Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s official media watchdog on Friday said it had suspended a newspaper for three months for an article saying the country was on “autopilot” after the hospitalisation of President Ali Bongo in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago. Lack of official news — along with memories …
Read More »White House bars CNN reporter after verbal duel with Trump
Washington, United States | AFP | The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of a CNN reporter who sparred with Donald Trump at a news conference, during which the president branded him the “enemy of the people.” A visibly angry Trump called reporter Jim Acosta a “rude, terrible …
Read More »Trump blames media ‘fake news’ for US political violence
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump blamed what he called “fake news” Friday for a wave of politically-linked violence in the runup to next week’s midterm congressional elections. “The fake news is creating violence,” Trump told journalists at the White House. A fanatical Trump supporter was …
Read More »Fake news accounts: Nigerian social media’s copycat issue
a Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | When one of Africa’s richest men joined Twitter and posted his first tweet on May 11 this year, the fanfare in his native Nigeria was immediate. News that Femi Otedola had opened an account spread like wildfire and the billionaire head of Forte Oil …
Read More »Story on degraded Kampala wetlands wins top media award
Kampala, Uganda | LOUIS JADWONG | A Special Project feature story by Annika McGinnis and Fredrick Mugira exploring how urbanization has destroyed a critical Kampala wetland, has won the 2018 Uganda WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) media awards overall prize. The story project “Swamp City – How urbanization destroyed a …
Read More »Trump says bomb alerts harming Republican vote ‘momentum’
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump claimed Friday that the explosive devices mailed to his rivals were slowing Republican “momentum” ahead of November’s midterm elections, with polls showing Democrats boosting their advantage. “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this …
Read More »Who is Cesar Sayoc, the pro-Trump US mail bombing suspect?
PLANTATION, United States | AFP | Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the Florida man accused of sending pipe bombs to critics of Donald Trump, had plastered his social media accounts and the van where he was living with signs of his devotion to the Republican president and his hatred for Democrats. …
Read More »Trump asks media to ‘stop hostility’ after bomb sent to CNN
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump on Wednesday called on the media to stop their “endless hostility” and “false attacks” in comments addressing a number of pipe bombs sent earlier in the day to Barack Obama, top Democrats and CNN. Speaking to supporters at a campaign rally in …
Read More »Pipe bombs sent to Trump foes Obama, Clinton, CNN
New York, United States | AFP | Pipe bombs were sent Wednesday to Barack Obama, prominent Democrats and CNN — all hate figures for supporters of Donald Trump as political opponents accused the US president of sowing violence. Hillary Clinton was among some of the most high-profile Democrats targeted with …
Read More »Media censorship under Museveni
How the Ugandan media has borne the brunt of censorship for decades Kampala, Uganda | GEOFFREY SSENOGA | The world watched in outrage recently as Reuters photojournalist, James Akena, was clobbered by three soldiers on the streets of Uganda’s capital Kampala in full view of television cameras. Akena was covering the …
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