A US Blogger Spent 224 Days In Jail For Not Giving A Video To A Grand Jury; In Iraq The “Sport” of Killing Journalists Continues Unabated, And In Russia It’s The “Report Only The Good News” Syndrome Plus Murder -- The Plight of Journalists Around The World Is Not Getting Any Better

When it comes to killings, “Iraq continues to be the most dangerous country in the world for media practitioners. Not a week passes by without reports of new journalist killings: in the past six months 25 journalists have been slain, mostly in targeted attacks. In May, the Iraqi government issued a set of restrictions for journalists, preventing them from approaching bomb scenes, with the argument that this would protect the journalists from a possible second blast as well as hinder them from tampering with evidence on the bomb site, arguments which were widely dismissed by local media,” the report noted.

Source confidentiality continues under attack even in the US – the bastion of press freedom. “In the United States, in a case involving source confidentiality, freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was released on 3 April after spending 224 days in prison, the longest time ever served in prison by any journalist in the US. In 2005, Wolf had filmed a protest in San Francisco against a G8 summit. After refusing to comply with a federal subpoena to hand over his unedited video and testify to a grand jury investigation into an attack on a police car during the demonstration, he was found in contempt of court.”

But there was also good news coming out of the US. “In another case involving source confidentiality, a federal judge had cancelled in March contempt of court findings and sanctions against two San Francisco Chronicle reporters for refusing to reveal their sources of leaks in 2004 about an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes. Thirty-three states recognize the right of journalists to professional confidentiality. Numerous voices call for a “shield law” of this nature to be adopted at the federal level.”

And in Europe the harshest language is aimed at Russia. WAN held its convention last year in Moscow, with its opening ceremony in the Kremlin with President Putin attending, and WAN executives gave the Russians a severe scolding for continuing media restrictions. Putin in his response wasn’t having any of that and basically dismissed WAN’s complaints. Four months later Anna Politkovskaya lay dead, shot in the lobby of her apartment and no suspect to this day has been arrested.

ftm background

ftm Ahead of the News – One Of Those Iranian Suits WAS Flogged On eBay!
In our story about the released British sailors and marines who had been captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and the subsequent decision, later revoked, by the Defense Ministry to allow those released captives to sell their exclusive stories to the media, ftm noted sarcastically in its final paragraph:

Today Is World Press Freedom Day, Hurrah – Except In Many Places In Our World Journalists Have Little Joy, Just Harassment and Imprisonment
Today is World Press Freedom Day, a day, as the United Nations reminds us, to remember the media’s vital role in promoting sustainable peace, democracy and development. And yet conditions for independent media are worsening in many parts of the world, threatening democracy and human rights, according to the non-governmental Freedom House that has issued a chilling report on the decline in press freedoms globally, and how Internet freedom in particular is under siege in some countries.

Medvedev Tells The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) the Ongoing Dialogue With The Kremlin Over Russian Press Freedom Is Positive For It Would Never Have Been Possible Under The Soviet Era
On the Monday President Vladimir Putin gave rather short shrift to The World Association of Newspapers campaign for more press freedom in the Russian Federation, and the next day the Kremlin rolled out Putin’s first deputy prime minister who said pretty much the same thing, but at least he did it with a smile.

In Iraq Killing Journalists Is Almost A Sport, In Iran The Wrong Blogs Gets You In Jail, and In The US Major Internet Companies Put Profit Ahead of Press Freedom In China -- All Condemnations By The World Association Of Newspapers Press Freedom Review
In the past six months alone 38 journalists have died around the world, 16 of them in Iraq, making that country the most dangerous for working journalists. But that’s not the only place where journalists, and citizen journalists, face death or imprisonment, and the sad fact is that there is increasing global pressure on freedom of expression, according to the semi-annual report by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

Twenty Years of Reporters Sans Frontieres
In almost every news story about the blows suffered by those pursuing the journalistic calling, Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) gives its voice to each outrage.

A week ago the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) also took its freedom of the press message directly to Moscow, and at its convention IFJ secretary-general Aidan White flatly stated, “Russia is the country where the most journalists have been killed in peacetime.” And he warned that if anything the situation was getting worse, culminating in Politkovskaya’s murder. IFJ estimates that 289 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1993, 40 of them in Moscow for which only three people have thus far been convicted.

Human rights advocates in Russia and abroad have criticized the Kremlin for tightening its grip on the media ever since Putin took office in 2000. Polls show, however, that a majority of Russians give Putin credit for the country’s current political stability and economic growth, and how free the media is does not exactly come top of their worries.

This year WAN’s critique of Russia is even harsher. “In Russia, the impunity enjoyed by those who order or carry out the execution of journalists remains quasi total. It is estimated that 21 journalists were killed since President Putin came to power in March 2000. So far in 2007, two journalists have died in most unclear circumstances, including Ivan Safronov, defense correspondent for the daily Kommersant. Safronov died on 2 March, when he fell from a window in the building where he lived. He was reportedly preparing a report on Russian arms deliveries to the Middle East. In the context and aftermath of the opposition-led “March of Dissent,” cases of police raids of newsrooms and violence against journalists multiplied, accompanied by the seizure of opposition newspapers copies. The first cases of prosecution of journalists under a broadened definition of “extremism” that includes media criticism of public officials occurred.”

Elsewhere in Europe, there were ups and downs. “In France, the charges of ‘public insults against a group of people because they belong to a religion’ brought against the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for republishing the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad were dismissed by a Paris court in late March... In May, also in France, a judge unsuccessfully tried to access files at the headquarters of another satirical weekly, Le Canard enchaîné, raising sharp criticism toward the lack of a clear legal protection of journalist confidential sources.

“Other European countries, including the Netherlands, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Denmark, have also used court cases or surveillance - both legal and illegal - to uncover journalists’ sources. Two Dutch journalists, for example, spent two days in jail in November 2006 after refusing to reveal their sources in a case against an agent suspected of leaking secret files from the Dutch intelligence service.

“It is noteworthy that the German Federal Constitutional Court in February 2007 issued a ruling criticizing the security services for their 12 September 2005 raid on the editorial offices of the magazine Cicero in Potsdam. The court said that searches and the confiscation of evidence are illegal, if they are “exclusively” or “predominantly” aimed not at pursuing a criminal case against the media organization, but at identifying the information’s source.

“In Switzerland, three journalists from the newspaper Sonntags-Blick faced in April a military court on charges stemming from their publication of a document from the Swiss Foreign Secret Service that revealed the existence of secret prisons run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and secret transport of CIA prisoners in Europe.” What WAN didn’t say was that it is a credit to the Swiss military court that it threw out the case on the first day, but, of course, it should never have gotten there in the first place and it made life hell for those journalists.

Turning to Asia, WAN noted, “The upcoming Olympic Games in China has further increased government control on media in the country, despite promises to ‘ensure complete media freedom’ for the Olympics. Online censorship is commonplace and cyber-dissidents receive lengthy prison sentences for reporting on human rights and other abuses. Major American internet companies, such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have not only agreed to the censorship imposed by the Chinese authorities, but also play a decisive role in the tracking and subsequent jailing of cyber-dissidents.

In January, Lan Chengzhang, a newspaper reporter who was investigating an illegal coalmine, was beaten to death by a group of men with links to the mine. The Hong Kong-based reporter Ching Cheong continues to linger in jail for the third year on charges of spying against China. Altogether 32 journalists are currently serving prison sentences for having reported on controversial issues that upset the Chinese authorities.

The necessity to provide for a clear legal protection of journalists’ confidential sources was demonstrated through various cases in Western Europe, whereas in other parts of Europe, several journalists were the object of death threats, attempts of murder or contract killings. In Russia and Central Asia, governmental attacks against the independent press are on the rise.

In Bulgaria, members and supporters of the far-right nationalist ATAKA party (Attack Coalition) invaded in February the offices of the daily 24 hours and weekly 168 hours and explicitly threatened journalists following the publication of an article dealing with financial transactions. Earlier that month, in an unrelated case, two men had threatened to throw acid in the face of a journalist working for the weekly Politika if she continued to write about a real estate development project in Bulgaria’s largest protected natural area.

In South-East Europe, Robert Valdec, the anchor and journalist of the investigative television program Istraga on Nova TV in Croatia, was the object of repeated death threats at the end of 2006, whereas in Serbia, Dejan Anastasijevic, investigative journalist with the weekly Vreme, was targeted in his home in April.

In Poland, the “Lustration Act” that entered into force on 15 March obliges individuals, including journalists, born before 1 August 1972 to submit so-called “Lustration statements” to the authorities regarding their relationship with the Polish security services during the communist period. Some fear that the law could enable the government to exclude certain journalists from the profession and thus impact upon the media content.

In Belarus, administrative harassment of independent newspapers remains a central tool of President Lukashenko’s repressive machinery. In early 2007, two independent publications were threatened with closure for not having registered premises, whereas the authorities were exerting pressure for the offices rental contracts to be rescinded. If adopted, a draft law on Information, Information Technology and the Protection of Information, which envisages a system for registering all media, including online publications, would enable the authorities to further censor critical voices, including those expressed on the web.

Several cases of death threats or violence against journalists occurred in Ukraine, involving businessmen or political party supporters. The independent weekly Dzerzhinets was closed down in January following a conviction of defamation. Critical articles about local businessmen and officials that revealed corruption in the city of Dneprodzerzhynsk triggered the charges.

In Uzbekistan, the ruthless repression of civil society and media launched by the government after the Andijan massacre of 2005 continues. On 1 May, journalist and human rights activist Umida Niyazova was sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of illegally crossing the border and disseminating materials considered a "threat to public security and order." The appeal court reduced the sentence to a three-year suspended one.

Criminal defamation lawsuits and spurious drug charges have become an effective tool for President Ilham Aliyev, his family and allies to silence critical reporting in Azerbaijan. In May, two journalists were sentenced to 30 months in prison for writing that the president’s uncle import-export business profited from the family’s political connections. Seven journalists are currently in jail.

In Turkey, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead on 19 January in front of his newspaper offices, Agos. Like other writers, journalists and publishers, Hrant Dink had been charged and condemned under the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish penal code for insulting “Turkishness”.

In Mexico, the murders of crime reporter Saúl Noé Martínez Ortega, journalist Amado Ramírez Dillanes and editor Guevara Guevara Domínguez, as well as the disappearance in the beginning of May of two other journalists, showed that deadly violence against media professionals continues to be a major issue. In 2006 alone, six journalists were murdered in Mexico. Regardless of major efforts undertaken by regional media organizations and to some extent by the government, the number of journalist casualties in Mexico continues to be among the highest in the world.

There has been no change in the past six months for the 25 Cuban journalists who are currently serving jail sentences of up to 27 years in often appalling conditions, with no access to medical care or clean drinking water.

The Haitian media scene continues to be one of widespread violence, where journalists live in constant fear for their lives due to pressure from different political groups. The murders in April of freelance photographer Jean-Rémy Badio and in May of radio journalist Alix Joseph, illustrates the constant tension Haitian media professionals live under. Both had received death threats prior to their murders.

Despite a traditionally rather free press, Brazilian media professionals are regularly victims of murder and those who kill journalists usually enjoy total impunity. Freelance photographer Robson Barbosa Bezerra was shot to death in February, as was journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho, who was killed in May. Barbon used to criticize local politicians in his reporting, and in 2003 he uncovered a local child prostitution ring, which led to several politicians being sent to jail.

In addition to the murder of radio producer Mario Rolando López Sánchez in May, journalists in Guatemala became the victims of physical attacks, verbal threats and one murder attempt in the past six months. The main threats against the media come from powerful groups of organized crime, sometimes with political connections.

A similar situation prevails in Peru, where journalists are constantly the victims of attacks and threats as well as physical violence, mainly from local government officials and private citizens. In March, radio reporter Miguel Pérez Julca paid with his life for the investigative reporting he was carrying out. Pérez Julca, who was shot to death in front of his wife and children, had been reporting on corruption in the local government.

In Venezuela, the current political climate under President Hugo Chavez has led to a further deterioration for those private media outlets that sympathize with the political opposition. Threats of closure, intimidation of journalists and verbal attacks by the President have become commonplace for those who criticize the government. Insulting the President can lead to prison sentences of 6 to 30 months. In Chile, vivid protests from the journalist community led to the cancellation of a decree which would have restricted the movements of journalists in courthouses and their ability to conduct interviews there.

(The WAN report did not mention that May 27, RCTV in Venezuela, the most vocal Chavez media critic, went off the air after the government refused to renew its license and it was replaced with a “friendlier” new public service broadcaster. Flushed with that success Chavez then set his sights set on Globovision TV, calling it an enemy of the state. In a broadcast that all Venezuelan stations were required to carry, Chavez warned “Greetings, gentlemen of Globovision, you should watch where you are going. I recommend you take a tranquilizer and get into gear, because if not, I am going to do what is necessary.”)

(Also, Ecuador President Rafael Correa announced a review of the broadcasting licenses of those TV stations that oppose him. Bolivian President Evo Morales has proposed setting up a tribunal to oversee media activities. And Cuba’s minister of culture told a recent conference, “I wish that we could imprison the owner of a media outlet. With much pleasure we would give him a life sentence for lying, for confusing the people.”)

The war in Iraq and the global focus on terrorism has turned press freedom in the Middle East into an international issue. Freedom of expression continues to be severely limited in most countries in the region, with the media outlets serving mainly as propaganda tools for the authorities.

The Syrian government has stepped up its restrictions on freedom of expression in the past six months. In May, journalist Michel Kilo received a three-year prison sentence after having signed the "Beirut-Damascus, Damascus-Beirut" appeal for an improvement in relations between Syria and Lebanon. Furthermore, controversial websites were closed down and cyber-dissidents arrested.

The armed conflict between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, together with attacks by the Israeli army, has created a particularly perilous situation for journalists in the Palestinian Territories in recent months. In May, Suleyman Al-Aashi and Mohammed Mattar Abdun who both worked for the pro-Hamas daily Filistin, were killed at a roadblock close to the headquarters of militias affiliated to Fatah. A few days later, Issam Mohammad Awad al-Joujou, a journalist working for the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Live website, was shot to death. In March, BBC correspondent Alan Johnston was kidnapped while on assignment in Gaza. In April, three journalists were injured by governmental security guards while they were demonstrating against the kidnapping of Johnston.

Bloggers have come under attack in Egypt in the past months, with arrests and lengthy prison sentences as a means of putting an end to this vibrant community in the country. As a consequence, some bloggers have decided to close down their blogs for fear of reprisal. In May, a judge asked for the blocking of altogether 50 websites, among which several deal with press freedom and human rights issues.

Morocco, which has been known to have a rather tolerant press freedom climate compared to other countries in the region, has seen an increase in the legal persecution of journalists in recent months. In government, discussions are also underway about possible new restrictions on Moroccan media.

Recurrent crackdown on the independent and opposition press, arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, harsh repression through “insult laws” and criminal defamation, economic pressure and hardship still characterize the media situation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Press freedom in Eritrea further deteriorated as the government tightened restrictions on foreign journalists seeking to travel within the country and is believed to control all communications. Eritrea remains among Africa’s most repressive regimes toward the media and the largest journalist jailer. More than 20 journalists would still be imprisoned to date, usually held incommunicado in secret jails. Recent reports alleged that prominent, award-winning journalist Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, imprisoned without charges in September 2001, died in January 2007 after a long illness, whereas another source stated Yohannes died in December 2002 already.

In neighboring Ethiopia, journalists are prosecuted on charges of “treason,” “conspiracy” to overthrow the government, or defamation. Through licensing and registration systems, restrictions on cross-ownership, harsh press offences and an obedient press council, the government holds endless means to harm and control the press. In 2006 alone, eight newspapers were reportedly banned. Starting to realize the potential of Internet, the government ordered to block websites critical of the authorities and users of Internet cafes to be registered.

In Gambia, the already restrictive media environment worsened following the third consecutive election of President Yahya Jammeh in September 2006. Intimidation, imprisonment and exile of journalists remain common, and private newspapers are subjected to significant pressure from the government (the bi-weekly The Independent was closed down by the police in late March 2006). To date, no proper investigation was carried out to identify the killers of Deyda Hydara, managing editor of the private weekly The Point, gunned down on 16 December 2004.

Journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo work under the constant threat of imprisonment under outdated criminal laws and libel cases are on the rise. Arbitrary detentions regularly hit those who report on corruption cases and human rights abuses. In April 2007, the military court of the Kinshasa/Matete garrison announced its verdict in the murder trial of journalist Franck Ngyke and his wife Hélène Mpaka, killed in November 2005. Resulting in the death sentence being pronounced against two of the defendants, the case has sparked criticism from press freedom activists for its failure to bring out truth.

In Somalia, journalists have been caught in the military standoff between the Islamists, backed by neighboring Eritrea, and the transitional government, backed by Ethiopia. Arbitrary arrests, brutal interrogations, threats and seizures of materials are constant. In March, the authorities issued a decree that prohibits activities of media groups without prior consent of the government. Four radio journalists have been killed in crossfire since the beginning of the year.

The press remains a prime target in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. The Media and Information Commission (MIC) suspends newspaper licenses and journalist accreditations, following orders from the government and intelligence services. Despite courts, including the Harare High Court, regularly quashing abusive decisions made by the MIC, the situation of the press keeps deteriorating. Part-time cameraman for Zimbabwe state broadcaster ZBC Edward Chikombo, who might have leaked images of police brutality against opposition activists, was abducted on 29 March and found dead shortly after.

(The WAN report failed to tell some good news coming out of South Africa, host for their convention. Perhaps its timing was to deflect WAN possible criticism, but for whatever reason South African media won a hard, long battle against being included in a controversial Film and Publications Bill that many in the media likened to nothing more than pure pre-publication censorship.?

(The Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs added an exemption for print and broadcast media from provisions of a controversial Film and Publications Bill that, had it passed Parliament without the exemption, would have meant that print and broadcast media had to submit certain stories – basically those of a sexual nature, or deemed to be hate speech or that could possibly incite war -- to the Film and Publication Board before publication.)

Home to some of the most repressive regimes in the world, Asia is a region where media outlets on a daily basis have to defend themselves against government pressure and targeted violence from different political groups.

In Vietnam, the clampdown on freedom of expression advocates has reached an all time high in the past six months. In one single week, six cyber-dissidents who had published pro-democracy articles online were jailed and handed lengthy prison sentences. In an effort to show openness and modernity, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in February carried out an online chat with Vietnamese people in the country and abroad. The event was broadcast on national TV, with both local and foreign media invited to take photos of the Prime Minister in front of his keyboard while he was answering the pre-selected questions.

Despite having regained many of the freedoms they were deprived of during the internal crisis and state of emergency in 2005, the situation remains hazardous for media practitioners in Nepal. They have increasingly become the victims of physical attacks by different political factions in the country in the past months. A number of media outlets have been also been targeted through bomb attacks.

Although media in the Philippines enjoy a relatively free work environment, journalists remain the target of deadly violence. In the past six months, two journalists were killed. Journalist Carmelo Palacios and editor Hernani Pastolero both became the victims of targeted shooting attacks. The government has been harshly criticized for its inability to provide protection for journalists, and in particular for not being capable of pursuing the killers of journalists.

The press freedom situation in Afghanistan has seen a further decline over the past six months. In February, Rahman Qul, editor of the government-run Andkhoy newspaper was killed. Journalist and interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi was murdered through decapitation shortly after the Italian journalists he worked for had been released from captivity following a kidnapping. Fixer and driver Sayed Agha, who likewise worked for the Italian journalist, was also killed by the kidnappers.

The Afghan government is tightening its control on the media in the country. The retransmissions of Al-Jazeera International were banned in April and a new media law, which fails to meet international standards in some key areas, is currently being drafted.

In neighboring Pakistan, working conditions have worsened for journalists in the past six months. International press freedom and human rights organizations have expressed concern over the increased government pressure on media, despite official claims that the country enjoys “full press freedom”. In April, freelance photographer Mehboob Kha was killed in a suicide bombing aimed at Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao. In mid-May a number of journalists were injured in an attack on a TV station in the capital of Karachi.

Physical attacks and threats of journalists have become routine in Bangladesh, which continues to be plagued by political unrest. In March, journalist Jamal Uddin died in what the authorities claim was a suicide, which has been largely contested by his family and colleagues. Several journalists have been arrested in the past six months, and the interim government has failed to protect journalists from violence by the military.

The ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka has further degraded the already dire press freedom situation in the country, as pressure on media is increasingly used as a tool of combat in the war. Abductions and threats have become commonplace, and government officials are regularly making hostile statements against the media. Two journalists were killed in the past six months: newspaper reporters Selvarajah Rajivarnam and publisher Subash Chandraboas both worked for Tamil newspapers and were both killed in government-controlled areas of Sri Lanka.

The Paris-based WAN is a global newspaper industry organization that defends and promotes press freedom. It represents 18,000 newspapers, 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and global press groups.