Africa

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has approved a new media law despite local and international pressure to reject the legislation critics say undermines democracy, according to news reports. The amended media law provides for a new communications commission with powers to regulate broadcasting content and impose tougher fines or jail terms for press offences. "I have assented to the bill," Kibaki said...

A British journalist and a Spanish photographer abducted in Somalia were released on Sunday after being held in a series of caves for 40 days. British reporter Colin Freeman and Spanish photographer José Cendon, both employed by the London-based Daily Telegraph newspape, were abducted as they left from their hotel in Bosasso, in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland, on November 26. They...

A soldier killed Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan, shooting the veteran journalist twice in the head after stopping him in the Somali town of Afgoye on January 1 morning, three local journalists have told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The journalists said they had interviewed witnesses to the killing. "The transitional government must do everything it can to immediately...

The editor-in-chief of Alerte Info, an internet news magazine, has been arrested in Côte d’Ivoire and detained for allegedly reporting that at least three people were killed during a prison riot in Abidjan recently. The police picked up Ebenezer Viwami, over the weekend for interrogation, his staff revealed. “Our editor-in-chief was arrested by the police in front of MACA prison, where he was...

The confrontation between the government and the press in Kenya has escalated. Parliamentarians on December 16 launched a scathing attack on the media and vowed to ensure it is "tamed." One member after another tore into the media, apparently angered by the all-out campaign against a controversial Bill recently passed by Parliament that seeks to give the government power to control media content...

An appeals court has allowed Joy Radio to resume operations 30 days after the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) revoked the station's broadcasting license for non-compliance with the Communications Act and its licence agreement, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. The resumption of broadcasting came after the Supreme Court of Appeal reinstated an injunction...

Press freedom groups have expressed concern over the abduction of freelance photojournalist Shadreck Manyere and attempted abduction of Obrian Rwafa, a reporter with the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). These incidents happened just 10 days after the abduction of journalist and human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who is still missing. “Whoever was responsible, these...

The Madagascar government has closed down Viva TV after it broadcast a message by former president Didier Ratsiraka on December 13, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The authorities accused the station, owned by the mayor of Antananarivo, of broadcasting statements liable to “disturb public order and security.” Ratsiraka has lived in exile in Paris since 2002. “Viva’s closure signals a...

Kenyan police arrested several journalists and a large number of civil society activists on December 12 as they broke up a protest against the passage of the Communications Act, which allows the government to interfere with the independence of the media, the Nairobi-based Media Institute has reported. The morning crew for Kiss FM radio station, led by Kenya'a top female presenter, Caroline Mutoko...

Obrian Rwafa, a news assignment editor with the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), was on December 13 abducted and severely assaulted by unknown assailants in Harare, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. Rwafa, who was admitted at a private hospital, reportedly suffered head injuries and bruises. He said three unidentified men who were driving a white...