DEC 10 UN HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
Global media group says journalist imprisonments on rise
Thu., December 9, 2021
BRUSSELS (AP) — Media freedom continued to be under attack across much of the world in 2021, with nine journalists killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan alone and 102 imprisoned in China, according to a new report released Thursday.
The International Federation of Journalists said in a bleak assessment that imprisonments were especially on the rise, with 365 journalists behind bars compared to 235 last year.
“The world needs to wake up to the growing violations of journalists’ rights and media freedoms across the globe,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said. The report was released on the eve of the United Nations’ Human Rights Day.
Apart from China, Turkey had 34 journalists in prison, Belarus and Eritrea 29, Egypt 27 and Vietnam 21.
The IFJ said that the rise of detentions in China was linked to the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, the further arrests of Uyghur journalists reporting on the treatment of the Muslim minority in western China. Many have called it genocide. It said that coverage of the demonstrations in Hong Kong also led to further arrests.
Bellanger said the attacks on journalists went well beyond the personal losses suffered and affected society as a whole. “They also point to the violation of the people’s fundamental right to access accurate, objective and fair information so that they can make properly informed choices about public affairs.’’
With three weeks left in the year, overall deaths in the line of duty were set to go down this year, with 45 so far, compared to 65 overall last year. With Afghanistan topping the list with nine journalists killed, Mexico came close behind with eight, all of them murders. India had four and Pakistan three.
The Brussels-based IFJ represents 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries.
The group also highlighted a “rare positive development,” which was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to two journalists. Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder.
Russia still has 12 journalists behind bars, and three reporters were killed in the Philippines.
Raf Casert, The Associated Press
Global media group says journalist imprisonments on rise
Thu., December 9, 2021
BRUSSELS (AP) — Media freedom continued to be under attack across much of the world in 2021, with nine journalists killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan alone and 102 imprisoned in China, according to a new report released Thursday.
The International Federation of Journalists said in a bleak assessment that imprisonments were especially on the rise, with 365 journalists behind bars compared to 235 last year.
“The world needs to wake up to the growing violations of journalists’ rights and media freedoms across the globe,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said. The report was released on the eve of the United Nations’ Human Rights Day.
Apart from China, Turkey had 34 journalists in prison, Belarus and Eritrea 29, Egypt 27 and Vietnam 21.
The IFJ said that the rise of detentions in China was linked to the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, the further arrests of Uyghur journalists reporting on the treatment of the Muslim minority in western China. Many have called it genocide. It said that coverage of the demonstrations in Hong Kong also led to further arrests.
Bellanger said the attacks on journalists went well beyond the personal losses suffered and affected society as a whole. “They also point to the violation of the people’s fundamental right to access accurate, objective and fair information so that they can make properly informed choices about public affairs.’’
With three weeks left in the year, overall deaths in the line of duty were set to go down this year, with 45 so far, compared to 65 overall last year. With Afghanistan topping the list with nine journalists killed, Mexico came close behind with eight, all of them murders. India had four and Pakistan three.
The Brussels-based IFJ represents 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries.
The group also highlighted a “rare positive development,” which was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to two journalists. Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder.
Russia still has 12 journalists behind bars, and three reporters were killed in the Philippines.
Raf Casert, The Associated Press
Champions of press freedom to accept Nobel Peace Prize
Maria Ressa, co-founder of the news website Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, won the Nobel Prize for 'their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression' (AFP/Torstein Bøe)
Pierre-Henry DESHAYES
Thu, December 9, 2021
She risks prison, he has buried several colleagues: Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia, two champions of the free press, will on Friday receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize honouring a profession under attack.
Ressa, co-founder of the news website Rappler, and Muratov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, won the Nobel Prize in early October for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."
"A healthy society and democracy is dependent on trustworthy information," the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said on Thursday, taking a swipe at propaganda, disinformation and fake news.
Free and independent journalism is however under threat around the world.
Asked whether the prestigious award had improved the situation in the Philippines -- currently ranked 138th in freedom of the press by Reporters Without Borders -- Ressa said on Thursday it had not.
"It's like having a Damocles sword hang over your head," the 58-year-old journalist said.
"Now in the Philippines, the laws are there but ... you tell the toughest stories at your own risk."
She mentioned her compatriot and former colleague, Jess Malabanan, a reporter for the Manila Standard who was fatally shot in the head on Wednesday.
Malabanan, who also worked for the Reuters news agency, had reported on the sensitive subject of the war on drugs in the country.
If the murder is confirmed to be linked to his profession, he would be the 16th journalist killed in the Philippines since the start of Rodrigo Duterte's presidency in 2016, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Ressa, a vocal critic of Duterte and his deadly drug war, is herself facing seven criminal lawsuits in her country.
Currently on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case, she had to apply to four courts for permission to travel to Norway for Friday's ceremony.
- Foreign agent? -
Meanwhile, 60-year-old Muratov heads one of the rare independent newspapers in a Russian media landscape largely under state control.
Known for its investigations into corruption and human rights abuses in Chechnya, Novaya Gazeta has seen six of its journalists killed since the 1990s, including famed investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya murdered in 2006.
"If we're going to be foreign agents because of the Nobel Peace Prize, we will not get upset, no," he told reporters when asked of the risk of being labelled as such by the Kremlin.
"But actually... I don't think we will get this label. We have some other risks though," Muratov added.
The "foreign agent" label is meant to apply to people or groups that receive funding from abroad and are involved in any kind of "political activity".
It has however been given to many Kremlin-critical journalists and media, rendering their work exceedingly difficult.
Russia is in 150th spot on the Reporters Without Borders country ranking of freedom of the press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the Nobel Prize is not a "shield" protecting journalists from the status.
- 'Reporting shouldn't be deadly' -
According to a report compiled by Reporters Without Borders up to December 1, at least 1,636 journalists have been killed around the world in the past 20 years, including 46 since the beginning of the year.
"Reporting the news should cease to be a deadly activity," the organisation's secretary general Christophe Deloire said as he presented the report this week.
The number of journalists imprisoned around the world has also never been higher, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday, with 293 currently behind bars.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be presented to Ressa and Muratov at a ceremony -- scaled back due to the pandemic -- at Oslo's City Hall on Friday at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT).
The award consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor (975,000 euros, $1.10 million) to be shared by the two laureates.
This year's other Nobel laureates in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics would normally receive their prizes at a separate ceremony in Stockholm on Friday.
But due to the pandemic, they received their awards in their home towns earlier this week.
A ceremony will be held in their honour in the Swedish capital on Friday, attended by the royal family.
phy/po/har
Maria Ressa, co-founder of the news website Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, won the Nobel Prize for 'their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression' (AFP/Torstein Bøe)
Pierre-Henry DESHAYES
Thu, December 9, 2021
She risks prison, he has buried several colleagues: Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia, two champions of the free press, will on Friday receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize honouring a profession under attack.
Ressa, co-founder of the news website Rappler, and Muratov, chief editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, won the Nobel Prize in early October for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression."
"A healthy society and democracy is dependent on trustworthy information," the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said on Thursday, taking a swipe at propaganda, disinformation and fake news.
Free and independent journalism is however under threat around the world.
Asked whether the prestigious award had improved the situation in the Philippines -- currently ranked 138th in freedom of the press by Reporters Without Borders -- Ressa said on Thursday it had not.
"It's like having a Damocles sword hang over your head," the 58-year-old journalist said.
"Now in the Philippines, the laws are there but ... you tell the toughest stories at your own risk."
She mentioned her compatriot and former colleague, Jess Malabanan, a reporter for the Manila Standard who was fatally shot in the head on Wednesday.
Malabanan, who also worked for the Reuters news agency, had reported on the sensitive subject of the war on drugs in the country.
If the murder is confirmed to be linked to his profession, he would be the 16th journalist killed in the Philippines since the start of Rodrigo Duterte's presidency in 2016, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Ressa, a vocal critic of Duterte and his deadly drug war, is herself facing seven criminal lawsuits in her country.
Currently on bail pending an appeal against a conviction last year in a cyber libel case, she had to apply to four courts for permission to travel to Norway for Friday's ceremony.
- Foreign agent? -
Meanwhile, 60-year-old Muratov heads one of the rare independent newspapers in a Russian media landscape largely under state control.
Known for its investigations into corruption and human rights abuses in Chechnya, Novaya Gazeta has seen six of its journalists killed since the 1990s, including famed investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya murdered in 2006.
"If we're going to be foreign agents because of the Nobel Peace Prize, we will not get upset, no," he told reporters when asked of the risk of being labelled as such by the Kremlin.
"But actually... I don't think we will get this label. We have some other risks though," Muratov added.
The "foreign agent" label is meant to apply to people or groups that receive funding from abroad and are involved in any kind of "political activity".
It has however been given to many Kremlin-critical journalists and media, rendering their work exceedingly difficult.
Russia is in 150th spot on the Reporters Without Borders country ranking of freedom of the press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the Nobel Prize is not a "shield" protecting journalists from the status.
- 'Reporting shouldn't be deadly' -
According to a report compiled by Reporters Without Borders up to December 1, at least 1,636 journalists have been killed around the world in the past 20 years, including 46 since the beginning of the year.
"Reporting the news should cease to be a deadly activity," the organisation's secretary general Christophe Deloire said as he presented the report this week.
The number of journalists imprisoned around the world has also never been higher, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday, with 293 currently behind bars.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be presented to Ressa and Muratov at a ceremony -- scaled back due to the pandemic -- at Oslo's City Hall on Friday at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT).
The award consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor (975,000 euros, $1.10 million) to be shared by the two laureates.
This year's other Nobel laureates in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics would normally receive their prizes at a separate ceremony in Stockholm on Friday.
But due to the pandemic, they received their awards in their home towns earlier this week.
A ceremony will be held in their honour in the Swedish capital on Friday, attended by the royal family.
phy/po/har
Muratov and Novaya Gazeta: Russia's independent media stalwarts
Nobel Peace Prize goes to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov (AFP/Viken KANTARCI)
Michael MAINVILLE
Thu, December 9, 2021
Newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize, is a bastion of independent media in Russia with a commitment to free speech that has cost some of its journalists their lives.
Muratov, who was among a group of journalists who founded Novaya Gazeta in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union, dedicated the award to the paper's murdered journalists and jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
It came amid a historic crackdown on the opposition and independent media in Russia.
A number of outlets were forced to close this year and several prominent journalists fled the country. Navalny, 45, was jailed in February and his organisations were subsequently outlawed.
Novaya Gazeta has paid a heavy price for its independent stance and investigative coverage.
Since 2000, six of its journalists and contributors have been killed in connection with their work, including top investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Their black-and-white portraits now hang in the newspaper's offices in central Moscow.
Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's wars in Chechnya, was shot dead on October 7, 2006, in the entrance hall of her apartment building.
In an interview with AFP in March, Muratov said the newspaper's reporters knew their work put their lives at risk, but that unlike some other Kremlin critics they would not go into exile.
"This newspaper is dangerous for people's lives," Muratov said. "We are not going anywhere."
- Putin's warning -
Grey-bearded and round-faced, Muratov has been one of Russia's most prominent independent journalists for decades.
He and Novaya Gazeta's other founders were inspired by the newfound freedoms that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
A key early supporter was former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who donated part of his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize money to buy the new publication its first computers -- one of them still on display in their office.
The heady optimism of those early days is long gone. In the years since Putin came to power in 1999, critical voices have been increasingly pushed to the sidelines.
Novaya Gazeta has become one of the few remaining independent voices in a grey media landscape.
Kremlin critics say authorities are waging a campaign against independent and critical media, with many branded "foreign agents" and others forced to shut down.
Novaya Gazeta is one of the few prominent independent outlets that still do not carry the "foreign agent" tag, a status reminiscent of the Soviet-era term "enemy of the people".
While the Kremlin congratulated Muratov on winning the prize, Putin warned the editor not to use it as "a shield" to break Russian laws.
Novaya Gazeta, which is published three times per week, focuses on deep-dive investigative reports into corruption and rights abuses, and its journalists have long faced intimidation and violence.
In 2018, a funeral wreath and a severed ram's head were delivered to the newspaper's offices with a note addressed to one of its reporters who covered the shadowy Wagner mercenary group operating in the Middle East and Africa.
The investigations had shed light on Wagner's operations abroad and on its alleged ties to a Kremlin-linked businessman, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Earlier this year, the paper was again targeted in what editors said was an apparent chemical attack.
Despite the pressure, the newspaper has refused to shy away from tough investigations. It was one of the publications that dug through the trove of documents leaked in the Panama Papers scandal, exposing offshore wealth of Russian officials.
Muratov was born in the southwestern city of Kuybyshev, now called Samara, on October 30, 1961.
He worked early in his career for the populist daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, but left with several of his colleagues who were not happy with its editorial policies. Together, they founded Novaya Gazeta and Muratov has served several times as its editor-in-chief since 1995.
Novaya Gazeta has a print circulation of around 100,000 and, according to the paper, had 18.4 million online views in November.
bur-mm-as/oc/cdw
Nobel Peace Prize goes to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov (AFP/Viken KANTARCI)
Michael MAINVILLE
Thu, December 9, 2021
Newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize, is a bastion of independent media in Russia with a commitment to free speech that has cost some of its journalists their lives.
Muratov, who was among a group of journalists who founded Novaya Gazeta in 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union, dedicated the award to the paper's murdered journalists and jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
It came amid a historic crackdown on the opposition and independent media in Russia.
A number of outlets were forced to close this year and several prominent journalists fled the country. Navalny, 45, was jailed in February and his organisations were subsequently outlawed.
Novaya Gazeta has paid a heavy price for its independent stance and investigative coverage.
Since 2000, six of its journalists and contributors have been killed in connection with their work, including top investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Their black-and-white portraits now hang in the newspaper's offices in central Moscow.
Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's wars in Chechnya, was shot dead on October 7, 2006, in the entrance hall of her apartment building.
In an interview with AFP in March, Muratov said the newspaper's reporters knew their work put their lives at risk, but that unlike some other Kremlin critics they would not go into exile.
"This newspaper is dangerous for people's lives," Muratov said. "We are not going anywhere."
- Putin's warning -
Grey-bearded and round-faced, Muratov has been one of Russia's most prominent independent journalists for decades.
He and Novaya Gazeta's other founders were inspired by the newfound freedoms that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
A key early supporter was former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who donated part of his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize money to buy the new publication its first computers -- one of them still on display in their office.
The heady optimism of those early days is long gone. In the years since Putin came to power in 1999, critical voices have been increasingly pushed to the sidelines.
Novaya Gazeta has become one of the few remaining independent voices in a grey media landscape.
Kremlin critics say authorities are waging a campaign against independent and critical media, with many branded "foreign agents" and others forced to shut down.
Novaya Gazeta is one of the few prominent independent outlets that still do not carry the "foreign agent" tag, a status reminiscent of the Soviet-era term "enemy of the people".
While the Kremlin congratulated Muratov on winning the prize, Putin warned the editor not to use it as "a shield" to break Russian laws.
While the Kremlin congratulated Muratov on winning the prize, Putin warned the editor not to use it as "a shield" to break Russian laws (AFP/Natalia
- Investigative journalism -Novaya Gazeta, which is published three times per week, focuses on deep-dive investigative reports into corruption and rights abuses, and its journalists have long faced intimidation and violence.
In 2018, a funeral wreath and a severed ram's head were delivered to the newspaper's offices with a note addressed to one of its reporters who covered the shadowy Wagner mercenary group operating in the Middle East and Africa.
The investigations had shed light on Wagner's operations abroad and on its alleged ties to a Kremlin-linked businessman, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Earlier this year, the paper was again targeted in what editors said was an apparent chemical attack.
Despite the pressure, the newspaper has refused to shy away from tough investigations. It was one of the publications that dug through the trove of documents leaked in the Panama Papers scandal, exposing offshore wealth of Russian officials.
Muratov was born in the southwestern city of Kuybyshev, now called Samara, on October 30, 1961.
He worked early in his career for the populist daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, but left with several of his colleagues who were not happy with its editorial policies. Together, they founded Novaya Gazeta and Muratov has served several times as its editor-in-chief since 1995.
Novaya Gazeta has a print circulation of around 100,000 and, according to the paper, had 18.4 million online views in November.
bur-mm-as/oc/cdw
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