Articles Feature

J-Group Behind Diversity Tally Wants to Dissolve

by richard02602

News Leaders Association Cites Financial Pressures
Israelis Targeted Press Vehicle, Reporters Find
T.J. Holmes, Amy Robach Make Deal for Podcast
‘Shut Up’ Puts Focus on N.C. Congress Member
Birmingham Convention Paid Off for City, NABJ
Medical Ailments Claim Ohio Anchor Mike Jackson

Short Takes: Lester Holt, Kristen Welker and Hugh Hewitt; Lester Holt’s Rough Cuts band; two Black women in CBS anchor chair; 2024 Latina Leadership Program; WBEZ and Sun-Times Oath Keepers investigation; net neutrality; Ta-Nehisi Coates and prison bachelors degree program; Charlie LeDuff; Walter Smith Randolph;

Joe Davidson and Bernardine Watson; Damian Lillard and ESPN video; L.A. Times equity initiative; Tim Tooten; Robin Kwong; Mara Gay, Black Americans and swimming; “‘Black History: Unveiled” worldwide podcast; racism toward Black people in Europe;

Meta and human rights abuses in Ethiopia; surprising reason behind attacks on journalists in Mexico; international monetary policy, climate change and Barbados; Latin American journalism diversity conference; surveillance of journalists under Brazil’s Bolsonaro; digitizing Nigeria’s newspapers since 1960; suspension in Namibia; anti-press statements by Chile’s president; Paraguayan journalist wants asylum; supporting independent journalism in Latin America; raids by Indian government.

Updated Nov. 1

Homepage photo: The 2021 faculty cohort of the News Leaders Association’s Emerging Leaders Program

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At lectern, Mizell Stewart III, then president of the American Society of News Editors, with, from left, panelists Paul Delaney, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Dorothy Gilliam and Al Fitzpatrick, at the discussion of the Kerner Report at the 2017 ASNE convention. Facebook members can see the video here or on the Richard Prince’s Journal-isms page. (Credit: Caroline Hendrie‏)

News Leaders Association Cites Financial Pressures

The News Leaders Association, the leading journalism organization for news editors and whose predecessor group for more than four decades monitored diversity progress at newspapers through its annual survey, is asking members whether it should call it quits.

On Monday, the NLA Board approved ballot language for NLA’s members to vote in mid-November to dissolve NLA by June 2024.

“Journalism and democracy are at a critical juncture. Unfortunately, financial pressures continue to challenge news organizations of all sizes, whether legacy newspapers, digital news sites or broadcast newsrooms, in either for-profit or non-profit models, and NLA has been unable to grow its crucial programs at a time when they are most needed,” NLA President Alison Gerber (pictured) said in a message to members Tuesday.

“NLA was formed in late 2019 as a result of the merger of two iconic organizations – the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors. From the beginning, the new NLA has faced obstacles, starting with the COVID-19 pandemic combined with the vast challenges facing the news industry and the financial markets. These headwinds created a perfect storm, making it difficult for NLA to expand and flourish.”

Moreover, Gerber said, “The NLA board also uniquely faced a combination of issues that forced the organization to look for new homes for its long standing programs. Those issues included a drop in the value of the organization’s endowments and shrinking newsroom budgets that made it difficult for members to attend leadership conferences – historically a large source of NLA’s revenue. Economically, it is very difficult for these organizations to continue even in the face of widespread need and support.”

Gerber added, “The board believes the organization’s goals — empowering journalists with the training, support and networks they need to lead diverse, sustainable newsrooms — is more important than ever. With that mission in mind, we ask for your vote in support of dissolving NLA and continuing its work through other respected non-profit journalism organizations. . . .”

The 2021 student cohort of the News Leaders Association’s Emerging Leaders Program

In a q-and-a at the end of the message, Gerber, who is editor of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press, asked, “What will happen to the diversity survey?”

Her answer: “NLA and its members are universally committed to building diverse newsrooms that reflect the communities we serve. However, as pressure grew to prioritize diverse newsrooms, several large media companies became increasingly reluctant to share the demographic information of their newsrooms, and NLA did not have the resources to find alternative ways to obtain this information. The NLA Board is optimistic that handing the annual diversity survey to a partner organization will continue this critical work.”

Gerber also said, “We are currently working with other organizations to ensure that premier NLA training programs such as the Emerging Leaders Institute for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and our annual Sunshine Week continue.” The latter celebrates the First Amendment.

The News Leaders Association was formed in a merger of ASNE, founded in 1922 as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and APME, founded in 1931. NLA also absorbed the Association of Opinion Journalists, formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers, founded in 1947.

In 2017, in one of its final events before the merger, ASNE marked the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission report on the causes of the urban uprisings of 1967. That report famously said, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal,” and criticized the press for writing and reporting “from the standpoint of a white man’s world.”

On the 2017 convention panel were veteran Black journalists Al Fitzpatrick, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Paul Delaney and Dorothy Butler Gilliam, with this columnist moderating.

In preparation for the panel, Fitzpatrick, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists, retired editor of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal and former vice president for diversity of the now-defunct Knight Ridder Co., described  how ASNE’s diversity goals were created.  

“Jay Harris, the late Bob Maynard and I served on committee for ASNE to come up with diversity goals for ASNE,” Fitzpatrick said in his lightly edited message. “We met with many editors from the South and Midwest at the University of Mississippi. I don’t remember the exact year but it was in the late 1970s.

“During the first half of the meeting, nothing was accomplished. Jay, Bob and I decided at the lunch break that we were not going to accomplish anything unless we took over the meeting. Some of the editors were upset but we had the group set up goals for diversity with a goal of equality by the year 2000.

“We gave ASNE a goals report, written by Jay Harris each year.

“Our first report indicated that ASNE had about 2.5 to 3 percent minorities. Each year the needle seldom moved.

“ASNE never achieved the goals.

“There was plenty of lip service from the editors and ASNE but the goals were never realized. ASNE has the same attitude as our companies and corporations: Promote diversity but do very little to promote equality and fairness.”

When the News Leaders Association canceled its 2020 conference in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Rick Edmunds wrote for the Poynter Institute, “The newsroom diversity census, long a hallmark of ASNE’s public-facing programs, was a well-intended but not wildly successful attempt to get better minority representation in newsrooms.

“In its heyday, many organizations agreed to publish benchmark numbers for individual papers as an incentive to improve over time. Gannett, in particular, insisted that editors show progress as part of their job reviews and bonuses.

“The yearly reports from hundreds of papers also provided a best estimate of how many news professionals were working at newspapers, a figure that has drastically declined from a high of around 56,900 in 1990.

“The employment total came to be seen as a negative, better left unreported. And gains in the percentage of minorities year-to-year stalled out. . . .”

As Janine Jackson would write in 2018, “The group called for the re-ignition of Kerner’s demands, setting a goal of minority employment in newspapers equal to their proportion of the country’s population by the year 2000.

Participation in the diversity survey was insufficient even after a new approach, the “Transformative Transparency Project,” was attempted. It didn’t get off the ground.

“By 1998, it was clear this was nowhere close to happening — Black people were 13.3 percent of the population and still just 5.4 percent of newsroom employees — and the goal was pushed to 2025.

“In 2017, ASNE found just 5.6 percent of newsroom employees were Black, and 4.6 percent of newsroom leaders.  Black people were just 5 percent of TV news directors in 2016, according to the Radio, Television, Digital Association, just 3.1 percent of radio news directors. Existing research suggests that ‘new’ media are not new in this regard.”

In fairness, ASNE said its 2000 goal of matching the percentage of people of color in newsrooms with that of the general population was aspirational. It then created another aspirational date for parity, 2025. Meanwhile, it emphasized leadership training, and created awards encouraging diversity reporting, named after such advocates as the late Dori J. Maynard, president of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, and Robert G. McGruder, late editor of the Detroit Free Press.

In addition, the News Leaders Association picked up the Barry Bingham Sr. Award, originating with the National Conference of Editorial Writers, honoring the educator who has done the most to promote diversity.  

In her letter to members, Gerber put a positive spin on the development. “What does NLA’s demise say about journalism/editorial leadership?” she asked.

Her answer: “One key reason we believe NLA can make this move is that other journalism organizations are already stepping up to offer the services we were working on providing. In that way, it’s not about the demise of the profession, but an ecosystem that has grown to fill these needs.”

“The initial findings of the investigation show that the reporters were not collateral victims of the shooting. One of their vehicles, marked ‘press,’ was targeted, and it was also clear that the group stationed next to it was journalists,” Reporters Without Borders said. (Credit: Reporters Without Borders/YouTube)

Israelis Targeted Press Vehicle, Reporters Find

“What happened on the border between Israel and Lebanon on Friday 13 October when a bombing raid claimed the life of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah?” the press-freedom group Reporters Without Borders reported Sunday, disclosing the results of its investigation.

Separately, the group announced Wednesday it “has filed a complaint for war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza – the third such complaint since 2018 – and against an Israeli journalist, killed and wounded in the course of their work. These reporters were the victims of attacks amounting – at the very least – to war crimes justifying an investigation by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Filed with the office of the ICC prosecutor on 31 October, RSF’s complaint details the cases of nine journalists killed in the course of their work since 7 October and two others who were wounded, also in the course of their work. It also cites the deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza. . . .”

In reporting on its investigation, RSF (its French acronym) said, “Two strikes of different intensity, about thirty seconds apart, hit the exact spot where seven journalists were standing. They had set up in this area to cover the exchange of fire between Hezbollah forces and the Israeli army. The first strike killed Reuters photojournalist Issam Abdallah and seriously injured Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent Christina Assi, while the second blew up the Al Jazeera vehicle in the immediate vicinity, injuring several of their colleagues.

“Blamed for the incident by various witnesses, the Israeli army immediately declared that it was “sorry” and that it was “looking into it.” . A week after the events, RSF is reconstructing what may have happened between 4.45pm, the time of the first images collected, and around 6pm, the time of the death of Issam Abdallah, aged 37, in Alma el-Chaab, southern Lebanon. The sources include videos filmed at the very moment of the tragedy and ballistic analysts commissioned by RSF.”

Among the group’s conclusions:

“Two strikes in the same place in such a short space of time (just over 30 seconds), from the same direction, clearly indicate precise targeting.

“It is unlikely that the journalists were mistaken for combatants, especially as they were not hiding: in order to have a clear field of vision, they had been in the open for more than an hour, on the top of a hill. They were wearing helmets and bullet-proof waistcoats marked “press”. Their car was also identified as “press” thanks to a marking on the roof, according to witnesses. . . .” (Added Nov. 1)

“Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes are no longer hiding their romance,” People magazine declared.(Credit: Wes and Alex for IHeart Media)

T.J. Holmes, Amy Robach Make Deal for Podcast

“Former ABC News anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes have launched a new podcast in partnership with iHeartMedia,” Caitlin Huston reported Wednesday for the Hollywood Reporter.

“The podcast, titled Amy & T.J., will see the two in conversation about current events, pop culture and more. In addition to hosting and executive producing the podcast, Robach and Holmes will also work on a full slate of upcoming programming at iHeartPodcasts.

“The news comes after Robach and Holmes left ABC News in January 2023 after their romantic relationship became public and ABC conducted an investigation into whether it violated internal policies. The two, who had been married to other partners, had been pulled from the air in December 2022, as the network decided on next steps. . . .”

Dory Jackson added for People magazine, “In a new Instagram post that they jointly shared on Wednesday, the two former GMA3: What You Need to Know anchors smiled from ear to ear as they held each other close. Holmes’ arm was wrapped tightly around Robach, who placed her hand on his shoulder.

” ‘How’s this for instagram official? #silentnomore 🎤,’ the caption began.

“Robach, 50, and Holmes, 46, then announced that they were teaming up for an all-new podcast. ‘ “Amy & T.J.” ‘ December 5th,” they continued. ‘Listen on the iHeartRadio app and everywhere podcasts are heard. @amyandtjpodcast.’ “

Jonah Valdez reported Oct. 12 for the Los Angeles Times that Holmes and Marilee Fiebig had “reached a divorce settlement agreement nearly one year after news surfaced of Holmes’ alleged affair. . . . In March, Robach followed Holmes and filed for divorce from actor Andrew Shue after 13 years of marriage.” (Added Nov. 1)


.

An outburst by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., at right, “continued an ugly streak of high-profile legislators from the Carolinas caught on camera proudly saying stupid or immoral things,” columnist Issac Bailey wrote. New House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is at center.

‘Shut Up’ Puts Focus on N.C. Congress Member

“Reporters rallied behind ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott (pictured, below) after the hostility she encountered for trying to ask Republican House Speaker-Designee Mike Johnson (R-LA) about his election denialism,” as Mediaite reported, with the National Association of Black Journalists weighing in on Sunday.

“Reporters should be allowed to do their jobs without harassment and badgering. The freedom of the press must be respected at all levels of government,” said NABJ President Ken Lemon, noting that Scott, senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, is a former “NABJ Baby” and was NABJ’s Emerging Journalist of the Year in 2020, among her other honors.

But for local journalists watching the chief offender — Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who yelled “Shut up” — Foxx was the issue.

“The reporter must have hit a nerve,” columnist Paige Masten wrote Wednesday in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. “Republicans don’t want to talk about their behavior in 2020, because they know it was unacceptable. They refuse to be held accountable for it.

“The entire exchange was frighteningly dystopian, but it encapsulates exactly what today’s Republican Party has become. Juvenile and contemptuous, sneering and laughing about the fact that they are single-handedly dismantling democracy. They just can’t take anything seriously.”

In the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record, Scott Sexton recapped Thursday, “In a near viral clip that circulated widely across the Twitter-sphere and national media, we see Rep. Foxx shouting ‘Shut Up! Shut Up!’ at a reporter attempting to ask now Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a simple question.

“ ‘Mr. Johnson, you helped lead the effort to overturn the 2020 election results …’ the reporter began.

“He shook his head indicating that the soon to be second in line to the presidency would not answer for his attempts to undermine democracy.

“And Foxx helpfully added her shrill two-cents.

“How hard is it to say the obvious — that the 2020 election was legitimate? Three years into a new administration?

“Apparently if you don’t like being asked about, say, supporting insurrection and mindlessly repeating lies about a ‘stolen’ election — which more than 60 judges have ruled are baseless — hissing and shouting down anyone with the temerity to speak truth to power is the way to go. . . .”

Issac Bailey (pictured), whose columns run in both North and South Carolina, tied Foxx’s behavior to that of Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, both South Carolina Republicans.

In Charlotte, his column ran under the headline, “At 80, Virginia Foxx acts childish in Congress. Does the GOP have any grown-ups?”

“Tim Scott, the junior senator from South Carolina, took to the Republican primary debate stage and bizarrely suggested that Black people had it harder under Great Society programs than slavery. Lindsey Graham, the senior senator from South Carolina, took to Fox News and called for the wiping out of an entire people, a population of more than two million, half of whom are children. I guess Foxx, who represents the 5th District of North Carolina, didn’t want to be left out, wanted to prove she could sound as idiotic as the gentleman south of the Tar Heel border.”

Bailey saw something bigger at play. “Her party has been busy trying to craft a political map in North Carolina that would all but guarantee Republicans would retain a stranglehold on power in the state even if they can’t convince a majority of us to vote for them. They treat this precious place like a game, something to toy around with. But there’s nothing funny about what’s happening. We need grownups at the wheel during a time like this. And yet we repeatedly choose overgrown children to lead us. . . .”

Michael Days, president of the new NABJ-Philadelphia, returned to the city from Ghana Saturday for the NABJ board meeting. Days said he asked Ghanaian kente cloth makers to create mementos with the “NABJ” name, which Days distributed at the meeting.

Birmingham Convention Paid Off for City, NABJ

The National Association of Black Journalists’ August convention in Birmingham, Ala., ended with a surplus of $1,066,984.87, treasurer Jasmine Styles announced at Saturday’s NABJ board meeting in Philadelphia; while Michael Gunn, a vice president of the Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau, confirmed that the presence of NABJ boosted the Birmingham economy by $7.5 million.

Gunn told Journal-isms that the convention ranked among the top 10 revenue grossers among such events held in the city, not least because journalists “are going to have a good time,” while many of Birmingham’s other conventions are held by faith-based groups, whose priorities differ. The city had contributed $150,000 toward the convention. Economic impact figures are calculated by the number of hotel rooms sold and other indicators, Gunn said.

NABJ Executive Director Drew Berry pointed to the convention success as a reason the organization “cannot let our guards down” regarding finances, pointing to the Society of Professional Journalists, which canceled its 2024 convention, with a candidate sending a notice to members with “SPJ is Broke” as the subject line. SPJ relies more on membership revenue than does NABJ, Berry said.

Three of the association’s founders — Joe Davidson, Allison Davis and Sandra Long Weaver — attended the meeting to present ideas for the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration in Cleveland in 2025, with planning underway even as NABJ makes arrangements to be in Chicago for 2024.

About 80 people attended a reception for the new NABJ-Philadelphia chapter Friday night at the Philadelphia Inquirer building, Melanie Burney, an Inquirer reporter and vice president of the new group, told Journal-isms.

Medical Ailments Claim Ohio Anchor Mike Jackson

“WCMH-TV NBC4 anchor Mike Jackson died Friday after a battle with cancer,” Bethany Bruner reported Sunday for Ohio’s Columbus Dispatch. “He was 66 years old.

“Jackson worked in broadcast for more than 40 years, including 25 years on the air at NBC4, but had not been on the air since 2019 when he had a stroke.

“At the time of the stroke, Jackson anchored the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news for NBC4, and did a segment called ‘Better Call Jackson.’

“In November 2022, Jackson announced he had laryngeal cancer and was unable to speak. Treatment for the cancer required the removal of his throat box, as well as radiation treatment. . . .”

Short Takes

  • “After WBEZ and the Sun-Times asked questions,” Chicago police said they were opening a new investigation into ties between the police department and the white extremist Oath Keepers, Dan Mihalopoulos, Tom Schuba and Kevin G. Hall reported Oct. 22 in a collaboration of the two news organizations and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Among their findings: “Officials closed a probe into Chicago cops’ ties to the Oath Keepers last year without finding any wrongdoing or even investigating most of the officers linked to the group,” and “Many of the cops on the Oath Keepers’ rolls worked in the Special Operations Section, which was disbanded amid revelations that some members committed brazen robberies and the purported ringleader plotted to murder a colleague.”
The Northwestern Prison Education Program was called the only bachelor’s degree program for incarcerated students offered by a top 10 university in the United States. (Credit: Northwestern Now)
“The ability to help those in need and hold the powerful accountable is why I became a journalist,” Walter Smith Randolph wrote. “As my friend Katie Honan says, ‘be kind to those who deserve it and give hell to those who earned it.’ “
  • Rebecca Plevin (pictured), formerly of the Fresno Bee, has joined the Los Angeles Times as the reporter for its new equity initiative. “Plevin will explore the challenges facing low-income communities and efforts being made to address the economic divide in California, with a particular focus on Southern California and the Central Valley. The two-year program will include dedicated coverage of socioeconomic issues, such as access to employment and housing, and will examine the human toll of systemic poverty. It is funded by the James Irvine Foundation, an independent foundation based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, whose mission is to expand opportunity for the people of California with a focus on increasing the power to advance economically among low-income workers,” the Times said.

  • Mara Gay, a New York Times editorial writer who has written about racial inequities in swimming, was featured in an Oct. 21 “PBS NewsHour” segment in which she noted, “Black Americans, many people know, were not allowed to learn how to read during slavery. Many times they also weren’t allowed to learn how to swim. And that’s because it would have made it easier to escape to freedom. Dogs couldn’t track your scent in water, which was known among enslaved Americans. During segregation you had public pools that were not open to Black Americans. . . .”

  • Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, and Amat Levin, a renowned Swedish journalist and author, are launching their podcast ‘Black History: Unveiled’ worldwide, producing “captivating stories that shine a light on historical events and figures often overshadowed in the history books,” according to an Oct. 18 news release. “In October, Acast is releasing a broad campaign targeting multiple markets — the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France — regions rich in unexplored Black community history and heritage. . . .” The initiative “began as an Instagram account focusing on bite-sized pan-African history four years ago.”
  • “Racism towards Black people is growing in Europe, with Germany, Austria and Finland showing the highest rates of discrimination and harassment, a survey of first- and second-generation Black immigrants in 13 EU countries published on Wednesday found,” Francois Murphy reported Oct. 25 for Reuters. “The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which commissioned the survey and analyzed its findings in a report, said that in the space of six years since the previous study the proportion of respondents who had felt racially discriminated against in the past 12 months had risen by 10 percentage points to 34%.”
Tigrayan university chemistry professor Meareg Amare, right, with his son, Abrham Meareg, was killed by a group of men after posts targeting him were posted on Facebook in November 2021. (Credit: Amnesty International)
  • “Meta, the parent company of Facebook, contributed to serious human rights abuses against Ethiopia’s Tigrayan community, Amnesty International said in a new report published today,” the human rights organization said Tuesday. “Amnesty International’s research established that Facebook’s algorithmic systems supercharged the spread of harmful rhetoric targeting the Tigrayan community, while the platform’s content moderation systems failed to detect and respond appropriately to such content. These failures ultimately contributed to the killing of Tigrayan university chemistry Professor Meareg Amare. Amare was killed by a group of men after posts targeting him were posted on Facebook on 3 November 2021. . . .”
  • “When, in 2018, Mexican journalist Alejandra Ibarra began [to] build the Defensores de la Democracia [Defenders of Democracy] project, which seeks to preserve and catalog work published by journalists murdered in her country, one of her main concerns was to understand why Mexico was such a violent nation for the press, despite being a democracy with all the protections of the law,” César López Linares reported Oct. 16 for LatAm Journalism Review. In a new book, “Ibarra argues that it is not so much the information journalists disseminate, but the role they play in their community that leads them to be targeted for assassination. One of the patterns that the journalist found is that the journalists killed in recent years in Mexico were mainly local reporters or citizen journalists who held a place of respect in their community. They were able to promote some social participation when they took a stand on the facts. They were also figures who often questioned the powers that be in their town. . . .”

  • “ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten brought attention to how international monetary policy and Wall Street’s incentive to generate returns for investors are making it difficult for small, poor Caribbean countries like Barbados to recover economically from the cost of disastrous hurricanes and other effects of climate change,” the Scripps Howard Fund said in honoring the report. Published with The New York Times Magazine, it was cited for “Excellence in Environmental Reporting.” “Lustgarten’s reporting revealed how international monetary policy and Wall Street’s expectations for profitable returns are forcing severe internal budgeting and national spending policies on vulnerable countries that already are trying to recover from damage caused by the intense hurricanes and other environmental challenges attributable to global warming. . . .”
Boyega Adediran scans old newspapers as Grace Abraham uploads digital copies in the Lagos offices of Archivi.ng. (Credit: Ope Adetayo/the Guardian)
  • On their best day, Fu’ad Lawal and his team of four in Lagos, Nigeria, “scanned 900 pages of newspapers published sometime in the last thirty years. They have uploaded 50,000 pages to their website Archivi.ng, but it is only a small step of a grand ambition,” Alexander Onukwue reported Sunday for Semafor. “Lawal’s goal with Archivi.ng is to digitize every Nigerian newspaper published every day since independence in 1960. It is a history project to provide context for conversations about politics and the economy but also a record of language, culture and mundane aspects of Nigerian life, he says. It formally started in April when the team procured a seven-feet tall overhead scanner after raising $15,000 from donors since 2020. . . .”
  • Christof Maletsky, CEO of the state-owned New Era Publication Corp., which publishes Namibia’s daily New Era newspaper, suspended managing editor Johnathan Beukes until Oct. 31, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Oct. 13. The suspension was prompted by an editorial critical of the judiciary, three journalists who saw the suspension letter told the CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.
  • In Niger, journalist Samira Sabou (pictured) is charged with disseminating data likely to disturb public order, which is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of 5 million West African francs (US$8,080). She is also accused of maintaining “intelligence with a foreign power,” a treasonous charge that carries the death penalty, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Oct. 12. “The charges are in connection to Sabou talking to foreign diplomats, using an aircraft flight tracking app called Flightradar24, and a September 29 Facebook post reporting on a document detailing assignments of Niger’s military personnel, according to [a] family member. On September 30, four men in plainclothes arrested Sabou at her mother’s home. . . .” CPJ called for all charges to be dropped.
  • “The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned and expressed concern over statements made by the President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, against the press. The organization warned that discrediting journalists and media outlets can lead to hostile actions when exercised from a position of power,” IAPA announced Friday. “In a public event on October 25, President Boric criticized the press in general and, in particular, made derogatory remarks about the newspapers El Mercurio, La Tercera, and La Segunda. He said, ‘I read the newspapers very little these days. But it’s impressive how they prefer the bad news. I don’t know how those who still read El Mercurio, La Tercera, La Segunda can feel okay afterward because, in truth, it’s as if we live in a hellish country.’ “
  • In India, “Earlier this month police in Delhi raided the homes of several prominent journalists in connection with an investigation into the funding of news website NewsClick, the BBC reported Oct. 21. “Officials are reportedly investigating allegations that NewsClick got illegal funds from China — a charge it denies, the case is currently in the Indian supreme court. Are the raids an attempt by the government to ‘muzzle’ free speech, as some activists say — or simply a straightforward police investigation into the funding of news website Newsclick? Critics say the harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organisations, and other government critics has increased significantly under the current administration. . . .”

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