Committee To Protect Journalists Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish

Fewer journalists killed on the job this past year

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 22:00:00 +0000

This year has seen a welcome decrease in the number of journalists killed on the job.

It’s the lowest number in 17 years.

Executive director of the Committee To Protest Journalist Joel Simon says there’s no room for complacency has enemies of press freedom have a considerable armory.

CPJ boss Joel Simon doesn’t know whether the international storm that raged after the deaths of Saudi analyst Jamal Khashoggi and Maltese journalist Daphne Galizia was a deterrent to killing journalists.

25 reporters were slain this year – the lowest number since 2002.

Syria and Mexico are the most dangerous countries on Earth to be a reporter with seven and five deaths respectively.

Stern says the number of reprisal killings is the lowest on record and regional conflicts have claimed fewer journalists’ lives.

The post Fewer journalists killed on the job this past year appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Nigerian soldiers raid newspaper that reported on Boko Haram success

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 22:00:00 +0000

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to release of journalists and return equipment seized in raids on offices of an independent newspaper, the Daily Trust.

The Nigerian military claims the newspaper endangered national security by reporting on the fights against Islamist extremist Boko Haram.

Daily Trust was among many news outlets that reported on Boko Haram overrunning a military base in Northeast Nigeria.

Armed soldiers raided its offices in Maiduguri, the centre of the Boko Haram’s theatre of operations and in the nation’s capital Abuja and commercial capital Lagos.

They seized computers and arrested journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores this attack on press freedom.

It calls for the release of the journalists and the return of equipment.

The post Nigerian soldiers raid newspaper that reported on Boko Haram success appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

South Africa officially steps in to secure release of detained activist journalist in Tanzania

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 22:00:00 +0000

South Africa’s officially intervened to secure the released of an activist journalist working to protect her colleagues in distress who was briefly detained by Tanzanian authorities.

The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu has instructed her ambassador in Dar es Salaam to find out exactly what happened

Angela Quintal, the Africa Programme Coordiantor of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a Kenyan colleague Muthoki Mumo were detained by Tanzanian authorities on Wednesday evening while on assignment in that country.

Details of that assignment have not been disclosed

The journalists’ passports and telephones were confiscated by police.

A fake message was sent from Quintal’s phone within hours of her arrest saying she had been released.

South Africa’s High Commissioner in Dar es Salaam.

Thami Mseleku was instructed to engage with Tanzanian authorities yesterday (Thursday).

He secured the release of the two journalists but it was several hours before he was able to get their passports return.

A South African statement said the journalists were free to leave Tanzania last night.

South African foreign minister Lindiwe Sisulu has asked for a full report from Mseleku.

She expressed her gratitude to him and to the DIRCO staff for their successful efforts in.

She’s urged South Africans traveling abroad to ensure they have the number of her ministry’s 24-hour help line.

The post South Africa officially steps in to secure release of detained activist journalist in Tanzania appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

UN peacekeepers doing a better job in South Sudan

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 22:00:00 +0000

International military analysts say United Nations peacekeepers in South Sudan are more aggressively protecting civilians.

This follows criticism of chaotic and ineffective action by blue helmets dealing with the four-year conflict in Africa’s youngest country

So bad was the peacekeeping job being done by the United Nations in South Sudan that last year the Kenyan Commander Lieutenant General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki was sacked.

This year, the blue helmets have saved civilians from being advucted, rescued UN staff during attacks and broken through a rebel roadblock to reach a massacre sight.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an independent investigation into the death of U.S. freelance reporter and photographer Christopher Allen, who was embedded with the rebel forces and was killed in an exchange with government soldiers.

The post UN peacekeepers doing a better job in South Sudan appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.