Death of caricaturist Aimé Razafy21/12/2009 | 13:07:16
The press microcosm is mourning one of his own again. The newspaper La Gazette de la Grande Île's journalist caricaturist, Aimé Razafy, has passed away.
He wrote his first lines in a government owned daily newspaper named Atrika by the end of the 1970s, then had a long and probing carreer at Madagascar Tribune, and finally joined, in 2003, La Gazette de la Grande Île's staff. Aime Razafy passed away aged 50 years old, on December 19th in Antananarivo, following some time spent at the hospital. He has been buried in Ambohipo, one of the capital city's suburban district, on December 21st.
Made famous by his category" Sans Cible" at Tribune, then by "Sans Sommation" at The Gazette, Aime Razafy was one of Madagascar's best known caricaturists. He has, besides, taken part into various international exhibitions.
On Monday December 21st, the local press' big family gathered anew to express its farewell, merely ten days after the emotional funerals offered to Jocelyne Randrianary, from Midi Madagasikara's staff.
His close circle's friends remember Aime Razafy as "a confirmed bachelor", "a genius ", or as a "mysterious mindset". And many more will remember "his bold and truthful caricatures".
Reporters have been especially invited together with artists and Malagasy sport figures to greet the president of the High Authority of Transition. Rufin Rakotomaharo, the latest president of the Journalists´ Order, produced a speech on behalf of his colleagues, in which he called upon more press freedom, the authorization to reopen TV and radio stations closed by the ruling power and the ending of the so called press crimes[See]
The TV PLUS private media station received an official warning letter. A reporter is being wanted by the state police, and not any of the stations silenced in the aftermaths of the year 2009´s putsch have been allowed to broadcast again. Hard days for the press.[See]
A number of reporters are currently in the communication ministry´s sight in the run of its intention to restore “order” in the press. The ministry´s ethics commission is so far being acting since some weeks. Minister Harry Rahajason met some of the capital city´s reporters and declared that sanctions are likely to sanction any violation of ethics and laws.[See]
Poor first step in for the Communication Ministry´s Ethics Committee. The election of the committee´s president supposed to endorse the Journalists´ order´s leadership, had to be postponed, for some members defected[See]
The minister in charge of communication is considering the erection of an ethics committee deemed to temporarily overtake the journalists’ order’s prerogatives up to the election of a new board[See]
