Thursday , 25 April 2024
enfrit
The charges held against four Malagasy reporters triggered the organization of a meeting at the Press Center on November 16th. Three of the concerned reporters attended it, namely Zo Rakotoseheno from MIDI MADAGASIKARA, Rocco Rasoanivo from LA NATION, and Herivonjy Rajaonah from GAZETIKO. All of them hold the latest swift judicial developments as an attempt to deter reactionary voices from speaking out.

So what about press freedom?

South African, American and French diplomatic envoys equally attended the meeting, in which some thirty people gathered in order to address the issue together. “A newsgroup is a way to search for the truth” declared Zo Rakotoseheno.  He subsequently developed the fact that, prior to filing charges, the offended individual should have done better to reply and deny the revealed facts, bearing in mind that newsgroups and reporters are compelled to respect and publish such a reaction.

Lily Razafimbelo, a civil society member, rather addressed the problem’s very roots. “We are trending to accept everything, are we not?” she said. As far as Union’s President was concerned, Rocco Rasoanaivo, editor in chief for LA NATION, dreads the rise of a wave of crackdown on reporters, increasingly considered as “inconvenient opponents”