Nigerian Times

Journalists working for Al Jazeera English have uncovered corruption in the office of Sierra Leone’s Vice-President Samuel Sumana. The detailed undercover investigation features in the documentary Timber!, broadcast at 22h30 GMT on Wednesday 23 November 2011 as part of Al Jazeera’s Africa Investigates series. Illegal timber export is big business in Sierra Leone A 2006 European Union report identified logging as the leading cause of environmental degradation in Sierra Leone. According to the Sierra Leone Forestry Ministry, unless immediate action is taken against logging, all of the country’s forests – as well as the many endangered animal and plant species they support – could disappear by 2018. The President, His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma, has made no secret of his concern about logging and his desire that it should cease. The government of Sierra Leone has officially outlawed the practice several times. Emmy award-winning Sierra Leonean journalist Sorious Samura discovered il

27 Oct 2011 14:54 Africa/Lagos Nigeria Newspaper Bureau Chief Harassed / IPI Concerned about Reported Treatment of Daily Times Journalist VIENNA, October 27, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Abuja bureau chief of the Nigerian Daily Times was harassed by police officers in the capital Abuja on Wednesday, the newspaper reported on its website. Michaela Moye was reportedly filming the demolition of “illegal” buildings when she was chased from the scene by members of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), the Daily Times said. A policemen reportedly said she could not take pictures because the press had not been invited to cover the demolition. “Walahi, if I get you I will beat you up and break both that camera and your teeth for talking to me like that,” one police man was quoted by the Daily Times as saying. Moye was rescued by passers-by, the paper reported. The article linked to a 10-second YouTube video of Moye arguing with police. IPI Press Freedom Manager Anth

Dele Olojede The famous Publisher of 234 Next, Dele Olojede has won the John P. McNulty Prize for 2011, with a cash award of $100,000 given to the Nigerian Journalist for revolutionizing the news media landscape. The most illustrious Nigerian journalist won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his "fresh, haunting look at Rwanda a decade after rape and genocidal slaughter had ravaged the Tutsi tribe" in 2005. "With NEXT, Dele is truly changing the expectations to which Nigerian leaders are held, equipping Nigerians to be active citizens," said Anne McNulty, founder of the McNulty Prize. "The jury was inspired by his courage and conviction in forging new ground, and leading his country toward a better future." Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, judge for the 2011 McNulty Prize, said, "Dele Olojede is a remarkable leader operating in a very difficult environment. He is giving the people of Nigeria what they do not have,

Dorothy Parvaz 6 May 2011 14:00 Africa/Lagos UNITY Calls for Release of Al Jazeera Journalist Dorothy Parvaz PR Newswire MCLEAN, Va., May 6, 2011 MCLEAN, Va., May 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UNITY: Journalists of Color is calling on the government of Syria to release Al Jazeera reporter Dorothy Parvaz and allow her to continue her important work in the country. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110506/DC97026 ) (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110310/DC62460LOGO ) Parvaz, a former reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, was apparently detained shortly after arriving in Damascus on Friday to cover anti-government protests in the country. Al Jazeera has been told by Syrian officials that they're holding Parvaz. She is a citizen of the United States, Canada and Iran. She joined Al Jazeera in 2010. UNITY joins the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and other m

Miami Herald Catches Chevron In Lie About Ecuador Well Site Reporter Finds Oil Sludge In “Remediated” Pit Washington, DC – The Miami Herald has caught Chevron in a lie about its so-called “remediation” in Ecuador that the oil giant uses as its primary defense against an $18 billion judgment in a massive oil-contamination case brought by indigenous groups. In a story published in today's newspaper , journalist Jim Wyss said he witnessed “thick oil slicks” only a few feet into the ground of a dirt-covered storage pit Chevron told him the day before had been remediated of all oil. After watching a man dig into the ground at the Sacha 53 well site, Wyss wrote, “Within a few inches the dirt gives off the pungent odor of petroleum. Within a few feet the dirt glistens with oil residue. When a few handfuls of the soil are dropped into a bucket of water, a thick oil-slick coats the surface.” Chevron has continually claimed to courts and the press that it conducted a remediation of the site

Norman Mailer When Norman Mailer died on November 10, 2007, the news of his passage was on the leading newspapers and major TV channels in America and Britain and I saw him on the CNN, SKY and the BBC. But none of these foreign news media reported the news of the passage of Cyprian Ekwensi who even died earlier in the same month on the 4th and my disappointment has been more pronounced by the ignorance of our own news media who only reported the news of Ekwensi's transition below their headlines and only The Guardian has given us a full report on the life of our own Charles Dickens, Cyprian Ekwensi. I have not even heard or read any statements by his contemporary literary icons like Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. Cyprian Ekwensi I am really disappointed by the intellectual ignorance of the majority of Nigerians online and offline. That is why I do not have much regard for the ignorant posts of Nigerians on Nairaland and other Nigerian forums and blogs. Abubuwan da nake tunani has