RSF 2008 Press Freedom Survey

Freedom of expression is often described as "the mother of all other freedoms". Press freedom is very often one of the best barometers of the human rights situation in a particular country.
RSF (Reporters without borders) annual survey shows some small statistical improvements but also very worrying trends especially concerning repression of the Internet.
For a complete reading of the survey please go to www.rsf.org

Major Figures
In 2008 :
60 journalists were killed
1 media assistant was killed
673 journalists were arrested
929 were physically attacked or threatened
353 media outlets were censored
29 journalists were kidnapped
Internet :
1 blogger was killed
59 bloggers were arrested
45 were physically attacked
1,740 websites were blocked, shut down or suspended

For comparison, in 2007 :
86 journalists were killed
20 media assistants were killed
887 journalists were arrested
1,511 were physically attacked or threatened
528 media outlets were censored
67 journalists were kidnapped

General Overview
The Asia-Pacific and Maghreb-Middle East regions are still the deadliest for the press. After Iraq (with 15 journalists killed), the two countries with the highest death tolls are Pakistan (7 killed) and the Philippines (6 killed). The bloodshed continues in Mexico, where four journalists were murdered in connection with their work. The fall in the death toll in Africa (from 12 in 2007 to 3 in 2008) is due above all to the fact that many journalists stopped working, often going into exile, and to the gradual disappearance of news media in war zones such as Somalia.
The number of arrests (for periods of more than 48 hours) is particularly high in Africa, where it is almost routine for journalists to end up in police cells when they upset senior officials or cover subjects that are off-limits. In Iraq (31 arrests), the US military’s handling of the security situation often results in Iraqi journalists, including those working for foreign news media, being imprisoned. In China (38 arrests), many cases of detention were attributable to the Olympics. In Burma (17 arrests), outspoken journalists and bloggers were jailed in a crackdown by the military government.
Reporters Without Borders comment :
“The figures may be lower than last year’s but this should not mask the fact that intimidation and censorship have become more widespread, including in the west, and the most authoritarian governments have been taking an even tougher line. The quantitative improvement in certain indicators is often due to journalists becoming disheartened and turning to a less dangerous trade or going into exile. We cannot say that 60 deaths, hundreds of arrests and systematic censorship offer grounds for optimism.”

Repression shifts to the Internet
The fall in the number of journalists from the traditional media killed or arrested in 2008 does not mean the press freedom situation has improved. As the print and broadcast media evolve and the blogosphere becomes a worldwide phenomenon, predatory activity is increasingly focusing on the Internet.
In this respect, the figures speak for themselves. In 2008, someone was for the first time killed while acting as a “citizen journalist.” It was Chinese businessman Wei Wenhua, who was beaten to death by “chengguan” (municipal police officers) while filming a clash with demonstrators in Tianmen (in Hubei province) on 7 January. Cases of online censorship were recorded in 37 countries, above all China (93 websites censored), Syria (162 websites censored) and Iran (38 websites censored).
There are democracies that do not lag far behind in terms of online surveillance and repression. Taboos established by the monarchy in Thailand and by the military in Turkey are so tenacious that incautious Internet users are increasingly being monitored and punished by the police. Video-sharing websites such as YouTube and Dailymotion are favourite targets of government censors. It is becoming more and more common for sites to be blocked or filtered because of content that officials have deemed “offensive.” A visceral reaction from some governments towards participatory websites, especially social networking sites, is beginning to give rise to cases of “mass censorship.” The censorship of sites such as Twitter (in Syria) or Facebook (blocked in Syria and Tunisia, and filtered in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates) leads to massive amounts of content being blocked - an effect that is considerably compounded when combined with other standard methods of control.
Governments are increasingly responding with imprisonment to criticism by bloggers. In China, 10 cyber-dissidents were arrested, 31 were physically attacked or threatened, and at least three were tried and convicted. In Iran, Reporters Without Borders registered 18 arrests, 31 physical attacks and 10 convictions. Online free expression is also curtailed in Syria (8 arrests and 3 convictions), Egypt (6 arrests) and Morocco (2 arrests and 2 convictions).
Internet freedom has been crushed with particular severity in Burma, where the military government has arrested and tried blogger and comedian Zarganar and the young cyber-dissident Nay Phone Latt in a disgraceful manner and sentenced them to incredibly severe jail terms (59 years for the former, 20 years for the latter). These two men join Burma’s many other political prisoners, who include 16 journalists.
Reporters Without Borders comment :
“The growth in the Internet’s influence and potential is being accompanied by greater vigilance on the part of some governments with already marked security concerns. Every year, repressive governments acquire new tools that allow them to monitor the Internet and track online data. The Internet is gradually becoming a battleground for citizens with criticisms to express and journalists who are censored in the traditional media. As such, it poses a threat to those in power who are used to governing as they wish with impunity.”

Hostile climate, better figures
The upsurge in online repression comes at a time when traditional media, even in the leading western democracies, are coming under renewed pressure. Anti-terrorism and “post-9/11” laws put investigative journalists in very delicate positions. Foreign correspondents face growing hostility if they are from countries that are part of, or associated with, the US-led “anti-terrorist” coalition.
Still, even if the overall situation is bad, the figures are not as alarming as in previous years. Repression has shifted and diversified. Some authoritarian governments have been replaced. But even with 24 per cent fewer arrests, there are still too many police raids on news media and reporters’ homes, including in France. And there are leading journalists and free expression activists such as Hu Jia, the “Olympic” prisoner of a Chinese government as intolerant as ever, who are beginning 2009 in jail.
There are no grounds for optimism. The murders of journalists continue although the number has fallen slightly (by 22 per cent, from 86 in 2007 to 60 in 2008) and the deaths are now concentrated in “hot zones” - Iraq, Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, Philippines and Mexico - where civilians of all kinds fall victim to wars, political and criminal violence or terrorism. Abduction, an effective source of income and political affirmation, is still very frequent in Afghanistan (7 journalists and media assistants kidnapped), Somalia (5 kidnappings), Mexico (5 kidnappings) and Iraq (4 kidnappings).
Finally, there is a slight decline in the use of censorship (with a third fewer cases in 2008 than in 2007) but it continues to be a routine tool in many countries that are equally distributed in all the continents - Sudan (4 media outlets censored), Guinea (5), Somalia (5), Iran (27), Egypt (10), Syria (11), Russia (15), Belarus (18), Turkey (13), Burma (85), China (132), Pakistan (19), Malaysia (25), Bolivia (20), Brazil (14), Mexico (10) and Venezuela (7).
Reporters Without Borders comment :
“One should not conclude from a decline in the figures that the situation has necessarily improved. The sad spectacle of a journalist in handcuffs is an almost daily occurrence in all the continents. When governments are challenged, their most frequent response is imprisonment. And the dozens of murders, in which the involvement of the security forces is often almost certain, rarely lead to trials, whether in Sri Lanka or Burkina Faso.”

Algeria: the dangers of public interest journalism

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the jailing of two journalists of the daily El Watan in Algiers. Omar Belhouchet, one of the most famous leaders of the private media in the country, and Salima Tlemçani, one of the leading Algerian journalists, have been the victim of a judiciary that constitutes one of the pillars of the authoritarian system of Algeria.
To a large extent, there is no Fourth Estate in Algeria because there is only one Estate, "the State". Some of the media, trying to play a role of watchdog, are just a form of Second Estate.

The IFJ condemns the jailing of two Algerian journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned three months jail sentences handed down by a court in Algiers against two journalists in a defamation case warning that the judgement threatens the fabric of press freedom in Algeria."This ruling fails to take account of the vital role the press play in protecting the public from fraud and deception," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, noting how the journalists had been prosecuted for exposing how bogus healers pry on the most vulnerable in the society. "When media are penalised for exposing humbug and duplicity the fundamental basis of press freedom in a democratic society is weakened."
The case concerns a report published four years ago by El Watan newspaper about an alleged healer who practices in Algiers, Algeria. He subsequently launched a defamation suit against Omar Belhouchet and Salima Tlemçani, the paper's director and reporter respectively.The report exposed the activities of alleged healers who claim to cure illness despite not having any medical qualifications. Salima was able to substantiate her report by visiting the alleged healer's surgery, posing as a patient.
In addition to the jail terms, the court also fined Omar and Salima 50.000 dinars (500 Euro) each.The IFJ considers the court's ruling as yet another attempt by the powerful to silence investigative journalism, by means of judicial interference."This ruling reinforces journalists' case to have all criminal press laws removed to prevent the criminal justice being used as shield from proper and legitimate media scrutiny of those who lay claim on power over the public," added White.

For more information contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 2207
http://www.ifj.org/

Madoff's devastating blow to human rights and independent journalism

The collapse of Bernard Madoff’s financial “castle of cards” has been damaging for other big and irresponsible banks. But the collateral damages are huge in the non-profit sector as well, in particular in the two fields that we are following: the human rights movement and journalism.
Many organizations, like Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, the Center for Public Integrity (sponsor of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), ProPublica (an investigative journalism media), the Center for investigative reporting, had been receiving important donations from foundations that had invested in the Madoff funds.
One of these philanthropic foundations, the renowned JEHT (Justice, Equality, Human Dignity and Tolerance) has announced that it was closing. Most of its endowment came from the Levy-Church family that has been rudely hit by Madoff’s collapse.
The prospect is grim: some of the grantees might have to fold or at a minimum to cancel programmes. That means that key projects, especially in the field of U.S. and international justice, will be affected. Investigative projects, so essential to the work of documenting human rights violations, especially in the area of social and economic rights, are also threatened.

Preventing Genocide: a tribute to CNN

In some circles “CNN-bashing” is still a great sport. “Too American, too superficial, too conservative!”. And yet, while most other commercial media have been focused on the financial meltdown and the economic recession the Atlanta-based news channel has been broadcasting Scream Bloody Murder, (http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/scream.bloody.murder/index.html)
a fabulous and courageous programme on, guess what?, genocide.

Most media seem to be unaware that we are approaching the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations on December 8, 1948 of the Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. CNN has not forgotten and by doing so the TV channel has made a very strong editorial statement. Despite all surveys and conventional wisdom implying that the public likes dumb and frivolous programmes, contrary to other media that downsize foreign news and serious commentary, CNN has bet on the intelligence and the ethics of its viewers.
The leader of this project, Christiane Amanpour is no stranger to genocide. She was one of the most committed journalists in the coverage of the horrors of the Balkan wars in the 90s. Sarajevo was her first war assignment and it was followed by Rwanda and other killing fields.
In the last months she has again travelled the globe to produce this documentary on the world’s most heinous crime. But this documentary is much more than reportage, much more than a succession of interviews with victims and children of victims. It practices a journalism of historical context and provides perspective, an approach that should be the essence of journalism but that, in reality, is becoming an exception in the soundbite-crazy and quick-paced mediasphere.
The programme brings a wealth of information on the issue: it tells the story of the Jewish Polish lawyer Raphaël Lemkin who, so shocked by the 1915 Armenian genocide in Turkey, spent his life working on the concept of “extermination of nations” and coined the word genocide, in reference to the Holocaust (in which 40 members of his family were killed). It depicts the tragedies and insanities of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. It interviews victims and perpetrators, it fathoms out the darkest side of humanity.
It brings however a profound humanist message by showing that some people just said No. They refused to become the foot soldiers of extermination, they took immense risks to rescue their fellow human beings. Others, journalists, diplomats, humanitarian workers, priests, human rights activists, denounced, testified and advocated for a strong action by the "international community" to intervene and stop the mass killings.
“Thank goodness for the few good men and women who summon the courage to do something in the face of evil, to stand up and confront it, says Christiane Amanpour. They give me hope”.

Watch the programme. Boost the ratings. Send a message to the cynics of the media industry, tell them that quality and humanity can attract viewers. Write to CNN to congratulate them for daring to go against the grain.