"Work done internationally to address impunity concentrates on removing blanket amnesties and establishing commissions of inquiry into past atrocities. Everyday impunity—the impossibility of bringing state officers to account for routinized violent crimes against other individuals—gets less atte
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ntion, even though its effects on public life are insidious. Studying the 2014 killing of a journalist, we identify modes for the production of everyday impunity in Myanmar that emerge from earlier periods of unmediated military rule but that today are coming to resemble practices in neighbouring countries. Accounts from Bangladesh and Thailand reveal how impunity can persist in new political conditions, producing insecurity and hampering efforts for more inclusive forms of government. We close by urging scholars to remain attentive to their responsibilities in the face of impunity, calling on them not to participate in projects that have the effect of concealing violent crime by state officers, and denying victims justice." (Abstract)
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"The study is focusing ‘Reporting is becoming a life threatening profession in Pakistan’ as a topic for research. International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) declared Pakistan as one of the most dangerous countries for Journalists. Amnesty International called Khuzdar ‘a graveyard for Journa
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lists’. Rank of Pakistan in the World Press Freedom Index is going down year by year. However, the number of journalists who lost their lives in Pakistan is on the rise. It would be safe to say that at least 67 journalists lost their lives in Pakistan from 2002 to 2014. It is claimed by Committee to Protect Journalists that from 1992 to 2014 majority of journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty are reporters. The situation in Pakistan has been going worse with each passing day for journalists especially for reporters since 9/11. Government as well as media organizations have failed to provide proper security to reporters resulting an increase in the number of crimes against journalists as well as the impunity in their cases. Although the conviction in the cases of two murdered reporters is a ray of hope and has improved Pakistan’s rank in Global Impunity Index but still there is a lot needed to be done in order to control the increasing rate of crimes against journalists." (Abstract)
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"The imprisonment of Al Jazeera English (AJE) journalists (Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian national Mohamed Fahmy, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed) in Egypt between 2013 and 2015 reflected the recent ten agenda items of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNES
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CO) about the safety of journalists (Pöyhtäri & Berger, 2015). Building on the relevance of press theories (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1956; Curran, 2002) as well as developmental and peace journalism (Carpentier, 2007 cited in Cammaerts & Carpentier, 2007) as a theoretical basis, this paper examines the twenty-one month reportage of the AJE case by public broadcasters such as AJE, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It assesses whether the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalist agenda was covered. A “mixed method” (Kolmer, 2008), quantitative and qualitative content analysis research design, was used. Four hundred and ninety-five articles from the three broadcasters’ coverage were analyzed in two stages which overall began from the day (December 29, 2013) of arrest of the AJE trio until a week after Fahmy’s and Mohamed’s final release (September 30, 2015). The analysis found that items noted in the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists’ agenda were not overtly spelt out in the coverage by the broadcasters but cloaked under a wider press freedom framework that hung over the case. Findings also reflected the critical need to address the safety of journalists in Egypt and other parts of Africa, despite the democratic awaking of the 2011 Arab Spring." (Abstract)
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"This paper argues that the safety of journalists in Ghana can no longer be taken for granted given the available evidence of physical attacks on journalists (Joint Statement NMC et al., 2016 and MFWA, 2016). The overarching objective of the study is to portray Donkor’s case as typical of similar
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cases in Ghana and beyond and highlight the implications of attacks on journalists. In the past decade or so, physical attacks on journalist have been the most prevalent form of violation against journalists in Ghana. In this essay, a single case study of Donkor is examined together with relevant documents as the tip of an iceberg to demonstrate and paint a picture of the harrowing and degrading experience of physical and other forms of attacks against journalists in Ghana and its implications for safeguarding press freedom and the fundamental human rights of people. The incidence of attacks against journalists and how such perpetrators often go unpunished, though not a phenomenon peculiar only to Ghana, needs serious interrogation given the latitude of freedom of the media guaranteed in the 1992 fourth republican Constitution of Ghana. It is pertinent to ask: how far have stakeholders contributed to the promotion of journalists’ safety as prescribed in UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists Document? While chronicling some instances of actions, which tend to endanger the lives of journalists in the line of duty, I would conclude that a concerted effort is required to enable journalists, the public, civil society organisations, international organisations and state institutions to initiate strategic actions aimed at tackling the problem." (Abstract)
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"The non-international armed conflicts prevailing in the Middle East nowadays, have been witnessing a large number of atrocities committed against journalists. The study examined the extent to which international humanitarian law is able to provide special protection for Non-embedded (independent) j
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ournalists when covering non-international armed conflicts, and the initiatives taken by a United Nations organization to enforce the rules of this law and compel the conflict parties to respect it. The study found that United Nations Orgnization is playing a very vital role to enforce the international law of Journalists, especially during armed conflict situations. In recent years, United Nations seriously deal with this issue through a set of resolutions and plans, especially the 2015 UNSC resolution, which endorsed group of effective tools and mechanisms, the most important of them, from our point of view, is the need to end the impunity of the perpetrators of such crimes and prosecuting them before national or national courts as well as to take this issue in consideration with UN peacekeeping and special political missions. In our study, we agree with the view that the Conflict parties that deliberately target journalists will arguably not be deterred by a new treaty that affirms that journalists should not be made the object of attack. Therefore, promoting of understanding of the existing laws through media campaigns to support their enforcement, giving more coverage to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) breaches, and better training for journalists in IHL and International Criminal Court (ICC) processes, will be more effective." (Abstract)
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"This survey was designed to measure how journalists around the world take advantage of technology to enhance their security. The results suggest that there is a general lack of awareness about the power that digital tools have to improve a journalist’s protection. There are scores of organization
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s of journalists, technologists, and activists developing tools for physical or digital protection or training reporters and editors on how to use them. But there can never be enough education about the risks that journalists face and the security measures they can take, especially when it seems that the press is under attack more frequently and in more aggressive ways than before." (Page 12)
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"Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, as more than 100 journalists have been murdered between 2000 and 2014, with almost half of those killed in the country's northern states. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews with journalists in northern Mexico, this qua
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litative study examines the relationship between an environment of violence and journalists' perceptions about professionalism. Utilizing the concepts of professional reflexivity and collective professional autonomy, the authors analyze and discuss the complexities and contradictions of professional identity among journalists during a time of unprecedented violence." (Abstract)
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"The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has been publishing annual reports, of which this is the 25th, focusing on killing of journalists and media staff in work-related incidents since 1990. To date, the IFJ has recorded at least 2297 killings of these media professionals in targeted ass
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assinations, cross fire incidents and bomb attacks, including 112 who lost their lives to violence in 2015. There were other deaths due to accidents and natural disasters which are usually presented in a different category in our annual reports." (Page 6)
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"Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 12 years in 2015, mainly due to political, criminal, and terrorist forces that sought to co-opt or silence the media in their struggle for power (Freedom House, 2016). As of 2015, only one in seven people around the world lived in a country that
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had a free media system, a country in which the coverage of news was robust, and the safety of journalists guaranteed. The rest have been living in countries whose press was either “partly free” or “not free” (Freedom House, 2016). As one of the most dangerous places in a world that has seen a recent upswing in violence against journalists, in Mexico, for example, even a car crash is not a simple car crash. “You have to call somebody to make sure you can write about it,” one journalist said, “because it might actually not be an accident but a purposeful vehicular homicide organized by the cartel” (Priest, 2015). And while journalists are aware of how the government and cartels are controlling news stories, self-censoring has become a common tactic. The situation of journalists in Mexico is the rule rather than the exception. Journalists in Russia, China, Turkey, Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and many other countries from around the world work also under severe and difcult circumstances." (Abstract)
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"The chapter takes as its starting point the notion that journalists’ safety is a precondition for free expression and free media. Based on interviews and discussions with experienced female war and conflict journalists from seven countries worldwide, the discussion evolves around questions linked
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to what particular challenges and opportunities women journalists face, and how their security can best be ensured when covering war and conflict zones. The deliberations are believed to have a direct bearing on debates about female journalists’ safety online and offline, the importance of the presence of female journalists covering wars and conflicts, and how their being there may serve as an indicator of freedom of expression, civil rights and media freedom in general." (Abstract)
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"Ending the culture of impunity requires strengthening the culture of resistance. Impunity results in the dearth or absence of press freedom which, in turn, has deleterious effects on the practice of journalism as the people are deprived of relevant information that could help shape public opinion.
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Effective governance can only be achieved if there is an atmosphere conducive to press freedom and other basic freedoms. The local and global campaigns to end impunity should continue so that the culture of resistance would be strengthened and the specter of the culture of impunity would be finally gone. The Philippines proves to be an interesting case study as it is one of the freest press in Asia but has one of the most number of journalists killed worldwide. The most notable example of media killings is the massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao (located in the southern part of the Philippines) where 32 journalists and media workers were among the 58 people killed. The situation in the Philippines is alarming given the prevailing culture of impunity." (Abstract)
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"Are female journalists more at risk in covering conflict than their male colleagues? Beck states ‘risk is the anticipation of the catastrophe – so it is existent and non-existent’. Is the contention that female journalists are more at risk, knowledge, or a construction of knowledge? Are Edito
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rs and journalists who decide that women are more at risk merely anticipating a catastrophe? There is no certainty that women would be more at risk, but the fear that women are more at risk can prevent them from being sent to cover conflict, or force them to decide not to go to dangerous places. It is not possible to say with certainty that women journalists are targeted because they are women or because they are journalists. An IED or rocket fire does not distinguish between sexes. In many situations being female actually helps women journalist in conflict zones. In this paper we conduct a survey of journalists who work in conflict zones and ask whether it is the job or the gender which is the most dangerous. The question of whether it is more dangerous to be a woman might be debatable, but the survey shows that sexual harassment is a concern for female journalists." (Abstract)
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"This paper systematically reviews empirical research published from 2002 to July 2015 investigating journalists’ occupational stressors, coping strategies, and the impacts of these variables on the health and well-being of such professionals, whether on their daily work or as special envoys to cr
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itical scenarios. A meta-analytic approach was displayed to analyse the association between exposure to traumatic events during work and journalists’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty eight articles met the inclusion criteria and revealed that very few studies distinguish (and none compare) the distress of journalists in their daily work from the distress of reporting major disasters, not a single study addressed positive emotional responses and only one research study focused on an in-depth analysis of the most commonly used coping strategies by journalists. The impacts of occupational stress among these professionals were sorely negative (e.g., burnout, PTSD), and no study was found to address the design and assessment of preventive interventions for these impacts on the health and well-being of journalists. Thirteen studies were included in a random-effects model meta-analysis and a small to moderate effect size (r = 0.272) between exposure to traumatic events during assignments and PTSD was found. The article closes with directions for future studies." (Abstract)
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"Journalists around the world are being killed and threatened for doing their work. This is a serious hindrance to freedom of expression and the safe practice of journalism. UN and UNESCO have led the process to create the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity to i
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mprove the safety of journalists. As a part of the UN Plan, UNESCO also developed the Journalists’ Safety Indicators (JSI) assessment, which enables evaluation of the safety of journalists in a given country. Based on the first JSI assessments in Pakistan, Guatemala, Honduras, Nepal and Kenya in 2013-2015, but also following the recent developments in the practice of journalism, this article argues that in order to protect journalists and those practicing journalism properly, the concept of ‘journalist’ needs to be defined broadly. Furthermore, special attention needs to be paid to digital safety issues, women journalists, and wide-based cooperation on the safety of journalists." (Abstract)
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"Female journalists’ experiences of sexual harassment are barely documented in the literature about Australian news journalism despite evidence of its ongoing prevalence. There have been some stories of harassment detailed in autobiographies by female journalists and the occasional article in the
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mainstream media about individual incidents, but it wasn’t until 1996 that a union survey provided statistical evidence of an industry-wide problem. That Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance survey found that more than half of the 368 female participants had experienced sexual harassment at work. In 2012, I conducted the largest survey of female journalists in Australia finding that there was an increased number of respondents who had experienced sexual harassment in their workplaces. In a bid to better understand female journalists’ experiences of sexual harassment, this paper analyses written comments made by survey participants in relation to key questions about harassment. It finds that most downplay its seriousness and do not make formal reports because they fear victimisation or retaliation. As a consequence, a culture of secrecy hides a major industry problem where many women believe they should work it out themselves and that harassment is the price they have to pay for working in a male-dominated industry." (Abstract)
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"During the last decade, the image of war correspondents in the news has shifted dramatically. Reports are no longer full of cheerleading stories of embedded journalists. Instead, stories of war reporters being attacked, kidnapped or injured prevail. Sadly, the former heroic witnesses to war have be
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come victims of their own story. In this book, Nina Burri provides the first comprehensive analysis on how international law protects professional and citizen journalists, photographers, cameramen and their support staff during times of war. Using examples from recent armed conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Gaza and Syria, Burri explores the means, methods and risks of contemporary war coverage and examines the protection of news providers by international humanitarian law, international criminal law and human rights law." (Abstract)
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"Purpose: More journalists died in Syria during 2013 than in any other country experiencing conflict. This statistic raises concerns about the psychological wellbeing of journalists covering the internecine violence. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The study sample
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was made up of 59 western journalists currently covering the Syrian conflict. To place these results in the broader context of war journalism previously collected data from a group of 84 journalists who had reported the war in Iraq were used as a control sample. Outcome measures included indices of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Impact of Event Scale-revised) and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-28 item version (GHQ-28)). Findings: Compared to journalists who covered the Iraq war, the journalists working in Syria were more likely to be female (p = 0.007), single (p = 0.018), freelance (p = 0.0001) and had worked fewer years as a journalist (p = 0.012). They were more depressed according to the GHQ-28 (p = 0.001) and endorsed more individual symptoms of depression including worthlessness (p = 0.012), helplessness (p = 0.02) and suicidal intent (p = 0.003). A linear regression analysis revealed that the group differences in depression data could not be accounted for by demographic factors. Research limitations/implications: An absence of structured interviews. Results not applicable to local Syrian journalists. Practical implications: Western journalists covering Syrian appear to be particularly vulnerable to the development of depression. Journalists and the news organizations that employ them need to be cognizant of data such as these. Given that depression is treatable, there needs to be a mechanism in place to detect and treat those in need. Originality/value: This is the first study that highlights the emotional toll on western journalists covering the Syrian conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)." (Abstract)
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"La temporalidad del presente estudio comprende el periodo 2006-2015, que corresponde a los sexenios de Felipe Calderón Hinojosa y una parte del de Enrique Peña Nieto, periodo en el que, según muestran los informes de agencias nacionales e internacionales, la violencia contra los periodistas en e
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l contexto de la guerra declarada contra el narcotráfico se ha incrementado. La organización internacional Artículo 19 (2015), en su informe Estado de censura, ha contabilizado así las agresiones: mientras que hubo 1 092 agresiones en todo el sexenio de Felipe Calderón, en los dos primeros años del sexenio de Peña Nieto, éstas aumentaron 80%, reportándose 330 en 2013 y 326 en 2014. El estado de vulnerabilidad de los periodistas en México es grave y el riesgo de silenciar crecientemente la información es muy grande [...].
Cada uno de los capítulos presenta diferentes acercamientos a la(s) violencia(s) ejercida(s) contra y representadas en los medios, con distintos anclajes teóricos y metodológicos que, en su conjunto, ofrecen un amplio muestrario de cómo puede abordarse este problema. Aunque se apuntan diversos factores como desencadenadores de la violencia contra los periodistas, así como diferentes mediaciones para entender las representaciones de la violencia en los medios de los lugares estudiados, sí pueden señalarse elementos comunes. Por ello, concluyo este apartado con una cita del estudio introductorio de Mireya Márquez, en este mismo libro, la cual suscribo: [ ... ]es preciso comprender que el periodismo mexicano no se ve amenazado únicamente por la violencia criminal como un actor de poder aislado, sino que es amenazado por la violencia criminal en la medida en que el periodismo ha estado instrumentalizado desde su concepción por las diversas facciones en disputa por el poder, y de que no existe un andamiaje de protección de la profesión periodística en general ni su concepción como una ocupación profesional y autónoma." (Presentación, páginas 9-13)
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"The subject of this article is the issue of journalist-spies in the Bulgarian media before and after the fall of communism in 1989. The focus is on the perceptions of Bulgarian journalists on the role alleged secret service collaborators played, and continue to play, in the postcommunist society an
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d media landscape. Role perceptions are explored through semi-structured interviews with practicing journalists from the capital city, Sofia. The findings suggest that Bulgarian journalists continue to be concerned with, and affected by, the influence of former communist spies on the Bulgarian media, a controversy that has largely been ignored by media scholars." (Abstract)
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