Rising authoritarianism, conflict, and threats to press freedom are driving journalists to flee their countries COMMENT | ANTONIO ZAPPULLA | “Foreign agent,” “undesirable,” “extremist.” For thousands of independent journalists trying to live and work in Russia, these words can be life-changing. In April, Ilya Barabanov, the BBC’s Russian correspondent, was …
Read More »Police asked to probe ‘missing’ Emyoga funds for journalists
Namutumba, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The urbanization state minister Persis Namuganza, who also serves as the Bukono constituency Member of Parliament, has called for a police investigation into the individuals who received Emyoga funds meant for journalists in Namutumba district. Namuganza made this request during the belated Press Freedom …
Read More »Our freedoms depend on press freedom
Without journalists there can be no democracy, but empty election rituals in electoral autocracies COMMENT | JODIE GINSBERG | In just the first week of this year, at least 18 journalists were assaulted or harassed while covering alleged election irregularities and violence in Bangladesh. Then, in early February, journalists in Pakistan …
Read More »Why protecting environmental journalists matters
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Today Friday, 3 May is World Press Freedom Day, which this year is dedicated to the importance of journalism amid a series of mounting environmental crises. Environmental journalists are often the chroniclers of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. …
Read More »Press freedom in Uganda
New book compares what journalists in Kenya and Rwanda have to say about doing their jobs BOOK REVIEW | KAREN MCINTYRE | A majority of the world’s population has experienced a decline in press freedom in recent years, according to a UN report. In east Africa, the results are mixed and …
Read More »Uganda Law Society to set up pro bono fund for journalists
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Law Society (ULS) has expressed its intentions to establish a pro bono fund for journalists to help promote media rights countrywide. Pro bono refers to services that are rendered by a professional for free. This was revealed by the President of the legal …
Read More »Israel among world’s leading jailers of journalists
It’s an awkward position for Israel which repeatedly argues it is a democracy and respects media freedom COMMENT | PETER GRESTE | Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a newly released census compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Each year …
Read More »Journalists killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza
GAZA | Xinhua | Two journalists were killed and another journalist was injured on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike targeting their vehicle in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Hamas media office. In a statement, the office identified the two journalists as Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, whose car was …
Read More »Ukraine’s defenders
How Ukrainians are defying odds to defend their country ANALYSIS | AGATHER ATUHAIRE | In July together with a group of journalists from across Africa, we visited Ukraine at the invitation of a Journalism Organization-Public Interest Journalism (PIJL). Even before I arrived in Ukraine, I had started hearing stories, that would …
Read More »UHRC asks journalists who were assaulted during Bobi Wine’s arrival to file complaints
Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission-UHRC, Mariam Wangadya, has asked journalists who were assaulted on Thursday when covering the arrival of National Unity Platform-NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi, to file complaints with the commission. While addressing journalists at the Jinja Regional Human Rights Office …
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