MEDIA FREEDOM - The African Mirror

Apr

18

2023

From advertising blackmail to physical threats, Kenya’s journalists are under attack – but they must also regain public trust

MEDIA FREEDOM

IN recent months, Kenyan journalists have been harassed, intimidated and attacked by government officials, politicians and members of the public. George Ogola, a professor of media industries, explains the impact of these attacks on media freedom in Kenya. What are the major emerging threats against media freedom in Kenya? Author GEORGE OGOLA, Professor of Media Industries, University of Nottingham Kenya’s media face threats from both state and non-state actors as repressive practices of the past reemerge. Government and opposition politicians are actively undermining media freedom in the country. This isn’t entirely new. But the threats have taken a new dimension…

Apr

15

2023

By The African Mirror

Algerian parliament approves a new law that tightens control over the media

MEDIA FREEDOM

THE Algerian parliament approved a new media law that tightens control over the work of journalists and imposes new restrictions. While the government said the law is critical to ensuring the free exercise of media activity under legal controls, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the law included "negative chapters" that constitute a violation of press freedom. The law prohibits the Algerian media from receiving any funding or material assistance from any "foreign entity". Communication Minister Mohamed Bouslimani said the law aims to "enshrine freedom and pluralism of the press" and "protect it from all forms of deviation". The new law…

Apr

03

2023

By The African Mirror

How Africa’s media covered the Nigeria elections and why it matters

MEDIA FREEDOM

AN OPINION PIECE FOR BIRD STORY AGENCY BETWEEN February and March 2023, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new President and parliament. This was the seventh national vote since Nigeria's transition from military rule in 1999. With one out of every four Africans being a Nigerian, the country is Africa's largest democracy and the most populous black nation globally. Its population is expected to overtake that of the US in size by 2050 to become the world's second-largest democracy. It's also the largest economy on the continent. Nigeria's new electoral law provided a five-month public campaign period for…

Feb

21

2023

By The African Mirror

Why working as a journalist in Uganda is particularly tough

MEDIA FREEDOM

UGANDAN journalists are subject to state intimidation and violence almost on a daily basis. During the recent presidential elections, media crews covering opposition candidates – often in protective gear – were targets of physical assault for weeks. In one of the more egregious acts, journalists were beaten outside a United Nations compound in the capital Kampala while covering a post-election story – sparking international outrage. Authors KAREN MCINTYRE, Assistant Professor, Journalism and Director of Graduate Studies, Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture, Virginia Commonwealth University MEGHAN SOBEL COHEN, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and the Master of Development…

Sep

20

2022

By The African Mirror

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

MEDIA FREEDOM

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

18

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

15

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

10

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

29

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

25

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)…