MEDIA FREEDOM - The African Mirror

Sep

2022

William Ruto vs Kenya’s media: democracy is at stake

GEORGE OGOLA, Reader in Journalism, University of Central Lancashire IT'S a long-standing Kenyan tradition to offer congratulations in paid print and TV messages to an incoming president. The bulk of these messages are put out by government agencies – and county governments in recent years – but also private commercial corporations. This year, however, the newly elected president William Ruto would have none of this. A day before his swearing-in, Ruto made it known that he did not wish to see national or county government money spent on these messages. The Ministry of Devolution said they were expensive and risk…

Sep

2022

By The African Mirror

Tunisian journalists denounce president’s law on prison terms for false information

MEDIA FREEDOM

TUNISIA'S president decreed a law imposing prison terms for spreading false information or rumours online, a move immediately denounced by the main journalists' union as an assault on freedom of speech. President Kais Saied had said he would uphold the rights and freedoms won by Tunisians in a 2011 revolution that brought democracy after his moves last summer to seize most powers and shut down the elected parliament. His new law on Friday, issued as a presidential decree, provided for prison terms of five years for spreading false news, false information or rumours with the aim of attacking others, harming…

Sep

2022

By The African Mirror

Egypt frees detained Al Jazeera journalist -Al Jazeera

MEDIA FREEDOM

EGYPTIAN authorities have released Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Al Nagdy from detention, the pan-Arab, Qatar-based television network reported, quoting Al Nagdy's lawyer. The move comes as Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visits Doha, his first since the two countries restored relations last year following a regional diplomatic rift. The visit comes as Egypt seeks further financial support and investment to cushion an economic shock caused by the war in Ukraine. Thomson Reuters Foundation

Sep

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is taking a top reporter to court. The verdict could affect journalists’ rights

MEDIA FREEDOM

SOUTH African journalism organisations this week rallied around well-known journalist Karyn Maughan when former president Jacob Zuma initiated a private prosecution against her. Zuma faces 16 counts of corruption for taking a monthly payment of US$34,000 from French arms firm Thales while he was deputy president from 1999 and later president from 2009 to 2018. Thales was involved in South Africa’s massive arms purchase deal during that period. Author ANTON HARBER, Caxton Professor of Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand Zuma had originally laid charges against the prosecutor in his corruption case, Billy Downer, for giving a medical certificate from the…

Aug

2022

By The African Mirror

Sudanese journalists form independent union to defend freedoms

MEDIA FREEDOM

SUDANESE journalists have formed the country's first independent professional union for decades, in what campaigners said was an important step towards re-establishing freedoms after a military coup. "The victory is to regain our syndicate after more than 30 years in order to defend the freedom and professionalism of the press," said one journalist Waleed Alnour, who waited hours in the sun to cast his vote in an election for the union's leadership on Sunday. The union has 1,164 members, 659 of whom took part in Sunday's vote. Shadow unions that sprang up in opposition to autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who packed…

Aug

2022

By The African Mirror

Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenya’s media: a bitter-sweet affair that didn’t end happily

MEDIA FREEDOM

PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime came into power in 2013. It was the first to implement most of the provisions of Kenya’s 2010 constitution. The media were eager to see how the government, led by Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, would adhere to article 34 of the constitution, which deals with the freedom of the press. The two politicians had promised to expand media freedoms once in power. The relationship between the media and Kenyatta’s regime went through six stages that defined the president’s nine years in office between 2013 and 2022. It shifted from “karibuni chai” (welcome to tea)…

Aug

2022

By The African Mirror

The role of media in a Kenyan election: what you should know

MEDIA FREEDOM

TRADITIONALLY, political debates have been shaped by mainstream media. Kenya’s mainstream media, however, remain strongly wedded to factional ethnic and class interests. This has undermined their capacity to facilitate fair and open debate, most evidently during elections. Social media platforms have exploited this trust deficit, acting as important alternative sites for political deliberation. But they have also become powerful tools for disinformation and misinformation. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are reframing democracy and the way citizens engage and organise in digital space. Through these platforms, politicians can engage directly with voters, which is especially important for independent candidates, who…

Jul

2022

By DANI MADRID-MORALES and HERMAN WASSERMAN

Media literacy education in South Africa can help combat fake news – here’s what’s needed

MEDIA FREEDOM

Online platforms are replete with examples of false information – from WhatsApp messages punting some miraculous cure for COVID, to social media posts claiming a politician said something they didn’t. It’s increasingly common in South Africa. More than 75% of South Africans say they regularly come across political news they think is false. Eight out of 10 South Africans believe that disinformation (or “fake news”) is a problem or a serious problem in the country. Researchers and policy makers have been working on strategies to counter disinformation for years. Some policymakers have suggested new regulations or pressuring technology companies to…

Jun

2022

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe court convicts, fines New York Times freelancer

MEDIA FREEDOM

A Zimbabwean freelance reporter working for the New York Times was convicted and fined after he was accused of obtaining fake accreditation documents for two of the U.S. newspaper's journalists on a visit, his lawyer said. Jeffrey Moyo, a 37-year-old Zimbabwean, spent three weeks in jail last year and his trial started in January. The New York Times has denied the charges, saying the accreditation of its journalists Christina Goldbaum and Joao Silva by a Zimbabwe Media Commission official was above board. The two American journalists were expelled from Zimbabwe. "Jeff has been convicted and sentenced to pay 200,000 Zimbabwe…

Jun

2022

By The African Mirror

Tunisia military prosecutors investigate journalist for ‘harming public order’

MEDIA FREEDOM

TAREK AMARA TUNISIAN military prosecutors said they had begun investigating a journalist on suspicion of "harming public order" for saying the president had asked the army to close a powerful labour union's headquarters, and a witness said the reporter had been arrested. The journalist, Salah Attia, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that President Kais Saied had asked the army to close the headquarters of the UGTT union and put political leaders under house arrest, but that the army had refused. "Police in civilian clothes arrested Attia in a cafe in the suburb of Ibn Khaldoun in the capital," the witness,…