Journalists under threat

A 10m glass and steel cone shines a beam of light into the night sky at the top of BBC Broadcasting House, London, to commemorate BBC news journalists and media people who have been killed in the course of their work. Last Monday (June 16, 2008), it was dedicated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Rodney Pinder, director of the International News Safety Institute (INSI), which works for more safety for journalists, said: "These men and women are the unsung heroes of democracy, for without a free press there can be no freedom."

The previous week Nasteh Dahir Faraah, who worked for the BBC Somali Service as well as other news agencies, was shot dead in the southern Somali city of Kismayo. A day later, Abdul Samad Rohani, BBC Pashto reporter and fixer of the BBC's News bureau in Kabul in the southern Helmand province in Afghanistan, was abducted and shot dead.

Mark Thompson of the BBC reported, "The killings are a stark reminder of the courage and commitment shown by those who work for the BBC's journalism around the world and especially those who work in the most dangerous and difficult areas in order to report for our audiences”.

Mr Rohani was the Helmand reporter for the BBC World Service's Pashto language service. A BBC World News editor, Jon Williams, said Mr Rohani's courage and dedication had been a key part of the BBC's reporting from Afghanistan in recent years. His bravery - and that of his colleagues - had allowed the BBC to tell a key story for audiences in the UK, in Afghanistan and around the world.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the authorities to leave no stone unturned in the search for Mr Rohani's killers. “Afghan journalists risk their lives every day to highlight the concerns and needs of ordinary Afghan people, and it is most upsetting that such selfless individuals are being targeted for no other reason than doing their job," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan. Mr Rohani was at least the fourth journalist killed in Afghanistan in the past year.

Nasteh Dahir Farah, 36, who freelanced for the BBC and Reuters news agencies in Somalia, was fatally shot on his way home in the southern city of Kismayu, the National Union of Somali Journalists reported. His gunning down was described in NowPublic as a “targetted assassination”. A group of armed men fired several shots at Mr Farah, who was elected vice president of the union in 2005, according to Reporters Without Borders.

At least nine other journalists have been killed in Somalia since February 2007, according to Amnesty International. Omar Faruq Osman, secretary-general of the Somali journalists union, commented, "We will not stop our work because of these criminals".

Even so, Iraq remains acknowledged as the most dangerous place for media people to work. Up to April 2008, 215 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of fighting in Iraq in March 2003. Two are still missing; 14 have been kidnapped. Reporters Without Borders has described the dangers journalists have faced in Iraq since the start of the war, the bloodiest for the media since World War II: Three years of slaughter in Iraq.

Media people in other countries also daily face the possibility of killing, kidnapping and torture. It can be argued that a journalist has a choice whether to take up a position in a dangerous area or not. And although bullets do not distinguish gender, women correspondents in a war zone have to be seen as the most vulnerable. The risks involved send cold shivers down your spine.

The extent of these hazards perhaps was first brought firmly into public focus by the shooting in Moscow in October 2006 of Anna Politkovskaya. Well known for her critical coverage of the Chechnyan war, Ms Politkovskaya had also written a critical book on the then Russian president Vladimir Putin and his campaign in Chechnya. She documented widespread abuse of civilians by government troops and her chronicle of killings, tortures and beatings of civilians by Russian servicemen put her on a collision course with the authorities.

In a similar vein, media people, particularly in Asia and the South-East Asia, increasingly have been killed, received death threats and experienced intimidation and stand over tactics. In this region the Asia-Pacific arm of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has been faithful in reporting both killings and threats, while working to bring pressure on governments and agencies that are hostile to the role of journalists.

Myanmar/Burma, China, the Phillippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Fiji, as well as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan are among those to come under the spotlight.

Recently the deportation of Evan Hannah, the publisher of The Fiji Times, in April, after a series of editorials questioning the legitimacy of the military leadership and a call for the return to democracy, is a case in point.

In India, political activists reportedly attacked the home of Kumar Ketkar, editor of the Marathi language daily Loksatta, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on June 5 after an article criticised a decision by the Maharashtra state government to install a 94m statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, ruler of a medieval kingdom in the Marathi cultural region, off the coast from Mumbai.

In Sri Lanka, the civil war between the government and Tamil Tigers has been on and off since 1983, with the latest hostilities breaking out in late 2005. The IFJ has appealed to the Sri Lankan Government to order defence ministry and defence personnel to end a campaign of “slanderous attacks and threats against independent journalists”.

A recent editorial on a website run by the Ministry of Defence called for all members of the armed forces to unite and guard against a “treacherous media campaign against them”. The editorial apparently made serious allegations against the Free Media Movement (FMM).

On May 22 journalist Keith Noyahr was abducted and assaulted. Several other journalists received threats. Journalist J.S. Tissainayagam has been held in detention without charge since March. A Tamil, he is editor of outreachsl.com website. In May TV and radio correspondent Paranirupasingam Devakumar, 36, of Vaddukoddai, Jaffna, was hacked to death in Navanthurei by unidentified attackers. His companion was also reported killed. The Free Media Movement (FMM) reported he was the ninth journalist or media worker killed in Jaffna since 2006.

According to reports from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Mohammad Ibrahim, a reporter with Pakistan’s Express TV, was targetted and killed on May 21. Returning from an interview with a militant group, he was sprayed with automatic gunfire by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas. He was the general secretary of the Bajaur unit of the Tribal Union of Journalists and the fourth Pakistan journalist to be killed this year; the 11th since the beginning of 2007.

There have been 41 cases of criminal defamation proceedings against journalists in Indonesia from 2003 to 2007 prompting the Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) to call for defamation law reform. Risang Bima Wijaya, a former general manager and editor-in-chief of Radar Jogja and journalist with Jawa Pos newspaper, was sentenced to six months in prison by the Indonesian Supreme Court in January. The IJF reported that the case highlighted the use of criminal defamation laws aimed at journalists.

According to the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists (CAPJ), Meas Asi, a reporter for Panhavorn Khmer (Khmer Intellectual), based in Koh Kong province, was allegedly stopped by police and beaten unconscious before being taken to Koh Kong prison. He was on his way to cover a protest by members of Chhouk village regarding land ownership issues.

Leader of the CPN (Maoist) party Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, gave a blunt warning to the media when he addressed a mass meeting in Kathmandu on May 30 to celebrate the declaration of a republic. His CPN (Maoist) party is the single biggest party in Nepal leading the government. Chairman Prachanda was quoted as saying, "You journalists did well to continuously criticise the Maoists before the Constituent Assembly polls. Otherwise the election would not have taken place at all. Now we will no longer tolerate criticism as we have already been elected by the people.”

Saying there is no such thing as absolute freedom of the press, Dorothy Teoh, from the Nexnews Group, publisher of The Edge and The Sun, wrote in January that under Malaysia’s Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA), all print media of a periodical nature are required to obtain a permit that must be renewed yearly.

A permit can be revoked or suspended by the Home Affairs Ministry for various reasons, such as the publication of content considered “likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, [or] security”; or likely to “be prejudicial to … national interest.” If the minister refuses to grant or renew a permit, the decision is not open to judicial review, under an amendment in the late 1980s.

And the Mizzima News reported that Burmese private weekly newspapers recently were ordered by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board “not to run any story that depicts the destruction caused by the cyclone that pummelled the Rangoon and Irrawaddy deltas”. A senior journalist told Mizzima that the media was warned not to comment on critical food shortages and instead to report only on “the reconstruction efforts by the authorities”.

As a counter, journalists and media organisations, including the International Federation of Journalists, have been working on strategies to reverse or ease the situation in several countries. In the lead up to the Olympics in Beijing, the IFJ has launched a campaign for press freedom in China. The campaign covers such issues as the IFJ and Hong Kong Journalists Association working together to promote journalists’ safety, the jailing of journalists and attacks on journalists’ employment to undermine media freedom.

A petition with 1,518 signatures has been sent to China’s Minister of Justice, Wu Aiying, demanding the release of Hu Jia (May 12, 2008). Mr Hu was sentenced on April 3 to three-and-a-half years’ jail and one year’s denial of political rights on charges of “inciting subversion to state power” for articles and interviews critical of the Chinese Government. A long-time human rights activist, he suffers poor health.

In another action, the IFJ Asia-Pacific has written to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai concerning the physical and psychological welfare of Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, who is waiting to appeal the death sentence imposed on him on charges of “blasphemy”. The Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association reported Mr Kambakhsh, 24, was in serious need of immediate medical attention after seven months in detention, and five months waiting for his appeal to be heard. He was accused of distributing articles and books that contained anti-Islamic sentiment and sentenced to death.

Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, launching the Committee to Protect Journalists' Impunity Index last April, stated there had been 25 murders in the Philippines since 2000 and no one had been brought to justice.

The sixth annual South Asia Press Freedom Report, produced by the IFJ for the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN) in April, highlights the serious challenges that continue to confront the media in a region that is home to more than one-fifth of humanity. Challenges range from political coercion and violence by state and non-state actors to commercial compulsions and advertiser pressure.

“All these factors can have a chilling effect on good journalistic practices, and impinge on the public's right to independent and critical information,” it states.

The report notes that when governments do not act decisively against a culture of impunity for attacks against the media, journalists and media workers are often compelled to adopt a play-safe attitude. Even where there is no overt restraint on the right to free speech, a hostile environment can compel the media to engage in self-censorship rather than risk retribution.

The report adds that in most countries in the region, the regulatory environment remains ill-defined, especially for the rapidly growing electronic media. In several countries, rival political parties and other civil society actors observe few accepted standards regarding the right to free speech. (The South Asia Press Freedom Report 2007-08)

With only 6.7 per cent of journalists’ murders leading to convictions, an arm of the United Nations agency mandated to protect freedom of the press called in April on governments to report on investigations into attacks on media personnel, which have surged in recent years. The Intergovernmental Council of the International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC) is requesting UN member states to assume responsibility for monitoring investigations into all killings condemned by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The IPDC, which was created by UNESCO in 1980 to promote free expression in developing countries, is also asking all states to inform UNESCO of actions taken in each case and of the status of judicial inquiries.

The director-general of UNESCO has publicly condemned the killings of 121 journalists - given as 68 in 2006 and 53 in 2007.The UNESCO director-general has been requested to provide updated information on member states’ responses where assassinations of journalists have occurred and to make the report widely available. It is a move to welcome.

The right to free speech does not come cheap. For too many journalists and media people it is costing them their life.