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Tag: Journalists

Media Rights Agenda Highlights Rampant Attacks on Journalists

Wale busari06 mins

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today released a report titled “When Protectors Become Predators: The State Against Freedom of Expression in Nigeria”, documenting a disturbing pattern of attacks, intimidation, and harassment targeted at journalists and other media workers by security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies, which are the very institutions that are supposed to protect them. The 129-page report, issued in commemoration of this year’s International Day to End Impunity (IDEI) for Crimes Against Journalists, highlights how those entrusted with maintaining law and order as well as protecting citizens, including journalists, have instead become instruments of repression, targeting journalists and other media workers for doing their legitimate work of informing the public and holding power to account. It revealed that government officials were responsible for nearly 74 percent of all attacks on journalists and freedom of expression recorded by MRA in Nigeria between January 1 and October 31, 2025, with the Nigeria Police Force emerging as the worst offender, accounting for 45 percent of all incidents of violation of media rights. Other perpetrators of attacks on journalists include operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), various branches of the military and paramilitary agencies, as well as elected and appointed political office holders at federal and state levels, among others. According to MRA, at least 69 incidents were documented during the period under review, including arbitrary arrests and detention, physical attacks, threats to life, invasions of media offices, abductions, and other forms of harassment or intimidation of journalists performing their legitimate professional duties. MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Ayode Longe, said: “The report shows that journalists in Nigeria are increasingly under siege, not just from criminals and insurgents, but principally from the very state institutions charged with protecting them,” adding that “This trend is a direct contradiction of the Government’s constitutional and international legal duty to guarantee the safety of media practitioners and uphold the public’s right to be informed. It represents a fundamental breakdown of law enforcement accountability and a direct assault on democracy and the rule of law.” The report noted that the climate of pervasive impunity for attacks against journalists has not only eroded public trust in government institutions but has also continued to fuel further violations as perpetrators are rarely identified, investigated or prosecuted, creating an environment of fear and self-censorship that is weakening democratic governance. MRA insisted that ensuring the safety of journalists is a legal and moral obligation of the Government, enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as other regional and international human rights instruments. It therefore called on the Federal Government to establish and enforce accountability mechanisms for government officials involved in attacks on journalists; as well as reform and re-train security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies to enable them to respect and uphold human rights and media freedom. The organization also proposed the establishment of a national multi-stakeholder protection mechanism for journalists and the adoption of urgent measures to put an end to the misuse of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended, and other repressive laws against the media. MRA called on the National Assembly to enact legislation that specifically criminalizes attacks on journalists and urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to develop and adopt a system for monitoring the misuse of judicial processes to harass journalists while also taking measures to prevent such further abuses.

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Funerals held for five Al Jazeera journalists killed in Israeli strike on Gaza City media tent

Fola Badmus06 mins

Gaza City – August 11, 2025 – Hundreds of mourners gathered in Gaza City today for the funeral of five Al Jazeera journalists killed in what the network and rights groups are calling a deliberate targeted assassination by Israeli forces. The attack, which took place late Sunday night outside al-Shifa Hospital, also claimed the lives of two other people and injured at least three more journalists. The strike hit a media tent where reporters had been sheltering and working, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani al-Shaer, who said the attack occurred at around 11:35pm local time. Footage from the funeral showed grieving crowds carrying the bodies through the streets, chanting in tribute to the slain reporters, and holding “PRESS” flak jackets aloft. Those killed included: Two freelance journalists, Mohammed al-Khaldi and one unnamed reporter, were also killed in the strike. Relatives of al-Sharif, already in mourning after an earlier Israeli air strike in 2024 killed his father, carried his 15-month-old son Salah and 4-year-old daughter Sham during the funeral procession to Sheikh Radwan Cemetery. Israel admits killing but labels journalists as militantsThe Israeli military confirmed it carried out the strike, accusing al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell – an allegation Al Jazeera and rights groups say is unfounded and part of a pattern of smearing Palestinian journalists posthumously. A deadly patternThis is the latest in a long list of targeted killings of Al Jazeera staff since the war began in October 2023. Previous victims include: Since the war began, nearly 270 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza – an average of 13 every month – making it the deadliest conflict for journalists in recorded history. Rights groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), say Israel’s actions are creating a “news void” by wiping out the very reporters documenting the war’s impact. Condemnation and calls for accountabilityAl Jazeera condemned the killings as a “premeditated attack on press freedom.” RSF described al-Sharif as “the voice of the suffering Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza” and compared the attack to the killing of journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in 2024. Amnesty International called the killings a war crime and part of an Israeli strategy to “attack journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide.” The Palestinian mission to the UN accused Israel of systematically targeting reporters “to silence witnesses” to its military campaign. UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson called for a full investigation, stressing that journalists must be able to work without fear of being targeted. Ongoing blockade and humanitarian crisisThe killings come just days after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to seize Gaza City and forcibly displace nearly one million residents. Gaza remains under a total blockade, with all goods and people controlled by Israel. Since March 2, the siege has caused a starvation crisis, killing over 200 people – more than half of them children – in recent weeks. As one mourner said during the funeral: “They wanted to silence their voices, but the whole world will hear them now.”

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Media Rights Agenda Launches Practical Guide for Journalists

Fola Badmus06 mins

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) on Thursday announced the publication and official launch of a comprehensive new guide titled “Leveraging Digital Tools for Journalism Practice,” aimed at equipping journalists and other media professionals with essential knowledge and tools for modern-day reporting, investigation, and storytelling. According to Ms Ayomide Eweje, MRA’s Programme Officer and author of the 164-page guide, the publication identifies and explains how to use dozens of digital tools and technologies that can enhance the work of journalists across the entire gamut of the journalistic process, from news and information gathering, to news processing as well as news and information dissemination while also giving them cutting-edge tools to protect themselves, their sources of information, their devices and other journalistic materials. She said in a statement issued in Lagos that “The publication is a necessary response to the realities of journalism in a rapidly evolving digital age. It offers practical, hands-on information for journalists about various digital tools to enable them effectively navigate today’s fast-paced digital environment, covering tools for news gathering, fact-checking, cybersecurity, multimedia storytelling, audience engagement, countering misinformation and disinformation, online harassment, and surveillance.” Ms Eweje explained that the publication is also intended to equip journalists with the tools they need not just to survive, but to lead and innovate in their profession while safeguarding their rights, protecting their sources of information, and ensuring the integrity of their work.” She noted that over the past two decades, the tools, devices and platforms used in journalism have evolved at an extraordinary pace with the traditional reporting methods, across the entire spectrum of information gathering, processing and dissemination now being augmented by an ever-increasing array of digital tools for real-time communication and collaboration, multimedia storytelling, investigative research, verification and fact-checking, among others. These tools, Ms Eweje said, have boosted the capacity of journalists to report from remote locations, tell more compelling stories, and engage directly with audiences in ways that were previously unimaginable, although at the same time, they have introduced new layers of complexity and threats, forcing journalists to pay more attention to data privacy, online harassment, platform algorithms, and digital literacy as integral parts of their work. She argued that as journalism continues to evolve, so too must the knowledge, skills, mindsets and equipment of those who practice it, and urged journalists to use the guide and other resources to build their digital capacity and leverage all available digital tools and technological devices in all aspects of their professional practice. She also called on media organisations to invest in digital literacy programmes for their journalists and, where necessary, provide them with financial resources to acquire the required facilities, since not all the tools and devices are available free of charge. In the Preface to the publication, MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said: “For journalists, the digital era presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges – from the ability to report stories in real time and reach global audiences or even previously marginalised communities, to navigating constantly evolving online threats, including surveillance, online harassment and trolling, hacking and account takeovers, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, and censorship, among others. Ms Eweje said MRA would make the guide available to media organisations and newsrooms, journalism training institutions, and media development organisations across Nigeria and the continent and also make it accessible on its website.

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