News | Commonwealth Journalists Association

Summary of presentations and panel discussions at CJA conference in Malta, Jan. 30-Feb. 2.

NB: this is a summary of presentations and panel discussions – copies of full presentations will be posted on the CJA websites when available. Monday morning, January 30 – “The smart phone is stronger than the sword” The inaugural address, delivered by Malta’s Tourism Minister Mario de Marco, looked at the pressure on today’s journalists [...]

Rita Payne elected CJA President

Former BBC journalist Rita Payne was elected President of the Commonwealth Journalists Association on the last day of the CJA conference in Malta on Thursday 2 February. Payne, currently chair of the UK Branch of the CJA has taken over from Hassan Shahriar of CJA Bangladesh who completed two terms of office. Hassan was acclaimed [...]

CJA communique condemns state repression against media and adopts Table Mountain Declaration

February 3, 2012 St. Julians, Malta At its triennal conference held in Malta (January 29 to February 2, 2012) the Commonwealth Journalists Association unanimously condemned instances of state repression against media reported out of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and some African member states of the Commonwealth. It also adopted the WAN-IFRA Table Mountain Declaration (2007) against [...]

Don’t turn back clock on journalists’ rights, CJA urges Maldives

The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) urges the new authorities in the Maldives to respect the right of journalists in that country to go about their work without fear of intimidation and in a safe and respectful atmosphere. We expect nothing less from a Commonwealth member country that has undertaken to uphold Commonwealth values, especially as [...]

CJA Newsletter, December 2011, Issue No. 36

The CJA thanks the Commonwealth Foundation for its financial support: Contents: P1: South African MPs pass “secrecy bill”; P3: Post CHOGM analysis; P6: Journalists in Pakistan; P9: The UK after the phone-hacking scandal; P10: Other news from around the Commonwealth

A snapshot of the media in The Gambia

Free expression in The Gambia is in danger of extinction. Since 1996 when the Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh disparaged journalists as “the illegitimate sons {sic} of Africa”, journalists and media houses in The Gambia have been subjected to many and varied forms of harassment and repression. The crackdown on the media is so systematic and [...]

South Africa: Controversial secrecy bill could ‘smother free speech’

The South African parliament must quash a draconian secrecy bill, Amnesty International said today (Nov. 22, 2011) as the government votes on a proposed law which could see journalists and whistleblowers in prison for investigating state wrongdoing. If the bill is passed, journalists will no longer be able to argue that they are acting in the [...]

CJA releases Eminent Persons Group Report after Commonwealth leaders block release at CHOGM

TORONTO AND LONDON, OCT. 30, 2011 — The Commonwealth Journalists Association is pleased to note that leaders at the Perth CHOGM changed their position after a public outcry and have agreed to release the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group Report. Members of the EPG bitterly, and correctly, criticized leaders for their failure to release the pivotal document and this [...]

Time for Urgent Reform critical of Commonwealth

OTTAWA — The Commonwealth could cease to exist unless it takes stronger, more public stands against egregious human rights violations in its member countries, according to a punishing 200-page report, obtained exclusively by the Ottawa Citizen. Some leaders of the 54-nation group have attempted to keep the report — titled Time for Urgent Reform — [...]

CJA creates a chapter in Republic of Cameroon

The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has decided to create a chapter in the Republic of Cameroon and other nations not yet accredited. The decision was reached during the Commonwealth Media Forum organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in The Gambia in August 2011. After brainstorming on the need to give the CJA greater attention and expansion, [...]

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