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IFEX Communiqué Vol 18 No 07

IFEX Communiqué Vol 18 No 07

18 February 2009

INDEX

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT: 1. Focus on Music Censorship on Music Freedom Day, 3 March

REGIONAL NEWS: 2. Mexico: Another Journalist Killed; Government Not Doing Enough to Protect Media, Say IFEX Members 3. Paraguay: Community Radio Director Gunned Down 4. China: Government to Blacklist "Fake" Journalists 5. United Kingdom: Photographers Protest New Anti-Terror Law 6. Sports Newspapers Form Association to Protect Freedom of Sports Press

REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS: 7. Intimidation and Self-Censorship Greatest Threats to Press Freedom, Says CPJ

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS: 8. Women Journalists Invited to Apply for Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship -------------------------------------------------------- FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT

1. FOCUS ON MUSIC CENSORSHIP ON MUSIC FREEDOM DAY, 3 MARCH

Popular Pashto singer Sardar Yousafzai and 11 members of his orchestra were on their way home from a wedding performance in December in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province when a group of armed men ambushed their cars and opened fire. Five musicians were seriously injured, and the harmonium (similar to a pipe organ) player Anwar Gul died two days later at a hospital in Peshawar. The attackers remain at large.

Gul is another victim of the Taliban's campaign against musical expression in northwestern Pakistan - and of the most extreme form of censorship: murder. On 3 March, Music Freedom Day, musicians and broadcasters worldwide will remember Gul and other targets of music censorship. The day is organised by Freemuse, a free expression organisation dedicated to musicians.

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Gul's son Naveed fears that after the death of his father no one will think of adopting music as a career in his family. He himself plays the rabab, a string instrument originally from Afghanistan, but the recent attacks on musicians have left him with no choice but to change professions. "My family is facing hard times these days. I don't know how to survive in this suffocating environment. We are helpless," Naveed told Freemuse.

According to Freemuse, music censorship has become much worse and much more of a global issue than envisaged when the group first formed nearly 10 years ago. To mark a decade of existence, Freemuse recently published case studies in "Human Rights for Musicians".

In the past few months alone, Freemuse and IFEX members have documented a number of stories of music censorship from around the world.

There's Bülent Ersoy, a transsexual singer from Turkey, who was acquitted of charges against her for having made anti-military remarks during a TV programme broadcast in February 2008, reports IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET).

She was charged with "turning the public against military service" over her remarks on a popular TV show when she publicly criticised Turkey's incursion into Northern Iraq and said if she had a son, she would not send him to war. Military service is obligatory for men over the age of 20 in Turkey, and it is a crime to speak against it.

Now, the prosecutor in the case is appealing Ersoy's acquittal, based on her sexuality. He argues that Ersoy's biological inability to have children is an insult to Turkish mothers.

In Yemen, singer and comedian Fahd al-Qarni is facing renewed charges of "insulting the President", report ARTICLE 19 and Hood, a Yemeni rights organisation. The charges date back to September 2006, when al-Qarni made cassette tapes that mixed traditional folk songs with comedy and criticism of government policies. Although al-Qarni was pardoned in September 2008, he is being charged again for the exact same crime, which ARTICLE 19 calls "a clear example of the censoring of artists who use their medium… as a tool to criticise politics."

International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) reports that Cameroonian singer-songwriter Lapiro de Mbanga was sentenced to three years in prison in September 2008, almost six months after his arrest and detention, for allegedly taking part in anti-government riots. Mbanga is known as an outspoken critic of the government, both as a songwriter and an opposition party member. WiPC fears his sentence was connected to his critical lyrics.

Now the government is accusing Mbanga of inciting employees through one of his songs to destroy a banana plantation, says Freemuse, and he faces a new trial on 20 March.

Their stories are just some of the reasons why on 3 March, Freemuse is asking radio stations, newspapers and musicians across five continents to focus on music censorship for Music Freedom Day. Play a controversial song, interview a censored musician, or dedicate your next song to freedom of musical expression.

Freemuse is offering free original radio interviews in broadcast quality, as well as high resolution video clips for use in radio and TV programmes. Check out Freemuse's website to share ideas and get inspired at: http://www.freemuse.org/sw31512.asp

Also visit these links: - ARTICLE 19/Hood on Yemen: http://tinyurl.com/cx8erf - For ARTICLE 19 artist alerts, search for "artist alert" on ARTICLE 19's site: http://www.article19.org - BIANET on Turkey: http://tinyurl.com/dcq44h - WiPC on Cameroon: http://tinyurl.com/cht684 - Freemuse, "Human Rights for Musicians": http://www.freemuse.org/sw31785.asp -------------------------------------------------------- REGIONAL NEWS

AMERICAS

2. MEXICO: ANOTHER JOURNALIST KILLED; GOVERNMENT NOT DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT MEDIA, SAY IFEX MEMBERS

Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez, a crime photographer for the local daily "El Correo", and crime reporter Yenny Yuliana Marchán Arroyo of the daily "Diario 21", were sent by their papers to cover a road accident in Iguala, Guerrero state on 13 February. But they didn't have a chance to file the story. According to the Center for Journalist and Public Ethics (CEPET), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and other IFEX members, they were attacked by gunmen as they travelled to the scene. Ibarra was killed, while Marchán suffered serious injuries.

Although a motive has yet to be established, the attack is typical of the climate of extreme violence that prevails in certain regions of the country, especially since President Felipe Calderón launched a major offensive against drug trafficking in 2006, says RSF.

According to ARTICLE 19 and RSF, since 2000, at least 29 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the line of duty and a further eight remain missing. Total or partial impunity has prevailed in all of these cases. "As long as all the murders of journalists continue to go unpunished in Mexico, journalists will continue to fall victim to this bloodshed," says RSF.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists (FEADP) was established in 2006 to address these killings and aggressions against the media. But FEADP has achieved little, says ARTICLE 19, which coincidentally released "Empty words", an in-depth analysis of FEADP on the same day of Ibarra's death.

"None of the crimes against journalists have been solved. This can largely be attributed to a lack of political will, and the poor capacities of the FEADP to investigate," says ARTICLE 19.

"Empty Words" points to the need for comprehensive reform, and makes a host of recommendations, including changing the remit of FEADP so that it is not limited to protect freedom of the press but that it recognises the right to freedom of expression as a whole. It also recommends making FEADP legally competent, in part by incorporating FEADP into the formal legal structure of the more effective Attorney General's office.

The report is a follow up to ARTICLE 19's submission to the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of Mexico last week in Geneva, in which a number of delegations voiced the need for the government to take more concrete measures "that have some impact on the ground." Recommendations included legislation that makes crimes against free expression a federal offence (rather than the state's responsibility), a plan touted by President Calderon and being considered by Congress. Although there has been much talk about it, a law has yet to be passed.

To read ARTICLE 19's submission see: http://tinyurl.com/brusko

Also visit these links: - ARTICLE 19 summary of "Empty Words": http://tinyurl.com/aehfg4 - CEPET: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/100874/ - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30319 - Inter American Press Association: http://tinyurl.com/d2mbaz - Committee to Protect Journalists: http://tinyurl.com/bk8ja8 - IFEX Mexico page: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/97/

3. PARAGUAY: COMMUNITY RADIO DIRECTOR GUNNED DOWN

The director of a community radio station in eastern Paraguay was killed in his home last month, report the Paraguayan Union of Journalists (SPP) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Martín Ocampos Páez, director of the Hugua Ñandu FM community radio station, was shot to death on 12 January. IFJ and the Paraguayan Union of Journalists (SPP) say his death may have been linked to comments Ocampos made about the complicity of the police and local officials with drug traffickers in the region. According to SPP, he had repeatedly been threatened by traffickers.

SPP says violence against the media in Paraguay is on the rise, partly because "the government cannot provide security to the most vulnerable."

SPP has also recently spoken out against the death threats and assault reported by journalist Aldo Lezcano, a correspondent for the daily "ABC Color", after he reported on financial irregularities of a war veterans' union, as well as the attacks against Richard Villasboa and camera operator Blas Salcedo, of the television station Canal 13, who were mistreated after they attempted to report on a local penitentiary.

Visit these links: - IFJ: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/100858/ - IFEX Paraguay page: http://tinyurl.com/ah2qqr

ASIA

4. CHINA: GOVERNMENT TO BLACKLIST "FAKE" JOURNALISTS

China is planning to create a blacklist to prevent journalists who break reporting rules from working, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

According to CPJ, the decision was reported on an official government website, which said that the General Administration of Press and Publication, an agency that controls the country's media, will "establish a database of media professionals with a bad record."

The government said the database is part of a larger plan to tighten regulations on China's reporters. CPJ says the new controls, including press identification cards, will be put into effect starting later this month and be in place by June.

"We are alarmed by any government that attempts to decide who is a 'good' journalist and who is a 'bad' journalist," said CPJ.

The new regulations came to light after an announcement on 6 February that journalists from Hong Kong and Macau are required to apply for a press pass from the central government and get consent from interview subjects before every trip to the mainland - restrictions that had been eased for reporters as part of the government's pledge for a free media during the Beijing Olympics.

The new rules are meant to target fake news. According to CPJ, corrupt reporters are a serious problem in China's brutally competitive market, and have at times undermined the public's trust in journalists. In August 2007, a television producer was jailed for one year after fabricating a story about steamed buns filled with cardboard. In January that same year, a young reporter was beaten to death at an illegal coal mine - owners said he had tried to seek a bribe in exchange for not reporting about them.

But CPJ says legitimate journalists who report critically may also be targeted. "Media in post-Olympics China have come under more restrictions since the Games ended in August 2008. We hope the government does not use the legitimate desire to improve the integrity of media in China to continue its crackdown on reporting that is critical of the government," says CPJ.

The new rules do not apply to foreign journalists, who are regulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Seven prominent human rights organisations, including IFEX members Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders, are urging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make human rights, including domestic press censorship, a prominent topic of discussion in her visit to Beijing this week. According to the groups, at least 26 Chinese journalists remain in prison due to their work, many on ambiguous charges including "revealing state secrets" and "inciting subversion."

To read their open letter to Clinton, see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30300

Also visit these links: - CPJ: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/100861/ - IFEX China page: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/147/

EUROPE

5. UNITED KINGDOM: PHOTOGRAPHERS PROTEST NEW ANTI-TERROR LAW

Hundreds of photographers descended on New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the British Metropolitan Police, in London on 16 February to protest against an amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Act that could criminalise anyone taking a photograph of a police officer, report the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the regional arm of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and news reports.

Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act, which came into force this week, says that anyone can be arrested if s/he takes photographs of the police, the armed forces, or the intelligence services which are "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." The offence comes with a maximum 10-year sentence.

But EFJ and photographers say it could be misused to stop the taking of any pictures, especially of police abuse and demonstrations, and is part of a larger, creeping assault on civil liberties in the name of the war on terror.

"This is a serious setback for press freedom which is going to have a devastating effect on the work of photojournalists," said EFJ. "We don't believe that there is a level of security considerations which can justify the kind of shield the new law affords to public figures … The next step would be that reporters would not be allowed to describe what they see."

According to EFJ, the Metropolitan Police Federation has also expressed support to photojournalists, noting that they "do not want to be a secret police." The federation described the law as "unfair" and "completely avoidable" and called for a mutually agreed code between the police and journalists.

According to the BBC, the Home Office said in a statement that taking pictures of police officers would only be deemed an offence in "very exceptional circumstances," and is "intended to help protect those in the front line of our counter-terrorism operations from terrorist attack."

Visit these links: - EFJ/IFJ: http://tinyurl.com/arqdck - BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7892273.stm - Counter-Terrorism Act: http://tinyurl.com/amfmfo

INTERNATIONAL

6. SPORTS NEWSPAPERS FORM ASSOCIATION TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF SPORTS PRESS

Last year, the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (ABRAJI) reported a story about a Brazilian journalist who had his house broken into by police after he wrote about alleged fraudulent accounting practices of a local soccer team. In Botswana, a sports journalist complained about being assaulted by game officials - supposedly a common practice in the country, said the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). In Germany, the German Football Federation launched a campaign of "distortion and lies" against a journalist who has criticised its President, said the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

In an attempt to defend and promote the interests and freedoms of the sports press, six of the world's leading newspapers dedicated to sport have come together to form the International Association of Sports Newspapers (IASN).

The founding members of IASN are the Italian sports daily "La Gazzetta dello Sport", "El Mundo Deportivo" and "Marca" in Spain, "L'Équipe" in France, "Olé" in Argentina, and "Lance" in Brazil.

IASN, whose international secretariat is based in Paris, will safeguard the ethical and economic interests of sports newspapers; fight against racism and xenophobia in sport; promote the use of sport as a tool in development policies; promote sports and reading among children; and encourage volunteerism in the sporting world. IASN is affiliated with IFEX member the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

To learn more about IASN, see: http://www.wan-press.org/article18033.html -------------------------------------------------------- REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS

7. INTIMIDATION AND SELF-CENSORSHIP GREATEST THREATS TO PRESS FREEDOM, SAYS CPJ

Much of the systemic violence against journalism and journalists these days is intended to "induce a climate of fear and self-censorship," said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its annual report.

A generation ago, the threat against journalists was easily identifiable - state sponsored censorship, says "Attacks on the Press 2008". But this old form of blacking out information no longer works.

"Today, the greatest threats to freedom of the press are more insidious than a generation ago because they are intended to induce a climate of fear and self-censorship," said well-known U.S. investigative journalist Carl Bernstein, who wrote the report's preface.

"The basic idea is intimidation… to make an example of one reporter, one institution. Kill somebody in Mexico, kill somebody in Chechnya, kill somebody in Russia.

"If the press can be intimidated… this will make reporters, editors, reporters, publishers, Internet sites, cower," Bernstein said.

Bernstein's comments are backed up by a host of examples from across the world detailed in the 341-page report.

Throughout Latin America, violent criminal gangs are causing widespread self-censorship. Governments in Southeast Asia are emulating China's model of controlling the Internet and punishing those who get around the restrictions.

In the Middle East, a regional pact threatens independent satellite television, while in Russia and Georgia last year, governments controlled television coverage of the conflict in South Ossetia to drum up support for military action.

The report also notes that reporters in Africa rely on text messaging, though the same technology is also being used to threaten them.

The report details some progress, namely that CPJ records fewer journalists killed last year than any year since 2001 (41 journalists were killed last year, down from 63 in 2007). CPJ says this is primarily because of fewer killings in Iraq, still the most dangerous country to be a reporter.

The study also found that 125 reporters around the world were jailed last year, and that more online journalists are jailed than journalists from any other medium.

Bernstein said that technology has changed the equation "so that new and more draconian means had to be found by repressive governments, by movements that are threatened by the free flow of information, and the old methodologies don't work anymore."

Country summaries and analyses from "Attacks on the Press 2008" are available at: http://cpj.org/2009/02/attacks-on-the-press-in-2008.php -------------------------------------------------------- AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

8. WOMEN JOURNALISTS INVITED TO APPLY FOR ELIZABETH NEUFFER FELLOWSHIP

The International Women's Media Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2009 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, which is open to women journalists who focus on human rights and social justice. The deadline for applications is 15 April 2009.

The fellowship allows one woman journalist to spend the academic year of September 2009 to May 2010 in a tailored programme in the U.S., with access to Boston-area universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as popular newspapers "The Boston Globe" and "The New York Times".

The fellowship is named for the 1998 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner and "The Boston Globe" correspondent who was killed in Iraq in May 2003.

ends

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