Committee to Protect Journalists - Namibia

Journalist assaulted for his work in Namibia

2010-01-14T21:36:22Z

New York, January 14, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Namibian authorities to thoroughly investigate an alleged attack by four assailants against freelance journalist John Grobler on January 8. Grobler told CPJ that four men attacked him at a bar Friday evening in the capital, Windhoek, cutting his face with a broken glass and kicking him repeatedly in the head. Grobler was taken to MediCity Emergency Clinic, where he was treated and released.

Attacks on the Press 2004: Africa Analysis

2005-03-14T16:57:00Z

Overview
by Julia Crawford

With the rule of law weak in many African countries, journalists regularly battle threats and harassment, not only from governments but also from rogue elements, such as militias. Repressive legislation is used in many countries to silence journalists who write about sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement, and human rights abuses. If fewer journalists were killed or imprisoned in Africa than in some other regions in 2004--two were killed and 19 were behind bars for their work at year's end--the problems they face are insidious and ongoing.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Africa Analysis

2003-03-31T17:10:53Z

Although the Kenya-based East African Standard, one of Africa's oldest continuously published newspapers, marked its 100th anniversary in November, journalism remains a difficult profession on the continent, with adverse government policies and multifaceted economic woes still undermining the full development of African media.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Ivory Coast

2003-03-31T17:05:40Z

Hopes were high in July that Ivory Coast's political crisis would end after a judge in the capital, Abidjan, confirmed that former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara, the leader of the opposition Rally for Republicans (RDR), is an Ivory Coast citizen.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Namibia

2003-03-31T17:04:10Z

In a surprise Cabinet shuffle in late August, President Sam Nujoma appointed himself information and broadcasting minister in an effort, he said, to "tackle problems" at the state-owned Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the country's largest news outlet.

Attacks on the Press 2001: Africa Analysis

2002-03-26T17:12:05Z

Silence reigned supreme in Eritrea, where the entire independent press was under a government ban and 11 journalists languished in jail at year's end. Clamorous, deadly power struggles raged in Zimbabwe over land and access to information, and in Burundi over ethnicity and control of state resources. South Africa, Senegal, and Benin remained relatively liberal from a press freedom perspective, while corruption and fear pervaded newsrooms in Mozambique and Togo.

Attacks on the Press 2001: Namibia

2002-03-26T17:04:35Z

Journalists and press freedom advocates from around the world attended a UNESCO conference on press freedom held in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, on May 3, World Press Freedom Day. The conference celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, which affirmed that a free and pluralistic press is essential for democratic government.

President bans government subscriptions to leading daily

2001-06-01T16:00:00Z

June 1, 2001

His Excellency Sam Nujoma
President of the Republic of Namibia
State House
Robert Mugabe Avenue
Private Bag 13339
Windhoek, Namibia

Via fax: 011-264-61-221770

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by your recent order banning government agencies from spending public funds to purchase the Windhoek independent daily The Namibian. This decision follows a government advertising ban imposed on the newspaper in December.

Attacks on the Press 2000: Namibia

2001-03-19T17:04:00Z

NAMIBIA, REGARDED AS A MODEL OF DEMOCRACY, peace, and stability in southern Africa over the past decade, celebrated its 10th anniversary of independence last year, along with the inauguration of President Sam Nujoma to an unprecedented third term in office. The celebrations were marred, however, by the country's involvement in several armed conflicts and by widespread allegations of abuses committed by Namibian authorities.

The Nujoma government clashed frequently with human rights organizations and the independent media over issues such as the ongoing conflict in Namibia's northeast Caprivi region, the government's decision to allow the Angolan government to deploy troops in Namibia to fight against UNITA rebels, and Namibia's involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Attacks on the Press 1999: Africa Analysis

2000-03-22T17:10:55Z

By Claudia McElroy

All over Africa, conflict continued to be the single biggest threat to journalists and to press freedom itself. Both civil and cross-border wars were effectively used as an excuse by governments (and rebel forces) to harass, intimidate, and censor the press--often in the name of "national security"--and in some cases to kill journalists with impunity. CPJ confirmed that in 1999 13 journalists were killed in Africa specifically because of their work--10 of them in Sierra Leone and three in Nigeria.

Attacks on the Press 1999: Namibia

2000-03-22T17:04:05Z

Namibia's reputation as a role model for press freedom in southern Africa, thanks largely to its liberal constitution, took another beating in 1999, as both domestic and foreign conflict had negative repercussions on local media.

In January, Prime Minister Hage Geingob admitted in a letter to the independent daily Namibian that the Ministry of Defense was deliberately withholding information from all domestic media concerning Namibia's involvement in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The prime minister claimed that the Namibian press had published "distortions" about the conflict in the DRC and that news published in the Namibian also appeared on the Internet and was therefore accessible to DRC rebel forces.