Media censorship a ‘global phenomenon’ obstructing efforts to tackle pandemic

On Sunday, we celebrated World Press Freedom Day, yet when it comes to reporting Covid-19, journalists across the world are far from free.  

They have been risking their lives to provide reliable and trustworthy information during the pandemic, but all over the world, governments’ crackdown and media censorship are hampering efforts to tackle the virus. Censorship of vital information related to the pandemic has become a ‘global phenomenon’, according to Amnesty International.

“There is no hope of containing this virus if people can’t access accurate information. It is truly alarming to see how many governments are more interested in protecting their own reputations than in saving lives,” says Amnesty International’s Director of Law and Policy, Ashfaq Khalfan.

A core feature of the right to health is the right to access timely and accurate information. In the case of COVID-19, this means everybody has a right to access all available information about the nature and spread of the virus, as well as the measures they can take to protect themselves. But governments around the world have arrested and detained journalists and other media workers for sharing exactly this kind of essential information.

Here are just a few examples of dangerous censorship and serious attacks on free speech across the globe collected by Amnesty International:

• Russia: On 12 April, the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published an article by journalist Elena Milashina, in which she criticised the Chechen authorities' response to the pandemic. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov posted and Instagram video in which he threatened Milashina, appealing to the Russian government and Federal Security Service (FSB) to "stop those non-humans who are writing and provoking our people."

Urge the Russian authorities to ensure her safety. 

• Niger: Journalist Mamane Kaka Touda was arrested on 5 March after posting on social media about a suspected case of COVID-19 infection in Niamey Reference Hospital. He was charged with "disseminating data tending to disturb public order". 

• Egypt: Editor-in-chief of AlkararPress newspaper, Atef Hasballah, was arrested by security forces on 18 March, and forcibly disappeared for nearly a month, following a post on his Facebook page in which he challenged the official statistics on COVID-19 cases. 

• India: Journalists reporting on the COVID-19 situation have been summoned to police stations and forced to explain their stories, including Peerzada Ashiq, a senior journalist with The Hindu in Kashmir, and Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of The Wire in Uttar Pradesh. Many others have been arrested. Internet restrictions in the Jammu & Kashmir region continue despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases. 

Journalists have been prosecuted for reporting on COVID-19 in many other countries including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, Venezuela, Tunisia and Palestine.

Meanwhile journalists who report on human rights abuses related to the pandemic, such as police abuses or poor prison conditions, have also been harassed, intimidated, attacked and prosecuted.

Many countries, including Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tanzania and several Gulf states, have used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to introduce new laws against disseminating “fake news”. In most cases, it is at the authorities’ discretion to define what constitutes false news or misinformation, and these laws act as a stark warning against free discussion of the situation. For example: 

• Hungary: Viktor Orban’s government has amended the country’s Criminal Code, introducing new provisions that threaten journalists with prison sentences for “spreading false information” or communicating facts in a way that impede ‘successful protection’ against the virus. Journalists have reported being harassed, threatened and smeared for scrutinising the government’s response to the outbreak. 

• Myanmar: Authorities have warned that anyone who spreads “fake news” about COVID-19 could be prosecuted, while a Ministry of Health official said they would file criminal charges against anyone who speaks out about the lack of Personal Protective Equipment at hospitals.

• Tanzania: On 20 April, Tanzanian authorities suspended the licence of the Mwananchi online newspaper after it posted a photo of President John Pombe Magufuli out shopping surrounded by a crowd of people, eliciting debate about the need for implementing physical distancing.

 

2015 - another deadly year for journalists

The passing year has been another deadly one for journalists, with at least 109 journalists and media staff killed in targeted killings, bomb attacks and cross-fire incidents, according to the annual report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).   Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’ annual round-up puts the figure at 110 – in addition to 27 citizen-journalists also killed in 2015.  In total, 787 journalists have been killed since 2005, according to RSF.

The very high number of journalists killed in 2015 (although there was a slight drop from 2014) reflects the increasingly deliberate use of violence against journalists. It is also indicative of the failure of initiatives designed to protect journalists and of the near absolute impunity for such crimes.

2015 was marked, in particular, by an increase in targeted terrorist attacks against journalists. French journalists paid a disproportionately high price when terrorists gunned down media workers at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. In the United States, the killing by a disgruntled ex-employee of two former colleagues at US TV WDBJ in Virginia took place in front of a global TV audience during a live transmission.

The IFJ 2015 list names the 109 journalists and media staff killed across 30 countries, together with 3 who died of accidental deaths.

This year, the killing of journalists in the Americas topped the toll, at 27 dead. For the second year in a row, the Middle East comes second, with 25 deaths. Asia Pacific comes third, with 21– a drop on last year due to the big fall in violence in Pakistan. Africa is in fourth place with 19 dead, followed by Europe with 16.

In response to the increasing violence against journalists, Jim Boumelha, IFJ President, is calling for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of UN agencies to enforce international laws protecting journalists. “The attacks in Paris shocked the world and put on the world stage the tragedy of the drip-drip slaughter of journalists worldwide, which are today the only professional group that pays so dearly for just doing the job… Journalism is put daily to the sword in many regions of the world, where extremists, drug lords and reckless warring factions continue murdering journalists with impunity.”

The Federation is urging the UN to take concrete measures through its Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists and take a strong stand against impunity for crimes targeting journalists. The IFJ ran a three-week campaign this year to hold governments accountable for the lack of investigation of crimes against journalists, which leads to the erosion of freedom of expression across the world. 

Reporting from Syria - one woman's struggle as freelancer

 

A dark, rancid corner Borri says journalists have failed to explain Syria’s civil war because editors only want ‘blood.’ (Alessio Romenzi)

Here is an interesting, infuriating and disturbing article about the risks freelance journalists covering the civil war in Syria have to take and the editors who insist on “blood and bang-bang” rather than explanations and the impact of war on the people who have to live through it.

The article untitled  “Woman’s Work” – the twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria by Francesca Borri in this issue of Columbia Journalism Review also highlights the lack of support from editors who don’t seem to give a damn about what their freelancers have to do to get the story, the lack of resources, the ridiculous pay ($70 a story!) and perhaps the most depressing, the fierce competition amongst journalists who believe they need to fight each other in order to survive as journalists.  

Behind the harsh reality of journalists’ life in conflict zones is the larger problem of reduced staff positions driving reporters to the front lines without the support of a publication, CJR points out.

The piece has received hundreds of comments from readers. And many wanted to help.  CJR has published a subsequent article asking freelancers to share ideas and organizations, which can help, protect and support journalists. Here is what they have come up with so far. The site will be updated regularly.

 

• The Committee to Protect Journalists, which acts as a line of first defence when journalists working in conflict zones are imprisoned, kidnapped, or otherwise harmed.

• Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues: Reporters on staff at publications often receive medical training for managing battle wounds. RISC fills the gap for independent journalists, providing medical training to journalists who cover conflict free of charge. 

• The Dart Center: Columbia’s Dart Center provides a roster of resources for journalists trying to cover stories of violence and conflict with sensitivity.

Pencils against bullets?

 Reporters Without Borders' team wishes you an excellent 2013

 I've just received this greeting e-card from Reporters Without Borders, the international reporters' organization fighting for freedom of information.  I really like it: the simplicity of the drawing and the powerful message.  Am just wondering who is winning....

 It also reminds me that while the Leveson Inquiry has exposed the seediest aspects of our profession, where journalists debase their skills to stalk celebrities and ordinary people and bug their phones, many other journalists are applying them to nobler causes.

It’s a Men’s World - Men still dominate British newspapers

Plus ça change…

I was shocked by the recent research carried on by Women in Journalism, a networking and campaigning organization I am a member of, showing that men still dominate not only the stories on national newspaper’s front pages, but the bylines as well.  They studied all the major UK national daily newspaper's front pages from 16 April to 13 May this year.

When you look around newspaper offices and TV stations today, there seem to be as many women as men, but when it comes to writing the news or appearing in it, women still can't quite make it up to a third of all contributions.

What appears on front pages is important because, despite declining readership and revenues, they still help dictate the day's agenda for both online and broadcast news.

The study found that 78 per cent of all front page bylines were male, versus 22 per cent female, with wide variance between titles. The Daily Express was the title with the most female bylines with a 50/50 split. The Independent had the least – a pathetic 9 per cent!

The content of the lead stories was also dominated by men, according to the WIJ research.  Eighty-four per cent of those quoted or mentioned by name in front-page stories were men. However, 79 per cent of those who might qualify as "victims" in front-page stories were women.  I guess the same might be said about the coverage of Africa news. 

But that’s not all. Across newsrooms, three quarters of news journalists are men while women make up just a third of journalists covering business and politics, according the WIJ research.  When I started as a journalist more than 20 years ago, the figures were similar. It is so depressing to see that nothing at all has changed after all these years. And it is not just the coverage of politics, business and sports that men dominate, but they also make 70 per cent of arts reporters and up 49 per cent of lifestyle reporters.  

Women were also found to be less likely to be in senior newspaper positions, with eight out of the top ten newspapers having almost twice as many male editors as women editors.

Sue Matthias, who is a Women in Journalism's committee member and edits the Financial Times Weekend Magazine, said: "Women's rights in the workplace may have improved, but this research shows that there is still a long way to go in British newspapers.

"The gender imbalance we have uncovered is shocking and it seems old attitudes are still alive and well in many places."

What surprises me is that during the eight years I have been teaching journalism, the majority of my students have been women. Yet, the jobs still seem to go to men. Why is this so?

Marie Colvin’s murder – Journalists as “enemies of the state”

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Veteran war reporter Marie Colvin was killed last week in the besieged city of Homs probably because she was a journalist  - and her murder is part of an alarming trend. 

The award-winning war reporter, 56, died alongside French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik, 28, when the house where they were staying was shelled by Syrian government forces.

Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier, of Le Figaro newspaper, were also injured in the attack. They are today reported to be safe in Lebanon after being smuggled out of Homs.  French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier, 43, was killed in Homs last month, and New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, also 43, died of an apparent asthma attack two weeks ago as he was leaving Syria.

Their deaths are a tragedy, as are those of the 465 people reported to have been killed over the past few weeks in Homs, according to Amnesty International.  

But Colvin and the other journalists were apparently targeted by the regime because they were journalists.

Syrian activists accused Assad's forces of deliberately targeting the journalists in rocket and shell attacks on the city last week, and French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, called the journalists' deaths "an assassination".

Syria is not the only country targeting journalists. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) compiled a list of 106 journalists killed last year - many for being journalists – and singled out Pakistan, Mexico and Syria as the most dangerous regions for journalists. The trend is so alarming that the federation are urging the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon  to take drastic action against governments of the most dangerous countries for media. (See my previous post on the subject)

“We are enemies of the state and the deaths of Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik show we are being treated as such,” wrote Guardian’s foreign correspondent Martin Chulov a few days ago. And Lindsey Hilsum from Channel 4 News commented: “The rise of satellites TV has made journalists more of a target, because every dictator, general or rebel commander can see that we’re uncovering what they are trying to hide.”

Colvin’s final dispatches sought to alert the world to the human tragedy unfolding in Homs, which she described as "absolutely sickening”.  “There's just shells, rockets and tank fire pouring into civilian areas of this city, and it's just unrelenting," she said.

Speaking at a church service 15 months ago for colleagues who had lost their lives in conflicts , she said:  "Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice.

"We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?

"Journalists covering combat shoulder great responsibilities and face difficult choices. Sometimes they pay the ultimate price."  She herself hadn't been spared. She wore a distinctive black eyepatch after losing an eye when she was wounded by shrapnel while covering Sri Lanka's civil war in 2001.

She added: "It has never been more dangerous to be a war correspondent, because the journalist in the combat zone has become a prime target."

At a time when journalists are being examined as never before, when allegations of sleaze and crime around the phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry are rife, it’s good to recognize that there are journalists who fearlessly report what they witness and make a difference. 

They are crucial to making the news and informing the world.  And they need protection.

French journalist killed in Syria – accident or deliberate attack on the press?

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Gilles Jacquier/YouTube video still

 Just as I wrote my last post, yet another journalist has been killed, this time in Syria,  in what appears to be another deliberate attack on the press.

Gilles Jacquier, 43, an award-winning foreign correspondent for French state television’s France 2, was killed last week in an attack in the divided city of Homs, during a government-escorted media trip, according to an article in the Guardian.

Jacquier, who became the first foreign reporter to die since protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began in March, was among a group of 15 journalists, when he was hit in the attack, which also killed nine Syrians and injured 25.

Prosecutors in Paris have launched a preliminary murder inquiry as the French government presses for an independent inquiry.

France Télévision filed a legal complaint over the death, saying many unanswered questions remained. The corporation’s editorial director, Thierry Thuillier, said the journalists had been travelling in a convoy with a military escort that strictly controlled media’s movements.

“When the firing started, the Syrian soldiers withdrew, leaving the journalists alone and exposed. Why?” Thuillier asked. He added the fire that killed the journalist seemed to have been very “precise.”

An unnamed source close to president Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted in Le Figaro newspaper saying: “The Syrian authorities were the only ones who knew that a group of western journalists were visiting Homs that day and in which neighbourhood they were in…One could believe it was an unfortunate accident. But it’s a bit of a coincidence for a regime that seeks to discourage foreign journalists and demonise the upbringing.”

Sarkozy has been one of Assad’s most outspoken western critics, calling repeatedly for him to leave office.

IFJ presses UN for action on media killings – 106 journalists and media staff killed in 2011

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wan-ifra.org

Last year has been another bloody one for the media. In 2011, 106 journalists and media personnel were killed – many of them targeted and murdered expressly because they were journalists. In 2010, 94 were killed.

The situation is so alarming that the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which compiled the list, is urging the United Nations Secretary General BanKi-moon to take drastic action against governments of the most dangerous countries for media.

The Federation believes journalists have been specifically hunted down and blames governments’ failure to uphold their international obligations for the ongoing violence targeting media.  

The deadliest region in 2011 was the Middle East and Arab World with 32 journalists and media personnel killed – and Iraq had the region's highest death toll with 11 dead.  Among countries with high numbers of media fatalities are: 

Pakistan: 11 

Mexico: 11 

The Philippines: 6 

Libya: 6 

Yemen: 6

Honduras: 5 

India: 5   

This year’s list confirms that journalists are among the primary victims of violence in armed conflict, ethnic and religious tensions, as well as political upheavals, which erupted in many countries during the past twelve months.  

Media professionals are exposed to serious risks as they report from the frontline of conflicts, such as in Pakistan and the Arab world, or crime prevention in the lawless parts of Mexico, where they are considered unwelcome witnesses. 

In a letter to the UN Secretary General, the IFJ calls for effective implementation of international legal instruments to combat the prevailing culture of impunity for crimes against journalists. 

“It is abundantly clear that deadly violence against journalists is not just a blip due to conflicts around the world but has become a regular cycle in many countries where journalists are hunted down, targeted and murdered by the enemies of press freedom,” said the letter signed by IFJ President, Jim Boumelha. “In a situation where governments are in denial or indifferent to what has become a regular pattern of targeted killings of journalists, it is incumbent upon yourself and the United Nations to remind them of their responsibility to protect journalists.” 

The IFJ says that violence targets not just journalists but also colleagues from all sectors of the industry, including cameramen, drivers and fixers and other support staff which are all recorded to underscore their crucial role in news gathering and reporting. 

An additional 20 journalists and collaborators also died in accidents and natural disasters incidents. 

The list of journalists and media personnel killed in 2011 is available here.

The IFJ is the world’s largest organisation of journalists, representing more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries around the world.

Ten years after 9/11 – Journalism and the war on terror

As the world prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington, I am thinking of its impact on my profession and my colleagues.
 
These strikes have been followed by the so-called “war on terror” and its legacy on journalism is enormous.

On the plus side, coverage of foreign policy and global conflicts has increased significantly, but the new terror laws have also deeply affected freedom of speech and the way journalists can report events.  Journalists and media staff have also been among some of the war on terror most prominent victims.

The 9/11 attacks unleashed a decade of conflict and tragedy across the globe. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; terrorist strikes in Great Britain, Spain, Indonesia and Turkey; state-sanctioned torture in the name of democracy; and a range of unprecedented laws and policies that have enfeebled civil liberties and human rights protection everywhere.

The International Federation of Journalists ( IFJ) - the world's largest organisation of journalists - and its regional organisation the European Federation of Journalists, are holding a two-day conference in Brussels on September 10th and 11th to examine the legacy of 9/11 and the terror laws on journalism.

The conference entitled "10 years after 9/11: Journalism in the shadow of terror laws", will bring together journalists, human rights advocates and campaigners, trade unionists, academics and politicians to discuss this crisis for free speech and for press freedom, and the risks for journalists covering conflicts.

Says IFJ: “In every corner of the world, journalism has been diminished by the shadow of terrorism. Unscrupulous politicians have taken advantage of public anxiety and, in the name of counter-terrorism, governments have introduced laws, forms of surveillance and monitoring of peoples' lives that increase the power of the state. Journalists have been subject to restrictions on their freedom of movement. Spies have infiltrated newsrooms. Telephones have been tapped. Prosecutions have been launched to discover sources of information.
 
At the same time there have been numerous incidents of secret governmental co-operation to increase covert surveillance of citizens travelling from country to country and, worse, to sanction and condone the detention and torture of people alleged to be implicated in terrorist activities.”

Speakers include:

• Mary Robinson, Chairperson of Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

• Martin Scheinin, former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism

• Sami Al Haj, Al Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for six years

• Moaiad Al Lami, President Iraqi Journalists’ Union

• Jason Parkinson, UK photographers’ campaign “I’m a photographer, not a terrorist”

 

The IFJ Federation represents around 600.000 members in more than 100 countries.

Then they came for me

As a journalist, I am always awed by the number of colleagues who are prepared to die for what they believe is their duty: to uncover and report what needs to be told. Lasantha Wikramatunga, the editor of Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader, continued to write about state terrorism and the need to address to root causes of separatist terrorism, knowing very well he would be killed. He was gunned down on 8 January. His last editorial, published three days after this death, declared that that the duty of his paper was to be “there for everyone- be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled.”

Here is a short extract of his 2,500-word editorial. (Parts of it were reprinted in Amnesty Magazine, May/June 2009.)

“We find ourselves in the midst of a civil war ruthlessly prosecuted by protagonists whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Terror, whether perpetrated by terrorists or the state, has become the order of the day. Indeed, murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges. For neither group have the risks ever been higher or the stakes lower.

Why then do we do it? After all, I too am a husband, and a father of three wonderful children. Is it worth the risks? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognizing the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right to residence in their countries…

But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is called conscience…

When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me… It is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantages or the persecuted.

His last words haunt me; his words so powerful that the government felt he needed to be silenced…