How Western media can get it wrong – CJA Fellowship helps Pakistani journalist correct the balance
In 2024 Saad Zuberi, a highly experienced Pakistani journalist, became the first Derek Ingram Press Fellow to spend a term at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Saad, who writes below about his time at Wolfson, was able to research the interaction – not always easy or comfortable – between international journalists reporting on the Global South and […]
Picture shows Shyamal Datta, Muzammil Babu, Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed. There’s mounting condemnation of the Bangladeshi authorities over oppression of the media, in the political crisis following the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August. Media and civil rights campaigners at home and abroad have called on the interim administration of Mohammad Yunus to protect journalists, […]
We say Drop these trumped-up charges
The CJA has issued this statement in defence of all journalists working in Bangladesh. The Commonwealth Journalists Association is deeply shocked that Shyamal Dutta, Editor of Bangladesh’s Bhorer Kagoj newspaper and a vice president of the CJA was kidnapped along with two colleagues by unknown militants on 15 September. The three journalists were robbed by […]
Why this CHOGM is crucial for our cause
Commonwealth leaders must use this gathering to take action on Media Freedom, writes CJA Executive Committee member WILLIAM HORSLEY. Journalists across the Commonwealth have their eyes turned to the coming Heads of Government meeting in October for signs that those leaders realise the gravity of the dramatic erosion of press freedom that’s taking place – […]
Samoan journalists decry ‘ridiculous’ restrictions
Restrictions on journalists covering the upcoming summit of Commonwealth nations in Samoa are “ridiculous” and at odds with a government that purportedly values democracy, the Pacific island country’s media association has declared. The Samoa Observer newspaper in an editorial condemned the government of Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa, pictured, for attempting to limit coverage of the Commonwealth […]
Can the new regime in Bangladesh learn the lessons of the past?
Picture shows protesters climbing a public monument in Dhaka as they celebrate the downfall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. By CJA Executive Committee member SYED BADRUL AHSAN. This article first appeared in Open The Magazine, a leading Indian journal dealing in politics. The collapse of the Awami League government in Bangladesh on 5 August was as […]
Journalists’ friend, Sonny Ramphal
By CJA Executive Committee member Richard Bourne The death of the former Commonwealth secretary-general, Sir Shridath Ramphal, better known as Sonny, his boyhood nickname from Guyana, has been greeted by an outpouring of memories, affection and admiration from all who knew him, and many who only knew of him. He led the Commonwealth from 1975 […]
From self-censorship to documenting repression – media’s role in the toppling of Sheikh Hasina
Picture shows protesters shouting slogans as they vandalise a mural of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. On 4 August thousands of protesters gathered in Dhaka, obstructing traffic as a form of civil disobedience to demand the resignation of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At least 100 people were killed. Protestors had initially taken to the streets to oppose quotas […]