Issues Raised by Journalists

Honduras lawyer denouncing prison mistreatment killed

2012-01-24T15:37:00.000Z

A Honduras lawyer was shot dead on January 17, after he had revealed to a local newspaper cases of police mistreatments of detainees in the prison of the city of Tela, North of Honduras. Jose Ricardo Rosales was killed three days later the story was published on El Tiempo. According to the newspaper, 74 lawyers have been killed in last three years in Honduras.

Inquiry on the role of UK media in the spread of islamophobia

2012-01-10T14:39:00.002Z

The TV Islamic Channel is planning to set up an inquiry to investigate how British media cover Islamic and Muslim affairs, a sort of “Leveson inquiry” related to Islamophobia. According to a summer 2011 report commissioned by the UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, British people considered media the first responsible for the creation of climate of fear against Islam in the UK. The purpose of the panel is to investigate the possible consequences of media coverage on social perception of Islam in the UK, and the repercussions of the government policy towards British Muslims. Islamic Channel broadcasts in English all across the UK, Europe and the MENA countries; its owner is Mohamed Ali Harrath, a Tunisian refugee.

Nigerian newspaper stormed to prevent story publication

2012-01-10T14:34:00.003Z

The regional offices in Kano of the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust were stormed on the third of January to prevent the publication of an article about local protests. An armed band entered into the building, injuring a security guard, and started to destroy everything inside: they were prevented to set the office ablaze by the police arrival. Daily Trust was covering the rallies against the fuel subsidies cut implemented by federal government with the support of the local authorities, a move that has been greatly criticized by local population. The attempt to prevent the publication of the story is believed to be the reason for the assault to the newspaper.

Brazilian journalist killed

2012-01-10T14:32:00.002Z

Brazilian journalist Laecio de Souza was shot to death in the afternoon of the 3th of January in the metropolitan area of Salvador, State of Bahia, short after having received threats on his mobile phone. A local news correspondent for the radio station Sucesso FM, he was planning to run to the city council and was carrying on some social projects on behalf of the local community, with the construction of a storage facility. According to the police, this was the cause of his death: local drug traffickers were upset with Laecio’s activities, and decided to get rid of him with three bullets.

NYT JOURNALIST BRIEFLY DETAINED IN BAHRAIN

2012-01-09T16:48:00.000Z

The New York Times journalist Kick Kristoff was briefly detained by the police while covering a protest in Bahrain on Friday 9 December 2011. The columnist and his videographer Adam Ellick were covering the police reaction to the protests, with also use of tear gas, when they were stopped and held for a while in police car without justification; the two said to have been tear gassed and their camera was damaged. Bahrain authorities denied any charge, justifying their action with the necessity to protect them. It is not the first time that foreign journalists are prevented to assist and cover demonstrations in Bahrain; the same happened a few days earlier to Reuter’s photojournalist Hamad Mohamed and Mazen Mahdi from EPA/DPA. While the US government is finally becoming concerned about the mistreatment of the demonstrators in Bahrain – as for the case of rights activist Nabeel Rajab -, the authorities are trying to restrict the spread of news about the situation in the Arab country.

Media forced to remove news of boy's killing in Venezuela

2011-12-16T16:07:00.003Z

Venezuelan media were banned from publishing the murder of a boy in his school in Caracas; the victim, 12 years old, was shot dead by his classmates on December 9. The Council for Protection of Children and Adolescences ordered to remove all the contents regarding the event, censoring also the readers’ comments on the online newspapers’ forums. Complying with the request, the Venezuelan media apologised for their behaviour.

Russian magazine executives fired after publishing insults to Putin

2011-12-16T15:54:00.001Z

The editorial executives of the Russian newspaper Kommersant have been fired for publishing photos and articles against Prime Minister Putin after the last elections. Kommersant’s owner, Alisher Usmanov, asked the general director Andrei Galiyev and the editor in chief Maxim Kovalsky to leave, while the general director of the publishing house, Demyan Kudryavtsev, resigned with a letter. Mr Usmanov deemed the investigative report ‘How the elections were falsified’ as just “petty hooliganism”. Issued in the wake of the last Russian Parliamentary elections, the report was published with photos of swearing writings against Putin. Mr Usmanov, an oligarch with a fortune in the metal and pipeline industry and a major shareholder in Arsenal football club, is considered to be close with the Kremlin, and this can explain the massive dismissals in his newspaper. After the elections, peaceful demonstration took place in many Russian cities, questioning the victory of Putin’s Russia United Party, and concerns about possible intrigues in the next 4 March Presidential elections are increasing among the population. Putin’s new competitor, Mikhail Prokhorov, offered to buy Kommersant Publishing house from Alisher Usmanov, a taunting move in the Russian troubled political waters. The game for the Presidential elections is not closed as it previously seemed, and attention needs to be paid to press freedom and the contributions of newspapers and journalists in the next months.

Increasing number of journalists detained worldwide

2011-12-16T11:50:00.000Z

The number of journalists imprisoned has considerably increased in the last years, especially in the Middle East and North Africa countries. According to Committee to Protect Journalist, 179 writers, editors and photojournalists are detained across the world, most of them free lance, but strong differences exist between different areas of the world. The CPJ is an independent nonprofit organization with the aim to protect press freedom worldwide, and it released an annual census and continuous reports about violations of journalist rights. While no cases were reported in Europe and the Americas, the situation in Central Asia is also improving, with only eight cases of detention in the whole region. According to the CPJ 2011 annual report, the situation of North Africa and Middle East is seen with great concern, especially after the last political events. Iran has the worst record with 42 journalists detained, and a harsh overall situation for press freedom. Since the June 2009 elections, Iranian authorities have engaged in increasing attacks against journalists, independent newspapers and free bloggers: in November, at least 5 cases have been reported. In very harsh prison conditions, imprisoned journalists can be sentenced to thousand dollars in sanctions and years in jail. Several cases have been reported also in Syria (8) and Turkey (8). Beyond the Middle East, China, Eritrea and Burma have the worst records, and several cases interested also Vietnam, Ethiopia and Israel. In general, journalists are mistreated during detention, which is in most cases without any specific charge; at least six journalists have died in jail. In China, special repression is directed against press covering ethnic and religious minorities, as the Tibetan and Uighur groups. Many editors and writes in Asia and Africa are detained for their investigations against the corruption of their political system. Good news is coming from Cuba, where the last detainees have been released in April of this year. To conclude, CPJ report is stressing the increase in numbers, and the concern that the situation will hardly improve in the following months.

Indian journalists held in Myanmar

2011-12-16T11:47:00.001Z

Myanmar will deport two Indian Journalist stopped and detained for being found without a valid travelling document in a restricted Myanmar area at the beginning of December. Rajjb Bhattacharya and photographer Pradip Gogoi were trying to interview Paresh Baruah, the leader of the United Liberation Front of Asom, a separatist group fighting for the independence of the northern Indian Assam state and considered a terrorist group by New Delhi. The two were reported to have been detained for investigations in the north eastern part of Myanmar, near the Chinese border. Indian authorities obtained the release of the two journalists after diplomatic efforts. The Myanmar authorities accepted to expel the journalists after further investigation and, probably, the confiscation of their cameras and phones.

Controversial newspaper advertising in South Africa

2011-12-15T15:11:00.001Z

South African opposition Democratic Alliance Party has criticized a promotion campaign on the Independent Newspapers that will be made in occasion of the centenary celebrations of the African National Congress. The campaign will be launched on 13 January, and will be published in several local newspapers owned by the Independent News& Media Company. DA leader, Helen Zille, said that the advertising is a mere promotion of the ANC, and she commented that “it is deeply ironic that Independent Newspapers would choose to run an advertising feature glorifying the ANC when the very same party is attempting to shut down the free press”. She tried to complain to the South African media ombudsman, but her claim was rejected since it has no competence on advertising. The Independent News rejected the accusations, stressing the division between the editorial and commercial units of the company.

Rwandan journalist killed in Uganda

2011-12-07T15:43:00.002Z

The editor of the Inyenyeri News, Charles Ingabire was killed in a bar in Kampala on Wednesday 30 of November. The police reported that he was drinking in a bar near Makerere University when he was shot dead. Mr Ingabire was living in exile in Uganda, after he had to escape from Rwanda in 2007 because of political persecution. He was particularly critical against the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and he accused his government agents to threaten his life. The Rwandan authorities deny any involvement in the murder, accusing the journalist to be a criminal in reality. However, several press freedom watchdogs have called Uganda to conduct transparent and accurate investigations in the case

Prominent Egyptian American journalist attacked in Cairo

2011-11-25T12:14:00.003Z

Journalist, Mona Eltahawy has suffered a broken wrist and arm after "12 hours with interior ministry bastards and military intelligence combined", the journalist tweeted her ordeal to her fans following the attack on the 23rd of November.
While covering the events in Tahrir square through her continuous tweeting, photgraphing and reporting for The Guradian and Toronto Star, Eltahawy was questioned by authorities about her lack of passport and then taken into the interior ministry where she suffered mental, physical and sexual assault.

The assault seems to be one of an endless amount of attacks on journalists during the ongoing protests.

Bolivian Radio Host Stabbed

2011-11-23T11:55:00.003Z

Bolivian radio host for Radio Gente, Leopoldo Ibarro was stabbed on the 15th of November due to his denunciation of a local merchant's association.

The reporter was stabbed and beaten near the city's capital La Paz and says his daughter was also a victim in the attack.

Ahram Online journalist attacked by Egyptian security forces

2011-11-22T15:10:00.001Z

On the 19th of November, Ahram Online reporter, Ahmed Feteha was attacked by Egyptian security forces.
The journalist was covering the ongoing unrest in Cairo when he found himself in the middle of a standoff between protesters and police. Fateha was brutally attacked by Egyptian officials and it has been reported that he was robbed of his belongings and beaten with batons. He was again beaten when reporting the crime to a senior officer.

Officials try to silence Egyptian football supporters

2011-11-15T15:18:00.003Z

Supporters of the Egyptian football team Al-Ahly, made their concerns with the Egyptian Football Association very clear during a recent football match when a banner with the word 'thieves' branded on it was raised by fans.

Following the display, the director of the state-run broadcasting TV station was suspended. Ahmed al-Hun was informed by the minister for information that he had not followed the correct code of conduct or ethics in his decision to show supporter's with the large protest banner nor was it conducive to maintaining and promoting Egyptian morals and values. This very fact only adds to supporter's disgruntled attitudes toward the corrruption of the football association and the fundamental issue that the organisation is still run by a number of the former president's associates.

South Sudanese authorities arrest two local journalists

2011-11-15T13:59:00.003Z

Authorities in South Sudan have detained two journalists because of a recent article published in The Destiny Newspaper regarding the Country's president choosing to give his daughter's hand in marriage to an Ethiopian man.

The commentary by Dengdit Ayok, brought to light a general discontenment within the Southern Sudanese state regarding the President's choice and went on to outline how insulting to the country's people selecting a foreigner is. This is especially poignant after the county has only recently gained it's independence and is in a transitional period in which creating a strong national identity is of huge importance.

Senior government officials sent a letter to the paper clearly outlining their objection to the lack of professional ethics and, even after an apology was published, the national security service entered the offices on the 1st of November and arrested editor in chief, Ngor Garang.
Following the initial arrest, the paper has been indefinitley suspended and Ayok was also taken into NSS custody on the 12th of this month.

A number of organisations, including Amnesty International have called for both the men's release with reference to the fact that under the new transitional constitution, freedom of expression is a fundamental right. However although this is theoretically the case, the complete lack of legislature pertaining to media right's and freedoms has created an appropriate loophole for the detainment to take place, as it has done in nine other cases this year regarding members of the media.

Further to this, the new constitution also states that someone cannot be detained for over 24 hours without the support of the judiciary but again, the theory does not correlate with the ongoing practice implemented by the NSS.

Brazillian Cameraman Shot Dead in Favella Shootout

2011-11-07T15:01:00.004Z

A Brazilian crime photographer and cameraman, Gelson Domingos da Silva, was shot dead in Antares Favela in Western Rio de Janeiro.

The incident took place during a shootout between local drug traffickers and police. The armed dispute was a consequence of Brazilian law enforcement's ongoing pacification scheme aimed at drug gangs in favelas across the region.

Da Silva was a highly experienced cameraman who fell victim to Brazillian legislation through it's lack of safeguards for local media in failing to provide professsionals with worthy bullet and stab proof vests.

News Corp Journalist arrested by Scotland Yard

2011-11-07T14:29:00.002Z

Various newspapers including, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The telegraph and The Independent have reported about the recent arrest by Scotland Yard of Jamie Pyatt.

Pyatt, who has been a journalist at the News Corp tabloid 'The Sun' for a number of years has been accused of making "inappropriate payments" to police.

The enquiry is part of an ongoing probe by Scotland Yard into tabloid's seemingly increasing method of bribing police. However, this is the first time News Corp's 'The sun' has come under question. Pyatt has refused to comment and was released on bail on the 4th of November.

Syrian Journalists Disappear

2011-11-02T15:54:00.002Z

Since the unrest in Syria began in March the number of journalists who have been arrested and remain in custody, or worse still disappeared, has been worryingly high. The latest in a string of such cases is business reporter Lina Saleh Ibrahim who works for the state-owned daily newspaper Tishreen. She has been missing for seven days and was last seen leaving her home in Damascus on 25th October.

Similar cases include Wael Yousef Abaza, a freelancer in Damascus, who is also reported to have disappeared; and Hussein Ghrer, a prominent blogger who disappeared after leaving his home in 24th October after writing a few days earlier: "Silence doesn't serve us after today. We don't want a country where we get imprisoned for uttering a word. We want a country that embraces and welcomes words."

The New-York based Committee For the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) believes all three are in state custody and has urged the Syrian regime to clarify the whereabouts of these journalists and explain why.

Nigerian Journalist Killed

2011-11-01T15:50:00.002Z

Alhaji Zakariya Isa, a reporter and cameraman for the state-owned Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), was killed after being shot in the head several times. The attack, which took place near his home in Maiduguri on 22nd October, has been claimed by a radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram. A spokesman for Boko Haram (which translates to “Western education is forbidden”) accused Isa of being a spy for the Nigerian security agency, but this has been disputed by both Isa’s colleagues and the intelligence services.

Ukrainian Journalist Shot

2011-10-24T15:34:00.000+01:00

A Ukrainian journalist is in hospital in critical condition after being shot in the head last week. The journalist, Oleksandr Vlaschenko, works for the Nash Gorod Nikolaev newspaper and has recently been writing articles about local authority corruption which, his editor suggests, was the reason for the attack. Local media reports said the attacker took his bag which contained his camera and two mobile phone but not the money he was carrying, adding to the suspicion that this attack was related to Vlaschenko’s recent journalistic activities.

Another Somali Radio Station Attacked

2011-10-24T15:24:00.000+01:00

Recently there have been a series of attacks on journalists in the Somali region. The latest of these is an attack on a radio station in the Somalian state of Puntland. Hand grenades were thrown into Radio Galkayo station, causing damage but no injuries. This is not the first attack experienced by Radio Galkoyo; last month Horriya Abdulkadir, one of the station’s journalists, was shot as she stood outside the station. Eight days after that Hassan Mohamed Ali, a reporter for Voice of Peace Radio in Basaso, was also severely wounded in a shooting. Attacks such as these are making the climate increasingly hostile for journalists.

Mauritius editor jailed for contempt

2011-10-24T13:41:00.001+01:00

Dharmanand Dooharika, editor-in-chief of Mauritius-based weekly Samedi Plus has been jailed for contempt. Dooharika was sentenced following his paper’s coverage of a fraud case last summer in which it reported allegations of bias against the judge by the man who launched the legal action. Dooharika was accused of "publicly scandalising the supreme court" and "bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.” The paper’s parent company, Contact Press, was also fined 300,000 rupees (£6500).

Reporters Without Borders expressed concern, explaining "this trial once again highlights the fragility of the current situation which is heading in the direction of a media crackdown on certain politically sensitive topics." We deeply regret the ruling by Judges Keshoe Parsad Matadeen and Asraf Caunhye and call for the release of the journalist, and for leniency in the appeals that are pending."

7 Arrested at Nigerian Newspaper

2011-10-14T12:15:00.004+01:00

Activists and other journalists have criticised the Nigerian government and the police for arresting 7 employees of The Nation newspaper on charges of forgery and defamation after one journalist published a story about the level of presidential influence in the country. Associated Press have reported that several of those arrested had nothing to do with the story, with police arresting them simply because they could not immediately find the newspaper's senior management.

The story at the heart of the controversy, written by journalist Yusuf Alli, alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to current leader Goodluck Jonathon urging him to replace the leaders of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund and four other agencies with his own candidates. This story came too close to home for Nigeria’s government, since it involved leaders from the Christian South (Obasanjo and Jonathon) recommending that agency leaders from the Muslim North are replaced. The police demanded that Alli reveal his source, and since he refused to do so he was then threatened with sedition charges on the grounds that he intended to cause separation between north and south.

All seven have now been released.

Al Jazeera ex-Chief On People Power

2011-10-13T12:57:00.000+01:00

The message that Al Jazeera sent to its Egyptian viewers at the height of the protests in Tahrir Square sums up the unique Al Jazeera approach: "If the authorities have banned our reporters from working, then every single one of you is an Al-Jazeera reporter." This approach to reporting in which the people are at the heart of the editorial policy was the central theme of former director general of Al Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar’s lecture at City University.

Khanfar explained that the network’s call to its viewers in Egypt to act as its reporters led to hundreds of activists providing Al Jazeera with a constant stream of news and video via social networking sites. They succeeded, he argued, “in breaking the siege imposed by the Egyptian security apparatuses, thanks to the faith our viewers had in our mission and to our faith in their capabilities.” Khanfar has been at the forefront of a new way of viewing the media which, he passionately explained in his lecture, was a mission of serving the public interest. Siding with the people, he said, was essential for his profession to avoid becoming a commodity to be sold and to ensure that people trusted them as a source for change.

The concern now is whether Al Jazeera lives up to these bold words to continue to set a higher standard for others within the industry, since Khanfar has been replaced as director general by member of the Qatari royal family and executive of Qatargas, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani. The question is whether with its new leadership Al Jazeera will be able to maintain its reputation as a source free of censorship and free of government control.

"Egypt: Court delay is 'death sentence' for blogger"

2011-10-06T16:06:00.008+01:00

Fears are growing for the health of Maikel Nabil Sanad, an Egyptian blogger jailed because of his critical stance on the Egyptian military. Nabil has been on hunger strike since August 23^rd in protest of his three-year sentence for “insulting the army.” He was due to appear before a tribunal which would reconsider his conviction, but this was postponed until next week because the tribunal did not have the correct documentation. Press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders, argue this is merely a way of keeping him in detention without hearing his case. The postponement is being referred to as a “death sentence”, since Sanad had told his family that he would refuse water if he was not released on 3rd October.

Amnesty has warned that Egypt’s military rulers are now responsible for the life of the jailed blogger, and has called for his release. There have also been organised demonstrations in support of Sanad in front of a military court in Cairo. However this has also generated criticism, since soldiers were reported to have attacked activists, arrested journalists, and seized cameras and mobile phones, including material confiscated from Al-Jazeera, Press TV and Christian Science Monitor personnel.

The Egyptian military command’s treatment of Maikel Nabil Sanad, as well as the reaction to the pro-Sanad demonstrations, suggest that the blogger’s criticisms ring true. As Sanad himself put it, we must consider whether “in fact the revolution has so far managed to get rid of the dictator but not of the dictatorship.”

RTVE Governors Forced to Back Down

2011-09-27T11:56:00.002+01:00

Political appointees on the board of governors of Spain’s public broadcaster, RTVE, voted to give themselves editorial control of the station’s news. The measure means that the governors, who are appointed by Spain’s political parties, will be given full access the internal news system, including scripts and videos to be used in the news programmes. The move shocked staff at the broadcaster, who immediately accused the governors of plotting to censor the news before it is broadcast. Governors of RTVE earn €120,000 a year and have the right to a personal advisor, secretarial support, an official car and a chauffeur; nine of the governors are appointed by political parties, and two are appointed by Spain’s biggest trade unions. The proposal was put forward by a governor appointed by the conservative People’s Party, who have longed complained that the senior news executives of RTVE harboured a socialist bias.

The measure provoked outrage in the press and from political parties not represented on the board of governors. RTVE’s news journalists committee issued a statement saying “this opens the way to censorship, political control and other kinds of pressurizing” whilst Cayo Lara, head of the United Left coalition, called the measure “an attack on independence”. Criticism has even been voiced from within the People’s Party; Esteban Gonzalez Pon, the party’s official party spokesman, said “I don’t like this, supervision is not a good idea.”

In response to the outcry, the governors of RTVE have called a meeting on Friday in order to strike out the measures. “We have reconsidered our decision, which is why we will ask for the measure to be cancelled”, a spokesman said.

China arrests S. Korean journalists near border with N. Korea

2011-09-26T15:32:00.003+01:00

Reporters Without Borders has reported that a group of journalists from the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo have been arrested by Chinese authorities on suspicion of spying. The group consists of four journalists, the head of a Seoul-based transport research centre and a local guide; they were arrested in a restricted military zone near the Tumen River, which forms the border with North Korea. Officials have confirmed that the group were travelling on tourist visas, and are being held in a hotel near the border. Reporters Without Borders has noted that “Press visas are hard to get and, when journalists lack them, the Chinese authorities use this as grounds for preventing them from working in this sensitive border area.” Chinese authorities are uncomfortable with foreign journalists visiting the North Korean border. In 2003, the South Korean freelance journalist Seok Jae-hyun was arrested for filming North Korean refugees fleeing to China and was held for 14 months on a charge of ‘trafficking human beings’.

Filipino Journalist’s Daughter Kidnapped

2011-09-26T15:16:00.000+01:00

The 17 year old daughter of a Philippines radio commentator, Louie Larroza, was kidnapped and held for eight hours before being released unharmed on September 15. She was blindfolded and kept in a warehouse, however police were able to trace her location from the signal on her mobile phone and she was subsequently released. The kidnappers have not been identified or captured. Larroza, the station manager of DYEC radio, had received anonymous threats to his family regarding his critical commentaries in the days before his daughter’s kidnapping.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for an investigation into the matter.

O’Hagan’s killers still at large 10 years on

2011-09-26T14:43:00.000+01:00

This week marks 10 years since the Belfast-based Sunday World journalist, Martin O’Hagan, was assassinated. On September 28 2001, as O’Hagan and his wife were walking home following their usual Friday night drink together in their local pub, a car drove up alongside them and a gunman opened fire at the couple. O’Hagan was shot multiple times as he attempted to shield his wife from the bullets. O’Hagan had received a number of death threats prior to his death, following a series of articles he had published on drug dealing in a loyalist paramilitary group. Attention was focused on five members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), based on the fact that a member of the network and spotted O’Hagan in the pub on the evening of his murder and phoned contacts in the terror group to notify them of O’Hagan’s presence. However, no one has yet been brought to justice for the killing.
O’Hagan’s former colleagues at the Sunday World, Northern Ireland’s best selling Sunday newspaper, are still receiving death threats. The latest threat came a few weeks ago when journalists were warned by sources within the loyalist community that the Ulster Volunteer Force was plotting to send a parcel bomb to their newsroom. The paper claims to have received a total of 50 death threats, some targeting individual journalists, since O’Hagan’s murder in 2001. The paper is adamant that the gang responsible for the assassination is still working for the one of the security forces in Northern Ireland.

CPJ calls on Israel to grant Samer Allawi ‘the right to due process’

2011-09-26T11:35:00.002+01:00

Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), sent an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voicing his concern over the Israeli government’s treatment of Samer Allawi, the Al-Jazeera bureau chief who was arrested in the West Bank on August 9. Simon complained that Allawi has not been allowed to see his lawyer, has been refused medical treatment, and his family has not been allowed to visit him. More alarmingly, the letter raised the critical issue that Allawi has yet to be charged, and no evidence has been presented against him. Simon has called on the Prime Minister to either “immediately charge or release Samer Allawi”.

Food Scandal Journalist Murdered in China

2011-09-22T15:02:00.000+01:00

Li Xiang, a Chinese TV journalist who had recently investigated a food safety scandal, has been murdered. The 30 year old journalist was found with 10 stab wounds on Sunday night in Henan province. The police have stated that robbery was the likely motive, due to the fact that his laptop, wallet and camera were missing. However the New York-based press watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has called on authorities to conduct an investigation to determine whether his murder was related to his journalism. Xiang had recently broadcast reports on Luoyang TV on the illegal recycling of waste oil into cooking oil, which resulted in the arrest of 32 people in Henan and two other provinces.
According to the CPJ, food scandals are not uncommon in China and journalists who report on them are frequently harassed.

Ethiopian Journalist flees after Wikileaks ‘Exposure’

2011-09-16T17:36:00.002+01:00

Journalist Argaw Ashine has left Ethiopia after having been interrogated by officials three times, according to the BBC. He reportedly fled Ethiopia, and is now in an undisclosed location, after he was mentioned in a US Cable of 2009 that Wikileaks revealed last month. The cable linked him to the US, and details the government’s attempt to silence the now- closed private Amharic language Addis Neger newspaper under anti- terrorism laws. He claims that he did not directly pass the information to the US, and that the leak has come as quite a shock since he is not even named as an informant in the cable. However Wikileaks’ ‘revelation’ has put Mr Argaw in a hugely compromising situation; endangering himself, colleagues and members of his family. If convicted of passing information to the US, he could face up to twenty years in jail. Whilst on the one hand, it can be seen that Wikileaks provides an advanced check on the actions of governments and their closed- door proceedings, the detrimental effect that their revelations are having on the lives of individuals must also be taken into account.

Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said, "A citation in one of these cables can easily provide repressive governments with the perfect opportunity to persecute or punish journalists and activists. The threat we sought to avert through redactions of initial Wikileaks cables has now become real."

Freedom of Expression- Another Casualty of Organised Crime in Mexico

2011-09-12T15:52:00.002+01:00

On September 1st, the bodies of two prominent journalists were discovered in a park in Mexico City, with their hands and feet bound and the ropes left around their necks. Ana Maria Yarce Viveros, founder of the weekly magazine Contralínea, and Rocio González Trápaga, a freelance journalist, were reportedly kidnapped as they left their offices and then strangled, in what appears to be a drug cartel killing.

The brutal double murder comes just one week after the murder of Humberto Millán Salazar, a presenter and editor of the online paper ‘A- Discusíon’ in Sinaloa province, and brings the total number of journalists killed in Mexico since 2000 to eighty. This figure does not even include those reporters who are still missing after having been kidnapped. Figures from the National Human Rights Commission in Mexico show that only one in every one hundred crimes in Mexico is actually reported, indicating that there is a strong possibility many more journalists have been threatened, kidnapped, and murdered, without it having been brought to international attention. It is also worth considering the fact that the murder of a journalist is still not considered a federal crime (despite continued efforts by activists over the years) and therefore that investigations are usually conducted by local officials, many of whom are themselves subject to the intimidation of drug cartels. The corruption of officials has meant that even if crimes are reported, it has become increasingly unlikely that the perpetuators will be brought to justice.

Director of the International Press Institute, Alison Bethel McKenzie recently described the situation in Mexico as ‘out of control’ with the perpetuators ‘operating with impunity’- many now see officials as part of the problem. In fact, the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) confirms that over ninety per cent of press- related crimes over the past decade have gone unpunished in Mexico. The risks that journalists run when covering issues of a controversial nature are monumental, indeed; the magazine of one of the most recent victims, Ana Maria Yarce Viveros’ had been investigating controversial issues for more than ten years, even in the face of threats from both the cartels and the judiciary.

In spite of the Agreement on Safety, which proposed a constitutional amendment to safeguard the rights of journalists back in June 2008, little executive action has been taken, and the CPJ now describes part of a journalist’s job in Mexico as choosing between ‘silence or death’. The lack of official action is due in part to the corruption that breeds even in the central government, stemming from the ever- apparent links between politicians and criminal gangs. One particularly devastating consequence of violent crime against journalists is their right to freedom of expression. Self censorship is fast becoming the most sensible option, and journalists in one region claim that in order to avoid consequences, they must altogether ignore topics such as kidnapping and extortion. It is clear that until the federalisation of anti- press crimes is implemented, the freedom of journalists will continue to be infringed, and Mexico will edge closer still to the death of impartial reporting.

Phone Hacking scandal linked to The Guardian as a journalist is questioned.

2011-09-12T11:55:00.000+01:00

Amelia Hill, a Guardian reporter, was recently questioned over concerns about attempts to criminalise contact between journalists and off the record sources.

Miss Hill is one of several journalists at the Guardian who has been writing about developments in the phone-hacking scandal. The newspaper has argued that this case in particular will have implications for how journalists interact with the police.

Such is the severity of this question that the National Union of Journalist’s General Secretary (Michelle Stanistreet) issued a statement saying “There is a vital journalistic principle at stake here. It is outrageous that an allegation of off-the-record briefings is being treated as a criminal matter”. Stanistreet is outraged that Hill is being questioned.

Following the News of the World Scandal, two separate inquiries have been launched in the past month to examine whether police officers should be prevented freely from speaking to the media.

BBC Reporter killed by NATO forces in Afghanistan

2011-09-09T12:26:00.000+01:00

It has emerged that Nato forces shot dead the BBC reporter Ahmed Omed Khpulwak in July, mistakenly believing that he was a suicide bomber. ISAF, the Nato- led International Security Assistant Forces were at the time responding to several suicide bombings at the offices of Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), in the town of Tarin Kowt, southern Uruzgan province.

Khpulwak’s body was discovered at the broadcasting offices, in the aftermath of two suicide bombings, which had injured US soldiers. He had been shot eleven times. ISAF claim that its soldiers acted in accordance with the laws of armed conflict under the circumstances, and soldiers maintain that Omed Khpulwak had ‘something clinched in one of his fists and [was] reaching for something on his person with his other hand’, fuelling fears that he was a suicide bomber.

Tarin Kowt has experienced a surge in violence in recent weeks; three suicide bombings in the town market led to air strikes and heavy fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban. Khpulwak was one of nineteen people initially believed to have been killed by the Taliban in this particular attack. However, NATO were prompted to launch an inquiry into the death of the BBC reporter, following the Taliban’s claim that they were not responsible for the shooting. The Taliban did assume responsibility for the earlier suicide bombings.

The death of Omed Khpulwak once again brings the safety of journalists into the spotlight. If the actions of ISAF forces really were in compliance with international standards and laws governing conflict, then we have to question whether the ‘safeguards’ put in place are adequate enough protection for the reporters on the front line.

Omed Khpulwak worked as a reporter for the BBC Pashto service, but some of his reports also reached English- speaking audiences. He has been described by colleagues as a ‘brave reporter’. The death of Khpulwak is the third casualty for the BBC in Afghanistan.

Satire 'attack' in Iran

2011-09-09T12:24:00.001+01:00

The magazine 'Shahrvand-e- Emrooz' was shut down on Monday 5th September amid growing concerns that the Iranian authorities are stepping up their crackdown on freedom of expression. Over a month ago now, the digitally- doctored image of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared on the front cover of the Iranian magazine, depicting the President in a 16th century style Persian setting, surrounded by political figures; one of whom being Ahmadinejad's confidant Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. It has been deemed particularly offensive to the Iranian President, who is portrayed as subservient; surrendering his executive status to Mashaei who is making a speech. The picture implies weakness from Ahmadinejad who is illustrated as being nothing more than a modern figurehead to an anachronistic, and out of touch regime.

Whilst the magazine has been shut down in previous years, especially in light of its influence on the 2009 election protests in Iran, it does seem logical to presume some sort of connection between last month's satire and the closure of the publication on Monday. The Iranian goverment do seem to have adopted a more relaxed approach to opposition newspapers and magazines in recent weeks, in anticipation of the build up to the Parliamentary elections in March 2012. Indeed, last week, Iran pardoned one hundred political prisoners in an attempt to 'ease' political tensions in the capital.

On the other hand however, it must also be taken into account that Ahmadinejad has been keeping two opposition leaders under house arrest since mid- February; they have therefore effectively been prevented from exercising any sort of political influence whilst demonstrations have been gripping the rest of the Arab world. The satire published by the magazine Shahrvand-e- Emrooz represents a snipe at the President’s widely criticised relationship with the father of his son- in- law, Mashaei, whom many believe he would like to see become the next President. However, Ahmadinejad’s close ties with Mashaei have also been interpreted as a move to extend his own political influence; being seen to be affiliated with Mashaei’s more liberal views could potentially broaden his support base, and increase his popularity in preparation for the 2012 elections.

The magazine’s satire therefore represents a particular freedom of speech that Ahmadinejad is not yet willing to sacrifice. Similarly, the publication ‘Roozegar’ was also closed on Monday, most probably for its mention of the 2009 protests in a recent interview with the political analyst Morad Saghafi. In fact, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s perceived efforts to further Iranian ‘cultural openness’ recently have been described as nothing more than ‘conciliatory gestures’ by Reporters Without Borders, and it is still commonly recognised that journalists remain prime targets in Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/06/iran-newspaper-closed-ahmadinejad-satire?CMP=twt_gu

Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2011-09-08T16:43:00.003+01:00

A private television station has been set alight in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 'Radio Lisanga Télévision', based in Kinshasa was attacked by a gang wielding tear gas, grenades and molotov cocktails- some of whom were wearing shirts in support of the President Joseph Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD). The station has openly expressed its support for the Union for Democracy and Social Progress opposition party, and often airs programmes in their favour.

Police opened fire on protesters in a subsequent demonstration, killing an opposition activist. The clashes have brought to a head the political tension in the capital in recent weeks; the PPRD's Headquarters were reportedly ransacked last week and several leading journalists received death threats. The safety of reporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a matter of increasing concern in the run up to November's Presidential elections, with members of the aptly- named "Journalistes en Danger' being threatened with the 'final battle'.

The November elections will represent only the second democratic elections in the history of the DRC. However, speculation regarding the democratic nature of the elections is already rife. Opposition protests on September 1st, which accused the electoral commission of fraudulent activity in the run up to election, ended in more clashes with police.

Anton remembered

2011-09-06T22:05:00.000+01:00

On April 5th, four journalists came under fire from Gaddafi forces in a particularly remote area of the Libyan desert.
An official spokesperson for the family has said that Libyan officials ‘assured’ them he was alive and in captivity, and it was not until May 18th, when Gaddafi forces released four other international journalists, that the well- being of Anton Hammerl came into question. Hammerl had been missing for over thirty five days when his colleagues; James Foley, Clare Gillis, Manu Brabo and Nigel Chandler confirmed that he was dead

His colleagues, who were allegedly captured in the same attack, claim there was no hope that Hammerl could have recovered from the gunshot wound to the stomach that he sustained in the ‘rapid fire’ attack. There will be a memorial service for Anton this week on 8th September at 3pm at St Brides' Church, Fleet Street.

Al Zaman newspaper threatened to be shut down

2011-08-16T11:53:00.002+01:00

The Guardian reported on 16 August 2011 that Al Zaman newspaper, in Oman, is threatened to be shut down.

Ibrahim al -Maamari, the board president, Yousef al-Haj, the editor and Haron Saeed, the design chief are all facing prosecution on charges of insulting the justice minister.

Al-Haj triggered the charges when in an article he wrote on May 14, he alleged that there was corruption at the justice ministry.

Egyptian blogger faces military court

2011-08-16T10:55:00.003+01:00

Asmaa Mahfouz, a leading Egyptian blogger is being questioned for allegedly defaming the military on Facebook. The charges being brought against her relat to suspicions of her calling for assassination attacks against the military and judicial bodies.

Military prosecutors set her bail at £2,062 and argued that she had is abusing the right of free speech by insulting the military.

Allegedly she wrote on her facebook page the following: "If justice is not achieved and the justice system fails us, no-one should feel upset or surprised if armed gangs emerge to carry out assassinations.

Al Jazeera correspondent detained by Israeli forces

2011-08-11T11:49:00.000+01:00

Israeli forces detained Samer Allawi (in August 2011). He is the Al Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan. He was detained whilst leaving the West Bank for Jordan.
Reasons for his detention are not currently known.

Murdered radio presenter

2011-08-08T16:41:00.000+01:00

Farah Hassan Sahal, a Somalian radio presenter was killed after being shot three times.
In August 2011, Radia Simba had to stop reporting after there were violent clashes between the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab and government troops.

In this country journalist are constantly working in horrific security conditions.

Top Gear comes under fire

2011-08-08T15:19:00.000+01:00

The BBC producer of the hugely successful show, Top Gear has come under attack over the aired episode on Sunday 31 July 2011. The producer is accused of running down the battery of an electric car, so that the car would run out of battery during the show. Sure enough, the car did run out of battery because it was not fully charged. This led to presenters concluding that electric cars are not the future.

The allegations that the car battery was deliberately flattened by the presenters have been backed up by the constant updates that a fitted device in the car transmitted during the show. Jeremy Clarkson had to complete a 60 mile journey, with the car battery only 40% charged.

Afghan aires its own version of "The Office" on Tolo TV

2011-08-04T16:42:00.005+01:00

Tolo TV should be commended for the launch in 4 August 2011 of a new series called "The Ministry", which mocks the corruption and nepotism which is rife in the Afghan government. The show’s producers have described the show as a "mockumentary" which is being aired on Afghanistan's most popular TV channel.

The objective of the show is to act as a mirror, reflecting the real life goings-on in Afghan society today. It is almost like the Afghan version of "The Office". Television is very important in this country, because illiteracy rates are so high. Therefore programmes like this have an educational and awareness element to them too.

Death Penalty for T-Shirt Sellers

2011-08-04T16:12:00.004+01:00

Ndey Topha Sosseh, previously the President of The Ghana Press Union, was sentenced to death with two other Ghanians in a treason trial. The group were selling t-shirts which demanded an end to the rule of the Ghanian president, Yahya Jammeh. Their outburst against authoritarian rule has resulted in the extreme sentence.

Sosseh is also treasurer for the Federation of African Journalists and is affiliated with the International Federation of Journalists. These groups, as well as the West African Journalists Association, openly condemn the Ghanian government’s decision. The charges describe the journalists as conspiring to ‘overthrow the Government of Ghana by unlawful means.’

The appalling charges symbolise the difficult environment experienced by journalists in Ghana, as well as the lack of human rights and liberties.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/aug/04/journalist-safety-gambia

The Mystery of Liliane Khalil

2011-08-03T16:00:00.002+01:00

The conspiracy theories emerging around Liliane Khalil, the frequent Twitterer and unprofessional journalist, detail a fake identity and a web of pretence. The photograph accompanying her account also appears to belong to other users named Victoria Nasr and Gisele Cohen.

Khalil’s commendable Twitter following is a result of her recent reports and comment on the Arab Spring. She further claims to have interviewed numerous giants such as King Hamad and the Bahranian Foreign Minister. She declares her ethnicity as Palestinian Arab Armenian, and states that she was born in the US and was educated in the UK.

For a character so detailed and apparently growingly popular, her sudden anonymity has made the mystery around her Twitter ‘disappearance’ even more sensational.

Her disappearance follows her involvement with another mysterious Twitter username, entitled @operationlibyia. Supposedly working in Zintan, Libya, Khalil wrote an obituary for one of their members who died.

http://abudai.tumblr.com/post/4777091764

The freedom fighters then asked for donations to be paid into their account from fellow tweeters, and Khalil was at the front, asking for support. It was revealed that this username was in fact fake, after suspicions emerged regarding their fluent tweeting although they were in a besieged town. Khalil angrily denounced the group; however her own Twitter and Tumblr accounts were then deleted, along with all her blogs and articles.

An article remains, one that she wrote for Bahrain Independent. Strangely, their website has also disappeared.

http://www.bahrainindependent.com/

Perhaps some degree of this is coincidence, otherwise @operationlibyia, ‘Liliane Khalil’ and the Bahrain Independent were all in on this mysterious Twitter scam.

BSkyB unanimously backs Murdoch as chairman

2011-08-03T15:21:00.001+01:00

In July 2011, the BSkyB board voted unanimously to re-elect James Murdoch as its chairman after the recent phone hacking scandal surrounding News Corporation. This decision comes after there were calls for his resignation from MP’s, shareholder groups and industry figures. Serious questions over the credibility of SKY in supporting this decision need to be examined. For the time being, BSkyB is operating under the principles “innocent until proven guilty”.

Newspapers held to account for publishing defamatory information

2011-08-02T14:35:00.003+01:00

The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the Daily Mail, the Daily Record, the Daily Express, the Daily Star and the Scotsman have all paid undisclosed damages to Chris Jefferies, the man originally accused of killing Jo Yeates.

In December 2010 and January 2011 the papers undertook a complete character assassination of him by publishing “seriously defamatory” allegations. The papers alleged "he had acted in an inappropriate, over-sexualised manner with his pupils in the past". Other articles suggested that he was an associate of a convicted paedophile.

Opposition news channel launched by Bahrain

2011-08-01T12:46:00.000+01:00

Lualua TV, based in London, was launched on July 17 2011 by the Bahraini opposition. It is Bahrain’s only opposition channel and is funded by private donors in the Arab world. Since its launch it has been jammed eleven times and it has been forced to change its frequency three times. Its first broadcast lasted only five hours.

The channel is aimed at members of the opposition in Bahrain, who are otherwise exposed to state censored news.

Journalist Decapitated in Mexico

2011-07-29T11:49:00.000+01:00

Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz who worked for the Notiver daily newspaper in Mexico was found decapitated on

Tuesday. The note found with her head and body seem to connect her murder to the killing of her co-workers, columnist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco and his photographer son, in June.

Ordaz covered the police beat for more than 20 years and local reporters believe that her murder is a warning to the press in Mexico.

The CPJ rates Mexico eighth on the list of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and the crimes go unsolved. Fifteen journalists, including Ordaz, have been killed in that country since 2010.

Ivory Coast TV presenter accused of being 'moderate'

2011-07-28T16:42:00.005+01:00

Ivory Coast authorities charged TV presenter Hermann Aboa for moderating a TV talk show favourable to former president Gbagbo (22^nd July 2011).

The Radiodiffucion Television Ivorienne (RTI) presenter is currently being held at the local police camp.

A prosecutor read out a 3 page list of offences listing numerous anti-state crimes as well as accusations of incitement and racial hatred. T

he programme Aboa is accused of moderating was a broadcast following the build up to the elections which exclusively featured guests favouring the then-president, Gbagbo, who had previously controlled the station.

The CPJ calls for his immediate release and for all charges to be dropped.

Media deaths 2011

2011-07-28T16:00:00.004+01:00

The World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers
counts 29 media deaths so far this year.

These are the published results:

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA: 13

Bahrain (1)
April 12
Karim Fakhrawi, founder and board member, Al-Wasat daily

Egypt (1)
February 4
Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, reporter, Al-Ta'awun

Iraq (4)
February 24
Mohamed al-Hamdani, correspondent, Al-Itijah TV

March 29
Sabah al-Bazi, correspondent, Al-Arabiya, CNN, Reuters

March 29
Muammar Khadir Abdelwahad, reporter, Al-Ayn news agency

June 21
Salem Alwan Al-Gharabi, cameraman, Afaq TV

Libya (5)
March 13
Ali Hassan al-Jaber, cameraman, Al-Jazeera

March 19
Mohamed Al-Nabbous, online TV broadcaster, Libya Al-Hurra TV

April 5
Anton Hammerl, photojournalist

April 20
Chris Hondros, freelance photojournalist

April 20
Tim Hetherington, freelance photojournalist

Tunisia (1)
January 17
Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, photographer, European Press Photo Agency (EPA)

Yemen (1)
March 18
Jamal al-Sharaabi, photojournalist, Al-Masdar weekly

AFRICA: 2

Democratic Republic of Congo (1)
June 21
Kambale Musonia, radio journalist, Radio Communautaire de Lubero Sud

Sierra Leone (1)
June 12
Ibrahim Foday, reporter, The Exclusive

AMERICAS: 5

Honduras (1)
May 11
Hector Francisco Medina Polanco, TV host, Omega Visión

Mexico (3)
March 25
Luis Emanual Ruiz Carrillo, photographer, La Prensa daily

June 1
Noel López Olguín, columnist, La Verdad de Jáltipan daily

June 20
Miguel Ángel López Velasco, deputy director, NOTIVER daily

Peru (1)
May 5
Julio Castillo Narváez, radio host, Radio Ollantay

ASIA: 9

India (2)
January 23
Umesh Rajput, reporter, Nai Duniya daily

June 11
Jyotirmoy Dey, investigative reporter, Mid-Day daily

Pakistan (5)
January 13
Wali Khan Babar, reporter, Geo TV

May 10
Nasrullah Afridi, journalist, Mashriq daily

May 31
Syed Saleem Shahzad, bureau chief, Asia Times Online

June 11
Asfandyar Abid Naveed, reporter, Akhbar-i-Khyber daily

June 11
Shafiullah Khan, trainee reporter, The News Peshawar Daily

Philippines (1)
January 24
Gerardo "Gerry" Ortega, radio host, DWAR Radio

Vietnam (1)
January 30
Hoang Hung, investigative journalist, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper

LINK: http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/2011/06/24/29-media-employees-killed-in-2011

News censorship in Palestine

2011-07-28T15:20:00.003+01:00

Human Rights Watch published their report ‘No News is Good News’ on 6^th April 2011.

They report that the Palestinian Authority has been arbitrarily detaining scores of West Bank journalists since 2009, often severely abusing them in the process.

According to some journalists, this has produced the intended ‘chilling effect’ on free expression and led to an increase in self-censorship.

Human Right Watch have strongly condemned these actions by the PA.

Hamas have also abused countless journalists in Gaza though the report focuses on the West Bank media specifically.

The PA has only once been held accountable for arbitrary detention/ abuse of detainees, and even then was acquitted of torturing a man to death.

Shockingly, despite this, the US and Europe make significant contributions to the PA’s budget; the majority being used to fund the security services. The US and UK are also responsible for directly funding the Preventive Security agency and GIS, who are responsible for most torture.

Following this report, on March 7^th, Human Rights Watch called for Hamas to lift their restrictions on books and newspapers.

Hamas officials regularly confiscate novels from bookshops which they believe contain ‘immoral content’.

All newspaper which support the rival Fatah movement are banned in the Gaza strip (Al-Ayyam, Al-Quads and Al-Hayat al-Jadida); likewise, all newspapers supporting Hamas are banned in the West Bank (Al-Risala and As’ada).

Whilst not all papers are banned all the time, at least one is restricted most of the time. Human Rights Watch encourages both sides to permenantly lift all restrictions and permit the newspaper bureaus to operate unhindered.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes the "freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers."

It is time that authorities, both in the Gaza strip and the West Bank start to abide by this.

View Report: http://www.hrw.org/node/97791/section/2

Independent Journalist Suspended

2011-07-14T15:16:00.003+01:00

Johann Hari, of the Independent, was suspended on Tuesday following allegations of plagiarism.

He was condemned by other journalists and bloggers for lifting quotes from alternative sources and implying they came out of his interviews.

He is now also facing claims that he used an online alias to hit back at his critics. Hari apparently used the alias to make ‘unflattering’ edits to Wiki’s for Nick Cohen (the Observer and the Spectator) and Christina Odone (Daily Telegraph), among others.

Kelner, ex-editor of the Independent, said that he felt what Hari did was wrong but felt that many journalists were blowing it out of proportion.

Hari admitted he had done something wrong but proclaimed that this was not plagiarism and insisted that all quotes he used portrayed an accurate impression of what the interviewee was trying to say and he just sourced more articulate expressions of their thoughts that had been voiced at other times.

Hari’s Orwell prize, which he received for political journalism will stand, as no allegations have been made concerning the pieces for which he was given the award.

Journalists given prison sentences after reporting on alleged rape

2011-07-11T16:54:00.001+01:00

Saad el-Din Ibrahim, editor of the Sudanese Daily Al Jarida, has been charged with, “publishing fake news”. This occurred after he reported on the alleged rape of the female opposition activist, Safia Ishaag. He is now faced with a decision between a fine - 5, 000 Sudanese or a month in prison.

Last month, 9 other journalists were also charged with defamation and, “publishing fake news”. Their reports all dealt with the alleged rape of Ishaad by three members of the National Intelligences and Security Services.

On 3^rd July, the deputy editor of Sudanese Opposition Daily Rai Al-Shaab was moved from Kober Central Prison into the custody of the State Security Prosecution after spending 18 months in jail. He now faces fresh charges of “publishing fake news” and “attacking the state”. These charges could carry a possible life sentence or the death penalty.

There are many examples of attacks on journalists and there seems to be a definite media crackdown in North Sudan. The independence of South Sudan is likely to make the situation in the North more difficult.

Homophobic Journalist Fired

2011-07-11T16:18:00.001+01:00

Russian journalist, Nikolai Troitsky, of RIA Novosti, was recently fired after making homophobic remarks when blogging about the recent Gay Pride parade in Berlin.

Troitsky commented: ‘I would like to hope and believe that this filth will never be in Russia. I do not need this ‘freedom and democracy’. I don’t have enough tolerance for that, and against my will I start thinking about some sort of a powerful bomb that would exterminate only sodomites. I give you my word, if all these perverted buggers die, the Earth would become much cleaner.’

RIA Novosti was clear that the views expressed by Troitsky did not, in any way, represent the views of the paper and felt that Troitsky’s actions discredited the reputation of the agency and its employees.

Although the blog was removed, another was posted shortly after, again expressing homophobic views, calling the event ‘filthy and disgusting’. Mr Troitsky was subsequently fired after the news agency was flooded with complaints calling for Troitsky’s resignation though the official reasons for his being asked to leave was that he broke the code of conduct, distributing information that defames his colleagues and the agency.

Many people in Russia wholeheartedly agree with Troitsky’s views; supporters of Troitsky are boycotting the agency, renaming it ‘Homosti’.

Sudan ranks low in Global Press Freedom Rankings

2011-07-07T14:58:00.002+01:00

Freedom House have recently published their Freedom of the Press 2011, Global Press Freedom Rankings and Sudan has ranked 168^th(out of 196) in the world in terms of press freedom, with Finland coming out on top.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/fop/2011/FOTP2011GlobalRegionalTables.pdf

This is unsurprising as only a few days ago (19 June), the Sudanese justice system decided to keep Abuzar Ali Al-Amin in jail.

Al-Amin, who is the deputy editor of opposition newspaper, Rai Al-Shaab, was arrested in May last year, charged two months later and given a five year sentence. This was then reduced to one year but days before his scheduled release, new charges were brought against him for which he may face life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

The National Intelligence and Security Services of Sudan have issued several complaints and thus Al-Amin is now allegedly facing charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal offences, attacks on the state aimed at undermining the constitutional system, publishing false information and irresponsible editing and journalism.

Reporters without Borders, who first published the story, say that these charges constitute psychological torture and have been brought against him ‘in a manner that is as illegal as the previous proceedings’.

Revolution for Belarus?

2011-07-07T14:29:00.004+01:00

Belsat journalists Andrey Fralu and Mikalay Dzychenya, and cameraman Alyaksandr Dzyanisau were issued prison sentences of ten days each, for their coverage of the peaceful silent protests in Belarus on Monday 4th July.

15 journalists in total were detained in the day, some of whom are still currently awaiting trial. Tear gas was used against cameramen in Minsk who tried to film the protests and in all, approximately 350 people were arrested. Other reporters were unable to be at the protests after having their visas withdrawn at the last minute.

The revolutions which have been taking place in Belarus began through social networking sites which were promptly blocked by the government. President Lukashenko said that the protests against his rule were an attempt to bring the country ‘to its knees’ and he would not allow that to happen.

Protests in Belarus are rare; the authoritarian rule of Mr Lukashenko has lead to many Western governments levying sanctions against the country. The protests consisted of clapping over President Lukashenko’s speech as he moved to address the Independence Day celebrators. Reuters reported that the first individual to do this was promptly led away by police. Others joined in and there were soon clashes between the protesters and the police.

Revolution has almost occurred in Belarus several times in recent history, notably after the President’s re-election but Lukashenko insists that he will remain in power and Belarus will not become the next ‘Arab Spring’ victim.

Moroccan journalist sentenced

2011-07-07T12:54:00.004+01:00

Casablanca journalist, Richard Nini was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 100 dirhams (88 euros), June 9^th.

His trial was allegedly marked by judicial intransigence, repeated adjournments and a refusal to free him on bail.

The Al-Massae editor was tried on charges of disinformation and attacking state institutions and public figures, which the court claimed threatened the security of the state and its citizens.

The Press Freedom Organisation condemned the sentencing branding such acts as the 'marks of authoritarian regimes'. They said that no progress towards democracy would be possible without media freedom.

Nini’s lawyer called it a bad day for justice and civil liberties in Morocco and insisted that he would appeal the court’s ruling.

The article that prompted this response had criticised government corruption.

Egyptian Journalist Tried Before Military Court

2011-07-07T12:50:00.000+01:00

Rasha Azab, a journalist for the independent daily newspaper Al-Fagr, was tried in a military court for an article highlighting the military treatment of citizens. Rasha Azab’s article was about a meeting between the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and an a volunteer legal group. According to Azab, group members showed SCAF proof and evidence of military violations against civilians.

The article openly condemns the violations of SCAF following the January 25 revolution. She denounces the military trials of civilians and the virginity tests conducted on women arrested in Tahrir square.

Azab said that General Hassan El-Roweiny, the Egyptian army commander, was astonished upon seeing the images demonstrating the army’s violations. Roweiny apologised to a female witness who was violated in military prison. He added that individual actions do not represent the morals of the army.

Azab was faced with multiple charges, the main one, “spreading misinformation about the armed forces”. During her investigation around 30 protestors gathered in front of the military prosecution building in Nasr City. They were condemning the military and calling for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Although Azab was released after extensive questioning; the trial is still worrying for the Egyptian Independent Media - who could potentially face risking military trials for merely exercising her profession. After her release, Azab immediately led chants of, “down with military rule”.

Media Deaths in Iraq

2011-07-06T17:06:00.000+01:00

Head of satellite TV station, Taha Al-Alawi was murdered on 8^th April in Southern Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire on his car, killing him. Al-Alawi is the fifth journalist to die in Iraq this year.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently (May 19^th) issued an Impunity Index which highlighted Iraq as three times worse than any other country in terms of journalist deaths. None of the 92 murders of journalists that have been committed in the last 10 years have been solved.

There is also a huge problem with libel. In the first five months of this year government officials brought forth 90 cases against journalist. In most democratic nations journalists cannot be accused of libel against the government.

According to the CPJ’s research, more journalists are murdered than die in all other circumstances combined, reporters and editors being the most targeted, followed closely by photographers. The Iraq News Network lost more than twice the number of reporters than the next worst hit organisation.

Bahrain correspondent tortured

2011-07-06T16:39:00.002+01:00

France 24’s Bahrain correspondent Nazeeha Saeed was taken for questioning on 22^nd May and tortured after covering the pro-democracy protests.

She was verbally abused; mocked and insulted, then slapped, punched and kicked, before having a shoe thrust in her mouth, urine thrown in her face, being blindfolded and beaten. She was forced to crawl on all fours and ‘bray like a donkey’.

She was given no chance to answer questions and forced to sign documents she was not allowed to read.

She was then allowed to return home, though is still being treated for the physical and psychological side-effects.

This has received much international criticism, particularly from Reporters without Border, to whom she gave the interview. It is notoriously difficult to find women willing to speak about what occurs in Bahraini police interviews and Reporters without Borders has strongly urged authorities to investigate the matter further.

Dubai TV Editor forced to step down by Moroccan Minister

2011-07-06T16:27:00.001+01:00

Dubai TV Editor, Omar Makhfi has recently (21 June) been forced to resign.

His brother, who was the correspondent to Morocco referred to the opposition protests that had been taking place on air.

He then called Morocco’s Information Minister for an interview, asking him about government perspective but instead of answering his questions, the Minister accused the journalist of supporting the planned 20^th February protests- he then demanded political accountability of the journalist.

The TV station reviewed the incident and concluded nothing unethical had been said.

The Minister then preceded to call the UAE embassy and demand the Mr Makhfi’s resignation over the matter.

The TV Editor was fired despite his governments assurance they had no personal criticism to make. He also received an apology from the station, although they played no part in his dismissal.

This story surprised many as it is not often that Ministers would use their influential role in this manner, particularly towards the citizens of another country.

Press Freedom and Oppression in Burma

2011-07-06T16:04:00.006+01:00

On 3^rd May, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) marked World Press Freedom Day by launching a campaign to free 17 jailed video journalists serving long prison sentences (up to 27 years) within the country.

DVB is an independent media organisation committed to responsible journalism. Their safety is constantly being compromised and some of its journalists have been forced to flee the country, claiming refugee status in France. DVB itself has in fact been exiled.

The DVB, along with other international media organisations such as the BBC, RFA and VOA have never had permission to work freely inside the country and their reporters frequently come under attack.

Despite this 66% of Burmese people claim to listen to these radio stations almost every day and claim that they prefer the reporting by these broadcasters, viewing it as a more legitimate source of international news than the government controlled radio station.

More than 25 media representatives are currently behind bars in Burma, usually for their critical articles concerning government methods.

Earlier this year Maung Maung Zeya was sentenced to 13 years for leading a team of journalists into Burma, after his son was tortured into making the accusation.

Nat Soe, another DVB journalist was sentenced to 10 years on 8^th Feb. He was tried secretly in prison and found guilty of participating in a poster campaign to free Aung San Suu Kyi.

Journalist Kaung Myat Hlaing confessed to the crimes of which he was charged under torture and is now also serving time. This is the second time he has been convicted on the basis of confession under torture.

Jacoby on disinformation

2011-07-05T16:27:00.003+01:00

Jeff Jacoby, a Boston Globe op-ed columnist listed numerous accounts of what he feels are biased reports of the Middle East in his speech, “why the media gets the middle east wrong”

Jacoby read two extracts from the New York Times editorials about the death of terrorists. He showed a picture whose caption describes an Israeli police officer standing over a beaten Palestinian youth. However, in reality, the youth was a Jewish boy from Chicago who had just been mugged. He was running to the police officer for protection. However Jacoby highlights how no one in the news media questioned the storyline of Israeli brutality and a Palestinian victim.

Jacoby highlights that fear contributes to biases in the news. Jacoby gave the example of how the CNN admitted it knew horror stories about Saddam Hussein but did not air them until he was removed from power because of fear.

Jacoby feels that fear is another factor as to why most reporters are based in Jerusalem: Israel defends the right to a free press. Therefore, more investigative stories are produced on Israel as there is less fear of the government harming reporters.

Western media: Obsession with Israel

2011-07-05T11:41:00.000+01:00

The Arab Spring has revealed the Western Media’s obsession with Israel, whilst failing to appreciate that this is a non story to hundreds of millions of Arabs struggling under Tyranny. Western news organisations do not focus enough on topics of repressive governments and human rights violations in the Arab world.

The guardian’s response to the revolution in Tunisia in January 2011 accurately cites President Ben Ali as, “a brutal dictator” and refers to numerous “torture and human rights violations”. However must ask ourselves: since when has the guardian cared about people living under the grip of the Tunisian police state? By the publications own calculations, in 2010 Tunisia was one of their least reported countries. There were only 18 content items on Tunisia in 2010, where as in contrast – 1008 pieces on Israel.

Take the 5 broadsheets: The Times, The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent. Each has two or three correspondents, permanently based in the Middle East. In all five cases, at least one correspondent is based in Jerusalem. This explains the lack of correspondence (until now) about the police states and autocracies that are (or were) Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen etc. Instead – British reporters focused on the West Bank, which now everyone knows a great deal about.

Another example of Western obsession with Israel was when The New York Times granted the dictator Muammar Gaddafi an op–ed in 2009. Gaddafi raved about the, “shocking level of Israeli-Palestinian violence” and the “cycle of destruction and injustice”. It is safe to say that the New York Times look rather foolish now that Gaddafi in 2011 vowed to kill all his citizens for having the audacity to voice their disapproval of his rule.

Of course, recent reporting on the real Middle East is very much welcome. However we shall yet see as to whether news priorities will be re-organised.

Afghanistan: Freedom of Press? Only on certain (and so many!) conditions.

2011-06-17T15:27:00.006+01:00

A religious grand council in Afghanistan, the Ulema Shura, which often is involved as an advisory unit for Karzai regarding religious and cultural affairs, has advised the president to shut down the two most famous media outlets in the country: Tolo TV and Hasht-e-Subh Daily. A fight for survival between the two outlets has been ongoing over the past two weeks as Afghan media is becoming more and more vulnerable to social and religious organisations demanding a halt to investigative stories and “anti-Islamic” programming; the latter exemplified by popular entertainment shows imported from India and “Afghan Star” – the Afghan version of “Britain’s Got Talent”. Anti-Islamic activity carries the potential of death penalty in Afghanistan.

Sadly, it was a human rights article that got Hasht-e-Subh Daily in trouble with the religious council in May. Because of the newspaper’s echoing of a report produced by the Independent Human Rights Commissioning, addressing the issue of women being radicalized in madrassahs in northern Afghanistan, it was accused of “publishing material that is against religion, against national unity, and against the high interest of the nation”. The Afghan Media Law considers it illegal to use media in attempts to convert persons to other religions than Islam – a law difficult to interpret (and thus easily subject to abuse and misinterpretation), and highly inconvenient for journalists wanting to report on foreign cultures, or just generally provide the Afghan people with information and news beyond Afghanistan’s border and religion.

As talks with the Taliban have moved upwards on the government’s agenda, so has the influence of the Ulema. If limited press freedom is a hint of what is to come with a potential reconciliation process with Taliban, this is worrying. Moreover, the important part of the Media Law establishing the independence of the public owned Radio and Television Afghanistan (RTA) has not been implemented by the Ministry of Information and Culture because of the opposition of the executive. Furthermore, the media law currently offers more protection to the state than the media, due to vaguely defined prohibitions, such as one on reporting news that is “against national security”, which journalists claim to be severely limiting on their work. The story of Tolo TV and Hasht-e-Subh clearly confirms the difficulties faced by Afghan media and the inhibitive environment in which it operates.

Not only are big media outlets subject to religious scrutiny, but also individuals. The Ulema stated in 2007 that "safeguarding our national honors and Islamic values is the obligation of every citizen." This declaration mirrors Article 1 of the constitution, enforced in high-profile cases such as the case of Parvez Kambakhsh, imprisoned for 20-years for distributing material from the internet questioning the condition of women in Islam. In 2005, the editor of a magazine on women’s rights was arrested for daring to publish materials questioning some of the restrictions that Islam places on women. These cases not only highlight the severity of many journalists' situation, but also how important the (free) media is for Afghanistan to address crucial issues like women`s rights and religious radicalization of students.

Slain Pakistan Journalist another martyr for press freedom!

2011-05-31T23:42:00.000+01:00

Ambassador Mark Hambley sent this in:

By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times 12:36 PM PDT, May 31, 2011 Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan
A Pakistani journalist who vanished after writing about alleged links between Al Qaeda and Pakistan's navy was found slain Tuesday. Colleagues said the reporter had complained of receiving threats in recent months from members of the nation's powerful intelligence community.
Syed Saleem Shahzad had been missing since Sunday evening, when he failed to show up at a television studio in Islamabad where he was scheduled to appear on a program. His body was found near the town of Mandi Bahauddin, about 75 miles southeast of the capital. His friends said the body showed signs of torture.
Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief for the Asia Times Online news website, had recently written a story that claimed Al Qaeda had infiltrated the ranks of the navy. The story, which appeared on the website after militants carried out a 17-hour siege on a naval base in Karachi on May 23, also asserted that the attack was meant as retaliation for the military's refusal to release a group of naval officials suspected of having militant links. Ten security personnel were killed in the siege.
The attack also proved deeply embarrassing for the military, which already had been facing strong criticism from within the country for allowing U.S. helicopters to slip into Pakistan undetected during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2.
In recent months, Shahzad, 40, had told colleagues that he had been warned by intelligence agents to stop writing about sensitive matters, and that he feared for his life. In October, Shahzad told Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, that he had been summoned to the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, where he received what he saw as a veiled threat from a top official.
Shahzad forwarded to Hasan a set of notes from the meeting, adding that he was doing so "in case something happens to me or my family in future."
"After that, I spoke to him a few times," Hasan said Tuesday during a phone interview. "He told me he was under surveillance, that he would get calls, and that people would stop him and threaten him a couple of times. But as it is with people who live their lives with these kinds of threats, you factor it in. He factored it in and carried on with his business."
Hasan said he had "confirmation from credible sources that he probably was being held by the ISI."
A senior intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity vehemently denied any ISI involvement in Shahzad's disappearance and death. "We don't know anything about it," the official said, calling the allegations "rubbish."
The Committee to Protect Journalists listed Pakistan as the world's most dangerous country for reporters in 2010, with eight journalists killed there during the year. Shahzad was the third reporter slain in Pakistan this year; a television reporter was gunned down in Karachi in January, and a journalist in the northwest city of Peshawar died May 10 when his car exploded.
Especially at risk are journalists who report on militant groups, the intelligence community and the links between the two.
Last fall, Umar Cheema, an investigative reporter for The News, a daily newspaper, was abducted for six hours and beaten before being dumped on a road outside Islamabad. He accused the ISI of being behind his kidnapping, theorizing that the agency was retaliating for several articles he had written that angered the military. Intelligence officials denied the charge.
Hasan said the government investigated Cheema's abduction but "nothing happened."
"It's essential that an independent investigation take place into the murder of Saleem Shahzad," Hasan added, "and that those responsible are held accountable."

The Guardian and Saudi Arabia

2011-05-27T13:48:00.000+01:00

Fawzi Salih sends this complaint about the Guardian newspaper:

It's hugely disappointing to read the recent analysis written by Mr. Ian Black in the Guardian newspaper this morning (The Guardian, 20/05/11, Page 2).
He wrote, I quote “Strikingly, Saudi Arabia, one of the most repressive countries in the Arab world and a key US ally and oil supplier got not a single mention in the 5400-words speech of President Obama".
To me, his inaccurate comment about Obama’s speech makes up for his repulsive and aggressive views towards Saudi Arabia. His personal views have been and will be tacit support to anarchists and extremists against stability and prosperity in the North Africa in general and Arabian Peninsular in particular. I feel that Mr. Black has treated Saudi Arabia rather unfairly to say the least. Mr. Black could have blamed Mr. Obama for the turmoil that has engulfed the Middle East during his presidency. Mr. Black would have known that Mr. Obama is at fault for doing too little to support the revolution of secular forces in Iran in 2009, while criticizing on daily basis one of the most important US allies (Mubarak) without asking himself whether there is any strategic objectives in such policy. Sadly, according to Mr. Black's own words (see his report on 20/05/2011, page 26, the Guardian newspaper). I quote "Yet Egyptian liberals, leftists and Christians may face a far bigger problem...... with the resurgence of fundamentalist." What is deeply ironic is a comparison he made of pro and anti Mubarak on 19/05/2011. The former refused this excessive freedom, and insisted Egyptians after Mubarak took democracy and flipped into chaos.
Without any hesitation I should say, our friend Ian Black has needlessly criticized Saudi Arabia at this juncture.

Complaint about AP coverage of Syria

2011-05-05T21:01:00.001+01:00

Farid Ghadry makes the following complaint:

Dara'a. News organizations, like AP, are reporting that Assad has begun withdrawal from Dara'a. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Assad does not withdraw on Thursdays, he reinforces on that day. According to eyewitnesses, thousands of security men remain on the outskirts, scores of tanks remain in the city . . . Should AP not report this?
FoxNews carried the story by AP, which quoted Syrian officials claiming they have "carried out its mission in detaining terrorists." For AP's information, people seeking freedom from terror are not terrorists. No excuse for reporting lies. For the organization to rely on the Syrian official line . . . is beyond absurd.

We have checked this issue and the complaint against Fox News / AP does not seem justified. See the following link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/05/syrian-troops-start-withdrawal-uprising-city/

Complaining about Libya

2011-03-23T22:01:00.001Z

Hugh Nowell of the International Communications Forum copied us into this letter to his Member of Parliament:

Mr Stephen Hammond MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

22nd March 2011
Dear Mr Hammond,

Libyan Debate

I have one thought to contribute on this subject. Concern is being expressed about the end game of this Allied Operation. When can we justifiably leave?
Does sustainable protection of the Libyan people require us to remove Gadaffi, which could be said to exceed our mandate from the UN? In any case it risks losing the current support of other Arab States and the Arab league, which would be disastrous.
Should the emphasis of our role therefore include enabling the Libyans to fulfil their own objectives rather than trying to do the job for them? It is their country, their responsibility. It may take longer but there are other gains. Time for the Libyan dissidents to develop their united leadership, remove the argument that the allies are taking control of their country and increase their self-respect.
With best wishes for the challenging task of resolving the degree of our involvement.
Sincerely,
Hugh Nowell

US Journalists deported from Yemen

2011-02-16T17:36:00.005Z

The American journalist Heather Murdock and photojournalist Adam Reynalds were deported from Yemen in May 2010. Murdock has written about the ordeal, which involved being detained for threee and a half days, interrogated, having their eqipment confiscated and being forced to write down the passwords to their email accounts.

Murdock had been reporting from Yemen for the past 11 months. She was detained by the Yemeni authorties after travelling to the South of the country with Reynalds to report on the separatist movement for the Washington Times. Although there is no official ban on journalists visiting the South, the government has consistently refused to grant travel permits to journalists seeking to travel to the south. The governemnt's concern over the south indicates that political unrest and calls for southern independence might be growing in strength.

Murdock's story was also broadcast on the Voice of America

Yemeni Journalist kept in Prison after intervention from Obama

2011-02-16T16:38:00.004Z

The Yemeni journalist, Abdul Elah Shaye has been kept in prison after a phone call from the American president to President Saleh of Yemen.

Abdul Elah Shaye had been sentenced to five years in prison in Januray 2011 after being accused of acting as media advisor for extremist cleric Anwar al Awlaki. Shaye and his co-defendant, his friend and colleague Sharif Kamal were arrested in the 16th and 17th of August in Sana'a. Shaye was held for 34 deays without access to either a lawyer or his family.

Shaye had aroused the ire of the Yemeni authorties when he reported that the bombing of Abayan, which killed 55 people, including a supposed 14 Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular members had been carried out by the American military and not the Yemeni government, as was claimed in Yemen. Shaye was subsequently proved correct in December 2010 when a leaked diplomatic cable revealed that the bombing had in fact been carried out by the United States.

Shaye and Kamal's arrest drew the attention of reporters without borders who expressed concern fror the manner in which the two men were arrested.

Shaye, who works for the Sabah news agency in Yemen was granted a pardon by Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh on the 1st of February 2011, one of a number of concessions President Saleh granted to assuage political unrest in Yemen following recent turbulent events in the country.

Shaye however, has not been released from prison. The journalist was mentioned personally by President Obama in a phone call between the presidents of Yemen and the USA, in which President Obama expressed concern over the potential release of the journalist. This is due to the charges of which Shaye is accused.

Shaye had managed to interview Anwar al Awlaki in early 2009, in an interview that was subsequently picked up by Al Jazeera and NBC news in the United States. It is likely that the Yemeni authoities used this association to convict Shaye as he had repeatedly criticised Yemeni security policy. Shaye's sentence has caused an outcry among local journalists and the human rigthts group HOOD (The National Organisation for Defending Rights and Freedoms).

Yemen based journalist Iona Craig, wrote an informative piece on the inicident here.

Moroccan magazine forced to close after boycott

2011-02-16T14:36:00.002Z

Moroccan magazine, Nishane was forced to close in October 2010 after an advertising boycott led by the Royal family after the magazine published unapproved opinion polls on the Royal family and articles on popular street jokes.

The magazine has consistently been targeted by the Moroccan athorities because of its content, which often concerns taboo subjects in Moroccan society. In previous incidences, the magazine was suspended for two months and in another case, 100,000 copies were destroyed by the police.

Al Jazeera finally broadcast in the USA

2011-02-16T13:47:00.003Z

A February 2nd announcement by US cable distributer LINK TV signialled the first time an American cable company has temporary provided Al Jazeera English on its free packages in the wake of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia. Al Jazeera has steadily been recieving priase from American journalists for its in depth coverage in the region, however, many of the USA's satellite and cable providers have been reluctant to provide Al Jazeera in their systems.

In spite of 55% of web traffic to Al Jazeera's webiste coming from the USA and Cananda, American cable providers fear a potential backlash from the right is they were to carry the channel. Former NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker suggested that right-leaning media in the USA would campaign against providers who would issue Al Jazeera. The hostility to the Qatar based channel is hangover from the days of the Bush administration, when it was repeatedly criticised by the US government for its covergae of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Al Jazeera has stepped up its lobbying efforts to get Al Jazeera English broadcast in the USA, but as yet as been unable to find a distributer who will carry it permanently.

Kuwaiti children's programme accused of propagating stereotypes

2011-02-16T12:13:00.006Z

Kuwaiti children’s cartoon Bu Qutada wa Bu Nabeel, shown on the Al Watan channel (affiliated to the Kuwaiti newspaper of the same name) sparked outrage by depicting Moroccans in a negative light in August 2010. Depictions include Moroccan policemen extorting bribes from tourists and Moroccan women indulging in witchcraft. The case is particuarly interesting because it highlights ethnic prejudice in the Gulf States towards the population of Morocco. Prejudice towards Moroccans has also been seen recently in Saudi Arabia, after the Saudi government banned Moroccan women from making the pilgrimage to Mecca, in July 2010, on the pretence that they may be prostitutes.

Al Watan promptly issued an apology for any offence caused by the cartoon

Bahraini Newspaper draws controversy from Shias

2011-02-16T11:08:00.004Z

In order to avoid mass unrest in Bahrain of the type seen in the previous few days, the Bahraini government has attempted to censor the Bahraini media in the past. On the 22nd June 2009, the newspaper Ahkbar Al Khaleej was suspended for one day for publishing an article critical of Iranian leaders and suggesting that Mahmoud Ahmedinajad may have Jewish ancestry in a move to prevent unrest amongst the Shia population. The article appeared around the time of the protests following the disputed Iranian election. The paper takes generally leftist and Arab nationalist slant and is seen as close to the country's main opposition party.

The paper has also attracted controversy previously in 2005 when columnist Samirah Rajab attacked Ayatollah Sistani of Iraq for supposed complicity in the American occupation of Iraq. The incident resulted in strong complaints from Sistani's representatives in Bahrain and death threats against Rajab.

Mail group pays Inayat Bunglawala al-Qaeda damages

2011-02-15T14:55:00.001Z

Inayat Bunglawala, from Luton, brought libel proceedings against the Mail on Sunday for a March 2009 article. It wrongly claimed he was an extremist supporter of al-Qaeda and radical Palestinian-Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada, and had stabbed a man in 2008.London's High Court heard the newspaper accepted all allegations were false.

Systems engineer Mr Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, was appointed in 2005 as one of seven conveners for a Home Office taskforce to combat extremism in young Muslims.

Mr Bunglawala's solicitor, Stevie Loughrey, told Mr Justice Eady his client had not committed any criminal act in relation to the alleged stabbing in December 2008.

He had acted in self-defence to protect himself and his family against an intruder, who it had later turned out had been so drunk he had had no recollection of the incident, the court heard.

Mr Loughrey added his client did not support or condone the views or objectives of Abu Qatada or al-Qaeda, and had gone on the record many times to criticise and condemn the terror network.

The Crown Prosecution Service has not taken any action over the claims.

Mr Loughrey told the court Associated Newspapers, which owns the Mail on Sunday, admitted the allegations were false, had apologised and would pay substantial damages and costs.

Thoughts on the 25th January Revolution

2011-02-14T15:59:00.000Z

This came in from Nadia El Shazly:

Following are some thoughts I jutted down on the events since January 25

The channels I watched during the past 17 days, by order of priority, because of their objectivity and credibility in my view, were France 24 in French and English (Arabic was cancelled), and BBC World (English and Arabic). Sometimes, I used to turn to Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera International (Arabic was cancelled, then restored later), though the latter often aired news that it was forced to deny later. Al Arabiya seemed to side with Mubarak, or at least, was wary about the democracy movement gaining ground. Statements by American very senior officials on CNN were often contradictory ... mirroring policies that seemed vacillating, which I saw as the dilemma/conundrum they were faced with, namely, side with the ideals of the revolutionaries, who demanded democracy, and, on the other hand, the pressures by Netanyahu, who was markedly frantic, during a press conference with Angela Merkel. Israel even allowed the Egyptian army to deploy some units to Sharm El Sheikh. Did Bibi know that his buddy would eventually move there? I never watched Egyptian TV, but will start now that the regime fell, and that consequently, the Minister of Information, Anas El Feqi (he reminded us of Saddam Hussein's El Sahhaf, at the time of the US-led occupation of Iraq) was removed. I strongly feel that this post should be scrapped, and Egyptian TV and radio turned into a corporation, independent of government influence.

As for Tahrir square, based on TV, the internet, reports I received from others and my own observations:

1. the demonstrations were peaceful at all times, except when they had to defend themselves against the NDP thugs, who used rocks, Molotov cocktails, and even stormed in on camel and horse-back, one night ... they were even targeted by snipers on roof-tops, and those killed had bullet wounds to their heads and chests;

2. neither American nor Israeli nor any other flags were burnt;

3. when the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to shout Islamic slogans, they were silenced once and for all by the other participants, and modern-attired young women were seen having serious friendly discussions with bearded Islamists;

4. Egypt's streets were notorious for sexual harassment ... not one case was reported;

5. in the beginning, the participants were the educated middle-class and upper middle-class computer-savvy male and female youth, followed later on, as their movement seemed to gain popularity by their sheer resilience, by families from all walks of life, members of professional syndicates and labour unions, artists (singers, actors, painters, musicians, etc), authors, poets, opposition politicians ... thousands waved the Egyptian flag, and either sang patriotic songs, or newly-created ones ... evenings, they listened to poets and singers, cracked jokes about Mubarak and the regime, and, more seriously, planned for their next steps;

6. they regularly swept the square and even hired mini-trucks to take the garbage to the dumps;

7. families, individuals and the troops distributed food and water bottles, some cooked in homes, and some from delivery shops;

8. doctors and surgeons, elderly and young, assisted by their nurses, left their private hospitals, provided sophisticated medical equipment, medicines, bandages, etc, and set-up field hospitals across the square, the biggest in the well-known Omar Makram mosque (where my mother's funerary service took place, one year ago).

9. homes surrounding the square provided the girls with the opportunity to rest a little and use their bathrooms, while shops, cafes and other establishments allowed boys to use their toilets;

10. later on, public toilets in the square, shut by the government previously, were opened and refurbished by the participants;

11. apart from those that demanded that Mubarak must leave, for the regime to fall, for the NDP to be banned, some placards, used by the demonstrators, affirmed the Egyptians' sense of humour, such as, "Mubarak, leave, my wife is in labour and the baby doesn't want to see you" ... "Mubarak, leave, I miss my wife (I've been married for 16 days)", "Mubarak, I'm a carpenter, tell me what glue you use" ... "Suzanne, if you love him, take him away" ... "Mubarak, I've been holding this sign for too long, leave, my arm is hurting" ...

12. to show the regime their resilience ... their decision to remain in the square until their demands were met, and that life would go on regardless, two young fiancees had their marriage ceremony performed by a sheikh in the square ... the bride wore her wedding dress, while the crowds cheered and offered their congratulations, along with sweets and sherbet;

13. they showed their inventiveness in many ways, from setting up tents, mainly for the female participants to sleep under and be more comfortable, as well as to shelter under when it rained ... to connect to the street lights to charge their mobiles, or to boil water for a hot drink, and more;

14. the male demonstrators formed a circle, holding hands, and guarded a "lost-and-found" display in the middle, where many, many IDs, mobile phones, even cash and other objects were exhibited;

15. as a final act, the demonstrators decided to clean-up the square, one more time, before going home.

Across Egypt, when the police forces vanished, the youngsters were stationed at street intersections. Never was traffic as regulated as when they were in charge, and drivers cooperated beautifully. No driver tried to "burn" a red traffic light, something unheard of for many years.

At the same time, when garbage collectors also disappeared, housewives and teenage girls swept the streets, gathered the garbage in sacks, and stacked them at street corners. I saw one of them, Safiyah, the daughter of the late prime minister of Egypt under the monarchy, Nuqrashi Pacha, killed by the Muslim Brotherhood. In some neighbourhoods, including mine, mini-trucks were hired to take the garbage to the dumps.

When the police opened the prisons, freed thieves, burglars and other criminals before disappearing, neighborhood watches were established right-away. In the evenings, fathers kept watch in front of the buildings, armed with iron pipes, wooden sticks, kitchen knives, and, in rare cases, licensed pistols or shotguns. From midnight on, the sons took over that responsibility.

In tandem, the army deployed tanks to sensitive areas. For instance, because I live about two hundred meters from the residence of the Alexandria governor and the Jewelry Museum on one side, and two presidential residences on the other, several tanks have kept my building safe. Nevertheless, male residents also spent the night guarding us.

Very few of the "mafia" oligarchy were named, and will be prosecuted. Many more, from the lists I have, should also be sued, and, if found guilty, have their fortunes returned to Egypt. These funds could pay back Egypt's foreign debt, establish labour-intensive industrial, agricultural enterprises, and infra-structural projects, increase wages, and improve services, such as health and education.

A number of former Egyptian officials have tried to flee, but prevented from doing so at Cairo airport, including Anas El Feqi and former PM Atef Ebeid.

The Swiss Federation of Banks have frozen the Mubarak assets half-an-hour after he resigned. Bravo. I hope that Egypt will recalibrate its relations with other countries, based on the willingness of those countries to do the same. Some of the countries named in that respect are the US, the UK, France, Brazil ... and probably others ... time will show.

Journalist resigns from Egypt’s Nile TV over ‘propaganda’

2011-02-11T12:32:00.000Z

Nile TV anchorwoman Shahira Amin resigned today in protest at the state run channel’s coverage of the Egyptian uprising. She spoke to pan-Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera about the reasons behind her decision.

I am determined to be on the side of the people, not the regime. That’s why I’m here.
I walked out yesterday, I can’t be part of the propaganda machine. I’m not going to feed the public lies.

Amin claimed that Nile TV was showing footage of President Mubarak’s supporters only, and not footage of protests and violence in Tahrir Square.

Listen to the full interview on YouTube below.

Palestinian protesters vandalize Al-Jazeera offices in Ramallah

2011-02-11T12:21:00.002Z

Hundreds of Palestinians loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas broke into Al-Jazeera's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a day after the media agency released two decades of secret information known as the Palestine papers.

About 250 Abbas loyalists rallied in support of the president in front of the building housing the local Al-Jazeera office on the seventh and eighth floors. A small group climbed the stairs to the station's offices, where they tried to break in. They did succeed in shattering security cameras, glass door panels and station logos.

The protesters also sprayed graffiti on the wall, declaring "Al-Jazeera are spies" and "Al-Jazeera equals Israel"."Oh Jazeera, you are spies!" chanted the Abbas loyalists, mainly young men. They set fire to an Israeli flag with "Al Jazeera" written on it, witnesses said.

Palestinian police removed the violent protesters and prevented the larger crowd outside the building from entering.

The documents released on Sunday showed Abbas' negotiators willing to give substantial ground on important issues at the heart of the decades-old conflict with Israel, such as the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Abbas, speaking to journalists in Cairo, accused the television station of intentionally misleading viewers. "We say very clearly, we do not have secrets," he said.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, accused Qatar of launching a campaign against Abbas' administration, saying documents released by Doha-based Al Jazeera television aimed to mislead.

The emir of Qatar had "given a green light" for a campaign against the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, Abed Rabbo said. Qatar has close ties to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera is sponsored by Doha, although the government denies it has direct control of the channel.

	Palestinians burn a mock Israeli national flag with the word Al Jazeera during a protest outside the television channel's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 24, 2011.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said "reports" had misrepresented the Palestinians' positions and "statements and facts" had been taken out of context.

In a statement, he said negotiations with Israel had included discussion of some ideas that the Palestinians "could never agree to", adding: "No agreement will be signed without the approval of the Palestinian people."

Al-Quds TV correspondent detained in Bethlehem

2011-02-11T12:01:00.000Z

8 February 2011- Ramallah: yesterday members of the Preventive Security Service prevented Quds TV correspondent Mamdouh Hamamrah from covering a teachers’ sit-in in front of the Education Directorate in the city of Bethlehem and transported him to their headquarters.

Hamamrah went to the Directorate of Education on Monday 7/2/2011 to cover a teachers’ sit-in at 10:45 AM, when a force of Preventive Security personnel approached him and his colleague cameraman, and took them to their headquarters in Bethlehem.

Hamamrah told MADA that the cameraman had been released after they had reviewed the photographic material, but that he remained in custody for a further two hours where he was interrogated about his work in Quds TV.

The detective considered his work at Al-Quds illegal and threatened to arrest him if he continued his work with the station, saying to him: "We will arrest you each time you work for Quds, which raise sedition."

Hamamrah added: "they made me sign a pledge that I will not violate the administrative system, I will respect Palestinian law, and will not work for the illegal formal channel in the West Bank - referring to Quds TV.

I then enquired about obtaining an official letter designating Quds TV as illegal, but I have not received any answer, they just told me to leave my work and look for another job."

The security service’s continued harassment of Quds TV employees, which they deem illegal, is a violation of Item 3 of Article 27 in the Palestinian Basic Law, which states: “Censorship on media shall be prohibited. No warning, suspension, confiscation, cancellation, or restrictions shall be imposed on media except by law, and in accordance with a judicial order.

Hamamrah was the victim of arrest and harassment by the Palestinian Security Service last year, his last one occurring on the 24th of December 2010.

The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) denounces the harassment of journalists by the Palestinian Security Services and demands observation of Palestinian Basic Law, guaranteeing freedom of expression

Al Jazeera offices ransacked

2011-02-05T09:33:00.000Z

The offices of Al Jazeerah satellite TV in Cairo were ransacked yesterday by the Egyptian Secret Service. The action, in which laptops were stolen, is widely regarded as an attempt to put greater pressure on journalists working for the Al Jazeerah channel. The Egyptian state security services regard Al Jazeera as supporting the pro democracy demonstrations.

Egyptian Shark Attack: Jews not Jaws

2010-12-16T16:26:00.005Z

Israel dismissed Egyptian claims that a series of shark attacks in the Red Sea could have been the result of a plot carried out by Mossad.

Comments by the South Sinai governor, Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha, were carried on an official Egyptian news site and provoked outrage from Israel. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Igal Palmor told the BBC: "The man must have seen Jaws one time too many, and confuses fact and fiction."

Conspiracy theories are always popular in the Middle East, with unlikely suggestions often made that troubles in Arab countries could be caused by Mossad agents.

Journalist held on trumped-up drug charge after covering protest

2010-11-23T22:15:00.000Z

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of Alexandria-based journalist and human rights activist Youssef Shaaban, who is being held on a trumped-up drug charge. A reporter for the independent online newspaper Al-Badil, he was arrested during a demonstration on 20 November by residents in the Alexandria neighbourhood of Abu Suleiman, who were protesting against their eviction.

The press freedom organization has learned that Shaaban was arrested while photographing a policeman beating participants in the protest, which took place as local development minister Abdel Salam Al-Mahjoub, a candidate for the Raml area of Alexandria in next Sunday’s parliamentary elections, was giving a campaign conference.

TO VIEW FULL STORY CLICK HERE

Hamas Represses Media Freedom

2010-10-19T11:50:00.004+01:00

Hamas has increased its stranglehold on Media in the Gaza strip by closing down offices and detaining journalists, the Conservative Friends of Israel have brought to our attention.

In the past week Hamas have closed down the offices of the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate and started to interrogate their members. This must be seen as an attempt to reduce criticism of Hamas within Gaza by the media and to cement the place of their media outlets and so influence the news Palestinians in Gaza recieve.

The likely motive ofHamas' move against the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate seems to be that it has strong links with Fatah. Since Hamas has taken power it has used its power to force the closure of at least 25 press offices and it has also detained dozens of journalists in the Gaza Strip.

However there is another story here; the Conservative Friends of Israel in the act of bringing our attention to this story manipulated the facts saying that thousands not dozens of journalists have been detained. Although undoubtedly Hamas' actions are indefensible, the CFI's duplicitous act of manipulating the figures for political gain simply feeds the cycle of misinformation.

International Media Awards 2011

2010-10-11T15:29:00.001+01:00

Nominations Now Open to the Public. Close on 30th November.

The International Media Awards 2011 will take place in April of next year and the Next Century Foundation welcomes nominations now. The International Media Awards is hosted yearly by the NCF to show our appreciation for those journalists, TV producers, Broadcasters and those in that area who have worked to improve the understanding of the issues both of and within the Middle East.

The current list of those already nominated can be found here: http://www.ncfpeace.org/drupal/node/572.

Nominations close before November 30th with shortlisting taking place on the 8th December.

Please send your nominations, and if possible a short biography of them and why you are nominating them, to NCFPeace@aol.com and we will include them in the long list as soon as possible.

Yemen Press crackdown

2010-09-30T14:32:00.000+01:00

The press is being suppressed in the Yemen - big time - and still the West backs the government. Sad really sad:

Yemen has stepped up a crackdown on the media that has created the worst climate for press freedom in decades, a rights group said on Wednesday.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) pointed to a series of steps by the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to rein in the media, including the creation of a special court last year to prosecute press offences.

“Arab Satellite media is an American imperialist conspiracy that aims to dominate the Arabic mind and cancel out the Arabic identity”. True or False?

2010-09-02T12:58:00.002+01:00

The conspiracy theory goes that the plethora of satellite channels in the Middle East is not a coincidence. Rather it is a subtle attempt by America, and its Zionist partners to distort Arab national identity and undermine Arab culture. Granted the media can be used to achieve certain political ends and to incite against a minority or religious group (as happened in Iraq). However the mistake is to assume that America should be blamed for all of this. American focus on the region is based on a geo-political and economic interest given that it is such a major player in the region.

Fanaticbook?

2010-08-26T12:58:00.008+01:00

The Muslim brotherhood is about to launch its own Facebook, to spread awareness of “moderate Islamic values”. It will be the only way that ‘brothers’ can communicate in a country where the Society of Muslim Brothers is banned. But the media wants us to ask - what will they be communicating? And for an organisation known for radicalism and violence, does a free and widespread forum pose any risks?

Ikhwanbook (the official name) identifies itself by defining Islamic values better than their competitor Facebook – “It has more reserved use of photographs, less intrusion in the personal lives of members, and a different attitude to homosexuality”.

However, the Brotherhood actively advocates suicide bombing on civilians to combat Zionism, and they have rumoured links with al-Qaeda. So, being cynical, Ikhwanbook has the potential to give fundamentalists another means of recruitment, especially in the Western world where radical clerics find it difficult to recruit – it is much easier on the internet.

Although this raises legitimate fears amongst the western media, the Muslim Brotherhood denounces labels like “fundamentalist” as the media pigeonholing them, and draw attention to their "15 Principles" for an Egyptian National Charter - including "freedom of personal conviction... opinion... forming political parties... public gatherings... free and fair elections..." Indeed, it may be that Ikhwanbook is just a way for Muslims to distance themselves from the “liberal attitudes and opinions” shared widely on Facebook, and stay connected in an environment where they feel more comfortable.

So, with the launch date set “at a later date” we just have to wait and see if the worries about the threat of Ikhwanbook are legitimate. But if Facebook doesn’t ban anti-Islam sites, can we legitimately ban a pro-Islam Facebook?

Israel's Ongoing War Against the Press

2010-05-27T16:46:00.001+01:00

The following was sent to us by Nadia el Shazly:

by: Michael Corcoran, t r u t h o u t Op-Ed
The recent arrest of an Israeli journalist who allegedly leaked materials to a reporter, and the gag order that followed, is just the latest in a long string of Israel's systematic attacks on press freedom.
Today in Israel, a nation so often hailed by Western commentators as the lone shining beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, sits Anat Kamm. Kamm is a 23-year-old muzzled female journalist, under house arrest for her role in exposing a secret Israeli assassination plot by leaking government documents to Ha’aretz, one of Israel's most prominent dailies. She faces the possibility of life in prison. Uri Blau, a reporter for Ha'aretz who covered the covert plot, has fled to London, fearing for his safety and freedom.
Kamm's story has been difficult to piece together, since there was a gag order that kept anyone from covering her arrest and surrounding events until April 8. Violating the gag order can carry harsh punishments, including shutting down a publication. We do know from recent reports that Kamm’s house was vandalized by Israeli settlers, and that Blau will be returning leaked documents to the government. But the details are foggy. Israel essentially made a journalist - and her story - disappear.
Dov Alfon, the editor-in-chief of Ha'aretz, acknowledged his paper is challenging the gag order and standing by their reporter, telling the UK Guardian that, “Israel is still a democracy and therefore we intend to continue to publish whatever public interest demands and our reporters can reveal."
Alfon is absolutely right to make the connection between freedom of the press and democracy. One cannot truly exist without the other, and this point is often made by staunch defenders of Israel when they attack nations such as Iran for lacking press freedom. This is precisely why this incident should be so troubling to Americans. In the US, it is often taken for granted that Israel, which receives more than $3 billion annually from the US in aid, is a true democracy, despite its harsh treatment of Arab citizens in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. President Obama has claimed that the US-Israel relationship is "mutually beneficial" as both countries "share common values, histories, and a dedication to democracy." But clearly the values are not identical. Unlike Israel, in the US freedom of press is seen as essential to a functioning democracy.
As stunning as the Kamm affair may seem, it is far from an isolated incident. Over the years, Israel, known for its restrictive military censorship laws, has become notorious for thwarting journalism in various ways: they have repeatedly barred journalists from covering certain issues, prohibited reporters from entering Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, engaged in violent attacks against foreign journalists, bombed and attacked media outlets, and jailed reporters on numerous occasions. These abuses show that, in addition to the crimes committed as part of its occupation of Palestine, Israel has shown contempt to the basic rights of Israelis as well. Worse, it lessens the ability for people all over the world to understand the important issues and events taking place in the Middle East.
Systematic Censorship: Israeli Censors in Action
Despite its glowing reputation as a strong democracy, Israel has a systematic, institutionalized system of censorship. While the country's Supreme Court has "affirmed that freedom of expression is an essential component of human dignity," according to Freedom House's annual report on press freedom, "the country’s basic law does not specifically address the issue."
All news articles are subject to censorship by the Israeli Military Censor, and while not all articles are screened, those about especially sensitive military issues, such as nuclear weapons or military actions, are watched very closely. In 1982, the New York Times published an article titled "Censorship by Israel: How It's Carried Out." It reported that Israeli military censorship "applies to foreign newspaper and wire service dispatches transmitted from Israel during both war and peacetime on military and security issues," and noted that articles on sensitive issues "are to be submitted to the censor before they are sent abroad.
This censorship has been used very recently, not only in the Kamm arrest, but also in Operation Orchard, when Israel bombed an alleged nuclear reactor site in Syria. In 2005 a BBC reporter was banned from the country for not showing the nation's censor video footage of an interview he did with nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu.
Perhaps no issue has been as heavily censored as Israel's nuclear program. Israel is widely known to have a large stockpile of nuclear weapons, but refuses to allow any international oversight, or even admit to having them. This is rather ironic, given Israel's regular refutations of Iran for not cooperating enough with international inspectors with its nuclear program. Aluf Benn, writing in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, observed the Orwellian nature in which Israel is "censoring the past," engaging in what he calls, “an offensive … aimed at trying to conceal the country’s nuclear history, much of which has already seen the light of day." He described how Israeli officials arrested various authors who published books about sensitive issues, such as Avner Cohen, author of ”Israel and the Bomb.” Benn asks: "Is it illegal even to ask questions about nuclear matters? Do former officials have to die with their lips sealed? Is there no time limit on old secrets?" These questions reveal the extent of Israel's insistence on keeping the public from understanding the reality of its policies.
The Gaza Blackout and Restricting the Foreign Press
Israel's infringement of the press extends beyond Israeli journalists. Since Israel controls access to the Occupied Territories, it can exert a great deal of control over the ability of foreign journalists to enter the territories, and for Palestinian journalists to leave. This control over freedom of movement is one crucial way that Israel attempts to keep its actions hidden from the public.
Israel's refusal to let Western journalists enter Gaza during the 2008-09 invasion was especially disturbing, as it enabled numerous war crimes to take place with minimal press oversight. The decision was condemned by news outlets and press freedom groups all over the world, and prompted Freedom House to downgrade its status from "free" to "partly free." Not even The New York Times had a reporter in Gaza during the invasion.
The policy had the desired effect. "An Israeli official told me they were delighted at a BBC TV correspondent broadcasting from Ashkelon in a flak jacket," wrote Chris McGreal in the UK Guardian, “reinforcing the impression that the Israeli city is a war zone when there is more chance of being hit by a car than a rocket."
What the journalists did miss was the collective punishment of the "people of Gaza as a whole," concluded the Goldstone Report, a fact-finding mission of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Goldstone Report called the war an effort to "humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."
A small sample of the carnage that most media members were unable to cover (but were chronicled by the Goldstone Report and other human rights organizations) include: the bombing of the Al-Maqadmah mosque while hundreds of people were praying inside that killed 15 people; the killing of 21 members of the al-Samouni family, including children, who were located in a house by the orders of the Israel Defense Forces; and the use of white phosphorous in attacks on two hospitals filled with filled ailing civilians. Israel also bombed the United Nations-run Al-Fakhura school, killing 35 people.
Speaking on this issue, Danny Seaman, Israel's press officer, openly expressed pleasure about how the absence off the foreign press - who he called a "fig leaf" for Hamas - greatly benefited Israel." Take the UN school [where 42 people were killed by an Israeli shell] for example," he told McGreal. "There's a lot of questions as to what actually happened. If the foreign media had been there, it would have had much more of an impact on the conflict than it has at the moment. For the first time, when Israel raised questions, journalists had to address these issues and not get caught in feeding frenzy of reporting the story."
Another example of Israel's infringing on foreign journalists was on display earlier this year when, in January, Jared Malsin, a young Yale graduate attempted to fly back to the West Bank , where he worked as an editor for Ma’an, a Palestinian agency that covers the occupation, after a trip with his girlfriend outside the country. While at Ben Gurion International Airport, he was held and interrogated for eight hours by Israeli officials, before being jailed for a week and then deported out of the country.
Malsin was guilty of merely doing his job. He was, as he described his job as the English editor of the paper, giving "voice to people who don't have a voice,” by telling stories that would otherwise go untold. Israel officials gave no real explanation for the detention and deportation, other than to acknowledge that Malsin was "criticizing the State of Israel," from “inside the (Occupied) Territories.” But few doubt the motives were political. His jailing sends a stern message to other journalists who might consider covering the plight of the Palestinians.
The move was sharply condemned by press groups throughout the world. "We condemn this intolerable violation of press freedom," said Aidan White, the head of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a global union of media professionals. "The ban of entry in this case appears to be as a reprisal measure for the journalist's independent reporting and that is unacceptable ... This kind of interference has no place in a democracy." Similar condemnations were made by many other groups including Reporters without Borders, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the International Press Institute, which made the astute observation that Israeli "authorities should recognize that the right of press freedom applies to all journalists, not just to reporters who write favorably about Israeli government policy."
The health of Israel's democratic values have also been called further into question light of Israel's refusal to allow the entry of iconic academic and critic of US and Israeli policy, Noam Chomsky, to the West Bank from Jordan last weekend. This comes on the heels of rejecting the entrance of others who are well known for expressing critical views of Israeli policy, such as Norman Finkelstein and Richard Falk. The meaning of blacklisting critical voices and what it means for Israeli democracy is not lost on many Israeli commentators. "The decision to shut up Professor Chomsky is a decision to shut down freedom in the state of Israel," wrote Boaz Okun, Yedioth Ahronot's legal affairs commentator and a retired Israeli judge, of Israel's decision to reject Chomsky from entering the West Bank.
Violence Against the Media
Even worse than jailings and deportations, other media organizations and journalists have been violently attacked and intimidated.
On July 13, 2006, just a day into Israel's 34-day long devastating invasion of southern Lebanon, Israel bombed Al-Manar, the Beirut-based television station of Hezbollah. Even though Israel was fighting with Hezbollah, this bombing was a clear violation of international law. As Human Rights Watch noted when condemning the attack, "It is unlawful to attack facilities that merely shape civilian opinion; neither directly contributes to military operations."
Much like Israel's (along with the US) isolation compared with international consensus on solutions to the peace process, they were once again at odds with most of free world on the issue of targeting press outlets in combat.
"The bombing of Al-Manar is a clear demonstration that Israel has a policy of using violence to silence media it does not agree with,” said White, the General Secretary of the IFJ. “This action means media can become routine targets in every conflict. It is a strategy that spells catastrophe for press freedom and should never be endorsed by a government that calls itself democratic.”
Israel was so irked by White's statement they threatened to leave the organization, according to the Jerusalem Post. This is consistent with Israel's contempt for international institutions that attempt to hold Israel up to reasonable standards of transparency.
Violence against smaller groups of journalists has also been a frequent issue of late. In late January, Israeli forces attacked Rami Swidan, a photographer for Ma’an News Agency, Ashraf Abu Shawish, a cameraman for Palmedia, and Reuters photographers Abdel Rahim al-Qusini and Hassan Titi. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Swiden said, "Israeli soldiers told the journalists they were not allowed to take pictures because the area was a closed military zone. When the journalists refused to stop, soldiers hit them and attempted to take their cameras before throwing teargas canisters and stun grenades."
The incident came just months after two other journalists were assaulted "while covering clashes between settlers and Burin’s residents,” CPJ reported. Just recently, CPJ has documented seven cases of attacks or harassment of journalists, and asked Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a letter to please "take decisive action to end the harassment of journalists and bring the IDF’s practices in line with international standards of press freedom, allowing journalists to conduct their work safely and without deliberate interference."
Why This Matters to Americans
Israel is not the only country to crack down on press coverage they don't agree with. But given its reputation as a democracy, which is often hailed as a major reason they are the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the world, Israel’s long record of harassment, censorship and violence against reporters is especially unfortunate.
It is crucial that journalists from other countries such as the US, which are often able to say what Israeli reporters are not, bring attention to suppressed issues in the region. Ideally, the US government would also apply pressure by threatening to withdraw military aid if it does not reform its press policies, though this seems unlikely given the US refusal to take similar measures to end settlements.
A major reason for Israel's crackdown on media is that it allows the occupation of Palestine to continue with minimal scrutiny. American taxpayers who subsidize the Israel military, and all citizens of the world who wish to expose the suffering of those on the receiving end of state violence, should fight hard to enable the truth to come to light in such an important part of the world.

International Media Awards 2010

2010-05-11T14:21:00.003+01:00

The International Council for Press and Broadcasting Sixth International Media Awards

The International Media Awards ceremony was held at a gala night in central London on Saturday 8^th of May. Western, Israeli and Arab journalists from across the Middle East gathered for the 6^th International Media Awards.

The International Media Award winners for 2010:

Outstanding Contribution to Peace Award

MOSSI RAZ & MAYSA SINIORA joint Israeli and Palestinian winners for All For Peace Radio, a joint Israeli-Arab radio station.

The Peace through Media Award

IAN BLACK Middle East Editor of the Guardian

SAMIA NAKHOUL is the Reuters Middle East Editor

AKIVA ELDAR is the Chief Political Columnist for Haaretz

PATRICK COCKBURN, Foreign Correspondent Independent and contributor to London Review of Books

Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award

BEN WEDEMAN is CNN’s Senior International Correspondent based in Cairo.

The Cutting Edge Award:

ITAI ANGHEL is a senior correspondent for the weekly current affairs program “UVDA” on Israel’s Channel 2 television

MOEEN AL HILOU is currently Gaza Producer for Israel's Channel 10 TV, as well as being a director for the Hebrew News Department at Palestine TV

The Breakaway Award:

RANJ ALAALDIN is a Middle East political and security risk analyst based at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He writes for the Guardian columnist and numerous other print and online publications.

Outstanding Contribution to New Media (The Bloggers’ Award)

BENNY ZIFFER has been the literary editor of Haaretz since 1987. More recently his blogs “Lo BeBeit Sifrenu” and “Dressed to Provoke” have risen to prominence in the Hebrew blogosphere.

MBI Lifetime Achievement Award

JIM MUIR is BBC Middle East Correspondent. Having begun his involvement with the region in Beirut in 1975, he is now based there again, focusing on issues both within Lebanon (particularly Hezbollah) and in the wider Middle East, traveling regularly to cover Iraq.

The Annual International Media Awards were established in 2005 and are one of the projects run by the Next Century Foundation. The awards celebrate the work of journalists covering the Middle East, whose high standards of analysis and reporting have helped break down barriers and promote better understanding of the people and politics of the region. The awards also recognise the skill, courage and determination of individual journalists when reporting from areas of conflict or political repression. The Awards honour and encourage journalists who have advanced our understanding of the Middle East through their outstanding journalism.

Speaking on behalf of the International Council for Press and Broadcasting, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, the Patron of the International Media Awards said “It is a great pleasure to be able to sponsor these Awards”.

Ms Dalia Salaam of the Next Century Foundation, convener of the awards along with Lord Stone of Blackheath, stated, “We are all ourselves honored to be able to honour these outstanding journalists on this special occasion.”

Lord Stone of Blackheath told reporters, “The Media Awards are awarded to journalists and broadcasters who, through the consistently high standard of their work, promote better understanding of the people and politics of the Middle East. All those journalists honoured are worthy recipients.”

Ambassador Mark Hambley said, “These awards demonstrate anew the positive role which media, in all its varied forms, is playing to increase understaning and reduce conflict in the Middle East. The award winners are to be congratulated for their persistence and courage, often under fire.”

Broadcasting Conference on 8/9th May 2010

2010-04-21T11:31:00.002+01:00

The State of Broadcasting in the Middle East

A conference organised by the International Council for Press and Broadcasting to provide an overview of the current status of Middle East broadcasting. This is a two day conference on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of May organised with the support of the US State Department.

The conference will be held at Initiatives of Change, 24 Greencoat Place, London, SW1P 1RD. Tel: 020 7798 6000
Saturday 8th May 2010.

DAY ONE

9:15 Registration

9:45 Opening Remarks Katherine Van de Vate - Director, Media Outreach, US Government

10:00 Session One Middle East Satellite Television: Objective coverage or media myopia?

Chaired by: William Morris- Secretary General, Next Century Foundation

Panel: Jim Muir - BBC, Senior Correspondent, Beirut.

Zaki Chehab – LBC Satellite TV Correspondent

Adel Zanoon - AFP, Anglo-France Press

Adnan Abu-Hasna – Voice Radio project, Gaza

11:15 Coffee Break

11:30 Session Two Challenges to Middle East Broadcasting: Political Interference - The impact of censorship, intimidation and assassination Chaired by: Robin Williamson - International Communications Forum

Panel: Abdalrahman Dheyab Abdullah- Al Sharqiyah TV

Soran Aziz - Presenter, Producer and Broadcast Journalist APTN Correspondent (Alirqiya TV)

Moeen al Hilou, - Producer, Channel 10 TV, Gaza

Itai Anghel – Senior Correspondent, Channel 2 Israel

1:00 LUNCH

2:00 Session Three Challenges to Middle East Broadcasting: Technical Interference - the consequences of jamming and of the deportation of journalists

Chaired by: Louisa Brooke - Senior World Affairs Analyst, the BBC

Panel: Adel Darwish - Broadcaster and Newspaper columnist, former producer MBC TV

Ribal Al Assad - Chairman of ANN Satellite Television

Issam Abdullah - Broadcaster, former presenter LBC

3:00 Tea Break

3:15 Session Four Ethics of Broadcasting – the impact of xenophobia and disinformation Chaired by: Alan Mendoza – Director, The Henry Jackson Society (tbc)

Panel: Shahdi Al Khashif - Senior BBC Broadcast correspondent, Gaza

Maysa Baransi-siniora - Peace radio (Palestine)

Mossi Raz - Peace Radio (Israel)

5.00 Day One Concludes

DAY TWO

Sunday 9th May – What Can be achieved? A series of policy working groups organised in cooperation with Innovation Arts

Working Discussion Groups 11.00 am - 4.00 pm (working lunch 1pm)

The DesignSession - the workshop with a difference - draws out the collective intellect and creative capabilities of participants to explore concrete opportunities for addressing the challenges that will have been raised on the previous day.

A results-driven collaborative experience, stakeholders come together in to share and develop:

• Original thinking and insights
• New tools, frameworks and models
• Innovative solutions and action plans

The process is interactive and encourages new thinking, the exchange of best practices and collaboration. We'll create an informal, creative atmosphere to allow you as participants, the main actors in the session, to work together as peers. A Facilitator manages the flow of the session, drawing out participation and collaboration and Discussion Leaders may be assigned to breakout groups, guiding participants through the team exercises. They encourage participation and share experiences, but do not give formal presentations.

The areas of focus for our DesignSession are the following:

Government and Broadcasting:

The way forward for a freer press led by Hon. Mark Hambly - Former Ambassador to Qatar and Lebanon former US Spokesman for the Middle East.

How do broadcasting organisations respond to censorship, jamming, intimidation and deportation?

Broadcasting Organisations in a safer world: Mechanisms to foster balanced press coverage led by Adel Darwish - Broadcaster and Newspaper columnist, former producer MBC TV

How do broadcasting organisations maintain integrity around disinformation and political bias?

The Individual Broadcaster: Ensuring ethics in journalism are not compromised led by William Morris- Secretary General, The Next Century Foundation and Chairman of the International Council for Press and Broadcasting

How do broadcasting organisations reinforce peace and not hatred

For more information on this session, go here: http://www.thevalueweb.org/

For media files, go here: http://www.thevalueweb.org/?page_id=770