Press Freedom
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The tension between objective news reporting and advocacy was the subject of the final plenary panel that I moderated last week at the Global Media Forum in Bonn. Sponsored by Germany's multi-language, government broadcast agency, Deutsche Welle, the three-day conference brought together journalists and experts from every continent to address but not necessarily resolve the media's role in covering human rights abuses. The tone was set the first day by keynote speaker Thorbjorn Jagland . Placing the contemporary debate into historical context, Jagland referred to Germany's and Europe's experience in World War II and the Holocaust. "People believed that if they looked in the other direction when the Jews were brought to the camps, they would be safe. But it was the other way around.
Subjectivity, advocacy in covering human rights - Blog - Committee to Protect Journalists
Photojournalists face deportation in Thailand - Committee to Protect Journalists
Bangkok, January 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the charges and threatened deportation of Thailand-based freelance photojournalists John Sanlin, a Burmese passport holder, and Pascal Schatterman, a Belgian national. "We call on Thai authorities to reconsider the deportation of journalists John Sanlin and Pascal Schatterman and take into consideration the prospect that Sanlin will suffer severe reprisals if he is forcibly returned to Burma," said , CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Thailand has long been a safe haven for exiled journalists to report freely on Burma.
Hungary must repeal repressive new media law - Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you to work toward the immediate repeal of Hungary's new, severely restrictive media law. " On Media Services and Mass Media ," better known as the Media Act, was approved by the Hungarian parliament on December 21 and signed by President Pal Schmitt on December 30, despite domestic and international alarm at the potentially devastating effect on press freedom. The measure came into force on January 1, the same day Hungary assumed the rotating European Union presidency, sending the very damaging message that Hungary is seeking to nullify citizens' internationally recognized rights to free expression and access to information. While Article 3 of the Media Act asserts that "information and opinions may be transmitted freely," nearly all of the measure's 229 pages are devoted to restrictions on free expression and politicized means of enforcing those limits.
We learned that the censorship imposed illegally on hundreds of Tunisian blogs and websites, both Tunisians and foreigners, was “shut off” temporarily for few hours on Monday, August 16, 2010. And although the information on this brief lifting of the censorship in the country is still contradictory - as some claimed they had no access to certain websites, while to others the same websites were accessible- it is still early to determine what really happened at the top level of Tunisian censorship, which is, remember, dark, top-secret, centralized at the highest level of the state and is never in the control of the several Tunisian ISPs, though, with an excess of zeal, they have the ability to add an extra layer of censorship to their customers. Thus, we learned that access to Flickr, the photo sharing site (censored April 22, 2010) and video-sharing sites, blip.tv and wat.tv (respectively censored on the 22nd and 28th of April, 2010), has been restored.
A First glimpse at the Internet Filtering in Tunisia - Global Voices Advocacy
Pakistani Journalist Speaks Out After an Attack - NYTimes.com
There, he says, he was beaten and stripped naked. His head and eyebrows were shaved, and he was videotaped in humiliating positions by assailants who he and other journalists believe were affiliated with the country’s powerful spy agency. At one point, while he lay face down on the floor with his hands cuffed behind him, his captors made clear why he had been singled out for punishment: for writing against the government.
Derakhshan case: When keeping quiet does not work - Blog - Committee to Protect Journalists
The severity of the nearly 20-year jail sentence handed down to veteran Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan , left, has shocked many exiled Iranian journalists and bloggers with whom I've spoken. It's also reinforced their belief that the best way to help jailed colleagues is not through quiet diplomacy but by making a lot of noise. Derakhshan's case made headlines last month when human rights groups reported that prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for the writer, dubbed the "blogfather" of Farsi blogging, on a raft of antistate charges. In the end, a Revolutionary Court sentenced the Iranian-Canadian dual national to nineteen and a half years in prison. His family and lawyer learned of the verdict through the news media.
October 7th marks the fourth anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a highly respected investigative journalist. Politkovskaya devoted much of her career to shining a light on human rights abuses and unmasking the misery of war, especially in Chechnya. She stood for what is best in independent journalism by giving a voice to victims and illuminating the truth. Four years have passed since her murder, yet those responsible have yet to be brought to justice. We welcome the recent announcement by Russian officials that the criminal investigation into Ms. Politkovskaya’s case will be reenergized and that 19 unsolved cases of murdered journalists will be re-opened.
Four-Year Anniversary of Politkovskaya Murder
The Department of Justice issued Twitter a subpoena for access to the accounts of Julian Assange and several others in relation to its investigation of the whistle-blower organization, which released roughly 2,000 classified cables. As a result of its current law enforcement guidelines , Twitter is going to divulge the information. The provision is fairly typical for technology startups to include in their policies as a way to protect themselves from getting involved in legal issues pertaining to the platform’s users. With such a policy, Twitter is not held responsible, and in many ways it should not be.
Social Media and Subpoenas: The Loophole That Puts Journalistic Sources at Risk
A Bold Step For Afghan Women Journalists « Afghan Women's Writing Project
Three female journalists have taken the bold step of forming Afghanistan’s first Women’s Journalism Center with the aim of training female journalism graduates and helping them find media-related jobs in Herat and other nearby provinces. Eight years ago, Herat University began offering a journalism program that included women students. But the female graduates, “about twenty a year, end up teaching in schools because of the lack of positions in local media or because of social pressure,” said Fawzia Fakhri, director of the new center. “We decided to start this center in order to encourage females who spent four years studying journalism in school.” Being a woman journalist in Afghanistan can be extremely dangerous. Women who venture into that field routinely face harassment and threats, and have sometimes been killed.
Unknown forces attempt to block Malaysia Today from printing documents involving a huge scandal Malaysia Today , the hard-hitting news website edited by Raja Petra Kamarudin, has been blocked by mysterious technical problems twice in the last 24 hours after publishing damning articles of deep corruption at the top of the Malaysian government. One implicated the United Malays National Organization, the country's leading political party, in looting MAS, the country's flag carrier. A second alleged that a friend of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was attempting to steer RM200 million into the pockets of Najib's family from China Railways Engineering Corporation (CREC), for double-tracking the national railway. "We are under severe attack," Raja Petra said in an email from London, where he now lives. "We've been down for the last 12 hours and a day before that for 24 hours.
Asia Sentinel - Malaysian Website Blocked to Cover Up a Scandal
King Mohammed IV at the United Nations last week. (Reuters/Chip East) New York, September 26, 2010--On the eve of a high-profile conference on press freedom in Rabat, the Committee to Protect Journalists reiterates its call to King Mohammed VI to use his constitutional prerogatives to bring Moroccan legislation in line with international standards for freedom of expression. CPJ also urged the monarch to end the use of the judiciary and other government agencies to harass critical journalists.
urges Morocco to improve press conditions - Committee to Protect Journalists
Press Freedom Costs