Senegalese commuters hoping to browse the information on their approach to work have been left disenchanted on Tuesday – most nationwide newspapers refused to publish in protest towards what they see as shrinking media freedom beneath the brand new authorities.
The media is experiencing “one of many darkest days of its historical past,” the native Council of Press Distributors and Publishers (CDEPS) stated.
It accuses the federal government – led by former opposition politicians – of freezing the financial institution accounts of media firms and seizing their gear over alleged non-payment of taxes.
Officers justify the crackdown by saying they have been making an attempt to finish practices that result in monetary embezzlement and mismanagement within the media trade.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye got here to energy in March after defeating the ruling coalition’s candidate in elections.
His rise to energy got here after the opposition led big protests to demand elections that then-President Macky Sall postponed in what his critics noticed as a ploy to cling to energy.
As a part of Tuesday’s media blackout, newspapers have been displayed on newsstands with no content material inside. The editions solely consisted a black cowl studying “journée sans presse” ( French for “day with out press”) and a picture of three raised fists gripping a pencil.
Not all papers participated within the protest – personal outlet Wal Fadjri known as the blackout an “ugly scar on the cheek of our stunning democracy”.
Whereas agreeing that the press was experiencing a “disaster”, Wal Fadjri stated a blackout needs to be the final resort as it might deprive readers of their proper to data.
Radio stations largely rejected the boycott, however two widespread personal stations opted to play music as a substitute of airing the information.
Personal tv channels like TFM (owned by Grammy award-winning singer Youssou N’Dour), ITV, and seven TV broadcast information whereas demonstrating their help for the protest by that includes its slogan and picture.
Considerations that the Mr Faye’s authorities would attempt to limit the media emerged a number of months in the past.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was criticised by media professionals in June for warning that the federal government would now not tolerate “falsehood” by journalists who he stated have been having fun with “an excessive amount of impunity”.
Mr Sonko was once the general public face of the opposition, and was barred from working for the presidency. He then backed Mr Faye.
Each of them had been imprisoned beneath the previous authorities, and pledged to sort out corruption and strengthen democracy in Senegal.
From 2021 to 2024, Senegal slipped from forty ninth to 94th place on media watchdog Reporters With out Borders’ world press freedom index.
The rights group not too long ago urged Senegal’s new president to take motion to advertise press freedom after years of “arrests and assaults on journalists, media closures and arbitrary Web shutdowns” beneath Mr Sall.
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