Killings, Arrests, Intimidation – They Continue In Our Global Media Village

Philip M. Stone October 6, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Those of us living in societies where freedom of the press is a given can easily forget in just how many places in the world such freedoms are still being fought for daily with lives, imprisonment and intimidation. The latest report from WAN-IFRA says that so far this year 56 journalists have been killed, catching up on the 99 killed last year, more than 100 journalists are imprisoned either with no charges or trials or via sham trials with hundreds more forced into exile, and intimidation is on the rise.

The report makes grim reading. Killings: In Asia 19 --  Afghanistan (1), India (1), Indonesia (2), Nepal (2), Pakistan (8), Philippines (3), Thailand (2);  In the Americas 17 --  Mexico (8), Honduras (8), Colombia (1); in sub Saharan Africa  12 --  Angola (2), Cameroon (1), DRC (1), Nigeria (3), Rwanda (1), Somalia (2), Uganda (2); in the Middle East and North Africa 5 -- Iraq (4), Yemen (1) and in Europe and central Asia four -- Bulgaria (1), Cyprus (1), Greece (1), Russia (1);

There is so much bad going on that the report goes on for pages and pages. (See here) And it is not just governments and politicians who are to blame. In some places it is just the outlaw mentality of criminals protecting their huge empires, and perhaps this is no more prevalent than in Mexico.

“Don’t write about us or you die!” seems to be the message from the drug cartels to the Mexican media. And in a country where those drug lords are taking on the Mexican army and perhaps winning it’s obvious the lives of a few journalists don’t matter. A couple of weeks back El Diario, the leading newspaper in Ciudad Juarez across the Rio Grande River from El Paso, had a second journalist murdered and the newspaper’s editor asked of the drug cartels in a front-page editorial, “We ask you to explain what you want from us, what we should try to publish or not publish.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists says that at least 22 Mexican journalists were murdered in the past four years, at least eight for reporting on the drug trade. The group is asking the Mexican government for tougher laws to protect journalists, but does anyone really believe the drug cartels are going to pay any attention to that when they are slaughtering rivals, police and the military in protecting their multi-billion dollar drug empires?

In the past months, media in northern Mexico have imposed self-censorship with basically a drug trafficking news blackout. Broadcast media were targeted by car bombs and grenade attacks; several regional headquarters of Televisa, Mexico’s largest media organization, were targeted with hand grenade attacks, and a car bomb exploded outside its headquarters in Ciudad Victoria. These guys are not messing around! .

But also in the Americas there are other types of attacks, not violent, but intimidating and effective. In Argentina, for instance, the report says there are serious concerns over the distribution of official advertising to government-related media and publications, and  also for President Cristina Kirchner’s proposed legislation that makes production, distribution and sale of newsprint a matter of “public interest” – the feeling being the government’s ultimate aim is to control newsprint distribution. The WAN-IFRA board issued a resolution this week asking Kirchner “to ensure that the government reverses recent actions that undermine the free and independent press in Argentina.”

In Iran at least 110 journalists were imprisoned following the June, 2009, presidential elections and some 23 still remain there – that’s about one-fifth all journalists known to be behind bars worldwide. At least 20 news media were  censored. The WAN-IFRA Board this week urged “The Iranian government to immediately release all imprisoned journalists and writers and cease the repression of free expression and press freedom in the country.”

But the report had some good news tucked away. Liberia became the first West African country to pass a Freedom of Information Law; Jordan removed some of the most repressive provisions in the temporary law on cyber crimes; in Niger, a draft law was approved decriminalizing media offenses, the Niamey Press Club reopened and prison sentences for journalists were repealed; Google stopped censoring its Chinese search engine; and in Indonesia the government rejected controversial draft regulation on multimedia content that the communications minister acknowledged "threatened freedom of the press."

But, unfortunately, the list of the bad far outnumbers the good. The report in past years has concentrated on Russia and  this year is no exception, calling Russia “among the world’s most repressive and dangerous media environments.” Apart from murder – on May 12 a TV producer died when gunmen ambushed his car as he drove to repair a TV aerial damaged by militants –  the legal noose is being tightened. Legislation has been proposed making the criticism of officials and act of extremism, and it also gives the Federal Security Service the powers to order editors to remove articles that “aid extremists” or “appear undesirable”. The penalties include 15 days jail or fines up to $1,710.

And the report is not kind to Turkey that is trying very hard to convince the European Union that it really is European. “The climate for journalists and news publishers in Turkey remains oppressive…. As in Russia, anti-terrorism laws are being used to stifle press freedom.” That’s not what the EU wants to read about a candidate!

In the Middle East, Bahrain came in for particular criticism. The founder of BahrainOnline  was arrested on charges of spreading "false information,"  in what the report called, “the latest in the government’s ongoing crackdown on dissidents” . The report claims his detention “comes amid a government crackdown on opposition activists, which comes ahead of October parliamentary elections”. In August, the public prosecutor issued a gag order banning journalists from reporting on the crackdown. WAN-IFRA has issued a resolution “urging the government of Bahrain to take all necessary steps to reverse the ongoing crackdown against freedom of expression.”

But perhaps the sternest criticism was aimed at Asia. “Governments across Asia continue to apply a range of methods to restrict press freedom as a means of controlling their societies and limiting the spread of dissent. The region is still one of the most repressive areas in the world for independent media and reports of state interference, impunity for acts of violence against journalists and lack of protection for media professionals are widespread.” And not just where one might expect it.

You can’t help when watching cable news seeing the ads for “Malaysia, Truly Asia” and apparently that includes media intimidation. The Star has resorted to self-censorship after a show-cause letter was issued over the publication of a column questioning the caning of three Muslim women. The government was also  accused of interfering in the running of The China Press after the Ministry of Home Affairs called for disciplinary action against its editor-in-chief, who was subsequently suspended, for a report alleging the resignation of a senior police official. Is that “Truly Asia?”

Pakistan, with eight media deaths so far this year, is more dangerous as a killing ground than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Partly that’s because of indiscriminate killings --  marketplaces hit by suicide bombers – in April two journalists were killed along with 41 other people when two suicide bombers blew themselves up and eight media personnel  were injured in another similar case.

The media also faces intimidation by government and Taliban alike. Police detained and beat a TV bureau chief for  allegedly reporting on a police rally in a "negative way" and they then detained 20 journalists who protested that, and many  news organizations received an email warning from the Taliban Media Center advising they be more independent in their coverage of their conflict with Pakistan.

The government’s Telecommunication Authority embarked on large-scale partial and complete blockage of websites including YouTube and Flickr after many posted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and Web surveillance was further extended when a judge ruled many other international sites should also be monitored.

It all puts into perspective where we stand in our press freedom world today. In the UK, for instance, the fight is over the supremacy of press freedom or privacy, but in many, many other parts of the world the issue boils down to whether one can tell the truth and still live or not be imprisoned.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, represents more than 18,000 global publications and 15,000 online sites in more than 120 countries.