3rd April 2009

Vol 50 N0 7

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AFRICA | JOURNALISM

Words like freedom

Telling the public the truth is getting more dangerous and expensive, as rulers and militias resist the development of a free press. The rate of targeted killings of journalists in Africa is rising fast. Governments and corrupt businesses are resorting to launching defamation cases or backing draconian media laws to crack down on independent journalism.

On the first day of 2009, Hassan Mayow, a journalist working for Somalia's Radio Shabelle, was shot dead by government troops in Afgoye, 30 kilometres outside the capital. The soldiers accused him of favouring the insurgents by biased reporting. One month later, some of those insurgents aligned to Al Shabaab militia killed Said Tahlil, formerly Director of Somalia's other leading media house, HornAfrik. Militants from organisations such as Al Shabaab and Hisbul Islam suspect the Somali media of harbouring Western influences. Radio Shabelle and HornAfrik were founded and sponsored by Somali exiles in Britain and Canada. HornAfrik's founder, Ali Shamarke, was killed by a car bomb in August 2007....

(This article contains approximately 1832 words)

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Keywords:

 Shooting the messengers, Hassan Mayow, Somalia, Said Tahlil, Britain, Canada, Ali Shamarke, Iraq, Mexico, Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville, Bruno Ossébi,, France, Benjamin Toungamani, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Omar Bongo Ondimba, Léon, Dieudonné Koungou, Jean Aive Alakoua, Madagascar, Ando Ratovonirina, Marc Ravalomanana, Andry Rajoelina, Kenya, Francis Nyariru, Hussein Ali, Amos Wako, Samuel Poghisio, Journalists join the activists, Clifford Derrick, Raila Odinga, Ugandan, Kizza Besigye, Yoweri Museveni, Andrew Mwenda, Mwai Kibaki, Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, Birtukan Mideksa, Virtual censorship, Bereket Simon, Nigerian, American, Jonathan Elendu, Emmanuel Asiwe, Abubakar Gwarzo, Paul Orhii, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, German, Olusegun Adeniyi, Sam Ndah Isaiah, Abdulrazek Bello Barkindo, Lara Olugbemi, Simon Imobo-Swan, Bassey Adeyemi, Moussa Kaka, Niger, Burundi, Alexis Sindhujie, Burkina Faso, Norbert Zongo, Blaise Compaoré, Radio Shabelle, Al Shabaab, HornAfrik, Hisbul Islam, Mvinda, Mwinda, Tendance Gabon, Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, Radio Télévision Analamanga, Viva Radio, and TV, Radio Antsiva, TV Plus, Weekly Citizen, The Standard, Daily Monitor, The Independent, Sahara Reporters, Leadership, Radio Publique Africaine