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Media safety 'top priority' in Iraq
Democracy a 'Distant Dream' Says IFJ after Journalist Kidnapped and Shot Dead in Iraq
7/8/05: Democratic reform and a new constitution for Iraq will remain a distant dream while journalists continue to be targeted and murdered according to a statement issued by the International Federation of Journalists following the violent killing of Steven Vincent, a United States journalist in the southern town of Basra on 2 August.The IFJ says 93 journalists and media staff have been killed since the start of the war in March 2003 and of these 68 have been Iraqi reporters and media workers.
'The media safety crisis is as bad as ever,' said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. 'The authorities must give priority to ending the security nightmare that makes the exercise of journalism a practical impossibility. Otherwise all talk of democratic reform and constitutional reform will be a distant dream.'
The IFJ is organising a conference of Iraq journalists’ representatives in Jordan shortly to discuss the security crisis and joint actions in Iraq to unify journalists and strengthen the rights of media.
Freelance reporter Vincent was shot by unknown gunmen in Basra, southern Iraq, where insurgents have recently stepped up their attacks. He had been abducted with his female Iraqi translator at gunpoint yesterday as they left a currency exchange shop. His body was found south of the city a few hours later. The translator, Nour Weidi, was found alive but seriously wounded.
Mr Vincent had been in Basra in recent months working for the Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times and was gathering material for a book about Basra. In a recent article, he wrote that Basra's police force had been infiltrated by Shia militants and he has also criticised UK forces, which are responsible for security in Basra, for ignoring abuses of power by Shia extremists.
'This latest killing brings to 23 the number of media deaths in Iraq this year, but it is the first involving an international reporter in 2005,' said White. 'The incident reinforces our view that the safety crisis in Iraq must be dealt with as a top priority.'
The death toll in 2004 and 2005 has probably not included many international media staff because security concerns have led many media to withdraw their staff from the country or to insist that they do not travel unguarded from high-security accommodation. As a result, much of the western journalists reporting from Iraq depend heavily upon the assistance of local Iraqi journalists who do travel and who have suffered as a result.
The death in Basra is the first in the town this year says the IFJ; all of the other killings have taken place in Baghdad, the infamous 'Sunni Triangle' of towns including Falluja or in the Kurdish region.
Out of the 93 total media deaths reported by the IFJ, 63 confirmed cases involve journalists and media staff killed by insurgents; the remaining 30 cases include 6 war-related accidents, and the 24 remaining cases include 14 involving US Forces as well as cross-fire incidents.
Last modified: Sunday, August 7, 2005
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World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
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MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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