Dr Mohamed Kirat
By Dr Mohamed Kirat
Attacks and kidnappings of journalists have soared over the past year. More regression than progress in the cause of press freedom worldwide has been noted. Sixty-six journalists were killed as they did their jobs professionally and responsibly. The Islamic State’s (IS) beheading of James Foley and Steven Sotloff were two of the more atrocious cases among many others. In addition, 119 journalists were kidnapped and 178 imprisoned.
There is a negative correlation between freedom of information and conflicts, disputes and wars. In an unstable environment, the media become strategic goals and targets for groups or individuals whose attempts to control news and information violate the guarantees comprised in international law, in particular, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols Additional 1 and 2 to the Geneva Conventions. China and Iran continue to lead the world in the jailing and mistreatment of reporters. But American allies, too, have drawn criticism for assaults on the press.
Turkey has cracked down on free expression and recently detained numerous journalists with seemingly trumped up allegations. Egypt still holds three Aljazeera journalists in jail, among other reporter detainees. In Venezuela, Ecuador and elsewhere in Latin America, governments are directly blocking newspapers from doing their jobs by restricting access to newsprint.
Reporters Without Borders’ asserted that the ranking of some countries this year was affected by a “tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed.” Information was sacrificed in the name of combating terrorism and national security and surveillance.
The US, which fell 13 place to 46, is a good examples of states who sacrifice freedom of press to mute criticisms and illegal and unlawful actions against journalists and news organisations The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning, and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden “were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in public interest,” the report said.
In the United States, reporters do not face physical threats so much as an expanding set of insidious, bureaucratic efforts to intimidate journalists and to push them to self-censorship. American agencies at all levels, as well as corporations, are increasingly barring employees from talking to reporters about the public’s business, except when under the watchful eye of public affairs specialists.
Very often, prosecutors and judges put reporters in such situations, and it threatens the ability of sources who need to remain anonymous to trust that their identities can be kept quiet.
In a recurring failure to address this problem, Congress once again failed this year to send the president a bill that would provide a nationwide shield protecting reporters from having to reveal anonymous sources except in certain circumstances.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, is not allowing reporters to embed on military missions against IS targets, and the Defense Department is restricting access to information about conditions at its prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The idea of embedding journalists is another way to control the media, thus sacrificing the very meaning of freedom of the press. At the same time, unclassified documents in trials for alleged terrorists are being kept from reporters’ eyes. Law enforcement personnel also targeted reporters.
In Ferguson, Mo., this year, police roughed up reporters and restricted their physical movements — a too frequent occurrence. At the same time, US borders are civil liberties dead zones where US border agents regularly search and seize reporters’ computers, cameras and notebooks. The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is failing. It takes so long to obtain records under the law, and they are often so heavily redacted, that the law is losing its value for the press. US congressional leaders, at the end of the session this year, permitted a bill that would strengthen FOIA to die, despite widespread bipartisan support for it in the House and Senate.
Moreover, reporters’ Freedom of Information Act requests are increasingly reported to public affairs officers and other political appointees so they can monitor reporters’ work.
Already the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, Syria saw a further decline in the security situation in 2014 as the conflict became more complex. Nearly 130 news and information providers have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011.
They are under attack from both sides: on the one hand by Bashar Al Assad’s regular army, which continues to arrest and kill those who document the conflict; and on the other by armed Islamist groups in the so-called “liberated” areas in the north, above all by Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS).
Since the spring of 2013, these Jihadi groups have been abducting journalists and installing legal
committees that dispense arbitrary justice. Under threat from all sides, Syrian news providers are fleeing the country in large numbers. In Jordan, the Arab Spring and the Syrian conflict have led the authorities to tighten their grip on the media and, in particular, the Internet, despite objections and complaints from civil society.
Access to around 300 news websites was blocked within Jordan in June 2013 under a new media law that drastically restricts online freedom of information.
In Egypt, Libya and the Kingdom of Bahrain, the situation is worsening as any move towards democracy is blocked by those in power. So far, Arab Spring has not done any good to press freedom in the Arab world.
The mechanisms of control, censorship, intimidation and self-censorship are there to stay. The new regimes are reproducing the old schemas of media manipulation and control used by their predecessors. The press in Egypt under Al Sisi regime is no better than that of former president Mubarak.
The writer is a professor of public relations and Mass Communication at the College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University.
The Peninsula
By Dr Mohamed Kirat
Attacks and kidnappings of journalists have soared over the past year. More regression than progress in the cause of press freedom worldwide has been noted. Sixty-six journalists were killed as they did their jobs professionally and responsibly. The Islamic State’s (IS) beheading of James Foley and Steven Sotloff were two of the more atrocious cases among many others. In addition, 119 journalists were kidnapped and 178 imprisoned.
There is a negative correlation between freedom of information and conflicts, disputes and wars. In an unstable environment, the media become strategic goals and targets for groups or individuals whose attempts to control news and information violate the guarantees comprised in international law, in particular, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols Additional 1 and 2 to the Geneva Conventions. China and Iran continue to lead the world in the jailing and mistreatment of reporters. But American allies, too, have drawn criticism for assaults on the press.
Turkey has cracked down on free expression and recently detained numerous journalists with seemingly trumped up allegations. Egypt still holds three Aljazeera journalists in jail, among other reporter detainees. In Venezuela, Ecuador and elsewhere in Latin America, governments are directly blocking newspapers from doing their jobs by restricting access to newsprint.
Reporters Without Borders’ asserted that the ranking of some countries this year was affected by a “tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed.” Information was sacrificed in the name of combating terrorism and national security and surveillance.
The US, which fell 13 place to 46, is a good examples of states who sacrifice freedom of press to mute criticisms and illegal and unlawful actions against journalists and news organisations The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning, now known as Chelsea Manning, and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden “were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in public interest,” the report said.
In the United States, reporters do not face physical threats so much as an expanding set of insidious, bureaucratic efforts to intimidate journalists and to push them to self-censorship. American agencies at all levels, as well as corporations, are increasingly barring employees from talking to reporters about the public’s business, except when under the watchful eye of public affairs specialists.
Very often, prosecutors and judges put reporters in such situations, and it threatens the ability of sources who need to remain anonymous to trust that their identities can be kept quiet.
In a recurring failure to address this problem, Congress once again failed this year to send the president a bill that would provide a nationwide shield protecting reporters from having to reveal anonymous sources except in certain circumstances.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, is not allowing reporters to embed on military missions against IS targets, and the Defense Department is restricting access to information about conditions at its prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The idea of embedding journalists is another way to control the media, thus sacrificing the very meaning of freedom of the press. At the same time, unclassified documents in trials for alleged terrorists are being kept from reporters’ eyes. Law enforcement personnel also targeted reporters.
In Ferguson, Mo., this year, police roughed up reporters and restricted their physical movements — a too frequent occurrence. At the same time, US borders are civil liberties dead zones where US border agents regularly search and seize reporters’ computers, cameras and notebooks. The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is failing. It takes so long to obtain records under the law, and they are often so heavily redacted, that the law is losing its value for the press. US congressional leaders, at the end of the session this year, permitted a bill that would strengthen FOIA to die, despite widespread bipartisan support for it in the House and Senate.
Moreover, reporters’ Freedom of Information Act requests are increasingly reported to public affairs officers and other political appointees so they can monitor reporters’ work.
Already the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, Syria saw a further decline in the security situation in 2014 as the conflict became more complex. Nearly 130 news and information providers have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011.
They are under attack from both sides: on the one hand by Bashar Al Assad’s regular army, which continues to arrest and kill those who document the conflict; and on the other by armed Islamist groups in the so-called “liberated” areas in the north, above all by Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS).
Since the spring of 2013, these Jihadi groups have been abducting journalists and installing legal
committees that dispense arbitrary justice. Under threat from all sides, Syrian news providers are fleeing the country in large numbers. In Jordan, the Arab Spring and the Syrian conflict have led the authorities to tighten their grip on the media and, in particular, the Internet, despite objections and complaints from civil society.
Access to around 300 news websites was blocked within Jordan in June 2013 under a new media law that drastically restricts online freedom of information.
In Egypt, Libya and the Kingdom of Bahrain, the situation is worsening as any move towards democracy is blocked by those in power. So far, Arab Spring has not done any good to press freedom in the Arab world.
The mechanisms of control, censorship, intimidation and self-censorship are there to stay. The new regimes are reproducing the old schemas of media manipulation and control used by their predecessors. The press in Egypt under Al Sisi regime is no better than that of former president Mubarak.
The writer is a professor of public relations and Mass Communication at the College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University.
The Peninsula
