Sarata Jabbi-Dibba is a powerful inspiration to us at Radio Free Africa.

On September 3, 2009, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, vice president of the Gambia Press Union and reporter for the independent newspaper, The Point, was granted a presidential pardon and released from prison. Dibba, along with six other journalists, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for defaming President Jammeh. The sedition charges stemmed from an incident in which the GPU issued a statement criticizing the president for slandering the memory of the late Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point, who was brutally murdered in 2004.

At the time of the arrest June 15, 2009 Dibba was still nursing her 7 month old son. She was allowed to have her son with her the first three days. Prison officials took him away on the third day. Dibba and her lawyer went to the prison director. The director relented and allowed family members to bring her son to the prison for breast-feeding.

Since her release, Dibba has resumed writing her column, “She, She, She”, which addresses women’s issues. It was her late editor, Deyda Hydara, who supported Dibba when she started the column. Dibba attributes Hydara as her reason for going into journalism.

In a country where journalists are under serious threats and subject to an array of human rights abuses, the courage displayed by Dibba and her colleagues is laudable. Their fallen comrade, Deyda Hydara lost his life fighting for press freedom. Hydara was killed one day after publishing an article railing against two new Gambian laws that infringed upon freedom of expression. His killers were never found. The six journalists remain committed to his memory even if it means losing their own freedom.

Zambian journalist, Chansa Kabwela, acquitted on charges of pornography in connection with Lusaka’s nurses’ strike.   The charges were instigated by Zambian president, Rupiah Banda.

Read the full story as reported by the BBC.

The following is an open letter from the Committee to Protect Journalists to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that she takes action on behalf of women journalists threatened in the troubled Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic on Congo.

The unstable eastern region is currently one of Africa’s most dangerous cities for journalists.

Dear Secretary Clinton:

In light of your recent advocacy on behalf of Congolese women during your visit to Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, we are writing to bring to your attention our deep concerns about the safety of three reporters covering women’s issues in Bukavu, south of Goma.

The three reporters, Delphie Namuto and Caddy Adzuba of U.N.-sponsored broadcasting network Radio Okapi and Jolly Kamuntu of local station Radio Maendeleo are members of the South Kivu’s Association of Women Journalists (AFEM), which has trained female journalists and presents radio programs spotlighting women’s issues, especially in rural areas. The unstable eastern region, which is rich in minerals but devastated by war and atrocities against civilians, including the systematic rape of women, is currently one of Africa’s most dangerous cities for journalists, according to CPJ research. Just three weeks ago, a radio journalist was murdered in Bukavu, the third reporter killed in the city since 2007, and local investigations have not been thorough and transparent in solving the motives and circumstances of the murders, according to CPJ research. (more…)

Women are well represented in newsrooms but struggle to find a place in senior management or on boards, according to a study by Gender Links.

Women also still earn less than their male counterparts in the media, according to the survey conducted in South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Posted from Africa Book Center

WOMEN JOURNALISTS IN NAMIBIA’S LIBERATION STRUGGLES: 1985-1990
Nghidininwa, Maria M.
Investigates the experiences of women journalists during the last phase of Namibia’s liberation struggle against South African rule. Black or white, women journalists in Namibia made significant contributions to the liberation cause – including the founding of a high-profiled newspaper – whilst others worked for media sympathetic to the apartheid government. Based on interviews and deploying feminist media theory, Maria Mboono Nghidinwa pays close attention to the gendered power relationships in the newsrooms of newspapers and radio stations at the time. She looks at the intense political intimidations which targeted women and, in particular, the constraints experienced by black women journalists.

Index, bib, 152pp, SWITZERLAND. BASLER AFRIKA BIBLIOGRAPHIEN.
2008 9783905758078 Paperback

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