Press freedom essential for democracy and development in Africa, says Songwe

Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, on Thursday celebrated World Press Freedom Day by emphasizing the important role of the media in facilitating free and fair electoral processes on the continent. Speaking at a global conference to mark the day in Addis Ababa, held on the theme Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in times of Disinformation, Ms. Songwe said the media has an important role to play in enabling accountability in the democratic process. Unfortunately, said Ms. Songwe, limited press freedom continues to undermine the ability of the media carry out this role. “Regretfully, some journalists are victims of repression. They are murdered, arrested, detained and censored,” she said as she lamented the shutting down of the internet by some governments from time to time saying this undermined freedom of the Press and productivity. Between January 2018 and April 2019, 88 journalists were killed in the line of duty globally. Eleven of them were from Africa, notably four from Somalia, three from the Central African Republic, two from Libya, one from Sierra Leone and one from Ghana, an investigative journalist who had uncovered corruption in football.

Bibliographic Details

Format:	Press release biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	2019-05
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10855/44624
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