Canadian Journalists for Free Expression

Despite, and in fact because of Turkey’s climate of repression, alternative and oppositional voices have been creative in conveying their struggles and learning about one another’s demands and experiences through unmediated electronic platforms.

If the problem of murdered journalists is not enough, it is augmented by a failure to prosecute those responsible for the crime. Such impunity proves to be the catalyst for increased murders and attacks since the cost/benefit analysis for the criminals is a simple one: I can kill, deliver a message and get away with it.

The media has paid scant attention to the actual content of Bill C-461, which is about to receive Third Reading approval before it goes to the Senate and then becomes law. This legislation will change the Access to Information and the Privacy Acts in ways that could undermine the journalistic and programming integrity of Canada’s public broadcaster.

On 19 November, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression held a live chat between award-winning journalist Susan McClelland and exiled Eritrean journalist Aaron Berhane, where they highlighted the challenges of expressing oneself in Eritrea’s rampant culture of impunity.

In January 2002, Eritrean journalist Aaron Berhane ran to freedom across the Eritrean/Sudanese border, leaving what is now considered to be one of the most censored countries in the world. Berhane’s persecution was part of a broader trend. September 2001 marked a brutal crackdown on free expression in Eritrea.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is troubled by the illegal detention of journalists and other dissenting voices in Ethiopian state prisons, particularly in light of reports that these individuals have been denied basic needs and subjected to physical abuse.

In 2012, a massive student strike over tuition fee increases rocked Quebec and thousands took to the streets. A year and a half later, Montreal residents find that their ability to protest has been restricted, as the police employ increased powers to arrest and fine demonstrators.

Dozens of media freedom groups are calling on the Prime Minister of Somalia to rescind the arbitrary eviction order currently faced by the Shabelle Media Network. The eviction would place Radio Shabelle staff in immediate physical danger.