The Mexican journalists' tragedy

The drug-related violence that has been engulfing Mexico affects in particular journalists.Since 2000, 55 journalists have been murdered, 18 of them since the start of 2010.
In the last days the brutality of the attacks against the press has reached awesome proportions and it increasingly takes place far from the Northern "narco states" of Chihuaha, Tamaulipas or Nuevo Leon. The Atlantic port city of Veracruz is in the eye of the storm with an increased number of killings linked to the frontal turf battles between the Zetas and Sinaloa cartels.
On May 4 the dismembered bodies of two news photographers specializing in crime coverage were found in a canal, in Veracruz state, together with those of a former photojournalist and another man.
In London the Catholic NGO CAFOD opened on May 3 an photo exhibition called The Silenced: Fighting for Press Freedom in Mexico to highlight a drama that is unfolding without my attention in the European media's radar screen.
This killing spree targeting journalists is one barometer of the larger crime epidemic hitting the country. Since President Calderon launched a full fledged army offensive against the cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 Mexicans - gang members, security forces, police, journalists and innocent bystanders - have been killed in drug-related violence.

Hong Kong Human rights award for Radio Free Asia

Radio Free Asia, a radio sponsored by the US government (like Radio Free Europe), won two awards at the 16^th annual Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards sponsored by the Foreign Correspondents Club, Amnesty International, and the Hong Kong Journalists Association.It was particularly rewarded for its online investigation into human trafficking.
RFA’s series documents the advent of child soldier recruitment in Burma, labor abuses in China’s black factories, traffickers targeting refugee camps in Thailand, and North Korean mothers being forcibly wed in China, among other instances of trafficking.
To see the documentary, click here : http://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/HumanTrafficking/Home.html

An "electronic journalist's" duty: protect your notes and sources

Many journalists know how to use new telecommunications technologies for reporting but very few take the basic precautions to, make sure their communications and data are protected against surveillance, intrusion, theft or repression.
Tbis CPJ blog provides a few interesting tips and links to other resources, particularly on how to use mobile phones safely.

http://www.cpj.org/security/2012/05/in-digital-security-knowledge-and-simplicity-are-k.php

The Ten Most Censored Countries

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day the Committee to Protect Journalists has released its list of "10 most censored countries", a journey through a world of legal suffocation, crude intimidation and "his Master's Voice" media.
On top of the scissor holders Eritrea, a country that is nearly completely erased from the world's radar screen, followed by North Korea which invites itself regularly on the world news agenda through its nuclear proliferation blackmail, Syria where independent journalists are not welcome, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan Burma, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Belarus and close on their heels, China, Azerbaijan, Sudan etc.
Let us underline that as Columbia University President Lee Bollinger writes in his essay "Uninhibited, Robust, And Wide-Open. A Free Press for A New Century" (Oxford University Press, 2010), "whenever there is censorship anywhere, there is censorship everywhere". 

http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/05/10-most-censored-countries.php

Syria: the difficulty to report

The near closure of Syria to independent international journalists makes it utterly difficult to report on the crisis and violence. Syrian state media are totally under the control of the government while opposition activists are inevitably led to push "their" story which is not necessarily "the" story.
Globe and Mail Middle East correspondent Jess Hill has written a very candid article on the dilemma facing journalists who have a commitment ti trying as forcefully as they can to "tell the truth".
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/syrias-propaganda-war/183/
I am adding for French speakers my own column of the same issue and titled "the modesty to report"
http://www.lesoir.be/debats/chroniques/2012-01-31/la-modestie-d-informer-894090.php

The New CPJ Journalist Security Guide

As hundreds of journalists are attacked, jailed, threatened, or placed under surveillance each year, the Committee to Protect Journalists has launched a new Journalist Security Guide to help reporters assess and deter risk.

The interactive guide, created by CPJ experts, provides a blueprint for local and international journalists of all experience levels to take concrete steps for their physical and digital safety.  Protecting digital information, preparing for armed conflict, covering organized crime and corruption, and mitigating the risk of sexual violence are among vital topics included in the guide.

http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/04/journalist-security-guide.php 

Obama sanctions IT companies complicit with Damas and Tehran

Recent events in Syria and Iran have shown that the ruling regimes have been able to use communications technologies to track, monitor and target dissidents and opponents. Some Western companies have been complicit and have delivered material and expertise that have allowed the security services to arrest or kill journalists and activists.
In order to weaken these states' capacities to use IT for repression the White House has issued an executive order that penalizes individuals or companies that work with Damas and Tehran.
See the Executive Order here: http://www.humanrights.gov/2012/04/23/ghravity-executive-order/