"This report examines the key issues surrounding threats to the physical safety of journalists, particularly in countries with hostile media environments. While acknowledging the serious impact of repressive measures such as imprisonment, the focus of the report is sharply on incidents of violence.
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[...] If the problem of violence against journalists has so far proven intractable, enough strong research, analysis and advocacy has been done over the past two decades to provide a clear understanding of the challenges—and some potential answers. Drawing on the experience of press freedom experts, and especially on the insights of some of those on the front lines of violence, these are recommendations for action that could improve the hopes of true solutions: get the facts, and get them as straight as possible; more targeted coordination of efforts by international organizations; create a pilot project of independent investigation; toughening the policy approach; broaden the approach to training, and fund it better." (Executive summary, page 5-7)
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"This article analyzes the liability of the Philippine President for the tort of constitutional negligence in relation to the murders and forced disappearances of leftists, journalists, and other dissidents. It uses the international law doctrine of command responsibility as a form of attribution th
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at may be used, by analogy, to hold the President accountable for a culture of impunity. The article describes the role of the President as the regulator of a human rights-conducive information ecology and argues that massive human rights violations meant to silence dissidents are a source of liability for which a class action suit is an available remedy. Finally, it looks at the concept of presidential immunity from suit from a comparative perspective and argues that the continued application of restrictive immunity rules established during the American colonial era is misplaced considering the universalist design of the present Philippine Constitution and developments in immunity jurisprudence in the United States." (Abstract)
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"The town of Gulu in northern Uganda stood still as the leader of a then 16-year-old insurgency against the government was heard live through a local government radio station. On 28 December 2002, Joseph Kony called in to Mega FM’s live debate talk show and was heard throughout northern Uganda. Th
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e significance of this event cannot be underestimated in local and global terms. How had this man, labelled by the government as a terrorist, killer, and child abductor, come to be broadcast on a Ugandan Government radio station? The answer to this question directly engages and critiques current debates of the role of the media in societies where violent conflict is a reality. Through engagement with two radio presenters from Mega FM, I explore the space for dialogue and debate in northern Uganda. By learning from their experiences, it becomes clear that the question is not whether media censorship is useful in peace building, but what can be done to support the daily struggles of media actors who are constantly negotiating their way through a labyrinth of restrictions." (Page 610)
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"Lack of safety and basic protection for media workers in Gaza – and in particular for journalists and photographers working freelance – has been identified as the most crucial and imminent issue in the weeks following the military offensive by Israel against Hamas in the Gaza Strip on 27 Decemb
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er 2008 and the ceasefire called on 17 January 2009. The lack of basic equipment, as well as proper training in safety issues, has prevented journalists from moving freely and thus prevented them from performing their task at the expense of the circulation of essential information. Summing up, freelance journalist Omeyma Abu Khair states: “We need organisations that really takes care of journalists – of the individual journalist and photographer. We have no such organisations here. We need help to learn, how to work under pressure. How to operate during war. How to protect ourselves when we are out reporting. We need psychological support to teach us how to work in long term trauma situations. How to deal with our own traumas. And how to take care of our families when we are working 24 hours a day.” (Conclusion)
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"Significant efforts to develop an independent journalism have stumbled badly in Central Asia, where politics, economics and the unforeseen consequence of widespread self-censorship have derailed development of a Western-style media and the democracy it serves. What is worse, from Kazakhstan to Uzbe
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kistan, prospects for developing a believable, fact-based journalism look grim. Much of this trouble can be laid at the doorstep of self-censorship, which flourishes across the region with uncommon vigor. Central Asian journalism is in worse shape than the rest of the post-Communist world, largely because the socioeconomic and political situations in this relatively remote region remain in flux from a backwardness that modernity is only of late and slowly affecting. One of the most confounding elements that stymie the evolution of Central Asia journalism is a culture that drives the new post-Communist institutions and the mentalities of the region's sociopolitical, economic, and cultural elites. Consequently, those who endeavor to aid the evolution of Central Asian media should look to the history and culture of the region and then impart a more complete understanding of Western journalism's mission, values, roles, and sound news business practices before addressing journalistic techniques." (Abstract)
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"This Manual is primarily designed to be used as a resource for a training course for laypersons on the basics of freedom of expression. It is intended to be used course participants, as well as by the trainers delivering it. While it is largely selfexplanatory, at the same time training will work b
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etter if delivered by trainers who have been provided with inputs from freedom of expression experts, so that they have a broader set of resources to draw upon than are set out in the Manual itself. As a result, it is idea if the trainers have undergone a training of trainers session on how to use the Manual." (Pages 1-2)
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"This study explores perceptions of freedom of the press by those who practice it: journalists and media organizations. References to freedom of the press in codes of ethics worldwide were analyzed according to the respective characteristics of organizations and the political-economic status of each
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country considered. The findings show that the concern journalists express about their freedom is not necessarily related to with the level of freedom of the press prevailing in their respective countries. Moreover, the codes of developing countries primarily display concern about the most fundamental freedoms of all." (Abstract)
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"El precio del silencio' revela una tendencia creciente en varios países de América Latina: la interferencia “tras bambalinas” que ejercen los gobiernos sobre los medios de comunicación y la independencia editorial. Esta “censura sutil” y sus continuos efectos inhibitorios aún no han rec
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ibido la atención que merecen. Por medio del monitoreo sistemático de tales prácticas en Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Perú y Uruguay, este informe procura llenar el vacío de información existente y revelar los peligros que entraña la censura indirecta para la libertad y la independencia de la tarea periodística. El presente informe examina cómo los gobiernos de los países analizados abusan de sus facultades regulatorias y de fondos públicos para controlar a los medios, con muy poca vigilancia: utilizan la publicidad oficial para castigar a los medios críticos y recompensar a los que se muestran amigables; deniegan el acceso y la información a los periodistas que consideran “críticos”; presionan secretamente a dueños y editores de medios para que cambien sus líneas editoriales; y otorgan licencias de radiodifusión de modo tal de beneficiar a los aliados políticos y acallar a las voces independientes." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Independent media have expanded and diversified in Afghanistan, though the country remains a precarious and hazardous place for journalists and media organisations. Nine journalists have been killed between January 1, 2007 and the writing of these lines (though one case remains a little unclear), w
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hile abductions, physical violence, threats and intimidation against journalists continue with worrying frequency. While the establishment of a number of print, broadcast and online media outlets creates an atmosphere of hope for the growth of free media in the country, attacks on journalists, death threats and intimidation from armed insurgency owing allegiance to the Taliban continue. Worryingly, there has also been an increasing trend of official and governmental sources, not to mention the various armed groups that continue to have immense influence in the national houses of parliament, to threaten and harass media and media workers. The threats are clearly intended to silence debate about the new Afghanistan, and to stifle the development of an independent and critical media through which such debate would be conducted.
Religious hardliners continue to apply pressure on the Government of President Hamid Karzai to impose or support harsh measures against individuals and institutions who do not bow to fundamentalist ideas about the direction of Afghan society. This is despite the clear guarantee in Afghanistan’s Constitution of the right of citizens to freedom of expression. The most prominent example is that of Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, a young journalist with the Jahan-e-Naw weekly and a student at Balkh University, Mazar-e-Sharif, who was sentenced to death after a four-minute closed-door hearing in January 2008, on charges of blasphemy." (Page 3)
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