Tag Archives: press freedom

Nepal’s journalists are living in fear, reports Deepak Adhikari

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Media Helping Media has an insiders view on the risks facing journalists in Nepal who question those in power, following publication of an interview by Adam Levitt with Deepak Adhikari, who claims to have witnessed attacks on reporters first hand.

He says that while telling their story effectively in the traditional press is incredibly difficult, the internet has offered him a platform to campaign for a safer environment for journalists.

Reporting the plight of the media in Nepal is irregular and often limited to a one column article in the newspaper they work for. As the horror stories are so regular, the atrocities fail to register with the public and, with each new attack, they are soon forgotten.

As a journalist who comes from the area where these journalists work, I have made it a point to rally for their cause. The internet has been used to great effect and I have written several reports compiled for Media Helping Media, including one about Nepal’s journalists living in fear , as well as writing on my blog, and giving interviews  such as this one.

See the full interview here…

WSJ: Human rights groups join criticism of WikiLeaks

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A coalition of human rights groups including Amnesty International have reportedly put pressure on WikiLeaks to “do a better job” of redacting the names of sources from military documents it has published, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Amnesty International, Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, Open Society Institute, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the Kabul office of International Crisis Group are all alleged to have emailed the whistleblowing website with their concerns over the safety of Afghan informers.

According to the report, Wikileaks director Julian Assange asked Amnesty if it would assist redacting the names of Afghan civilians, and threatened to issue a press release highlighting a refusal to do so.

The exchange follows reports last week that the Pentagon demanded WikiLeaks remove all the documents from public access online and desist from publishing any more material.

See the Wall Street Journal report here…

NUJ highlights unlawful seizure of cameras by police

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Reports of press photographers having their cameras seized and images deleted by police have frequented the news in the past few weeks, with the most recent case picked up by the National Union of Journalists.

On Saturday 31 July, NUJ member Carmen Valino was forced to hand over her camera to police after photographing a crime scene from behind the police cordon. She was allegedly accused of disrupting a police investigation.

According to a report by the NUJ, she was then made to delete the images before being told she could return at a later time.

A police Sergeant approached Valino telling her that she was disrupting a police investigation and to hand over her camera. After protesting to the Sergeant that she was in a public place, outside the cordon he had no right to take her camera, he grabbed her wrist and pulled out his handcuffs. Before he could put the cuffs on she handed him her camera. He then left for five minutes before coming back, bringing Valino inside the cordon and asking her to show him the images and deleting them. Valino was told that she could come back in a few hours to photograph the scene.

Similarly, earlier on in the month the BBC reported on Wokingham photographer Paul King who was taking pictures of a car crash when a traffic officer took his camera away. The officer then deleted King’s pictures before returning the camera to him.

Speaking to the BBC, he said the actions of the officer had cost him £400 in loss of earnings.

The officer came after me in a police car, grabbed hold of me and told me he was going to arrest me. He took my equipment but when it was brought back I had a look at the images and they were not there. I have made a formal complaint to the police and I am seeking legal advice from the NUJ. My role is to photograph news so the general public can see what’s going on.

Bob Satchwell from the Society of Editors will reportedly be raising concerns about the issue of forced deletion with the ACOP this week.

According to an experienced professional photographer we spoke to, software including Lexar Image Rescue or Sandisk RescuePro can be used to retrieve images that have been deleted. But they added that it is vital photographers do not load anymore photographs onto the card once the deletions have been made.

Azerbaijan publishes latest media ‘blacklist’

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Earlier this week we reported on Rwanda’s regulatory body the Media High Council ordering the closure of newspapers and radio stations they felt were operating “illegally”. Now Azerbaijan has produced a ‘blacklist’ of publications it feels violates rules governing journalism “behaviour”.

According to the SFN blog, the Azerbaijan’s Press Council today released the latest edition of the annual list of “racketeer” newspapers and journals – this year totalling 77 – which they claim have breached the Journalists’ Professional Behavior Rules and should be investigated. The blog quotes council chairman Aflutun Amashov:

This list is a tool for public condemnation of the press, which ignore the professional principles, publish materials, affecting the honor and dignity of people, slander, and commit other such illegal actions.

See the full post here…

Globe and Mail: Chinese media shows increasing independence

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The Globe and Mail looks at increasing independence amongst Chinese media organisations. Writes Mark MacKinnon:

For years, there hasn’t been much nice said about Chinese journalists. Most were seen as either government mouthpieces or bribe-taking corporate shills. But the reputation of China’s news media is on the rise lately after a series of incidents in which reporters refused to back down in the face of intimidation, sticking to their stories even if it meant getting beaten or jailed.

Full story on Globe and Mail at this link…

NMA: Reactions to Italy’s ‘blog-killing’ new bill

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Reputation Online’s Vikki Chowney rounds up the reaction to a so-called “blog-killing” clause in Italy’s new Wiretapping Bill.

As Journalism.co.uk reported last week, the revised bill will allow the publication of transcripts “relevant to an investigation”, but campaigners remain concerned by a clause in the new version which, according to European Digital Rights, requires anyone “responsible for information websites” to publish corrections within 48 hours of a complaint of inaccuracy being made, or else face fines of up to 25,000 euros.

There’s a huge amount of convergence within the reputation industry at the moment. the New York Times, FT and Guardian have all run lengthy features in the past two weeks on the issue of “managing your brand” as an individual. Just last week we saw a Facebook user sued for posting defamatory comments on a friend’s profile.

We’re yet to see a UK brand put a law like the one proposed in Italy into action, but as the courts start to impose stricter rules and the idea of managing personal reputation becomes more mainstream, these types of regulations will become more commonplace.

Full post on New Media Age at this link…

Three of four kidnapped journalists freed in Mexico

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Three journalists thought to have been kidnapped in Mexico have been freed according to national reports, while one remains missing.

Journalism.co.uk reported on industry calls for the safe release of four journalists who went missing on Monday after covering a demonstration taking place outside a prison.

Police have now reportedly announced that two cameramen, Javier Canales and Alejandro Hernandez, were freed over the weekend while another journalist, Hector Gordoa, was freed on Friday. It remains unclear whether the three men were released by their captors or rescued by security forces.

Reporters Without Borders said the country is one of the deadliest in the world for journalists.

We are very relieved to learn to learn that cameramen Jaime Canales of TV Milenio and Alejandro Hernández of Televisa have been freed and our thoughts are with reporter Oscar Solís of El Vespertino, who is still being held. The war between the drug cartels and the authorities is wreaking havoc in Mexico and journalists are being targeted with increasing frequency. Those responsible for killing journalists take advantage of the prevailing impunity, which is fuelling the violence.

A total of 67 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000 and 11 have gone missing since 2003. In the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, Mexico was ranked 137th out of 175 countries.

Ninth murdered journalist makes Honduras the most dangerous place for press

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John Perry has an insightful post up on the LRB blog looking at the dangers for members of the press in Honduras following last year’s military coup. Members of Congress in the US have expressed “continuing concern regarding the grievous violations of human rights and the democratic order which commenced with the coup and continue to this day”. Nine journalists have been killed in the country so far this year.

On the night of 14 June, Luis Arturo Mondragón was sitting with his son on the pavement outside his house in the city of El Paraíso in western Honduras. He had often criticised local politicians on his weekly radio programme, the latest edition of which had just been broadcast. He had received several death threats, but disregarded them. At 10 p.m. a car drew up and the driver fired four bullets, killing him instantly. Mondragón was the ninth journalist to be murdered so far this year. Honduras is now officially the most dangerous country in the world in which to work for the press.

Full post at this link…

Press freedom group surveys journalists’ treatment by G20 police

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Journalists who felt their freedom of expression was “compromised” by police at the recent Toronto G20 summit have been asked to share their experiences.

A survey is being carried out by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression in order to compile a public report.

This follows reports that four journalists have filed complaints to the police about their treatment.

The survey asks a series of questions, covering what the individual was doing at the summit, interactions with security officials and treatment by police.

The full post here…

Bangladesh media concerned over law to prevent yellow journalism

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Bangladesh media have raised concerns over Information Minister Abdul Kalam Azad’s announcement that the government plans to introduce new law to target “yellow journalism”.

Azad is reported to have said “newspapers and television and radio channels that are making false and misleading news to tarnish the image of ministers, lawmakers, the government and the country are in fact doing yellow journalism”.

In an editorial post on Dhaka’s Daily Star website, the author writes that the proposals, such as editors having to hold 15 years experience in journalism, will be “no guarantee that bad journalism will not be there.”

We are convinced that a new law for newspapers is a bad idea. It is fraught with danger and it threatens to put unfettered press freedom in jeopardy. We ask the government to jettison the entire idea in the larger interest of press freedom and by extension intellectual freedom in Bangladesh. We suggest that it utilize the existing mechanisms to ensure objective journalism in the country, especially the Press Council.

Read the full post here…