Thursday, March 31, 2011

Somalia government released two journalists


The Somalia's government has released two national journalists who are working for an independent Shabelle Radio after 4 days in detention the managers of the station said in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon.

The colleagues Abdirashid Omar Qase the director of radio shabelle and his news editor Abdi Mohamed Ismail are now free after four days of illegal detention by the National Security Agency without given an official reason for that.

The government accused Shabelle Radio on a report which stated that President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been unable to visit to the fronline areas, after repel groups were push out by the Somali forces with help of AU peacekeeping force in Mogadishu.

The release comes amid another local reporter of radio Simba was wounded by stray bullet while he was covering from a soccer match in Mogadishu on Tuesday. The condition of the journalist Ahmed Hassan Ahmed is said to be worried.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

"A Somali journalist still gets taunting threats in exile",


It was February 2008 when Bahjo Mohamud Abdi received her first anonymous phone call. It was a man's voice asking her to confirm who she was. Abdi was a presenter and correspondent for the state radio in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Abdi confirmed her identity and thought no more about it. But then she received another anonymous phone call two hours later--informing her that she was talking to the "Somali Mujahadeen" and that they could see her in the local shopping center in downtown Baidoa. follow up the link for reading this interesting news article from CPJ's webiste. http://cpj.org/blog/2011/03/a-somali-journalist-still-gets-taunting-threats-in.php

Source: http://www.cpj.org/

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Two radio journalists were detained in Mogadishu.


A local reporter who spoke on condition of anonymity told SOJANET that soldiers loyal to Somali government were involved to the arrest of journalists which took place on Sunday, March, 27,2011.

Abdi Mohamed Ismael the editor of the independently owned Radio Shabelle and the stations director Abdi Omar Qase were detained by the Somalia's intelligence unit of force. The journalists were taken to the Central Investigations Department by intelligence officers.

It is not yet clear why the Somali Government arrested the journalists?. But the fast breaking news said the Somali Intelligence Unit are asking both arrested journalists with questions on a report released by the Shabelle Radio last week that heavy fighting between al-Qaida inspired Somali terrorist" group Al Shabaab and government troops with help of AU peacekeeping force in Mogadishu has later prevented Somalia's president for visting the front line to talk to soldiers who were fighting with Al shabaab fighters.

The Somali Journalists Association Network however condemns with the strongest words for the arrest of these two colleagues, "we are calling Somali government to release the detained journalists and be kind of journalists since journalists in the country are the only source of this conflict", SOJANET said on Sunday.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

5 predictions for journalism in 25 years

The following is cross-posted from XCity Magazine, the student magazine for City University, where I teach online journalism. They asked me to look ahead 25 years. I barely think you can look five years ahead at the moment, but I agreed anyway. This is, of course, not meant to be taken seriously: Follow these five predictions here at this page link; http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2011/03/05/5-predictions-for-journalism-in-25-years/

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Warring sides in Somalia randomly 'arrest' journalists


Since 1992, 34 journalists have been killed in Somalia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. This doesn't take into account journalists who die in car accidents, but only instances where deaths are work-related. In 2010 two Somali journalists were killed as a direct result of their work, Sheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey, who worked for state-run Radio Mogadishu, was gunned down near his home, and Barkhat Awale, director of Hurma community radio, was killed by a stray bullet from nearby fighting.
Read more: http://www.freeafricanmedia.com/article/2011-02-24-somalia-warring-militias-randomly-arrest-journalists

SOJANET members. Kampala, Uganda.