free to do their work without any restriction. “Journalists are exempted from the ongoing lockdown in India because…Read more

Pakistan broadcast regulator cuts distribution of Geo News after CEO’s arrest

Pakistan authorities should immediately lift restrictions placed on Geo News and allow it to broadcast freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s broadcast regulator, contacted cable distributers throughout the country today and ordered them to stop transmitting Geo TV, the Urdu TV news channel owned by Jang Media Group, or else switch its broadcasts to a higher channel that is harder for viewers to find, according to news reports and Azhar Abbas, managing director of the broadcaster, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. The regulator did…Read more

Journalist missing in Bangladesh following defamation suit

Bangladesh authorities should spare no effort to locate missing journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, and should not allow a criminal defamation case to proceed against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the journalist’s family filed a report with the Chawkbazar Police Station in Dhaka, the capital, stating that Kajol, a photographer and editor of the biweekly Pakkhakal magazine, had not been since March 10, according to news reports. Kajol disappeared one day after he and 31 others were named in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Saifuzzaman Shikhor, a member of parliament from the ruling…Read more

Bomb explodes at offices of Cyprus Times

Authorities in Cyprus must quickly and thoroughly investigate the bomb attack at the offices of the Cyprus Times’ parent company, determine whether it was tied to the outlet’s journalism, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. At about 2:10 a.m. on March 4, a pipe bomb exploded outside the office of MC Digital Media Group, a building which houses the offices of the Cyprus Times news website as well as other media outlets owned by the group, in the southern Cypriot city of Limassol, according to news reports. No one was…Read more

Commonwealth Day 2020

Message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth  Read the Commonwealth Day Message by Her Majesty The Queen Commonwealth Day 2020 was celebrated on 09 March with events across 5 continents including flag parades, church services, poetry mornings, dance performances and much more. This year’s event was centred around the theme 'Delivering a Common Future', highlighting how the 54 member countries in the Commonwealth family are ‘innovating, connecting and transforming’ to help achieve some of its biggest goals like protecting natural resources and boosting trade. Flag-raising ceremonies Many people mark Commonwealth Day with a flag raising ceremony,…Read more