K E R A L A M O N I T O R M E D I A M O N I T O R
Reporters Without Borders urges release of newspaper editor More
May 3 is observed as World Press Freedom Day every year under the aegis of the United Nations. In a message, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has said that information is, undoubtedly, a source of power. Those who have access to a free and independent media have more options. The World Press Freedom Day is an important reminder of the contribution that journalists play in the information age, especially in the protection of human rights and in promoting development.
This day is also one on which we should remember and pay tribute to journalists who have been killed in the line of duty, or whose reporting has led to their imprisonment and detention. The Committee to Protect Journalists continues to document sombre facts about the dangers and hostility faced by journalists. Thirty-six journalists were killed in 2003 and at least 17 have been killed in the first three months of 2004. Their deaths were the result of their efforts to bring us the facts, to deliver first-hand accounts of important events, to offer perspectives on the trends of our time – in short, the essential work of daily journalism. Indeed, some were deliberately targeted because of what they were reporting or because of their affiliation with a news organization. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 136 journalists were in jail at the end of 2003 simply because of their profession.
Journalism, as a profession, has been resolute in the face of such danger. But the continuing threat to their personal and professional integrity must concern all of us who rely on the media as an agent of free expression which is often a lonely means of rousing the world’s conscience.
Those issues and events need not be immediate or traumatic. While the war in Iraq has been a major recent preoccupation for the Press and politicians alike, battles of another kind – against poverty, discrimination and disease, for example – also warrant attention. Just as it should not take the collapse of a state for the international community to act, so it should not take a full-fledged crisis to attract the media spotlight. There are important stories to be told even in peacetime, about things that affect the normal, everyday lives of children, women and men the world over.
On World Press Freedom Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to the freedom and independence of the media as an essential requirement for building a better and fairer world. And let us all pledge to do our utmost to ensure that journalists – the men and women charged with helping us understand ourselves and our world – are able to do their vital work in safety and without fear. (PIB Features)14th World Press Freedom Day
THE 2003 GLOBAL PRESS FREEDOM WORLD TOUR
More than 130 journalists are currently imprisoned around the world just for doing their job. Forty-two were killed in 2003 in the course of their work or because of their opinions. The Reporters Without Borders annual report lists the attacks on press freedom worldwide in 2003. 42 journalists were killed during the year, mainly in Asia and the Middle East (especially the Iraq war). It was the most since 1995. 766 others were arrested, at least 1,460 physically attacked or threatened and 501 media censored. The 2003 Global Press Freedom World Tour, published with support from the French magazine Télérama, looks at the main attacks on press freedom in five continents. The report is on sale for 8 euros from Reporters Without Borders head office. It can also be downloaded on our website www.rsf.org from 3 May.
THE LIST OF 37 PREDATORS OF PRESS FREEDOM
Each year, Reporters Without Borders publishes a new list of the world's predators of press freedom. Because they threaten the right of all of us to be kept informed and to inform others, we should know them and know their faces. The profiles of these 37 predators are in our latest book of photographs, Dominique Issermann for Press Freedom, and can also be seen on our website www.rsf.org. You can also hear about the three we have added to the list at the press conference on 3 May at 10 a.m. at the FNAC Saint-Lazare, in Paris. More from RSF
Reflections on Media and Human Rights in the Gulf Region : a case study of Oman
By V M Sathish M.A.M.Phil *
“Human Rights” is a much used jargon by the Middle East media as every newspaper, TV channel and Internet sites prominently report the rampant human rights violations by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Due to historical reasons and a religious frenzy created by the century old Arab Israeli issue, human rights, read Palestinian rights, captures the headline of the media almost every day. However, on domestic issues including human rights violations and the journalists’ role in society, a number of subtle measures are adopted to keep the media within strict control. Full Report