No freedom for journalists
No freedom for journalists
On World Press Freedom Day 2012, Reporters Without Borders condemned the furious pace of physical attacks on news providers and reports that a total of 21 journalists, and 6 netizens and citizen journalists have been killed since the start of 2012, many of them in war zones such as Somalia and Syria. This is a rate of one news provider killed ever five days.
Reporters Without Borders released an updated list of its “predators of the freedom to inform,” a list that has grown in size and now has 41 members.
“Let there be no witness to our crimes” and “let there be no voice but ours” – these are the watchwords of authoritarian regimes and armed groups that are hostile to freedom of information. What with crackdowns on protest in Arab countries, and suppression of political opposition, criticism and reporting in other parts of the world, the first four months of 2012 were especially violent for those who try to provide news and information.
The first quarter of 2012 has clearly shown that the world’s predators of the freedom to inform, led by Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad and Somalia’s Islamist militias, are capable of behaving like outright butchers.
The 2011 revolts toppled several despots who were on the predators list such as Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and Yemen’s Ali Abdallah Saleh but they unfortunately did not reduce the overall number of these enemies of information.
In Turkey journalists are put in prison for what they write. Last year saw a special vicious attack on Kurdish journalists and Kurdish media outlets. Over 90 journalists are still in prison, most of them face trial for making propaganda for an illegal organization.
Reporters Without Borders released an updated list of its “predators of the freedom to inform,” a list that has grown in size and now has 41 members.
“Let there be no witness to our crimes” and “let there be no voice but ours” – these are the watchwords of authoritarian regimes and armed groups that are hostile to freedom of information. What with crackdowns on protest in Arab countries, and suppression of political opposition, criticism and reporting in other parts of the world, the first four months of 2012 were especially violent for those who try to provide news and information.
The first quarter of 2012 has clearly shown that the world’s predators of the freedom to inform, led by Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad and Somalia’s Islamist militias, are capable of behaving like outright butchers.
The 2011 revolts toppled several despots who were on the predators list such as Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and Yemen’s Ali Abdallah Saleh but they unfortunately did not reduce the overall number of these enemies of information.
In Turkey journalists are put in prison for what they write. Last year saw a special vicious attack on Kurdish journalists and Kurdish media outlets. Over 90 journalists are still in prison, most of them face trial for making propaganda for an illegal organization.
