Vlad Jecan

A CJP/IFEX report informs that Iran holds at least 52 journalists behind bars, “a third of all those in jail around the world”.

In most cases, authorities have filed vague antistate charges such as “propagation against the regime,” insulting authorities, and disrupting public order. But many cases are shrouded in secrecy, without even formal charges being disclosed.

Some detainees have already been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, lashes, internal exile, and lifetime bans on writing and other social and political activities. The cases of many others are pending. At least two face heresy charges that, upon conviction, would bring the death penalty.

You can find information on each jailed journalists on the CJP website.

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security said that the ban on live coverage of attacks by domestic and international news organizations is necessary because they offer information to the enemy, Al Jazeera reports.

Al Jazeera quoted a couple of statements made by Hakim Ashir, the head of the Government Media and Information Center, who said:

(1)  Journalists are going to the scene of ongoing attacks, they endanger themselves.

(2)  But they also help inform the enemy with their live broadcasts or reporting of the progress of [police] operations.

(1)    Every war correspondent knows that his job is dangerous and assumes responsibility for his or her decision to report on an armed conflict.

(2)    The idea that journalists offer information to terrorists or a nation’s enemies when he or she is on the job is highly debatable. However, this has always been a good excuse to censor the press, to limit its rights and reduce freedom of movement for journalists in a conflict zone. This is why “embbeded reporting” was (re)introduced in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But more interesting is a statement made by the National Directorate of Security spokesman, Saeed Ansari:

Live coverage does not benefit the government, but benefits the enemies of Afghanistan

Since when must the press benefit the government? The press has no, or should not have, allegience to the government, regardless of the host country of a media outlet, and it does not benefit directly to the enemy. The press should benefit the citizens who have the constitutional right to know what is happening in their country.

The Afghan constitution guarantees freedom of speech. If Afghanistan wants to become a democratic nation, then it should better follow the constitution.

A British journalist was arrested by the Hamas police accusing him of “unspecified security offences”. The journalist, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain as freelance correspondent Paul Martin, is accused of harming the security of the country. The Telegraph reports:

“We have confessions that the British journalist committed offences against Palestinian law, and that harms the security of the country,” Mr Ghsain said, without giving details on who had confessed and under what circumstances.

This comes as a surprise for me because I personally throught that Hamas is trouging for media attention and positive reaction. This is all part of what William S. Lind named the 4th generation warfare (4GW). Thomas X. Hammes continues the 4GW theory arguing that today militant groups try to gain the support and sympathy of the people, locally and internationally. Therefore, wouldn’t  be this move considered as counterproductive?

It may very well be. Personally, I have viewed a number of documentaries on Hamas and, of course, followed the Palestinian Islamist movement in news reports. Not long ago, the militants have sponsered a film. Of course propagandistic, yet it shows that Hamas is getting acquainted with 4GW. The documentaries showed journalists documenting the group’s cause, interviewing high ranking officials in the most remote locations out of fear of an Israeli raid and following the militants, all perhaps in an attempt to create trust between Hamas and the press.

Paul Martin’s arrest, however, comes as a surprise and perhaps suggests that Hamas supports journalists only when they write in their favor. Of course they do.

Not in Iraq, nor in Afghanistan have most journalists lost their lives. At the top of the list are the Philippines where in late November 31 journalists have been deliberately targeted and murdered. Other countries with casualties in the name of the ‘right to know’ principle are Mexico (13), Somalia (9), Pakistan (7) and Russia (6).

It must be mentioned, however, that 24 of the 137 death cases were accidental. Nevertheless, the total number is shocking. You can read here a report by the International Federation of Journalists.

Update: You might also be interested in reading Jim Boumelha’s commentary on this matter – available here.

I was never a fan of Facebook, nor, I believe, that I will ever be. However, this doesn’t mean that I do not acknowledge the importance of this social media platform for journalists.

Most press officers of various government institutions use Facebook to communicate information related to their activities and so do companies, research groups and think thanks. Therefore, journalists can connect to these profiles and receive information in real-time. This goes beyond interpersonal interaction when the average user hooks up to another just to see his or her photos or whatever else. Checking Facebook has become an important part of a journalist’s daily activity – and this is also available for Twitter.

In Zimbabwe, however, it seems that the government has another opinion. In consequence, the government has banned the use of Facebook for all employees of the state controlled Zimbabwe Newspaper Group during work hours. Journalists may now check their profiles only after 5PM.

“Its unfair given that most of people no longer use e-mails to communicate. As journalists we  need  to  research and  its  through the face book and  other  sites that  we  get  back  ground information for  our  stories. This  is  the  reason  why  we  end  up writing  half baked stories because we would  have  nor researched,” said a journalist working for the Zimbabwean Herald.

Foster Dongozi, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists said that “It’s silly to make such restrictions in this era of modern information technology.”

Indeed it is. Journalists now risk missing vital information.