Guinea-Bissau / Stay of execution for newspaper
BISSAU, Guinea Bissau, April 22, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Reporters Without Borders has mixed feelings about the government’s decision not to go ahead with a threat to suspend the newspaper Última Hora as it seems to be no more than a stay of execution.
At a news conference on 20 April, presidency minister Maria Adiatu Djalo Nandigna issued a “vibrant appeal to the media, especially the newspaper Última Hora, to bring their editorial policies into line with the higher interests” of Guinea-Bissau. But if the appeal was ignored, the government could “use its legal powers to cancel licences for good,” she added.
Reporters Without Borders hopes the minister’s statement will not be acted on. It nonetheless constitutes a form of intimidation that undermines media freedom and independence.
More information : http://en.rsf.org/guinee-bissau-government-urged-to-lift-19-04-2011,40050.html
SOURCE
Reporters without Borders (RSF)
