Press
Release No.2002-24
TERRORISM AND THE MEDIA
World Press Freedom
Day, Celebrated on May 3 in Manila
Paris, April 29 - Media professionals
and the media in general have paid a heavy toll to terrorism in
recent years. Dozens of journalists in Algeria, the Balkans, Colombia,
Spain, the Philippines and elsewhere have been intimidated, kidnapped
and assassinated so that they could be silenced. But another issue
linking media and terrorism has of late received increasing attention:
Do measures adopted to combat terrorism since September 11, 2001,
represent a new threat to freedom of the press?
Terrorism and Media is the theme
of this year's World Press Freedom Day, celebrated around the
world on May 3.
Marking this occasion in Manila,
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura will present a plaque honouring the memory
of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, whose murder in
February this year shocked the world and drew attention to the
dangers faced by investigative reporters working on international
terrorism.
The number of media professionals
killed in conflict zones or individually targeted for assassination
remains all too high. Some fall victim to crossfire or mine explosions.
Most, however, are deliberately gunned down after identifying
themselves as journalists, according to French non-governmental
organization Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
While many are killed by the military
or police, a growing proportion in all regions of the world today
fall victim to violence from other quarters: the Basque separatists
of the ETA, armed fundamentalists in Algeria, guerrilla and paramilitary
groups in Colombia, rebel gangs in Sierra Leone and others.
According to RSF, 176 out of 243
journalists killed in conflict zones between 1992 and 20011 were
murdered. Yet 95% of attacks against journalists worldwide go
unpunished, according to Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO Assistant Director-General
for Communication and Information.
The events of September 11 and
the war against terrorism have given rise to new concerns regarding
press freedom. Various legal and legislative measures announced,
proposed or adopted in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France, India,
Jordan, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zimbabwe,
and the European Union, among others, have been assailed by critics
for their negative impact on the work of the media.
In some cases also, the climate
of insecurity generated by September 11 and the subsequent war
on terrorism, have provided governments with an opportunity to
take restrictive measures which had long been in the pipelines.
Some measures, taken or contemplated,
restrict the "right to know", with government agencies
withdrawing information that had previously been available to
the public. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the rules
of war reporting set up by the Pentagon have "never been
as tough" as during the campaign in Afghanistan.
Steps have also been taken to restrict
privacy on the Internet, including restrictions on the use by
private citizens - but also by human rights groups and the media
- of encryption software to protect their email traffic, and to
facilitate wiretapping by the authorities.
But obstacles to freedom of the
press are not limited to legal and legislative measures. According
to the UK-based press freedom watchdog organization Article 19,
"official actors have taken steps which both directly limit
freedom of expression and information, and which indirectly have
a chilling effect on freedom of expression."
Appeals to patriotism can be used
to muzzle independent media, deterring journalists from questioning
government decisions or policies. Some in the United States, according
to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), "found
themselves expected to become patriots first and journalists second."
Propaganda and the deliberate propagation
of disinformation, a common practice in times of war, further
reduce the media's ability to report fairly and accurately.
Self-censorship is particularly
damaging to reporters' ability to research and publish information.
In some cases, it is fed by fear of offending public opinion (and
publishers), in others by fear of violent reprisals.
In a paper to be presented at
a UNESCO conference (May 1 and 2 in Manila) on Media and Terrorism,
Jean-Paul Marthoz, European Information Director at the non-governmental
organization Human Rights Watch says that the war on terrorism
is a test for the press:
"Contrary to the authoritative
statements of the revisionist historians of war journalism, press
freedom and freedom of expression are an advantage, not a handicap,
in emergencies. Lies and self-censorship - as the history of the
wars of Vietnam or Algeria demonstrate, are in most cases of poor
counsel and contribute to the very national disasters we tried
to avert. Just as a seafaring captain cannot test his vessel when
the sea is calm, so freedom of the press needs to be tested in
the heart of a storm, when our bearings are lost and anguish prevails."
These issues, as well as the need
to improve the safety of war-zone reporters, will be the subject
of the two-day conference UNESCO at the Westin Philippine Plaza
in Manila on May 1 and 2, ahead of the World Press Freedom Day
celebration. It will focus on the impact of terrorism on the media
around the world. Themes to be debated include: the events of
September 11 and their effect on freedom of information; problems
in reporting on terrorism; and safety of journalists working in
conflict situations.
Journalists from around the world
whose daily work exposes them to the dangers of terrorism and
violence will take part in the conference, as will representatives
of leading international professional organizations and non-governmental
civil rights bodies including Human Rights Watch, the International
Federation of Journalists, World Press Freedom Committee, the
Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters sans Frontières
and the World Association of Newspapers.
The conference and World Press
Freedom Day celebration on May 3 bring to the fore the importance
of media independence. The struggle for press freedom will be
celebrated on May 3 around the world while special recognition
will be given to Geoffrey Nyarota, editor of Zimbabwe's only independent
daily newspaper, The Daily News, in Manila where he will receive
this year's UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
****
1 A presentation paper by RSF,
along with the other presentations prepared for the Manila conference,
is available on the Web: http://www.unesco.org/press-freedom-day/
They include case studies from Colombia, the Philippines, the
Spanish Basque Country, and Chechnya, as well as a paper about
the safety of journalists working in war zones.
****
Press contacts in
Paris: Roni Amelan tel (+33 1) 45 68 16 50
or Isabelle Le Fournis tel (+33 1) 45 68 17 48
UNESCO Bureau of Public Information
And, from April 30 through May 4, in Manila: tel (632) 551-5555
