Notre Voie

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Notre Voie
TypeDaily newspaper
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
Political alignmentIvorian Popular Front
LanguageFrench
Websitewww.notrevoie.com

Notre Voie (formerly known as La Voie) is an

World Press Freedom Hero
for his work with the paper.

Beginning of Neruda's editorship

After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own independent newspaper, La Chronique du Soir, Neruda agreed to take over La Voie in 1991. With Neruda as its editor-in-chief, La Voie quickly went on to become the best-selling independent newspaper in Côte d'Ivoire.

Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié, resulting in several court appearances on defamation charges and prison sentences for at least six members of the editorial staff.[1] In 1995, the paper's offices were firebombed, but no one was hurt.[3]

"Il maudit l'ASEC" trial

On 18 December 1995, La Voie ran an article on the Ivorian

Orlando Pirates in the finals of football's CAF Champions League. A sidebar by reporter Emmanuel Koré, headlined "Il maudit l'ASEC" ("He cursed/jinxed ASEC"), jokingly suggested that the bad luck of President Bédié's presence had caused the team's defeat; the article also played on the slogans from Bédié's re-election literature of the previous year, in which he promised to bring "good luck" to the nation.[1] Although the sidebar was one of the less serious criticisms of the Bédié government that had appeared in La Voie,[1] by naming the president explicitly, it posed a direct challenge to a 1991 statute allowing the state to prosecute "people who insult government officials or offices" for criminal libel.[4]

Koré and La Voie's publication director Abou Drahamane Sangar were arrested shortly after the article's appearance. A warrant was also issued for Neruda, who evaded arrest for several days to arrange care for his ten-year-old son. On 2 January 1996, Neruda turned himself in at a police station and was also arrested.

West African CFA francs (about US$6000) and banned from publishing for three months; the paper avoided the ban by publishing under the name L'alternative for the duration of the sentence, returning to its original name when the ban was complete.[1]

During his imprisonment, Neruda continued to write news stories from jail, smuggling them out and publishing them in L'alternative under the apparently female pen name "Bintou Diawara". His topics included a financial scandal and the more lenient sentences given to wealthy Lebanese prisoners.[5] When the three journalists appealed their sentences to the Supreme Court in August, President Bédié appeared on television offering them a pardon if they would withdraw the appeal. Feeling that this would be a tacit admission of guilt, the journalists refused the offer.[2] The Supreme Court rejected their appeal in November, but the three were nonetheless released on 1 January 1997, having served only half of their sentences.[1] Neruda was later awarded the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists,[2] and in 2000, he was named one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years.[4]

2010–2011 Ivorian crisis

Following the

2010 presidential election, both the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara declared victory. Gbago refused to step down despite the United Nations proclaiming Ouattara the winner. Fighting soon broke out between Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and Ouattara's Rally of the Republicans (RDR), causing some commentators to refer to the crisis as the Second Ivorian Civil War.[6]

Notre Voie, which

Republican Forces of Côte d'Ivoire soldiers were stationed at the paper's headquarters until August; according to Reporters Without Borders, the soldiers also barred staff from the premises, preventing them from using equipment and the paper's archives.[8]

In November 2011, the

Ivorian government charged Notre Voie reporters César Etou and Boga Sivori and administrator Didier Dépry with "incitement to theft, looting and destruction of the property of others through the press".[9] The three began a hunger strike after their arrest. Several African media watchdog groups protested, including the Media Foundation for West Africa, which described the charges as "bogus".[9] The journalists were released after thirteen days in custody when a judge dismissed the case.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g W. Joseph Campbell. "Freedom Neruda: Struggles for Press Freedom in West Africa". Freedom Forum. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Freedom Neruda". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1997. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  3. Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. 2012. Archived from the original
    on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b "World Press Freedom Heroes". International Press Institute. 2000. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-8147-1605-9
    . Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  6. ^ "Q&A: Ivory Coast crisis". BBC News. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  7. ^ Lara Pawson (18 March 2004). "Ivorian leaders debate civil war". BBC News. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Authorities to withdraw soldiers from "Notre Voie" newspaper premises". Reporters Without Borders. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  9. ^
    International Freedom of Expression Exchange
    . 1 December 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  10. ^ "Three Notre Voie Journalists Found Not Guilty". Reporters Without Borders. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Notre_Voie&oldid=1151214647"