Privately owned radio station Taranga FM was forced to shut down by Gambian authorities. This may be a sign of things to come if Gambian President Yahya Jammeh stays in power after losing the December election.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Longari
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Popular independent Gambian radio station Taranga FM was forced off the air by national security forces Sunday afternoon.
One radio station staff member told French news agency AFP on condition of anonymity "four National Intelligence Agency operatives and one police officer in uniform came to the radio station this (Sunday) afternoon around 2:30 pm and told us to stop broadcasting."
"They said they have been ordered by the director general of NIA, Yankuba Badjie, to tell us to stop broadcasting with immediate effect," the staff member added. He was not given a reason other than that security was only "acting on executive orders."
No radio staff members were arrested, according to one security source. "We only asked them to stop broadcasting and they cooperated with us. They have stopped broadcasting since in the afternoon," the source told AFP.
An AFP correspondent said the radio station was not broadcasting on Sunday evening.
Little press freedom
Taranga FM had been shut down by the Gambian government before. The Gambia Press Union warned that Taranga FM closing may be the beginning of a crackdown against independent media outlets. Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders ranked Gambia 145 out of 180 countries for press freedom in 2016, saying there was a "climate of terror around anything remotely to do with journalism." Taranga FM translates news from Gambian newspapers into local languages.
The radio station is considered critical of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who lost a December election to former real estate agent Adama Barrow. After initially accepting the results, Jammeh alleged irregularities and filed a petition to the Supreme Court. It is due to be reviewed on January 10.
Barrow is determined to take office on January 10. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it will stage a military intervention if Jammeh does not step down by January 19. The intervention would be led by neighboring Senegal.
Where freedom of the press doesn't exist
Many states routinely attack and intimidate journalists and bloggers to keep them in check. In its 2015 press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders ranks the performance of 180 countries. These states come in last.
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Africa's very own North Korea: Eritrea
Eritrea ranks second-last in the World Press Freedom Index. Reports from the disastrous state of affairs in Eritrea are rare, and many journalists have been forced to leave the country. Radio Erena is the only one to broadcast independent information to the people of Eritrea — from Paris.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Juinen
Dictated by the dictator
Press freedom is also non-existent in North Korea. Sealed off from the rest of the world, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un keeps a check on what the media publish. State TV and radio are available, nothing more. People who express their opinions vanish in political prison camps — along with their entire families.
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Keeping tabs in Turkmenistan
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov owns almost all of the country's media corporations. The newspaper Rysgal is the only exception, and even here, every edition needs state approval before it can go to press. A new law against media monopolies gives the people of Turkmenistan access to foreign news, but the government still keeps tabs on the Internet, and blocks most websites.
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Culling the critics
Independent media do not exist in Vietnam. The ruling Communist Party tells journalists what to publish. For the most part, publishers, editors and the reporters themselves are party members. Authorities have recently taken a greater interest in bloggers who challenge the authoritarian Communist Party's opinion monopoly - and try to silence them by sending them to jail.
Image: picture alliance/ZB/A. Burgi
China's non-freedom
China, Reporters Without Borders says, is the world's biggest prison for bloggers and journalists. The authoritarian regime takes massive steps against unwelcome news coverage; pressure on foreign reporters is also on the rise. Entire regions are taboo to them, their work is closely monitored and Chinese assistants or interview partners can quite simply be imprisoned.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Schiefelbein
Under fire in Syria
Many journalists have been persecuted and killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad, whom Reporters Without Borders has ranked as an enemy of press freedom for years. The al-Nusra front, which fights against Assad, and the Islamic State group in turn attack Syrian state media reporters, kidnapping or publicly executing the journalists and correspondents.
