At least 10 news websites and one television station have been banned from covering terrorist group Al Shabaab, with telcos also mandated to play a part in stamping out insecurity. The information ministry issued a directive warning news outlets that “dissemination of extremism ideology messages both from traditional media broadcasts and social media is forbidden.” Deputy minister of information Abdirahman Yusuf announced the government will regard “all Al Shabaab related propaganda coverage including their terrorist acts and their ideology as punishable crimes.” So far, he said, more than 40 accounts on Facebook and Twitter have been suspended. But even if local Somali journalists avoid covering the militia’s acts, international media and newsrooms in the neighboring countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda continue to cover terrorism in the region as it keeps claiming thousands of innocent lives.
SOURCE: QUARTZ AFRICA
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