Mimi Mefo: The voiceless in my country need me and I have to keep writing

24 Oct 2019 | Awards, Awards Update, Fellowship, Fellowship 2019, News and features

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Winner of the 2019 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Journalism Award, the Berlin-based Cameroonian journalist Mimi Mefo was one of less than a handful of reporters working without fear or favour in Cameroon’s climate of repression and self-censorship. An award-winning broadcast journalist at private media house Equinoxe TV and Radio, Mefo was arrested in November 2018 after she published reports that the military was behind the death of an American missionary in the country. Mefo reports on the escalating violence in the country’s western regions, a conflict that has become known as the “Anglophone Crisis” and is a leading voice in exposing the harassment of other Cameroonian journalists, calling publicly for the release of those jailed.

Mefo now works for Deutsche Welle. In October 2019, she was denied a visa to enter Australia where she was due to visit a press freedom conference.

We caught up with Mefo to find out what she has been working on since winning the award in April and how being part of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship has helped with this work.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1571926428871-f3c44e41-b5e4-10″ taxonomies=”9015″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Australia denies Cameroonian journalist visa for press freedom conference (The Guardian)

24 Oct 2019 | Index in the Press

A Berlin-based journalist who was due to speak at a press freedom conference in Brisbane has said she was denied a visa by the Australian government because they believed she might try to stay. Mimi Mefo, an award-winning Cameroonian journalist who currently works for Deutsche Welle, was scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Integrity 20 conference on Friday. Read in full.

Rap for rapper

22 Oct 2019 | Index in the Press

 

London drill rapper Rico Racks has been jailed for three years for drug offences and banned from using certain words in his rap songs.

This is not the first time rappers have been told by the courts to exclude certain words from their music, and this type of legislation has been criticised by Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

Read the full story here

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/21/drill-rapper-rico-racks-jailed-and-banned-from-rapping-certain-words

Index magazine on Resonance FM

21 Oct 2019 | Index in the Press, News and features, Volume 48.03 Autumn 2019

“Index on Censorship magazine editors Jemimah Steinfeld and Rachael Jolley discuss the latest issues on freedom of expression at the border, where increasingly officials will demand access to your social media and emails to make a decision about whether to let you in. What are the implications for free expression and for investigative journalism? With guest, tech journalist Geoff White.”

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