For the past 3 months Gaelle Borgia, director of Voice of Vanilla, has been reporting on the devastating famine in the south of Madagascar. Reporting on such terrible conditions is difficult enough, but now she is dealing with a smear campaign and cyber-harassment from the government of Madagascar.
Gaelle showed video of people forced to eat cow leather meant for making shoes. The governor of the region, along with a national television reporter made attempts to discredit her by claiming that the people in her video said she paid them to eat the leather. Gaelle posted another video in which those same people said they were paid and threatened to make the statements against her.
Thankfully Gaelle is being supported by Reporters Without Borders, which has issued a statement condemning the smear campaign. No doubt, Gaelle’s credibility as a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter makes her especially threatening to the status quo.
Read more: Smear campaign targets prize-winning reporter in Madagascar