In the undemocratic state of Swaziland, House of Our Pride (HOOP), an organisation fighting for the rights of Swazi Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people are also ensuring day-to-day care and survival, medical and otherwise, for LGBT people

The following open letter was sent by Somaliland Focus (UK) to Somaliland's government on Nov 11 2013.

The Rights Promotion and Protection Centre would like to stand behind the Media Council of Kenya, the Communications Commission of Kenya and the entire media fraternity to express our disappointment in the National Assembly for the passing of this very draconian bill.

Non-governmental organizations and civil society groups read a sinister motive in the government Bill that seeks to restrict funding

Police summoned Kenya Television Network (KTN, private) journalists, John-Allan Namu and Mohammed Ali, over their report on the Westgate Mall looting by army officers. The network’s CEO, Sam Shollei, has also been summoned.

Even though fast expanding citizen journalism has created new opportunities for the media, its content still clashes with mainstream operators mainly for lack of professionalism. There are especially important questions about ethics in such content

Interesting videos from Smart Monkey TV.
- Miguel Gomes, Novo Jornal on the use of social media for political campaigns in Angola

- Kenyan film-maker Ng'endo Mukii on Yellow Fever, about African women using skin bleaches

For more on their channel please go to:

America looks like a perfect nation, but upon deeper reflection, one gets a very unflattering image. The nation is angry, grumpy, indulgent, violent, fearful, divided, distracted, in debt, addicted to power and material stuff, and in a self-inflicted siege

Africa’s anti-ICC crusaders who are threatening mass withdrawal from the Rome Statute are in a desperate last-ditch effort to rescue their brethren Kenyatta and Ruto from the ICC hook and simultaneously immunize themselves against any future legal accountability for crimes against international law

By easily relinquishing a critical agenda setting role, the mainstream media in Kenya appears to have given up on its well-earned position as an accessory to the second liberation for which it paid a steep price. Today, media content is generally vacuous

The media landscape in Africa is quite diverse. And although spirited campaigns for media freedom and freedom of expression have resulted in the repeal of repressive laws in some countries, old and new challenges persist. Now there are interesting debates about the place of the media in the continent’s development

There is growing fear and self-censorship in Tanzanian newsrooms following violent attacks on journalists in recent months. The country is fast losing its reputation as a peaceful and tolerant society

This is a case study of the successful use of ICTs by activists and citizen journalists to engage and mobilize audiences in Sudan after the flooding crisis in August 2013

Local media coverage of the 2013 Kenyan elections downplayed acts of violence and bordered on self-censorship despite the fact that social media reflected a deeply politically and ethnically divided society. The new Kenyatta government has now embarked on a charm offensive to co-opt the media

Since formal independence the media in Africa has been bludgeoned into capitulation to the state. To overturn this reality there must be decriminalisation of libel and legislation on the right to access to information must be enforced

The rigging mechanism was set up long before the day of election. MDC was strategically advertised as a conspirator in league with the ‘enemy’

The uproar in Ireland over horsemeat, the narrow defeat of Proposition 37 in California which would have made it mandatory to label all food containing GMOs – reveal that Africans must now join the rest of the world in resisting GMO foods and biotechnology, no matter how effectively packaged

Delivery systems and platforms for information may proliferate at blinding speed, but most Americans have no access to anything resembling the truth. They may know the names of the dead – like Trayvon Martin – but have no clue why they died

Pambazuka News is planning a special issue on the media in Africa. We are inviting our readers and contributors to celebrate as well as critique the media on the continent.

Sixteen million Egyptians demonstrated against the government of President Morsi that led to his downfall. Western powers, Israel and the Gulf countries hate the perspective of a democratic, socially progressive, independent Egypt