Niger: Press freedom in jeopardy as journalists working on conflict intimidated and arrested

Press freedom in Niger is in jeopardy as transitional authorities intimidate and arbitrarily arrest journalists reporting on the country’s conflict and security-related issues, said Amnesty International today.

Since the 26 July 2023 coup, in which the country’s Presidential Guard commander Abdourahamane Tchiani detained President Mohamed Bazoum and was proclaimed President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie, CNSP), which is leading the transition, press freedom has been curtailed and journalists are self censoring amid fear of intimidation and reprisals.

“This disregard for the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and the work of journalists comes at a time when people need accurate information about the conflict affecting them and the transitional authorities’ response to it. We call on the Nigerien authorities to unconditionally release journalists arrested and detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression or for dealing with sensitive information of public interest, and to ensure that journalists can carry out their work without fear of harassment, intimidation, arrest or detention,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

On 24 April 2024, the editor of the L’Enquêteur newspaper, Soumana Maiga, was arrested after his paper published a story about the alleged installation of listening equipment by Russian agents on official state buildings. He is being detained on a charge of “infringement of national defence.” If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Transitional authorities must effectively implement their legal obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of everyone in the country.

Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa

Days earlier on 13 April 2024, Ousmane Toudou, journalist and former communications advisor to the ousted president was also arrested. In the days following the July 2023 coup, Ousmane Toudou called on all democrats to oppose the military takeover through a widely shared social media post. Since his arrest by the security forces, Ousmane Toudou has still not been presented to a judge to be heard, even with the expiration of the legal 4-day custody period. He is to be tried before a military court in contradiction with international human rights law which requires military courts to only try military offences.

“We are paying more attention to our writings to preserve ourselves”

The Hausa language BBC international radio correspondent Tchima Illa Issoufou was threatened and accused of trying to “destabilise Niger” by reporting on the security situation in the Tillabéri region in western Niger, which has been particularly affected by the conflict. She is currently wanted by security forces and was targeted by supporters of the transitional authorities on social media, who accused her of being under “foreign influence”. Her radio broadcast was followed by the arrest of civil society actor Ali Tera, who had been interviewed by the BBC correspondent. He was arrested on 26 April 2024 and has been remanded in the Niamey civilian prison on 29 April. Tchima Illa Issoufou fled Niger to settle in another country.

“The Nigerien context has become very difficult. The principles of press freedom are under attack by the new authorities and several colleagues and myself are paying more attention to our writings to preserve us,” said the director of a media outlet in Niger, who spoke to Amnesty International on the condition of anonymity.

In January 2024, the Maison de la Presse, an association that brings together several private and public media organizations in Niger, was suspended by the transitional authorities and replaced by an ad hoc committee headed by the Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior.

“The rights to freedom of expression, freedom of information and freedom of the press are guaranteed by national law and international human rights treaties such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Niger is a state party. Transitional authorities must effectively implement their legal obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of everyone in the country,” said Samira Daoud.

Greece’s Press Freedom Index Improves, But Still Ranks Last in EU

ByTasos Kokkinidis

May 3, 2024

Greece has risen to 88th place from 107th last year out of 180 countries. Credit:  Hindrik Sijens, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Greece’s press freedom index improved, rising 19 places in 2024, but remains last among EU countries, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 World Press Freedom Index, released on Friday.

The country has risen to 88th place from 107th last year out of 180 countries and its overall score increased to 57.15 out of 100, from 55.2 in 2023. Norway, Denmark and Sweden are best-in-class, with scores ranging from 88.3 to over 91.9.

However, Greece comes last among the EU for the third year in a row. Greece is behind Qatar and Thailand, and performing worse than countries such as Niger, Lesotho and Haiti, the press freedom organization’s ranking shows.

Comparing Greece’s index in 2023 and 2024. Credit: Reporters Without Borders

“The rise is largely explained by the deterioration of press freedom in other countries, given the meagre improvement in the score,” said Pavol Szalai, the head of RSF’s EU and Balkans desk, adding that previous years were marked with grave press freedom violations, such as the murder of a journalist in 2021 or the outbreak of a surveillance scandal in 2022.

“2023 was marked above all by inaction in the face of systemic problems,” Szalai said, naming among others political attempts to undermine the independence of the investigation into the surveillance scandal, SLAPPs, media concentration and weak pluralism.

The report says that press freedom in Greece has suffered a systemic crisis since 2021. The scandal of the wiretapping of journalists by the National Intelligence Service (EYP) has yet to be cleared up, as is the case regarding the murder of veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in 2021.

It adds that despite constitutional guarantees, press freedom has been challenged at the legislative level. New laws passed by Parliament, meant to provide better protections for citizens against arbitrary surveillance, in response to the Predatorgate wiretapping scandal, fall short of European standards. A new media bill has led to the creation of a controversial ethics committee.

In April the US State Department’s annual report on Human Rights noted that domestic and international agencies said journalists and media outlets faced pressure to avoid criticizing the government or reporting scandals.

It also noted that the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, urged authorities to ensure “human rights defenders and journalists could work safely and freely.”

Greece’s PM says press freedom report is “crap”

In November 2022, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded to the 2022 report of RSF. He labeled it as “crap.”

“I think there is no issue on press freedom in Greece,” the Greek PM said. “We have a vibrant press, journalists can write anything they want.”

Referring to the report by Reporters Without Borders, Mitsotakis said that placing Greece in 108th position in terms of press freedom behind Chad “is crap…excuse my language.”

Mitsotakis admitted that there are steps Greece can take in terms of further fostering a vibrant civic society, but he insisted that freedom of the press “is not an issue.”

“Just look at the daily newspapers in Greece,” he said. “Probably three-quarters are harshly criticizing the government, as they have the right to do. I would argue that Greece has very weak libel laws.”

PUTIN'S ALLIES

Pro-Orban Forces Test Powerful New 'Sovereignty' Tool Against Independent Media

May 03, 2024
By Andy Heil

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor 

Orban: hiding behind the flag?

It's a naked truth of today's Hungary that tangling with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s political machine risks leaving journalists dangerously exposed.

No state support or public ad revenues. Little or no facetime with even lowly ruling Fidesz party officials. And, now, no way to avoid fears that a new and seemingly unaccountable bully institution is breathing down their necks.

World Press Freedom Day 2024

To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, RFE/RL has prepared the following stories about the status of press freedom in our broadcast area:

A dizzying array of plucky independent news providers has arisen in response the 14-year supermajority in parliament that has allowed Orban and his Fidesz allies to govern with little oversight while consolidating the media sector in friendly hands. But the advent in February of the Sovereignty Protection Office has presented them with a fresh, and perhaps existential, challenge.

Its creation has been challenged by the European Commission and criticized by the United States, and its activities were blasted by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission as "not subject to any State oversight" and with "absolute -- and unchecked -- discretion" to defend an ill-defined national interest that is anyways already safeguarded.

Legal scholars and political analysts warn it is "the tip of the iceberg" of "regime preservation" and evidence of Orban's increasingly autocratic effort to "create a perfect setting of intimidation."

The only confirmed target so far of Sovereignty Protection Office President Tamas Lanczi is Peter Magyar, a whistle-blowing politician whose surprise defection in March shook Fidesz and energized Orban's detractors ahead of next month's municipal and European Parliamentary elections.

But no sooner had Magyar been tarred with Lanczi's brush than one of Hungary's most influential and hard-hitting independent media outlets came under similar suspicion, under assault by a pro-government attack-dog institution called the Civil Solidarity Foundation-Civil Solidarity Forum (COF-COKA).

At a press conference in mid-April that was well-attended by state and other friendly media, COF-COKA shared its dim view of investigative news nonprofit Atlatsz's Ki Mit Tud? (Who Knows What?) project, a portal that has facilitated tens of thousands of freedom-of-information requests for Hungarians seeking answers from public institutions.

The group accused Atlatszo of "distracting" state employees and wasting public money. It questioned the FOI requests' effectiveness and said they "mostly serve the interests of opposition parties." Crucially, it appealed to Lanczi's office "to deal with this phenomenon," citing Alatszo's use of "funds coming from abroad" and alleged "espionage," in part because findings by Ki Mit Tud? are "made available for browsing by anyone…[and] can even serve foreign interests."

It also underscored the threat from Orban's frequently invoked nemesis, billionaire George Soros, the subject of a notorious "Soros mercenaries" list for which ex-editor Lanczi's former publication was eventually forced to apologize.

"Our work can in no way be taken as an attack but according to our convictions," COF-COKA said, adding that pursuant to its self-appointed "watchdog" role, it had created an "NGO-Locator" to track and counter Atlatszo's project. COF-COKA also said it would be watching a handful of other NGOs that it said were unfairly "hunting" politicians and private individuals.

Atlatszo founder Tamas Bodoky and his editors had picked up independent Hungarian journalism's biggest annual prize, the Hungarian Press Award, just a month earlier.

Peter Uj, editor in chief of independent news outlet 444.hu, called the award a recognition of Atlatszo's dedication to "successfully and self-sacrificingly carr[ying] out the social task it has undertaken, setting an example not only for the post-democracy press, but also for the post-democracy citizenry."

Tamas Bodoky (second from left) and Atlatszo.hu staffers receive the National Association of Hungarian Journalists' annual Press Award in March 2024.

Speaking to RFE/RL weeks later, Bodoky described routinely fending off more than a year of accusations and threats from COF-COKA that he dismissed as "complete bullshit conspiracy theories" aimed at discrediting Atlatszo. He noted Atlatszo reporting in the past that labeled COF-COKA as a "public money magnet" and tied it to tens of millions in taxpayer-funded contracts.

The Sovereignty Protection Act empowers Lanczi to unleash the intelligence services to spy on just about anyone he chooses, with no obligation to notify those individuals or entities.

Bodoky said last week that Atlatszo had received no notification, "so we don't know."

"[But] when this pro-government NGO says something, it isn't accidental," he said. "This is something the government wants to hear." Bodoky called COF-COKA's statements "a propaganda opening to signal an investigation into free media organizations and others" in hopes of whippping up "popular demand" for such an investigation.

"We're living in constant fear of if or when these propaganda attacks will turn into official investigations and harassment," he said.

Whether or not the Fidesz-controlled intelligence services are investigating, the intended impact of the COF-COKA's widely circulated accusations seems clear. Bodoky says it invariably chips away at readership among pro-government Hungarians, discourages potential sources from talking to Atlatszo, inspires public organizations to "blacklist" it and withhold information, and "makes us think twice before applying for a grant about how this will be framed in the propaganda media."

Independent Hungarian journalists and outside experts quickly recognized the potential threat to a free press of the Sovereignty Protection Act that Fidesz lawmakers rushed through parliament in November-December, creating the office.

Once COF-COKA launched its assault, a number of other independent news outlets came out in support of Atlatszo, saying in an open letter that "oppressive powers have tried many times to banish Hungarian journalism to nothingness forever, but as the recognition of Atlatszo shows: this never succeeded."

"I do think it's visible that the law and processes are being 'tested' right now," Blanka Zoldi, a signatory and editor in chief at Lakmusz (Litmus), a fact-checking platform for "disinformation stakeholders" that is partly funded by the European Union, told RFE/RL via e-mail.

Hungary's independent-minded journalists have proved resilient and creative in response to official marginalization and shoestring budgets. Their influence was on full display in February when President Katalin Novak was forced to resign after 444.hu unearthed a court ruling showing she’d pardoned an accessory to child sex abuse thanks to a tip from "one of our readers."

Atlatszo is funded about equally between crowdfunding and projects and grants from outside groups including Soros's Open Society Foundations, the European Union, the London-based Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Netherlands-based Limelight Foundation, and the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy -- all of which it publicly acknowledges.

It made its name on tough reporting that spared neither political left nor right, documenting abuse and police brutality as leftist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany clung to power in the 2000s and a decade later chronicling Orban and his governing elites' use of private planes and luxury yachts for soccer matches, vacations, and meetings abroad.

Andras Kadar is a lawyer and co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, one of the country's oldest and most influential human rights groups. He said his organization, which along with Globsec, Tasz, and K-Monitor was one of the four other entities put on notice by COF-COKA in April, called the allegations against Atlatszo "absolutely ridiculous" and "a very typical tool of the illiberal regime."

He also said he was confident that Atlatszo "will not change its modus operandi as a result of the attacks, and trust that no other independent media outlets and journalists will do so either."

"They have been doing a crucial job in a very hostile environment for quite a long time now," Kadar told RFE/RL, "but cases like that of the presidential pardoning scandal have shown that even under such difficult conditions, their work can have tremendous impact."

Andy Heil is a Prague-based senior correspondent covering central and southeastern Europe and the North Caucasus, and occasionally science and the environment. Before joining RFE/RL in 2001, he was a longtime reporter and editor of business, economic, and political news in Central Europe, including for the Prague Business Journal, Reuters, Oxford Analytica, and Acquisitions Monthly, and a freelance contributor to the Christian Science Monitor, Respekt, and Tyden.
HeilA@rferl.org

The Human Cost Of Dismantling Belarus's Independent Media

May 03, 2024 
By RFE/RL's Belarus Service and
Robert Coalson

Journalists in Minsk protest against the detention of their colleagues in September 2020.

Nastassya worked as a journalist in Belarus for 15 years until 2022, when the media outlet where she worked agreed to comply with the government's demand that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine be called not a "war," but a "special military operation."

"I decided I could not agree with this," she told RFE/RL. "I understood that I would not be able to work as a journalist in Belarus."

"Journalism is a profession that normal people do not leave," she said, fighting back tears. "Such people feel passionately about what they do, because nothing gives such meaning as journalism."

After a massive wave of pro-democracy protests in 2020 following a disputed election that handed strongman leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth presidential term, the government unleashed sweeping repressions that have utterly transformed the already authoritarian country.

Opposition politicians, civil-society activists, and independent journalists have been systematically persecuted. Many have been imprisoned. Many others have been forced to flee their homeland.

Belarus ranks 157th out of 180 countries on press freedoms, according to Reporters Without Borders, which called it "Europe's most dangerous country for journalists until Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 37 media employees are currently in custody, including several prominent editors of once-respected outlets that have since been shut down. That includes RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik who, in December 2021, was given the longest sentence -- 15 years in prison on charges of "organizing mass riots" and "inciting social enmity." RFE/RL, along with press freedom advocates, have called the charges absurd.

Belarus "has one of the most repressive media climates in the world," Free Press Unlimited, a nongovernmental organization, said.

"With nearly all independent media being banned, websites blocked and/or declared as 'extremist,' which in turn makes following or sharing them punishable by law, the Belarusian media landscape is one of the most restrictive in the world," the group said.

RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik (file photo)

"The main source of danger for media professionals in Belarus are the authorities, the police and the courts," the group said.

Nastassya and the other former journalists interviewed for this story asked that their identities be concealed out of concern for their safety and that of their relatives in Belarus.

Even before she resigned, the writing had been on the wall since May 2021, Nastassya says, when the authorities launched an effort to silence Tut.by, the country's most popular news portal.

In January 2023, after 19 months in pretrial detention, the website's chief editor, Maryna Zolatava, and General Director Lyudmila Chekina were both sentenced to 12 years in prison on various charges including "harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus."

Tut.by journalists Maryna Zolatava (left) and Lyudmila Chekina appear in a Minsk court in March 2023.

At the time, Nastassya recalls, there was little outcry over the case from a public that was already worn down by the government's brutality.

She had always felt journalism was "a contract" between the journalist and society and that "society, if necessary, would defend the interests of people who worked as journalists."

The Crisis In Belarus


Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

"But it became clear that we had no contract with society," she said, "and that everyone was on their own."

After leaving journalism, Nastassya began working as a copywriter in advertising and marketing. "It was my most difficult decision," she said through tears, although she earns much more than she ever did as a journalist.

Nastassya says she consumes less media than before, saying that the unwillingness of people to speak on the record has eroded the quality of reporting. Belarusian media in exile have limited ability to report on developments in the country, she says, and increasingly reprint items from state media or focus their reporting on Belarusians in emigration.

"It isn’t their fault," she added. "Such are the circumstances. I am proud of them all and very grateful to everyone who remains in the profession. I understand how difficult it is today."

"For me, they are heroes," she said, noting that journalists working from abroad risk the safety of their relatives in Belarus, who could have their property confiscated or worse.

The Survivor

In his former life, Uladzimer was a news photographer for Tut.by. His last day as a journalist came on May 18, 2021, when the website was shut down.

Initially he considered continuing to work as a photographer, doing commercial work or wedding photography. But he knew he wouldn't enjoy such work.

He sold his cameras and his car and never looked back. He now works as a long-haul trucker.

"I have never had so much money," he said of his salary of some 2,500 euros ($2,700) a month. "Journalists [in Belarus] don't earn anything like that."

The switch took Uladzimer entirely out of his comfort zone and it took him a tough six months to get used to his new life on the road, travelling throughout Europe and living permanently outside of Belarus.

Leaving journalism has meant a complete change of lifestyle for Uladzimer. All his possessions now fit in two or three bags stashed in the cab of his truck. Mostly, he says, he enjoys not looking twice at the price of everything he wants to buy.

"I feel like a person," he said. "If I want something, I buy it. Luckily, I don't want a lot of things. But I can just go into a store and buy what I want."

The Minsk bureau of RFE/RL was closed and sealed by the Belarusian government in July 2021.

He says he doesn't miss Belarus and the tumultuous events there. He consciously chose to be "a survivor," he said, rather than a hero in prison.

'A Dream Job'

Ksenia worked as news photographer for a decade. She left the country amid the government crackdown on independent media. Since moving abroad, she has survived mostly doing whatever freelance photography she can get.

"Emigres don't turn down offers," she said. "There aren't so many of them."

Over the last few years, she has drifted away from journalism, both as a professional and as a consumer. She subscribes to a few Belarusian news channels on social media, but finds herself reading them less and less.

She says she was alarmed by the culture of fear in her homeland: friends refuse to respond to messages from her and other journalists out of fear for their safety.

A protest in support of Belarusian journalists in Minsk in September 2020

Ksenia says she also worries about her unwitting role in Lukashenka's crackdown. She knows that photographs taken during the 2020 demonstrations were scanned and scoured by security agents to identify people for possible persecution.

Now, many newspaper stories featuring anonymous sources are accompanied by photographs with blurred faces and written by journalists who conceal their names.

"Will we someday find out that a journalist sat down and invented a text entirely?" she asked. "I hope not."

Nonetheless, Ksenia says she hopes to return to journalism someday.

"It is a dream job," she said. "Yes, it is difficult. But you do something different every day and you have access that you would not have in other professions. You never know where you might end up."

"I remember the events in Belarus [in 2020]," she added. "I remember where I was and I think, 'Wow. I went through that.'"

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service

RFE/RL's Belarus Service is one of the leading providers of news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language. It is a bulwark against pervasive Russian propaganda and defies the government’s virtual monopoly on domestic broadcast media.

Robert Coalson  is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.

How a Group of Paris-Based Journalists Are Saving Investigations from Oblivion



Illustration: Mélody Da Fonseca for Forbidden Stories

by Michele Barbero • May 3, 2024


Indian journalist Shashikant Warishe knew that his reporting on a controversial new refinery in the western Konkan region was angering some dangerous people.

He had been warned by friends and threatened by enemies. But he kept it up, writing for his local newspaper about the rampant land speculation and the environmental risks linked to the mega-project, as well as the resistance put up by many of those living in the area.The goal of Forbidden Stories is to send a strong signal that killing the journalist won’t kill the story.

In February 2023, while he was fueling his motorcycle at a gas station, he was mowed down by an SUV, dying of his injuries shortly after. Police believe he was deliberately murdered by a land dealer about whom Warishe had just penned a scathing piece. (The accused, who is still in custody awaiting trial, claims it was a “pure accident.”)

But Warishe’s investigations didn’t die the day that he was killed. Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based nonprofit, carried on his work in a joint effort with the Indian Express, producing an in-depth article on the issue in three languages earlier this year.

Founded in 2017, the raison d’être of Forbidden Stories, a GIJN member, is to pick up investigations that have been shelved because of threats or violence against the press, publishing them alongside the accounts of how the journalists originally conducting them were silenced.

The goal is to “send a strong signal that killing the journalist won’t kill the story,” said founder and executive director Laurent Richard, who has 25 years of experience in investigative reporting.

On this World Press Freedom Day, that mission is of even more relevance, as numerous bad actors around the world continue to imperil accountability journalism and the public’s right to know. The need is pressing: Journalists in many parts of the world are intimidated, jailed, or killed because of their work. In many cases, particularly in the Global South, this happens with few people ever knowing, leaving some investigations abandoned forever.

Forbidden Stories is trying to change that by exposing human rights violations, environmental abuses, corruption, and organized crime from Mexico to Azerbaijan, from Morocco to the Philippines.

The various leads the team receive from around the world are subjected to pre-investigations to gauge their relevance and feasibility, as well as to confirm that the abuse suffered by the reporters on the ground was linked to their work.

Then, for each assignment, the group joins forces with other news outlets, putting together and coordinating a task force that can include several dozen journalists. Over the years, Forbidden Stories has worked with 90 partners, including both small, local newsrooms familiar with the territory and large international organizations like Reuters and The New York Times.
Strong Focus on the Environment


Laurent Richard speaks at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia in April 2024. Image: Diego Figone for the IJF

Forbidden Stories hit the ground running by coordinating, as its first endeavor, 18 news organizations committed to continuing the work of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in 2017. It now has some 20 projects under its belt.

Environmental crimes feature as one of the most frequently recurring themes of the group’s work. The story about Shashikant Warishe and the new refinery in western India highlighted the pollution risks associated with the plant. Another wide-ranging investigation published in 2019, Green Blood, focused on the damage caused by the mining industry in Tanzania, Guatemala, and India. Meanwhile The Bruno and Dom Project, coordinated by Forbidden Stories after the reporter Dom Phillips and his collaborator Bruno Pereira were killed in Brazil, shed light on the plundering of the Amazon’s natural resources.

According to Richard, the environment is the focus of a large share of the aborted investigations Forbidden Stories comes across because probing the way corporations and politicians exploit natural resources in countries with high levels of corruption and impunity is extremely dangerous. According to one study by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 13 journalists, and possibly as many as 29, were killed between 2009 and 2019 while working in this field, making it one of the deadliest beats after war reporting.“The idea that you can put your information out there for somebody to finish the story is a very important deterrent for anybody contemplating killing or doing something to a journalist.” — OCCRP Editor-in-Chief Miranda Patrucic

But the group’s commitment to covering these stories is also the result of a deliberate editorial choice. “I believe we need to do more and more stories about environmental crimes,” said Richard. “It’s a time in which as citizens we need to make huge decisions about protecting the planet, but how can we make those decisions if we don’t have the necessary information?”

Another priority for Forbidden Stories is to show that the crimes in question are not as local and remote as they may seem, but are connected with the everyday lives of millions of people all over the world. The gold dug up in the Tanzanian mine investigated in 2019 was being used to manufacture products sold to Western consumers by leading tech companies. The cartels who kill journalists and corrupt officials in Mexico run multinational operations responsible for flooding Europe and the US with drugs.
Discouraging Attacks on Journalists


SafeBox project manager Fanny Toubin. Image: Screenshot, Forbidden Stories

But Forbidden Stories is not only about honoring silenced journalists and continuing their work. It also aims to help reporters carry on themselves. That’s the purpose of the SafeBox Network, a secure online platform where journalists can make their material accessible to the Forbidden Stories team, should anyone try to silence them.

“The goal is to discourage the attacks against those who have joined, by making it known that they share their findings with Forbidden Stories and sending the message that the investigation will be published no matter what, so there is no point in attacking them,” explained Fanny Toubin, SafeBox’s project manager.

The platform was launched in 2022 and currently has some 110 users. Gauging how effective it is in deterring violence against its members is hard, but the feedback is encouraging, with many “feeling less isolated and more supported,” said Toubin.

Of course SafeBox is far from able to guarantee total safety, as shown by the murder of Rafael Moreno – a Colombian journalist gunned down by a hitman in October 2022, a few days after he had uploaded his material.

But, determined his death would not be in vain, Forbidden Stories tasked a team of 30 journalists to finish his work, who together produced a flurry of articles in the months following his death that shed light on corruption and environmental crimes in Moreno’s Córdoba province.

“The idea that you can put your information out there for somebody to finish the story is a very important deterrent for anybody contemplating killing or doing something to a journalist,” said Miranda Patrucic, editor-in-chief of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting project, at the IJF in Perugia last month.
Big Challenges and Big Plans

Dealing with extremely dangerous environments is not the only challenge Forbidden Stories has to face. For one, money is tight. Funding comes from philanthropic foundations and individual donations, with a yearly budget currently hovering at around three million euros (US$3.2 million). But the investigations are difficult, slow, and require a lot of resources, said Richard – including for legal fees, given how frequently those mentioned in the articles respond by suing the authors.With journalists facing disinformation campaigns, harassment, cyber-surveillance, physical threats, and global crime, it’s time to disrupt the “lone wolf reporter” approach, Richard says.

When it comes to SafeBox, another problem the group faces involves earning reporters’ trust. “Reassuring them so they feel comfortable sharing their information with us is a huge challenge,” acknowledged Toubin.

The platform uses SecureDrop, a highly-reliable system developed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation that has been tested for bugs and vulnerabilities. But journalists operating in countries with little press freedom live with the constant risk of online hacking and monitoring, which can make them wary of third-party tools such as SafeBox, said Carolyne Lunga, a researcher on collaborative investigative journalism in the Global South who teaches at City University London and at the University of Doha for Science and Technology.

The best way to convince wary reporters is to meet them face to face. Forbidden Stories has been organizing workshops — in places like Mexico, Indonesia, and Guatemala — to describe its mission, present SafeBox, and win local journalists’ trust. The platform got a big bump in its membership after each of those events, noted Toubin.

The Forbidden Stories team itself, despite the limited resources, has been expanding, more than doubling since last year to a total of 25 full-time staffers, and more hires are planned in the near future.

They have their work cut out for them. Richard wants Forbidden Stories to become better known and beef up the network of partners, especially where journalists are being targeted. Strengthening ties with local news outlets and making the organization and its mission better known in those areas is a way to disincentivize violence against reporters.

In line with its efforts to increase its reach, Forbidden Stories joined GIJN in 2020 and was among the partners of the 13th Global Investigative Journalism Conference organized by GIJN in Sweden last year.


A recent SafeBox workshop for journalists in Jakarta. Image: Courtesy of Forbidden Stories

More broadly, going forward Forbidden Stories aims to foster a collaborative journalism mentality around the world, said its founder, fighting what he called the “lone wolf reporter” approach. “The idea that you are alone with your own sources and your own stories […] we are trying to break that, knowing what we are facing: disinformation campaigns, harassment, cyber-surveillance, physical threats, global crime,” Richard said.

Joint investigations involving different newsrooms are becoming more frequent, Lunga noted, but “the mindset for collaboration, for some editors, is not there. Journalism continues to be very competitive,” she said.

For its part, the Forbidden Stories’ team is also hoping to inspire the creation of other similar organizations, and it’s willing to share its expertise with them. “We are not seeing Forbidden Stories as some kind of holding, but rather as a movement of people,” said Richard. “An open source model.”

Michele Barbero is an Italian journalist based in Paris. After several years at France 24, he currently works for French news agency AFP. His byline has also appeared in a variety of publications, including Foreign Policy, Jacobin, and Wired UK.

2024 Human Rights Press Awards recognize report on suicide among Afghan women

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Human Rights Press Awards in Asia, marking World Press Freedom Day, announced its 2024 winners and runners-up on Thursday. The awards, managed by Human Rights Watch, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and the foreign correspondents’ clubs of Thailand and Taiwan, recognize outstanding journalism in seven categories.

Top honors went to reports on the increasing suicides among Afghan women under oppressive Taliban rule, the persecution of religious minorities in Myanmar, and the Chinese government’s response to White Paper protesters during Covid-19 lockdowns.

“The Human Rights Press Awards celebrate journalists tackling some of Asia’s most urgent rights issues,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch. “With authoritarianism on the rise, the need for journalists to expose the truth is paramount.”

The awards ceremony is scheduled for May 10 in Taipei, hosted by the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

Dr. Battinto L. Batts, Jr., dean of the Walter Cronkite School, emphasized the importance of recognizing human rights journalism as part of the school’s Cronkite Global Initiatives. Thompson Chau, president of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club, noted the significance of award-winning journalism from challenging environments like Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar.

Frontier Myanmar and Zan Times won the inaugural “Newsroom in Exile” category for their coverage of Myanmar and Afghanistan, respectively. Frontier Myanmar highlighted the oppression of the Bayingyi, Roman Catholics of Portuguese descent, while Zan Times reported on Afghan women and girls choosing death over life under Taliban rule.

Phil Robertson, chair of the program committee at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, stressed the importance of recognizing journalists reporting from exile.

Al Jazeera received the multimedia award for its coverage of the perilous route Pakistani men take to Europe, and The Initium won for investigative reporting in Chinese on the anniversary of the White Paper Protest. The Guardian earned the investigative reporting prize in English for exposing the trafficking of Nepali workers in Saudi Arabia.

The ceremony will also honor reports on the Myanmar military’s airstrikes, abuses by Bangladesh’s elite police unit, challenges facing Hong Kong’s LGBT community, and a global private hospital group’s involvement in a kidney trafficking scandal.

Press freedom in Italy: those in power are not to be criticised

Areas Italyita 

Roberto Saviano and Antonio Nobile. Photo: PEN International

In 2021, then opposition leader Giorgia Meloni sued Roberto Saviano for defamation. Last October, the Roman court issued a sentence against the Italian writer. A ruling that alarmed Italian and European civil society. We had a conversation about it with Antonio Nobile, Saviano's lawyer

03/05/2024 - Sielke Kelner

The defamation lawsuit filed by Giorgia Meloni against Italian writer Roberto Saviano has ended with a first-degree criminal conviction issued by Rome Criminal Court. The judge convicted Saviano of criminal defamation, acknowledging, however, mitigating circumstances: the moral motivation that, according to the Court, led Roberto Saviano to formulate his criticism. While the prosecutor had asked for the writer to pay a fine of 10,000 euros, the criminal court reduced this to 1,000 euros. The verdict was met with dismay by Italian and European civil society. The involvement of a high-level public figure , specifically the Prime Minister acting as plaintiff, along with the public interest nature of the dispute concerning the rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea by NGOs, has raised significant concerns regarding Italian freedom of expression. According to MFRR and CASE, Meloni’s lawsuit is a SLAPP. They also argue that the verdict sets a dangerous precedent that could facilitate further attempts to silence public watchdogs criticizing political leaders. We discussed this with Antonio Nobile, Saviano’s lawyer. Nobile is a criminal defense lawyer registered at the Naples Bar Association, he also acts as an expert in criminal procedural law at the University of Southern Lazio.

From the perspective of a criminal defense lawyer, what are the consequences of this verdict on press freedom and freedom of expression in Italy?

First and foremost, the immediate effects are on Saviano, who has a defamation conviction on his criminal record, which is damaging for a political intellectual. Additionally, from the beginning, this trial has had a strong symbolic element. This legal action and the decision to pursue it even when Meloni became Prime Minister [when the lawsuit was filed she was the leader of the political opposition] have a symbolic value because the individuals involved are very well-known. Saviano is a very well-known Italian intellectual, in Italy and abroad. If someone wanted to dispatch a clear message, then Saviano was the ideal target. The consequences for the rule of law are immediately measurable starting from a technical consideration: the whole jurisprudence produced by the ECtHR which has recognized investigative and political journalists as public watchdogs.

Have we experienced a deterioration of Italian freedom of press and expression in recent years?

Antonio Nobile

The state of affairs is worrying because this trial represents a worsening drift. I have been defending Saviano for almost 15 years now, and over the years Saviano has faced numerous lawsuits. The only two criminal lawsuits which have not been dismissed during preliminary investigations, were those in which the plaintiffs were Giorgia Meloni and Matteo Salvini. If we want to consider free expression, even in relation to a sharp and strong criticism, as a sort test of the health of democracy, then indeed, this conviction is bad news. The way in which the entire process has been managed is bad news.

During the hearing last October, the prosecutor argued that calling a politician a bastard does not fall under the exercise of harsh political criticism, it rather constitutes an attack on the person. Why does the insult formulated by Saviano not represent an attack on reputation?

It is not an attack on reputation because when talking about defamation in connection to the right to criticize, it is important to assess the context of the criticism. The prosecutor's conclusions would have made sense if, during an interview, Saviano had gratuitously and casually called Meloni a bastard. Moreover, those conclusions of the Prosecutor's Office are based on falsification. Saviano never used the singular. Its plural, "bastards", gave much more the sense of political criticism. However, the expression was tuned to the singular by both the private and the public prosecutors because there was a need to portray a political criticism— directed towards multiple subjects across the political spectrum who had expressed the same negative approach regarding NGOs’ sea rescues of migrants—as a personal attack, which was the only way to rule out any legitimacy to the criticism formulated by Saviano. Exonerating circumstances related to the right to criticize, moreover, were partly recognized in the verdict. In fact, while Saviano was convicted, the judge acknowledged a mitigating circumstance associated with the high moral and social value of his criticism. Nonetheless, in this trial, the prosecution was very worried about the plaintiff.

How do you explain the decision of the Roman court?

What struck me from the very beginning is that the day before, another verdict was issued in the appeal against Mimmo Lucano [former mayor of Riace, in Calabria, who had promoted a progressive model for the integration of migration in his town]. Another judicial case that has drawn a lot of attention. Mimmo Lucano, like Saviano, was identified as an extraordinary propaganda opportunity by the same politicians who chose Saviano as their ideal target. Because in defamation cases, alongside with defendants, their ideas are objects of the trial. If I were to give a legal explanation, I would imagine that in the best-case scenario, the court considered the ECtHR judgment analyzing the case of an Austrian politician who was called an idiot by a journalist criticizing him because this Austrian politician had said that even Nazi soldiers had contributed to building peace. The Court makes a very interesting reasoning by saying: this criticism is justified because the politician, while making that abhorrent statement, has in mind a propaganda purpose. In that ruling, the Court mentions the concept of consciously provoked outrage, which according to me is a very convincing definition of the concept of propaganda. What does this mean? The politician, to put it informally, makes a big statement because he knows that he will provoke outrage, for opposite reasons, both among his supporters and the other political party. When this happens, criticism, argues the ECtHR, can be proportionate. Hence, even very harsh criticism is allowed. The verdict convicting Saviano does not address this issue and also confuses some of the constituent elements of the crime of defamation. While reading it, I had the strong feeling that the judge herself was not convinced of the decision to convict, but I think external factors weighed in heavily.

What is the context in which the verdict was issued?

A few days before the verdict, Italian politics were dominated by the debate surrounding a Sicilian judge who had refused to apply the so-called Cutro decree [the governmental decree issued after a shipwreck off the beach of Cutro, in Calabria in which almost 100 people lost their lives]. According to the rule of law, judges are called to interpret the law in order to apply it. They are asked to take into account laws’ compatibility with the constitutional framework. Arguing, as Meloni did, that judges must apply the laws tout court and refrain from any interpretation is outrageous. The idea that a judge must apply a law always and in any case, even when the law is unconstitutional, goes against the principles considered essential by our fundamental Charter. It is an extremely dangerous idea that indicates an authoritarian and illiberal vision of democracy on the part of the Government.

What does it mean to have a high level public official suing you?

In Saviano’s case, a head of government who acts as plaintiff in a trial poses enormous consequences for the separation of powers, affecting the independence of the judiciary. If I, as a judge, know that the lawyer I have in front of me will become a deputy minister of justice within a year, or I know that the lawyer I have in front of me will become a member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary within a year, and that therefore my career could pass through the desk of that lawyer, you understand well that independence is compromised. The situations described are not random examples: they concern respectively what happened in the trials brought against Saviano by Meloni and Salvini. Throughout the whole process, we experienced an anomaly, where the powerful individual seemed to be Saviano. And the person to be protected, Meloni, even when she became Prime Minister. This suggests that politicians believe they are entitled to a sort of retaliation against the journalistic community. Today we have reached the point where, and this is what the Meloni government has legitimized, lawsuits are filed no matter what. Or at least the threat of lawsuit, because between the threat of a lawsuit and the formalization of a lawsuit, there is the ocean in between. Threats of lawsuits are made public without any attempt by the plaintiffs to refute the criticism that was formulated against them. An investigation provides evidence of a certain situation involving a minister, a deputy minister, or a party member, and the response is: I will sue you. There is hardly any justification. Because what it is conveyed is that power is not to be criticized. And if it is criticized, you are criticizing it for an interest, so you must be punished.

Moving on to the activities of the Italian legislature, in 2020 and 2021, the Constitutional Court had invited Parliament to initiate a broad debate on the issue of defamation through the press, both in civil and criminal matters. During the past year, 5 different bills were presented. Last fall, only one was selected to be pursued in the parliamentary process, the Balboni bill.

I say this against my professional interest, but my idea is that defamation should be decriminalized: defamation should not be a crime. Provided that there is a legal framework in place for those who feel that have suffered damages to their reputation. They are entitled to take action in civil court and obtain damage compensations. A provision which should be balanced by the possibility of declaring the recklessness of the action. A possibility that already exists in our legal system in civil matters, but which should be implemented by establishing criteria of proportionality between the damage claimed by the plaintiff and the severity of the penalty in the event of proven recklessness in the dispute. If we truly want to implement and fully fulfil the spirit of Article 21 of the Italian Constitution, the idea that someone can be criminally prosecuted for expressing their ideas is, in my view, no longer acceptable. As long as defamation remains a crime, we risk interpretations that are each time different and linked to contingencies.




This publication was produced within the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), co-funded by the European Commission. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Gaza War: Palestinian journalists win top press freedom prize

“We have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression,” Mauricio Weibel, who chaired the jury, said in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.

 (PHOTO CREDIT: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1149301)

ByAgency Report
May 3, 2024

The Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza have been named winners of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
The top award for reporters who have witnessed the destruction of much of their homeland under Israel’s relentless bombardment came at the recommendation of an international jury of media professionals.

“In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances.

“We have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression,” Mauricio Weibel, who chaired the jury, said in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.


World Press Freedom Day is celebrated on 3 May to raise awareness of the importance of press freedom and the right to freedom of expression for all other human rights.


The UN science, education and culture agency’s chief Audrey Azoulay, said the Prize reminded everyone of “the importance of collective action to ensure that journalists around the world can continue to carry out their essential work to inform and investigate.”

The ongoing conflict in Gaza is having grave consequences for journalists.

Since 7 October 2023, UNESCO has condemned and deplored the deaths of 26 journalists and media workers in the line of work, based upon information from its international NGO partners.

UNESCO is supporting journalists reporting from conflict and crisis zones which includes distributing essential supplies to journalists in Gaza, and has established safe working spaces and provided emergency grants for journalists in Ukraine and Sudan.

2024 World Press Freedom is dedicated to the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis.

Awareness of all aspects of the global environmental crisis and its consequences is essential to build democratic societies.

READ ALSO: Gaza: If this is not genocide, what then is it?, By Femi Fani-Kayode

Journalists encounter significant challenges in seeking and disseminating information on contemporary issues, such as supply chain problems, climate migration, extractive industries, `illegal mining, pollution, poaching, animal trafficking, deforestation, or climate change.

Ensuring the visibility of these issues is crucial for promoting peace and democratic values worldwide.

(NAN)

World Press Freedom Day: Gaza conflict deadliest for journalists

As the war in Gaza becomes the deadliest conflict for journalists, Al Jazeera looks at press freedom in the past year.

Colleagues and family members pray at the funeral of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza [File: Mahmud Hams/AFP]

By Hanna Duggal and Marium Ali
Published On 3 May 2024

Every year on May 3, UNESCO commemorates World Press Freedom Day.

It is being marked today at a particularly perilous time for journalists globally, with Israel’s war on Gaza becoming the deadliest conflict for journalists and media workers.


KEEP READING
How are journalists in Gaza coping with the war?

Arab world speaks out on killing of Al Jazeera journalist’s family

Lebanon and the War on Journalists

Missing Mexican journalist’s body found ‘with signs of violence’

“When we lose a journalist, we lose our eyes and ears to the outside world. We lose a voice for the voiceless,” Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement today.

“World Press Freedom Day was established to celebrate the value of truth and to protect the people who work courageously to uncover it.”
Deadliest period for journalists in Gaza

More than 100 journalists and media workers, the vast majority Palestinian, have been killed in the first seven months of war in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Gaza’s media office has the number at more than 140 killed, which averages to five journalists killed every week since October 7.

Since the start of the war, at least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 others injured in Gaza. More than 8,000 others are missing, buried under the rubble.

“Gaza’s reporters must be protected, those who wish must be evacuated, and Gaza’s gates must be opened to international media.” Jonathan Dagher, Head of RSF’s Middle East desk said in a statement in April.
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“The few reporters who have been able to leave bear witness to the same terrifying reality of journalists being attacked, injured and killed … Palestinian journalism must be protected as a matter of urgency.”


Al Jazeera journalists killed and injured in Gaza

On January 7, Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was killed by an Israeli missile in Khan Younis. Hamza, who was a journalist like his father, was in a vehicle near al-Mawasi, a supposedly safe area that Israel designated, with another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya, who was also killed in the attack.

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According to reports from Al Jazeera correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, centre, hugs his daughter during the funeral of his son Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network, who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on January 7, 2024 [AFP]

The Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned the attack, adding: “The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza … whilst they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate necessary legal measures against the occupation forces to ensure that there is no impunity.”[Al Jazeera]

On December 15, 2023, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa was hit in an Israeli drone attack that also injured Wael Dahdouh, while they were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Abudaqa bled to death for more than four hours as emergency workers were unable to reach him because the Israeli army would not let them.

Abudaqa was the 13th Al Jazeera journalist killed on duty since the launch of the network in 1996.Al Jazeera established a monument at its headquarters in Doha carrying the names of those who have paid the ultimate price in the line of duty [Al Jazeera]

In 2022, Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, renowned across the Arab world, was killed by the Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank while reporting.

Al Jazeera has called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for attacks on reporters.
How many journalists have been killed around the world in 2024?

So far in 2024, 25 journalists and media workers have been killed, according to the CPJ.

At least 20 of those killed were in Palestine. While two were killed in Colombia, and one each in Pakistan, Sudan and Myanmar.
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In 2023, more than three-quarters of the 99 journalists and media workers killed worldwide died in the Israel-Gaza war, the majority of them Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

“Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ programme director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said.

(Al Jazeera)

Where is press freedom most restricted?

To measure the pulse of press freedom around the globe, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) publishes an annual index. It ranks the political, economic, and sociocultural context as well as the legal framework and security of the press in 180 countries and territories.

According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Eritrea has the worst press freedom, followed by Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran.

According to RSF, all independent media have been banned in Eritrea since the transition to a dictatorship in September 2001. The media is directly controlled by the Ministry of Information – a news agency, a few publications and Eri TV.

How many journalists are imprisoned?

As of December 1, 2023, 320 journalists and media workers were imprisoned, according to CPJ.

China (44 behind bars), Myanmar (43), Belarus (28), Russia (22) and Vietnam (19) rank as having the highest number of imprisoned journalists.
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China has long been “one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists”, according to the CPJ.

Of the 44 journalists imprisoned in China, nearly half are Uighurs, where they have accused Beijing of crimes against humanity for its mass detentions and harsh repression of the region’s mostly-Muslim ethnic groups.

(Al Jazeera)
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA