South Sudan

2014

  
Members of the public visit the office of The Patriot. The paper's former chief editor says critical journalists risk being labeled rebel supporters. (CPJ)

Mission Journal: As South Sudan conflict continues press still suffers

On December 15 last year, fighting that broke out between supporters of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar–who had been vice president until Kiir fired the entire Cabinet–escalated into a civil war that has increased pressure on an already fragile independent press.

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Radio Miraya reporter George Livio has been held by security forces in South Sudan since August 22. (Miraya FM)

Radio Miraya journalist held for two weeks without charge in South Sudan

Nairobi, September 9, 2014–Authorities in South Sudan must present journalist George Livio to a court or release him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The reporter for Radio Miraya, a U.N.-backed station, has been held without charge by security forces for more than two weeks, according to local journalists and news reports.

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The entrance to Bakhita Radio, a station that has been shut down. (CPJ)

South Sudan closes radio station, arrests editor

Nairobi, August 18, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns South Sudanese authorities’ shutdown of the popular Catholic-run Bakhita Radio station in Juba, the capital, on Saturday and the ongoing detention of the station’s news editor. Security agents raided the outlet in the morning and arrested four staff members, according to the station’s managing director and…

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Freelance journalist in hiding over reports on South Sudan

Nairobi, August 6, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in South Sudan to ensure the safety of a freelance journalist who has been in hiding since late July. Abraham Agoth told CPJ that he fled his home in the northern state of Bahr el Ghazal on July 28, fearing arrest.

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Remembering Camille Lepage

“Not sure I can talk about my ‘career’ just yet–I’m still just getting started!” freelance photographer Camille Lepage told the photography site Petapixel in October 2013.Less than a year later, Lepage’s body was found in a car in the Central African Republic, according to news reports citing the French government. She had been traveling with fighters of…

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South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei has told reporters not to interview the opposition. (Eye Radio)

South Sudan government warning: Don’t interview rebels

Last week, South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei warned reporters in the capital, Juba, not to interview the opposition or face possible arrest or expulsion from the country. According to the minister, a lawyer by profession, broadcast interviews with rebels by local media are considered “hostile propaganda” and “in conflict with the law.”

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Advertising and Censorship in East Africa’s Press

The printed word is thriving in parts of Africa, but advertisers’ clout means they can often quietly control what is published. By Tom Rhodes Kenyans read election coverage in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, the capital, on March 9, 2013. One reason that advertising revenue trumps circulation for East Africa’s newspapers is that readers often…

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Not a single local news station is operating full-time in the town of Malakal, which has been ravaged by the fighting. (Al-Jazeera/Emre Rende)

South Sudanese towns suffer information vacuum

“This is the worst situation I ever reported since I started reporting in 2007,” BBC Media Action producer Manyang David Mayar told me after he left the restive town of Bor, Jonglei State in South Sudan. Forced to walk long distances carrying his suitcase on his head to escape the fighting in Bor, Mayar drank…

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2014