Journalists need to be protected. African journalists were speaking collectively on the sidelines of the 20th African Investigative Journalism Conference ( AIJC 2024) that took place from October 30 till November 1 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The role the media plays in every society cannot be underestimated and so is their safety.
Media professionals from across Africa and beyond the continent have renewed a wakeup call for journalists to be protected at various levels.
They made the resounding call at this year’s 20th African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) that took place at the Wits University, South Africa from October 30 till November 1, 2024.
The call was justified as the world commemorated the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, a clarion reminder that the profession is still in danger.
Cameroon media professionals are still in grief for the assassination of Samuel Wazizi in 2019, Martinez Zogo, Anye Nde Nsoh in 2023 and others.
As articulated in the Windhoek +30 Declaration, the AIJC participants urged all African stakeholders that is governments, civil society, journalism and media freedom organisations to adhere to all principles that ensure media freedom and that includes freeing all unlawfully detained journalists to strengthening collaborative networks.
Regarded as Africa’s largest gathering of working journalists, the AIJC 2024 conference that brought together more than 450 journalists from 32 African countries was held under the themes: data journalism, cyber and crypto crime, cultural art and NFT investigations, safety of journalists, and health investigations.
