Gulf Media Scan...........

Indian Presstitutes....

There is no spelling mistake...the word presstitute is not wrongly spelt. This word signifies the dark side of Indian journalism practiced outside the country..here the reference is about a new breed of journalism.

Recently the Programme director of a leading Malayalam Radio station in Dubai wented out his anger against someone who hijacked the entire radio station and its programme contents. He was anguished about the stoppage of a popular discussion programme useful to the common folks to air their problems. Following the back door entry and take over of the radio station by a marketing agency, many journalists were sacked without even serving the mandatory termination notice. The sacking was not part of staff reduction plans..instead more journalists are recruited to replace the old radiostars . Experienced or informed journalists are not in demand.

The Kerala media scene is already in a mess with every religious group and political parties competing to start their own newspapers and channels. . What is disappointing is the deteriorating standards of journalism. Even a grave medical mistake or negligence by a group of incompetent doctors is reported as a miracle! Stories like a live child who was declared dead (by a group of incompetent doctors) returns to life miraculously! The boy was in fact admitted toa hospital following an electric shock. For newspapers the boy survived as a real miracle. "Defeating Medical Science, a dead child returns to life"screamed the headline that occupy half of the front page. Of course editors are hard pressed to sell newspapers with juicy stories, but that should not be after compromising the basics of journalism...

The journalist never consulted a doctor - not even one of the five inefficient marons - who dared to declare a live boy as dead. They did not consult the fifth doctor who treated the boy! These newspaper reports projected a Good Samiritan who helped the boy's father to reach the hospital on time as a messenger send by the Almighty! At last the boy was treated in Indian hospitals and Ayurvedic centres. While the reporter missed and messed up the miraculous story, even the editors dont use their rational mind to raise any questions about these type of stories...Watch this space.

 

IRAQ: Most dangerous place for journalists in 2005, CPJ

DUBAI, 4 January (IRIN) - Iraq was the most dangerous place for journalists in 2005 and the deadliest conflict for media workers in the last 24 years, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "The war in Iraq might lead one to think that reporters are losing their lives on the battlefield. But the fact is that three out of four journalists killed around the world are singled out for murder, and their killers are rarely brought to justice. It's a terrible indictment of governments that let warlords and criminals dictate the news their citizens can see and hear," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.

Iraq accounted for 22 deaths in 2005, or nearly half of the year's total, the CPJ found.Murder accounted for more than 70 percent of the deaths documented by the watchdog organisation.An increasing number of journalists were murdered last year, in contrast with the previous two years where crossfire had been the leading cause of death. Fatal abductions also emerged as a particularly disturbing trend with at least eight journalists kidnapped and slain in 2005, compared with one abduction the previous year.

Additionally, those responsible for the deaths usually go unpunished, the journalist watchdog association said following an analysis of the situation. "Slayings were carried out with impunity about 90 percent of the time in 2005, a figure consistent with data collected by CPJ over more than a decade," a CPJ statement said."Too many journalists have lost their lives just because they were doing their jobs, and unresponsive governments bear responsibility for the toll," Cooper added. "Iraqi journalists bore the brunt of these attacks as it became increasingly hazardous for foreign reporters and photojournalists to work in the field," the statement added.

Steven Vincent, a US citizen, was the only foreign journalist to be killed in Iraq in 2005; five foreigners died there a year earlier.At least three journalists were killed as a result of fire from US forces, compared with six such deaths in 2004.A total of 60 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Fresh call for inquiry into mass graves in Yemen

ADEN, 4 January (IRIN) - An inquiry must be launched to identify 33 corpses found in a "mass grave" in the al-Areesh suburb of Aden in December, as well as other such graves and circumstances leading to the deaths, according to the Committee representing Victims' Families in southern Yemen."I've already asked for a practical investigation to identify those corpses and the circumstances that led to their assassination," said committee chairman, Ayman Mohammed Nasser.

Nasser is also the owner, director and chief editor of the Aden-based Attariq weekly, which has been reporting on the discovery."An international committee should also be formed to find out the destiny of those thousands of missing people during the period from 1967 to 1990," he said.

The Aden-based committee has lists of names of individuals who went missing in Aden and other governorates between 1967 and 1990.Some were the victims of tribal conflict, other of illegal arrests, disappearances and extra-judicial killings.

A diplomatic source from Yemen confirmed on Wednesday that "a few" bodies had been found buried at a site that was being prepared for development, but declined to give any detail. "There is going to be an inquiry into the matter, which will be in the hands of the relevant body," he said. The corpses were first discovered on 10 December in a "mass grave" on the border of the Central Security Forces camp, known as the al-Solban camp, by a local resident who was digging to construct a house, according to Nasser.

A witness at the scene, Nasser said the corpses were wearing military uniforms. The area was a former military camp belonging to the Ministry of State Security, the intelligence and state security headquarters in southern Yemen, which was ruled by the Socialist Party before unification of Yemen in 1990.

The camp was also used as a prison following a violent conflict between various factions of the Socialist Party in 1986, according to Nasser.

He said the graves were similar to trenches with three corpses in each, indicating that the killing and burying had taken place on different dates. Health experts confirmed that the victims had been executed by bullet wounds to the head or chest.

Earlier media reports suggested that the dead were victims of a conflict between factions of the Socialist Party in January 1986. But the committee believes they were assassinated afterwards "as a matter of revenge", said Nasser.

Secrecy about the find has raised suspicions. The Yemen Observer reported in December that orders were issued to stop searching for more bodies, following widespread media coverage. Scarves found on some of the bodies suggested that some civilians were killed, it reported.

"The recently uncovered mass grave was top-confidential," said Nasser. "Nobody knew anything about it. It is believed that those corpses do not belong to the victims of the 1986 clashes. They seem to be something special for unknown reasons."

"This fact leads me to repeat, now and then, my call for an international investigation."

Yemeni human rights activist believe that many other such graves remain uncovered.

Nasser said he was aware of another such grave in Aden, which contained 16 corpses, but which has yet to be officially excavated.He claimed the victims were executed following a coup in June 1978 when former president of South Yemen, Salem Rubaya Ali, was ousted from power and assassinated.

Jordanian Journalists push parliament on press law

AMMAN, 3 January (IRIN) - Jordan's press syndicate and newspaper publishers have launched a campaign to lobby lawmakers to speed up ratification of a new press law scrapping provisions setting jail terms for journalists. Independent politicians, media figures and newspaper editors began lobbying lawmakers this week to give priority in the new parliamentary session to approving an amendment, proposed last year, to the current law governing so-called press offenses.

Tareq Moumani, head of the Jordanian Press Association, said he was "hopeful" for the amendment's prospects after meeting with senior lawmakers, who pledged to speed parliamentary ratification of the change. Advocates of the draft amendment say it will represent a milestone for press freedom by repealing an article that currently permits the jailing of journalists for up to three months for writing articles deemed "offensive or harmful" to the state.

Current legislation allows journalists to be imprisoned for a number of loosely defined offences, which include offending the king and royal family, showing contempt for religion or damaging national unity. Critics say the authorities have used press and publications laws to imprison journalists for dissident political views.Over the years, the government has made several amendments to a tough 1993 press law, which has been amended four times since its inception. The law, say its detractors, has tightened restrictions on reporting and placed crippling fines on perceived offenders.

Critics point out that the fear of heavy fines, along with the intimidation of journalists, has served to create an atmosphere of self censorship.Editors of weekly papers complain that the government has used the press law to place greater restrictions on their coverage, which, unlike in government dailies, is often devoted to cases of political corruption and popular discontent with Jordanian foreign policy.

Most independent journalists agree that the proposed amendment would represent a step forward. Nevertheless, many add that further legislative changes are needed to prevent reporters from being punished under other articles in the penal code.

"The draft law is better than what currently exists, but only with an overhaul of other laws can media freedoms in Jordan really make headway," said Nidal Mansour, head of the privately-funded Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists and publisher of the weekly Al-Hadath.Mansour went on to call for curbs on the wide-ranging powers of the Press and Publications Bureau, a government censorship board, over publications-licensing and censorship issues.Currently, Jordan's five dailies, and scores of weeklies, fall under the bureau's authority.

Media Monitor

Isolated, Lady journalist vows to fight on

BY SAJILA SASEENDRAN

A woman television journalist, one of the victims of Sharjah serial attacker, has said that she has been undergoing trauma in her personal and professional life after being wrongly portrayed by a local newspaper 10 months ago. Iqbal Tamimi, who later on lodged a defamation suit against the daily for having misrepresented her in its reports about the attack, is still fighting the case in a Sharjah court after it was referred back from Abu Dhabi. While her case against the slasher is for ensuring criminal justice, her lone fight against the newspaper is for the cause of ethical journalism, Tamimi told The Gulf Today.

Tamimi was attacked by the Sharjah stalker on Feb.17 while she was entering her building on Al Mina Road minutes past midnight.Like all the four identified victims, she was stabbed on her bottom from behind and the cut needed 20 stitches. "Though many of my friends in the media circle had contacted me for the news, I did not want them to publish the incident since the police had requested me not to do so," she said.

"I wanted to keep my word to the police and did not want to disturb their efforts to nab the criminal. I wanted to make sure that they catch the criminal before more women are attacked. Moreover, I was deeply frightened and felt that the stalker would attack me or my children again if my identity is disclosed," she reasoned. "However, one English newspaper reported on Feb.25 that I was stabbed near my spinal cord when I was leaving my house two weeks ago. They disclosed my initials and the place where I live and wrongly quoted me as saying to the police that I might have been attacked because of my ethnic or political back ground." "In their later stories, they said the stalker was attacking women in tight jeans. All these things were totally wrong," the journalist said.

Distorted facts

According to Tamimi, the way the news reports were written projected the wrong impression to the public that she was in the habit of leaving house late at night wearing tight jeans. "I had no enmity with anybody because of ethnic or political reasons. I was wearing an abaya which I have still kept with the bloodstains on it as a proof. I was in fact reaching home after work and carrying some books and my children's dinner. I was only taken to Kuwaiti hospital for treatment and not admitted there, while their report said I was still under treatment there," she clarified.

A widow with three daughters, a son and three grandchildren, Tamimi had a tough time facing the consequence of the news reports about her.Her relatives and friends in her hometown in Jordan came to know about the incident through the local newspapers which picked up the articles published in the Dubai paper. International channels like CNN also carried the same story in their broadcast.

"The reports made my family worry about my health as I was reportedly admitted to hospital. My deeds were wrongly perceived by my family, relatives and friends in my native place. They had the impression that I was too negligent about my children and I was going out at odd hours wearing tight jeans. Being a religious person, all these things hurt my feelings like hell," said a grief-stricken Tamimi. The reports about their mother affected her children as well.

"My married daughters had to face embarrassment from their in-laws while I had to send off my youngest daughter, who fainted on seeing my wound, to Jordan fearing for her safety," she said amid sobs.

Heavy toll

The reports took a heavy toll on her professional life as well. Tamimi said that she has been isolated since the reports appeared and after she conducted a press conference to clarify her stand when the police detained the reporter, who had written the articles, at the airport for not responding to their investigation. "Nobody seemed to realise the fact that the reporter was detained for having disobeyed the law. Again, the blame fell upon me as the issue and consequent coverage created an impression that I was the root cause of her detention," she said.

"Many organisations stopped inviting me for functions, newspapers stopped publishing my contributions and I have been bombarded with questions and greeted with raised eyebrows wherever I go," lamented Tamimi, who has to her credit a collection of two books, over 120 research works and umpteen numbers of articles. Though she is battling against all odds, Tamimi is determined to the core to continue her fight for justice."I have neither a lawyer nor any organisation to support me. I believe in justice and in the law of the country. I am sure that victory will be mine as I am on the right path with God on my side," said an optimistic Tamimi. "My fight is to prove that journalism is not gossiping. I want to show the world that nobody can get away after writing things without solid evidence and hurting people. Public should realise that media is for helping the multi-cultural community to live peacefully," she added. (Courtesy: Gulf Today)

28 December 2005

Al Arabiya journalist barred in latest case of discrimination against Arab media

Reporters Without Borders today said it shared the outrage of the pan-Arab satellite TV station Al Arabiya, which issued a statement yesterday condemning an Israeli decision to ban one of its correspondents, British journalist Bassem El-Jamal, from entering the Palestinian Territories. The ban is the latest in a long series of press freedom violations by the Israeli army against the Arab media.“We call on the Israeli authorities to immediately lift the ban on Bassem El-Jamal, for which there are absolutely no grounds,” Reporters Without Borders said, adding that it was vital for journalists to be able to freely cover he run-up to the Palestinian legislative elections on 25 January without fear of being arrested, roughed up or expelled by the Israeli army.

Jamal has been denied access to the Palestinian Territories three times in 2005. The Israeli authorities cited “security reasons” for excluding him on two attempts to enter the West Bank on 25 and 27 April. His “contacts with hostile groups” was the excuse given on his most recent attempt, in mid-December.Jamal has produced many programmes about the Israeli separation barrier. They have always been controversial in Israel and have been even more so since he interviewed members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

Discrimination against Arab journalists

While Israel respects freedom in its own territory, the same is not the case in the Palestinian Territories, where the Israeli security forces pursue a discriminatory police towards Arab journalists.

Awad Rajoub, a Palestinian journalist who works for the satellite TV station Al-Jazeera’s website, has been held without trial since he was arrested at his home in Doura on 30 November. The Israeli army maintains that his arrest had nothing to do with the fact that he is a journalist. Nabil Al-Mazzawi, who is an Al-Jazeera cameraman in the West Bank, was beaten and arrested by Israeli soldiers on 4 November while filming a demonstration against the Israeli separation barrier, and was held for several hours.

Majdi al-Arabid, a cameraman with Israel’s Channel 10, received two shots to the stomach and one to the leg while filming an incursion by Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza City, on 2 January. Houda Ibrahim, a French journalist working for radio RMC Moyen-Orient, was turned back when she tried to enter the West Bank from Jordan on 3 July. She was previously expelled from Israel in April 2002 after interviewing Yasser Arafat. Some 10 journalists, nearly all of them Israeli Arabs, have been summoned by the Israeli internal security agency Shabak in the past two months for questioning about their work and their political affiliations. They were reportedly suspected of links with Hezbollah.

National Security Council bans satellite channel Saba TV

Reporters Without Borders today deplored the banning of satellite TV station Saba TV by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council as one more example of the battle by the country’s media for freedom of expression.

The Council has declared the Dubai-based station “illegal” after trying to stop its launch, announced last summer as imminent. The national constitution forbids any independent radio or TV station. Saba TV decided to delay its launch as a result of the ban.

The worldwide press freedom organisation said it hoped Saba TV would be allowed some day soon to broadcast freely in Iran.The station was set up by Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karoubi, a pro-reform religious figure and ex-speaker of parliament, as the first satellite TV station founded by a former Iranian politician and aiming to provide “objective and unbiased news” about Iran to Farsi-speaking people everywhere.

The station said on 26 December it would file a complaint against the Council’s secretary-general, Ali Larijani, for banning the station. The Council forbade the Iranian media to give news or publish ads about the station’s impending launch. The authorities, backed by the regime’s hardliners, have attacked Karoubi for being “anti-nationalist” and “favouring Westerners.”

The Council recently banned newspapers from printing news about the crash of a C-130 Hercules military plane in Teheran on 6 December in which 84 journalists died. It has also forbidden the media to mention the country’s nuclear capacity. The Council is appointed by the country’s Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and chaired by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Fake Terrorist Attack in Indian Silicon Valley --An Effort to Divert Media Attention from the MPs Question Scandal!!!!

None other than the Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajay Kumar, chief of anti-terrorist cell of the New Delhi Police, has come forward with a clever statement that both Hyderabad and Banglore are highly sensitive cities vulnerable to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence-sponsored terrorist acts. Just remember reading a letter to the editor from a concerned Indian citizen in a Gulf Newspaper that whenever there is some serious scandals like the ongoing money for question controversy, a terrorist attack or other stage managed events do take place in one of the largest democracies in the world. It does not require more than commonsense to see the ulterior motive behind the so called terrorist attack in Banglore, the silicon city of India. The letter to the editor, which appeared a few days before the so called terrorist attack in Banglore, warned readers that a new ploy to divert media attention can be expected any time. Surprisingly it has happened this time in Banglore. Unlike the past when the target of "terrorist" bombings used to be in New Delhi or Kashmir, this time Banglore is selected for obvious reasons. An international conspiracy to subotage Indian economy by targetting the largest IT destination in the country!!! "I am not surprised. The success of India's information technology industry makes it a target for anti-India terrorists," said the anti terrorist squad leader. People are not surprised that the attack came hardly a week after the Indian Television channel Aaj Thak came out with a stunning revelation about the rampant corruption among Indias Members of Parliament, the elected representatives of the people. Terrorism, communalism and caste cards are the best tools resorted to by Indian politicians to divert peoples attention from a scandal, that exposed the virtual buying and selling of elected representatvies by companies, multinationals and other lobbies with vested interest.....Only 11 MPs are expelled now for taking bribes to raise questions..if a proper investigation is started, almost the entire Parliament may have to resign..so it is better to have one more terrorist attack and solve the problem... Indian parliament expels MP for taking bribes caught red handed