Press Freedom

Rapping to Uganda’s News Beat

By Amy Fallon
“People in Ukraine took over power. “Celebrated a few days, then the party went sour…” raps Sharon Bwogi, aka Lady Slyke, on NewzBeat, a weekend show that airs on Uganda’s channel NTV in both English and the local language Luganda. 

Italy Closes Its Eyes to Sealed Mouths

By Silvia Giannelli
“We walk inside an area that is 128 steps long and seven-and-a-half steps wide. This is the path they made for us: two metres of bars over our heads, and upon the bars, two metres of plexiglas. We are like canaries in a cage, like birds of different races all in one cage.”

What’s Going on in the Gulf? Unsurprisingly, It’s Probably About Iran

By Derek Davison
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain all recalled their ambassadors from Qatar on Wednesday, citing Qatar's alleged support for organisations and individuals that threaten "the security and stability of the Gulf states" and for “hostile media.”

Russians Back Crimea Action, They’d Better

By Pavol Stracansky
Elena Smolenskaya doesn’t hesitate a second when asked what she thinks about the Russian military intervention in Crimea. The 23-year-old Moscow student is convinced that President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to order troops into the country.

After Sochi, the Hounding Game

By Pavol Stracansky
Fears are growing in Russia that the Kremlin is preparing a crackdown on rights activists following the end of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

OP-ED: Washington’s Anemic Resolve on Egypt’s Human Rights

By Emile Nakhleh
The unexpected resignation of Hazem al-Biblawi, Egypt’s interim prime minister, and his government this week and the appointment of Ibrahim Mehlib, a Mubarak-era industrialist, as a new prime minister seem to pave the way for Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s anticipated presidential bid.

Press Freedom Goes on Trial in Egypt

By Jonathan Rozen
On Dec. 29, 2013, just over a month before the third anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution that ended the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, three high-profile journalists for Al Jazeera English were arrested in their hotel suite in Cairo.

Internet Holds a Presidential Hope

By Ezgi Akin
Turkey is waiting to see if President Abdullah Gul will ratify the government's controversial Internet bill, which opposition parties, civil society and the international community call a major restriction on freedom of expression.

Egypt’s Generals Face a Watery Battle

By Shelly Kittleson
Heavy reliance on water intensive crops, a major upstream dam project for the Nile basin, and rising groundwater levels pushing at pharaoh-era monuments will be pressing issues for the next Egyptian president - whether military or civilian.

OP-ED: Egypt’s Revolution Teeters as Sisi Seeks the Presidency

By Emile Nakhleh
Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is set to run for president and is expected to win handily. The ruling junta and the interim government have taken several steps to make this happen.

Tajik Intellectuals Finding Little Room for Reasoned Discourse

By Konstantin Parshin
Last July, authorities in Tajikistan confiscated the only manuscript of a little-known novelist’s latest book. In what can only be described as an Orwellian sequence, after the manuscript was seized at a Dushanbe printing house, the author was hauled in for interrogation and asked questions like, “who ordered you to write this book?”

Ukraine Media Under Attack

By Pavol Stracansky
Just hours after Ukrainian investigative journalist Tetyana Chornovil was beaten and left for dead last month at the side of the road by men she claims were acting on the orders of the country’s president, pictures of her battered and bruised face quickly made their way around the world.

Chinese Dominance in Kenyan Digital Migration Raises Alarm

By Miriam Gathigah
Controversy and confusion have marked Kenya’s transition from analogue to digital television in keeping with the 2015 International Telecommunication Union deadline when all analogue signal transmission will cease. 

Sri Lanka Faces New Year Pressure Over Rights

By Amantha Perera
When the American Centre in Colombo held a memorial event honouring the late South African President Nelson Mandela, the first few questions at the question and answer session had nothing to do with the great freedom fighter.

Free Expression Still a Mirage for Zimbabwean Artists

By Busani Bafana
That citizens cannot enjoy democracy if they are ruled by an undemocratic party is the warning that got Cont Mhlanga's play "Members" banned from theatre stages in Zimbabwe in 1985.

Some Cartoons Aren’t Funny

By A. D. McKenzie
A woman and her husband are seated at a table. As she talks, he seems to be ignoring her, his head hidden behind a newspaper.

Citizen Journalists Take the Lead on Gender Issues

By Stella Paul
Twenty-five-year-old Ragae Hammidi of Casa Blanca, Morocco wears two hats. Five days a week, she attends a business school. But on weekends, she is a journalist who goes out on the street with a small camera, shooting videos of people and issues that go untold by professional media outlets.

Kremlin Tightens Grip on Media

By Pavol Stracansky
Russia is set to lose one of its few relatively objective news outlets as the Kremlin moves to tighten its grip on the country’s media.

Drone Killings Show Numbers, Not Bodies

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
More than 300 U.S. drone attacks have killed 2,160 militants and 67 civilians in Pakistan since 2008, according to Pakistani defence ministry data. But people living in the affected areas are now questioning these figures, asking why they never get to know the names of the militants or see the bodies.

Peru’s New Cybercrime Law Undermines Transparency Legislation

By Milagros Salazar
A new law against cybercrime that restricts the use of data and freedom of information in Peru clashes with earlier legislation, on transparency, which represented a major stride forward in citizen rights.

Fears Rise of ‘Taliban-Style’ Justice in Syria

By Shelly Kittleson
Concerns are rising that courts run by Islamic clerics in many of Syria’s rebel-held areas may serve as a prelude to Taliban-style justice in what was long a violently repressive but secular state.
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