By Ros Prynn
Saturday, May 03, 2008
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| Every year, May 3rd is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession UNESCO.org |
On the UNESCO site is this:
It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.
It serves as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
[ UNESCO ]
In our countries, choosing to make journalism one's profession rarely means then being the target of death threats or murderers. In other parts of the world, though, freedom of the press is a luxury, not a given, and many who pursue the truth in reporting, pay with their lives. The Committee to Protect Journalists has statistics and bios on the journalists killed in 2007. Chilling, to say the least:
Afghanistan: 2 killed. To read their bios is to marvel at the tenacity of journalists in harm's way.
Zakia Zaki, Sada-i-Sulh June 5, 2007, Parwan province. Unidentified gunmen shot Zaki seven times after storming into the bedroom of her home north of Kabul, according to colleagues. Zaki's six children were unharmed in the attack, which occurred near midnight. Her husband was not at home.
Zaki, 35, had launched Sada-i-Sulh, or Peace Radio, soon after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Sada-i-Sulh became a partner in 2002 with the U.S.-based media nonprofit Internews, which had seen several of its stations come under attack. She was also a prominent local leader who was critical of warlords and represented Parwan in the national tribal assembly. She had recently been warned by local warlords to shut down the station, Rahimullah Samander, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, told international reporters.
Sada-i-Sulh was the only independent radio station in Parwan province. Under Zaki's direction, it covered women's issues, human rights, education, and local politics. Zaki had received several death threats over the years, and her staff had become accustomed to being harassed. Threats came from local community and religious leaders opposed to her political views and to the concept of a female station manager. Station staff and Internews colleagues said they were convinced that she was killed because of the stances Sada-i-Sulh had taken.
In Eritrea, the government was directly culpable for the death of
Fesshaye "Joshua" Yohannes... CPJ says this:
Date unknown (death disclosed February 2007), location unknown.
Yohannes, a publisher and editor of the defunct weekly Setit and a recipient of CPJ's International Press Freedom Award in 2002, died in prison, several sources in the Eritrean diaspora disclosed to CPJ in February 2007. Yohannes was among 10 independent journalists rounded up in a massive 2001 government crackdown that shuttered the nation's private press.
Several sources said Yohannes died on January 11, 2007, after a long illness in an undisclosed prison outside Asmara; one source said the journalist may have died much earlier in a prison in Embatkala, 21 miles (35 kilometers) northeast of Asmara...
Setit's staff tackled tough issues in the young nation, including poverty, prostitution, and Eritrea's lack of infrastructure for handicapped veterans of the 30-year independence struggle. The weekly's criticism angered the government, and by May 2001, Yohannes asked CPJ to help him create a journalists' union to improve press freedom conditions.
He and other journalists never got the chance. President Isaias Afewerki's government launched a crackdown on all critical voices, including those in the press, just one week after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States had diverted the world's attention. Under the pretext of combating terrorism, the government shut down every independent media outlet and arrested independent journalists on sight.
And the list goes on and on at the CPJ site. Haiti, Honduras,Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan (5), Paraguay, Peru, Russia, Somalia (7, one of whom worked for a private radio station called "Voice of Peace"), Sri Lanka(5), Turkey, and yes, there was one murdered in the US in 2007.:
Chauncey Bailey, Oakland Post
August 2, 2007, Oakland
A masked gunman dressed in black clothes approached Bailey, editor-in-chief of the Oakland Post and four other weeklies, on a street in downtown Oakland, California, as the journalist was on his way to work about 7:30 a.m. The assailant shot Bailey multiple times at close range before fleeing on foot, Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren told CPJ. Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene.
Devaughndre Broussard, a handyman and occasional cook at Your Black Muslim Bakery, reportedly confessed to local authorities the next day. According to local press reports, Broussard said he was angered by Bailey's coverage of the bakery and its staff; his attorney later maintained the purported confession was made under duress.
Your Black Muslim Bakery was a one-time hub of Oakland community activism whose surviving owners and staff had been tied to various criminal activities - including charges filed after the murder that involved the alleged kidnapping and torture of two women in May 2007.
Bailey, 58, a veteran television and print journalist in California's Bay Area, covered a variety of issues including city politics, crime, and African-American issues. [ CPJ ]
And then we have Iraq. According to the CPJ, more journalists were killed there in 2007 than any other place in the world. No surprise, I suppose, since it is a war zone. Then there are the "missing" journalists which according to CPJ number 23.
In north America, we usually only see the penalty of jail time for journalists: (ie Judith Miller in the US, who was jailed for not revealing her source for the outing of Valerie Plame) and the Ottawa, Canadian journalist who was subject to a police raid as part of an ongoing government enquiry.
What does freedom of the press mean in China? Not so much, it seems. Part of the criteria for Beijing being awarded the Olympics almost upon us (like it or not!) is the Chinese government's commitment to freedom of the press - allowing all journalists free access to do their jobs as they covered these 2008 Olympics...
If you follow the BBC site, some very interesting columns on what the foreign journalists face, and over at the International press Institute they have this:
Tibet
07 April 2008
PRESS RELEASE
Meeting on 5 April 2008 in Vienna, Austria, the IPI Executive Board unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Chinese government to grant all foreign journalists full access to Tibet and surrounding provinces, and to end its repeated efforts to suppress the free flow of information.
Ever since protests erupted in Tibet on 10 March, Chinese authorities have attempted to prevent information regarding this development from reaching both domestic and international audiences. Journalists have either been ejected from or denied access to regions in which protests were occurring. Others have been verbally harassed and intimidated, with police closely monitoring their activities and, in some cases, seizing materials. In the meantime, Internet users have been prohibited from referring to the events, international radio broadcasts have been jammed, news reports have been blacked out, and Websites blocked. Additionally, Chinese state media are misleading the public by providing one-sided coverage emphasizing only the violent elements of the protests.
The IPI Board condemns this widespread interference by Chinese authorities, and calls on them to respect the press's right to report on matters of public interest. The IPI Board views these violations as particularly problematic in this sensitive period preceding the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and reminds the government of its promises of liberalized access made in connection with the event. The IPI Board therefore calls on the international community to make concerted efforts to confront Chinese authorities regarding both these recent attacks on the press, as well as China's continued failure to respect the right to freedom of expression of all Chinese journalists, who face censorship and interference by way of various means, particularly repressive national security laws. [ Free Media ]
All well and good, of course, but as I have previously noted, even news from bloggers within Tibet and China is hard to come by these days.
 Repression continues in China, six months before Olympic Games Reporters Without Borders |
Reporters Without Borders called today for the foreign news media to be allowed back immediately into Tibet and nearby provinces with a Tibetan population, where the Chinese authorities have maintained a news blackout and have been conducting a massive propaganda campaign for the past six weeks.
"What is the Chinese government hiding behind Tibet's closed doors?" the press freedom organisation asked. "Things are clearly far from being back to normal, as the authorities claim. The few reports emerging suggest a very different situation, one of arrests and a climate of fear in the cities and around the monasteries."
Reporters Without Borders added: "The news blackout facilitates the work of the government's propaganda machine but also the spread of rumours encouraged by certain groups abroad. We appeal to the European Union and the United Nations to try to get the government to allow foreign reporters to travel freely in Tibet and the neighbouring regions." [ RSF ] I am not holding my breath here for China to pay attention to any appeals to freedom of the press. Why would they? Really?
On worldpressfreedomday.org, Timothy Balding, CEO of World Association of Newspapers, has this to say:
Despite promises of reform made ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have not only failed to respect them, but they have intensified their crackdown on journalists and others who seek to exercise their right to freedom of expression.Chinese journalists continue to face censorship and repression and authoritarian laws, including subversion, disseminating state secrets and spying, are used by the government to control and restrict newsgathering and information and to jail journalists.
Furthermore, both Chinese-language media based abroad and foreign media have been routinely blocked or jammed in China.
Foreign journalists now reporting from China in the run up to the Olympics are regularly harassed and even expelled, as was the case during the March 2008 events in Tibet. This violates the Organising Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games pledge that foreign media would have "complete freedom to report when they come to China".
At least 30 journalists and 50 cyber reporters are currently held in Chinese prisons for reporting facts or peacefully expressing their views.
It is high time for China to respect its commitments pertaining to freedom of expression and freedom of the press and to guarantee the right of all people to access information.
This is the clear message we need to impress on the Chinese authorities and other Olympics' stakeholders on World Press Freedom Day. [ www.worldpressfreedomday.org ]
"High time"???????? It is way BEYOND high time that China respected its commitments, but I don't see that happening any time soon.
Not to be outdone, cartoonists are getting in on the World press Freedom Day commentary. THIS is one of my personal favourites:
 Freedom of the press? Michel Cambon/worldpressfreedomday.org |
The fact is, we can all declare any day of the year anything we want. We can all agree - here in the west - that we will call attention to abuses of freedom of the press in countries like China. For our calls to mean anything, China has to bow to international pressure. "Freedom of the Press" IS a wonderful concept, that in some countries people have died for. I don't honestly know what it will take for such ideals to be a constant globally, but I DO know that it is my individual responsibility as a journalist to keep shining the spotlight of scrutiny on such issues. THIS is why, especially on World Press Freedom Day 2008, I keep journalists facing abuse and death in my thoughts. It is because of the principle of Freedom of the Press that I WILL always "write on."
Ros Prynn is a NewsBlaze investigative reporter and editor, who writes on many topics in many places. Contact her by writing to NewsBlaze.
Source: NewsBlaze, May 03, 2008