Posts Tagged ‘radio’
June 24th, 2011
Members of the Sufi group,
Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ), shut down Radio Dhusamareb of central
Somalia on Wednesday evening. Seven masked intruders forced staff to evacuate the building and the station’s editor was arrested and taken into custody. He has now been released without charge. Less than
24 hours before the attack,
Al Shabaab militants silenced the Voice of Hiran radio station in the town of Beletweyne.
April 28th, 2011
Burundi’s state-run media regulator, the National Communications Council, suspended a popular talk show on Monday (25 April) after a caller accused the President of wrongdoing. The show, Kabizi, was ordered off the air for an
initial four-day period. The caller insinuated that the President had committed war crimes during Burundi’s civil war, the show’s host had immediately stopped the caller and asked him to refer his allegations to the Burundi Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
April 28th, 2011
The
Thai government forced the closure of 13 radio stations on Tuesday (26 April) and issued them with court warrants for broadcasting a speech by an opposition leader in which the monarchy was criticised. In Thailand, Les majeste, or offence against the monarchy, carries a
maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. It is as yet unclear whether the stations will face such a charge. According to
rights organisations most of the sanctioned stations are openly aligned with the opposition.
Local reports have also claimed that police plan to raid additional radio stations.
March 3rd, 2011
Juan Pedro Mendene, a radio presenter for the Equatorial Guinean broadcaster RTVGE, has been
suspended for mentioning the Libyan uprising on his radio show. His live show was halted on the orders of Federico Abaga Ondo, the Secretary of State for Information and Press. The government has imposed a total news
blackout on the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
February 16th, 2011
Mexican radio station MVS has
reinstated Carmen Aristegui, the journalist
fired last week after
speculating about President Felipe Calderon’s alleged drinking problem. The dismissal provoked widespread
debate about freedom of expression in Mexico. MVS’s decision to rehire her was based on discussions with Aristegui - as well as public discussion about her radio show, the station said.
October 7th, 2010
The Sudanese Ministry of Information has
refused to renew the license of Monte Carlo radio’s Arabic service, which broadcasts in Sudan from Paris. The radio station was told that certain laws and regulations prevent the license renewal from taking place. Similarly vague reasons were given to the BBC, when the British broadcaster’s Arabic radio service was
banned from Sudan a few weeks ago. The government has insisted that neither decision was political, but the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) drew attention to the popularity of both stations, leaving no real cause for discontinuing broadcasts.
September 22nd, 2010
Angry police officers stormed into two radio station offices and
attacked two staff members in Ghana’s second largest city on 16 September. Reports suggest the officers intended to attack a panelist, Francis Dodovi, who is a sympathiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress. The policemen claim Dodovi had been discrediting a demonstration staged by these police officers on discrimination charges on 15 September.
September 21st, 2010
Two independent radio stations were
attacked by Islamist militia in Mogadishu on 19 September. Radio Horn Afrik was vandalised and looted by
Al-Shabaab, while Global Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was taken over by
Hizbul Islam, who are now using the station to broadcast their own propaganda. Journalists at Horn Afrik were driven from the building by armed men. Cassettes and CDs were then destroyed.
According to the transitional government in Mogadishu, five radio stations in the city have now been attacked or forcibly taken over by Islamist rebels.
