© the other press ¢ Mews January 21, 2004 “Red Alert” Called on Worldwide Press Freedom Ted Morrison OP Contributor This month, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released their 2003 data on the abuse of journalists and press members worldwide. In their report, the organiza- tion notes that, after encouraging drops between 1999 and 2001, things have got- ten worse. “Every gauge of press freedom violations in, 2003 stood at red alert,” says the report, released during the first week of January. Part of the enormous increase in reporter deaths was the co-opting of . media by “embedding” reporters within combat units. 1999 2002 2003 Journalists Killed | 36 > Arrested |}446 692 766 ‘Threatened or Assaulted} 653 1420 1460 Censored1357 389 501 Indeed, the report attributes much of the censorship and persecution of media agents worldwide to the Bush War on Terror and related operations, pointing out that many ruthless governments have seized the unprecedented opportunity to crack down on dissent in the name of security. There is no doubt that the War on Terror is at the heart of this increase. In 1999 and 2000 the trend was downward. Especially good was the encouraging news that fewer journalists were being killed since the 1995 peak of 49. Since 2001 though, the numbers have begun to climb again, and this heartbreaking trend shows no signs of slowing. The report is thoroughly researched, and makes good, if depressing, reading. The greatest tragedy of the lists of abuses, assaults, and indignities is the unknown. In many countries, journalists simply dis- appear. Every entry for nearly every coun- try has a section called “New Information on Journalist Killed Before 2002.” This information usually consists of the discoy- ery of remains. On the RSF main page at is a listing of the year’s statistics to date. It’s 2004 now, and the Press Freedom Barometer stands at 120 journalists imprisoned, 4 media assis- tants imprisoned, and 61 cyber-dissidents imprisoned. So far no reporters have died, but the year is young. Africa The conflagration in many African nations has disrupted hard-earned press freedoms. Niger and Senegal slipped back into repression. After a change of regime prompted by the assassination of President Baré Mainassara, Niger closed a weekly newspaper for the first time since 1993. Asia Asia, the report says, was “outstandingly dangerous to work as a journalist in 2003.” Nepal and China led in arrests (which China’s Central Committee would doubtless attribute to increased vigilance), while the continent at large jails more cyber-dissidents and internet users than anywhere else on earth. Sixteen more journalists were killed here. Canada Think Canada is a safe haven for free press? Not quite. RSF slams the RCMP for forcing co-operation from the National Post's publisher by inappropriate- ly applying for an “assistance order,” which may oblige a publisher to co-oper- ate with an investigation, instead of a war- rant. The Toronto Police confiscated an un-broadcast interview by the dubious method of claiming it “might be useful” in an ongoing investigation, even though they admitted to the court that they did not know what was on the film! Canwest Global media group, long known for its authoritarian reporting poli- cies, was cited for firing the editor of the Ottawa Citizen, Russell Mills. Mills, a thirty-year veteran printed an editorial critical of Israel without first submitting it to the head office for review. Canwest Global now dictates editorials from the head office in Winnipeg to all its 14 papers, including the Vancouver Sun and Province. Europe - Within the European Union (EU), the constitution lays down respect for journal- istic freedom as a cornerstone of a nation’s membership. “Things,” says RSE, “are finally satisfactory.” Italy is an exception. Charges that Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is perverting the country’s laws in order to acquire even more of the Italian media market, in which he already holds a commanding share, threatening the independence of journalists. Despite the overall rosy picture, in countries such as Romania and Serbia-Montenegro, things remain uncertain, and Turkey, hop- ing to join the EU in the near future, remains a poor place to work if one is pro- Kurd despite surface reforms. Latin America Latin America maintained stability with violations of freedom of the press staying around 2002 levels. Cuba is singled out however, Fidel Castro having taken advan- tage of the Iraq distraction, imprisoned almost all of the country’s independent press. Mexico Mexico was both fish and fowl. President Vincente Fox reduced the time that broadcasters must give over to govern- ment broadcasting, but threats from the legal system (where antiquated and illegal libel laws are sometimes used as gags) and criminal gangs have increased. The RSF report was cautiously optimistic for the future. Middle East Sixteen reporters were killed in the Middle East. Of the Middle Eastern nations, all are showing repressive tenden- cies on behalf of dynasties such as the House of Saud, and also in the name of governments in the “sham” democracies such as Jordan and Yemen. The religious government of Iran, after manipulating the nation’s journalism laws, remained the top offender, jailed ten journalists as hard- liners and closed reform newspapers. Most Canadians will remember the case of Zahri Kazemi, the female photo-journalist beaten to death in Tehran. At time of writing Canada’s less-than-virile Foreign Affairs Department seems to have forgot- ten about her. One regime detained a Sudanese Al- Jazeera cameraman at a secretive prison camp, and to date has yet to state why. A lawyer for Sami Al-Haj was refused entry to the arresting country to prepare the prisoner's defence. United States Despite some crackdowns in the US, the biggest danger reporters complained of was “self-censorship” imposed by the pub- lic mood. Reporters speaking out against Bush policies received hate mail and death threats. White House representative Ari Fleischer (since retired) was heard cau- tioning that “Americans need to watch what they say.” Reporters complained that they were being intimidated by ultra-strict military supervision. One person stated that sol- diers accompanied him even to the toilet. The place was Guantanamo Bay—the regime the Bush administration Zimbabwe Iden Weatherell, managing editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper and two of his reporters were arrested in Harare. Their crime? Publishing an arti- cle “insulting” to despot Robert Mugabe. The defaming article concerned Mugabe’s abuse of an aeroplane which belonged to the national carrier Air Zimbabwe, for a private vacation, at a cost of some $4.8 million. Mugabe is so insulted that he and his henchmen have kept the [ndependent closed down—even though the High Court of Zimbabwe ruled in the paper's favour in a case earlier in 2003. While behaviour such as this is all too common in places like the unfortunate Zimbabwe, groaning under Mugabe’s yoke, even powers thought to look more favourably on free speech are cracking down. Before Before I started working as a peer tutor at the Learning Centre in Douglas College, New Westminster, I was an unkempt, unhygienic lazy slob who drank too much and didn’t phone Tell ‘em Bubba sent ya. his mother. I lived in a trailer with two flat tires, believed that aliens were communicating with me through my toaster oven and thought that women admired men who could belch real loud. I had a dog with a lazy eye, a bird that spoke only Portugese and a fiancé and a second cousin who were the same person. I didn’t know where Madagascar is and I couldn't temember the combination to the lock on my luggage. And now... Well all that’s still true, but at least I have a job. We need English Tutors for the winter 2004 semester. Apply ‘at www.workopoliscampus.com Drop by the Learning Centre, Rm. 2847 for more info. After ee: Page 6 =e _http://www.otherpress.ca