Where is the promised action on our Media Principles?
Picture shows panelists who discussed the Media Principles at the heads of government summit last October – Shahidul Alam (Bangladesh), Apulu Lance Polu (Samoa), Kalafi Moala (Tonga), Kumi Naidoo (South Africa) and Ms. Neha Dixit (Pakistan). The long campaign by the CJA for our Media Principles charter on Freedom of Expression and the Role of […]
At 75 the Commonwealth Promises to Protect Media Freedom … But How?
December 2024 At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa in late October 2024, leaders of the 56 member countries of the Commonwealth marked the organisation’s 75th anniversary with a commitment to observe a set of Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good Governance (‘Media Principles’). The 11-point […]
David Page, passionate defender of media freedom
By WILLIAM CRAWLEY Dr David Page, senior fellow of the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, former editor and manager in the BBC South Asian Services, and a driving force of the Commonwealth Journalists Association, has died aged 80. He joined the BBC in 1972 as Programme Organiser of the BBC Urdu Service. He had graduated from […]
Legal moves thwarted in Bangladesh as journalists kept in detention
Despite mounting pressure at home and abroad, the many journalists picked up by the authorities in Bangladesh as long ago as last August remain firmly in detention. The latest attempt to gain freeedom for two of the more prominent detainees – husband and wife team Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed of the Ekattor TV channel – was […]
A milestone for free speech: Commonwealth adopts our Media Principles on Freedom of Expression
The Commonwealth Heads of Government adopted the Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good Governance at their summit in Apia, Samoa, a milestone in the long campaign by the CJA and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) for free media and the protection of journalists. These Principles highlight the importance […]
Crisis point for media freedom in Bangladesh
Picture shows Shyamal Datta, Muzammil Babu, Farzana Rupa and Shakil Ahmed. In an impassioned appeal to the CJA, Shushama Shashi, daughter of the detained Bangladeshi journalist Shyamal Dutta, has called for help from all international media organisations and human rights bodies to campaign for the release of detained journalists in the country. It’s estimated that charges have […]
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, […]
Respect media freedom – our urgent message to the new regime in Bangladesh
Picture shows an earlier demonstration for media freedom, before the departure of Sheikh Hasina. Oppressive treatment of the media in Bangladesh under the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina was a measure of how low respect for the concept of free speech had fallen. International rights organisations have reported how arrests, abuse and disappearances at the […]
A milestone for free speech: Commonwealth adopts our Media Freedom Principles
Heads of government at the summit in Samoa have adopted the Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good governance, a landmark in the CJA’s long campaign for free media and the protection of journalists within the Commonwealth. The leaders’ statement at the end of the summit urged member […]
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The Indian general election is promoted as the biggest demonstration of mass-participation democracy in the world. Nearly a billion people are eligible to vote in a process lasting six weeks. The big Issues of development, the economy, corrruption, unemployment are well ventilated. But as the spectacle of the Indian election unfolds, it also provides an […]