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 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.

Namuto, Adzuba, and Kamuntu were named in an anonymous text message sent on September 8 to Namuto: “You have a bad habit of interfering in what does not concern you to show that you are untouchable. Now, some of you will die so that you shut up. We’ve just been authorized to start with Kadi, then Kamuntu, then Namuto: a bullet to the head.”

Adzuba, 28, who began her career in 2002 as a presenter with national public broadcaster RTNC and covered issues of disarmament as a field reporter for U.S.-based conflict resolution organization Search for Common Ground, told CPJ she has received at least five menacing calls since September 6. In one instance, the caller said nothing, but held up the phone so she could hear the live radio broadcast of her station, she said. As the first one named to be killed, she is severely traumatized.

Namuto, 35, has been a Radio Okapi reporter since 2003 and is the mother of a 1-year-old girl. Kamuntu, also 35 and eight months pregnant, has been a reporter since 2000. She heads AFEM, and since 2005, she has produced a weekly program on justice that is broadcast on 35 stations in eastern Congo.

Adzuba and Namuto said they were questioned by police on Monday while Kamuntu filed a complaint with the military court on Saturday. In a September 11 letter to Bukavu Attorney General Flory Kabange Numbi, Congolese press freedom group Journaliste En Danger urged authorities to open an investigation and trace the phone number of the caller with mobile carrier Vodacom.

We call on you to impress upon the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo the importance of the safety of human rights defenders, including journalists reporting on the war and its impact on vulnerable sections of the population, particularly women.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon

Executive Director

Copyright © 2009 Committee to Protect Journalists.

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).

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

View portions of the book below: