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Didace Namujimbo, the brother I lost in Bukavu

2009-11-20T22:14:02Z

I shall never forgive myself for having initiated and encouraged my younger brother, Didace Namujimbo, to take up journalism. Working for 21 years in Bukavu, a city nestled on the picturesque shores of Lake Kivu, led me to cover every aspect of the brutal conflict and humanitarian catastrophe in this part of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but a year ago nothing prepared me to deal with the news that my brother had been killed.

]]> If I had known that such a fate awaited him, I think I'd have advised him to continue his studies at the Higher Institute of Rural Development in Bukavu, or pursue his passion for basketball. We were again in November, but in 1996 after Rwanda-backed rebels of Laurent-Désiré Kabila seized Bukavu in their march to end the more than 30 years of reign of Mobutu Sese Seko. I was among the few journalists who remained in Bukavu after the city fell into the hands of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) of Kabila. To call people to return to the city, the rebels had come for me to be editor in chief of their propaganda station, “The People's Radio.” Faced with the daunting task that awaited me, I appealed to Didace and other young people to help me air news and messages of ADFL, or announcements for those seeking missing children and relatives. I still remember how we nervously worked under the watchful presence of heavily armed Rwandan soldiers in the studio. Didace gained a taste for journalism and permanently filed away his textbooks.

Unlike Didace, I was dreaming of journalism since childhood when I played football in shorts in the streets of Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and many other cities in almost all provinces of the DRC, where my father, a police officer, took us due to his many transfers. I was initiated in 1976 by journalists from the local station of Voice of Zaire, which came to drink at the bar that my father had opened not far from the station ... I digress.

Didace launched into journalism knowing it was a high-risk occupation in my country, especially in our city of Bukavu. His fellow Radio Okapi reporter Serge Maheshe was murdered in June 2007 in circumstances unsolved. Investigations into the murder, and not one, but two trials by military courts have been widely criticized for leaving many questions unanswered with irregularities—the same kind of irregularities that Maheshe denounced in the 2006 murder trial of Bukavu human rights activist Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi.

Just days after the murder of my brother, it already seemed like it would be déjà vu. Not only did military prosecutors take over the case, removing it from the hands of police and the criminal justice, but military investigators became almost hysterical whenever we raised to them the possibility that members of the Congolese armed forces could be involved in the killing. I was forced to quickly launch my own investigation and clues I communicated to military investigators helped them arrest a dozen suspects.

However, everything changed on April 8, 2009. I was in Paris to receive the international Golden Pen Award for mastering the French language. I was sure to spend several weeks resting, away from the vicissitudes and anxieties since the assassination of Didace. Reporters Without Borders had released just two weeks earlier an investigative report on the murder of Didace, a report which I had contributed to as their correspondent in Bukavu. My head was full of reporting projects on my return to Bukavu planned for July 5. But it was not to be. When I opened my e-mail inbox that day, I almost fainted after reading a message sent from a fictitious address and entitled: Keba na yo Zoba (“Beware silly” in Lingala). This e-mail detailed death threats against my wife, my children, and myself.

Bukavu, the same city where I found shelter in July 2004 when the men of the former warlord Gen. Laurent Nkunda were looking for me over a story about the rebel atrocities against the population in the region, was becoming synonymous with deadly insecurity for journalists. Another journalist, Bruno Koko Chirambiza was killed in August and death threats were made against three women journalists two weeks later. There has not been a single arrest in any of these cases.

In the absence of justice and amid growing insecurity, my family and I were forced into exile. Over the past year, military prosecutors repeatedly announced the imminent start of the trial of the suspected killers of Didace, only to postpone it to a later date that never comes. Meanwhile, some suspects have already escaped from custody. It would not surprise me if there was an authority behind this murder or if the judges have been bribed or intimidated in one way or another. I challenge them to contradict me by finally starting this process!

While we await justice, Didace will live in the pages of my upcoming books recounting my experience covering the war in eastern Congo, “Everybody Is killed…And It Starts Over,” and “Merde in Congo.”

Déo Namujimbo is vice-president of the Congolese National Press Union and president of the Congolese Writers Union in South Kivu. He was also a correspondent of France-based Syfia Great Lakes, and Belgium-based InfoSud news agencies in eastern DRC.

Obama responses stun Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez

2009-11-19T22:01:58Z

Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez was astounded this week by President Barack Obama’s decision to respond a written questionnaire Sánchez submitted to the White House. Still recovering from bruises left by a recent vicious attack by state security agents, she told CPJ from her home in Havana: “This is the best way to get better.”

]]> The blogger said that she had tried for months to reach the U.S. president through different channels. Sánchez said she had sent written questions to Obama through a wide range of different people before the White House responded. On her blog Generación Y, where she has posted Obama’s answers to her seven questions, Sánchez explained that the questions were based on issues “that keep me from sleeping,” and were born from her personal experience.

“It was a very pleasant surprise,” Sánchez said, acknowledging that the chances that Obama would reply were minimal. Before responding to the questions, Obama thanked Sánchez for the opportunity to exchange views with her and her readers in Cuba, and congratulated her for receiving Columbia’s University Maria Moors Cabot Award for excellence in Latin American reporting.

“Your blog provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba,” Obama wrote. “It is telling that the Internet has provided you and other courageous Cuban bloggers with an outlet to express yourself so freely, and I applaud your collective efforts to empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology. The government and people of the United States join all of you in looking forward to the day all Cubans can freely express themselves in public without fear and without reprisals.”

Sánchez asked Obama questions that ranged from U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba, to the legitimacy of President Raúl Castro and the potential involvement of the Cuban exile community, the political opposition, and nascent civil society groups.

Sánchez also raised the issue of limited Internet access in Cuba, asking whether the U.S. embargo has anything to do with it. Obama responded by saying that his administration has taken steps “to promote the free flow of information to and from the Cuban people particularly through new technologies.” But Obama warned that this will not have its full effect without action from Cuba. “I understand the Cuban government has announced a plan to provide Cubans greater access to the Internet at post offices,” said Obama. The president urged the Cuban government “to allow its people to enjoy unrestricted access to the Internet and to information.”

When Sánchez asked if he would be willing to travel to Cuba, Obama said he “would never rule out a course of action that could advance the interests of the United States and advance the cause of freedom for the Cuban people.” Surprising to Sánchez was that Obama said that the U.S. “has no intention of using military force in Cuba.”

Sánchez, who has received several international awards and blogs regularly for the U.S.-based Huffington Post, said she was satisfied by Obama’s responses, which she described as cautious, moderate, and diplomatic. She has also sent a series of questions to Raúl Castro, but hasn’t received a response yet.

In a recent report, CPJ described the emergence of a vibrant independent blogging community in Cuba. Despite severe legal, economic, and practical restrictions the number of independent journalism blogs has grown since the first few emerged in 2007, CPJ research has found. The bloggers, mainly young and from a variety of professions, critically examine the issues that Cubans face daily: food shortages, health care, education, housing problems, and the lack of Internet access.

Free press advocates and Cuban journalists point to Sánchez as a pioneer in this evolving blogging community. Sánchez, who started blogging in April 2007, was the first to write under her own byline. Generación Y and six Cuban blogs are hosted by the German-based portal Desde Cuba (From Cuba), a place where, as its introduction says, “citizen journalists” can offer “opinions that don’t have room in official Cuban outlets or any other publication that is conditioned by political requirements.”

Criminal defamation eliminated in Argentina

2009-11-19T17:03:57Z

We issued the following statement today in response to Wednesday’s approval by the Argentine Senate of a government-sponsored bill that repeals criminal defamation provisions from the penal code...

]]> “We commend Argentina’s authorities for passing this bill, which strikes down criminal sanctions for libel and slander,” said CPJ Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría. “It is an important step towards advancing free expression in Argentina, and a landmark decision in the campaign to repeal criminal defamation in the Americas,” added Lauría.

Zambian editor acquitted in hospital 'obscenity' case

2009-11-17T22:10:39Z

As the news editor of Zambia’s largest circulation newspaper and a mother to two young children, Chansa Kabwela already has her hands full. For the last four months, however, this 29-year-old journalist was mired in a court case with a peculiarity that made international headlines and sparked a debate on press freedom in this landlocked nation in southern Africa. The case was finally resolved on Monday.

]]> Pictures arrived in June in the newsroom of Kabwela’s newspaper, The Post, and they were disturbing: a mother giving birth outside the University Teaching Hospital in the capital, Lusaka, after being denied care during a nationwide health workers’ strike. Kabwela sent the photos on to a handful of politicians, writing in a cover note to Zambian Vice President George Kunda: “I write you to bring to your attention images that we have difficulty publishing in our newspaper of the very desperate situation at our hospitals arising from the ongoing strike.” She was charged with “circulating obscene materials,” a criminal offense carrying five years in prison.

Her “crime,” however, was a matter of interpretation. To government prosecutors, Kabwela had corrupted public morals and for that she was summoned to the police, fingerprinted, briefly put in a cell, and prosecuted. To press freedom advocates, the case was another episode of government harassment during an already difficult year for the Zambian independent press. When a legal columnist at The Post called the proceedings a “comedy of errors,” the paper’s award-winning veteran editor, Fred M’membe, was charged with contempt. In the end, Magistrate Charles Kafunda ruled on Monday that the prosecution had failed to make its case and acquitted Kabwela.

Kabwela, who oversees more than 40 journalists at a newspaper with an average daily circulation of 30,000, never took a day off during the four-month trial, but conceded that the case disrupted her work. “Instead of concentrating on work, I was at court in the morning,” she told me shortly after her acquittal. With court hearings starting at 9 a.m., Kabwela was in fact forced to half The Post’s daily editorial meeting, which starts at 8 a.m. She would spend on average four hours in court.

Beyond the impact on her professional life, the trial had personal costs as well. “I’ve been demonized as if I was insensitive to issues of culture and privacy,” she said, but added that she welcomed the ruling as a vindication. She said the “overwhelming support” she received kept her going throughout what she called a difficult period. The outpouring of support included more than 500 people who joined groups on Facebook, including “Free Chansa Kabwela,” and “I am…Chansa Kabwela.”

Kabwela started as a reporter with The Post in 2004, was promoted to assistant news editor, and then headed the Zimbabwe bureau of the newspaper during that country’s 2005 elections. The second of seven children from a father in the military and a mother who was a teacher, Kabwela said she traces her interest in journalism in her passion for reading and writing. “I liked to read the newspapers—I would read it to my parents, or read it to whoever was visiting,” she said. Now, Kabwela said, she was looking forward to no longer reading about herself in the press.

International press decries attack on Rosenberg

2009-11-16T22:14:19Z

Twenty-one international news editors have signed on to a letter to the Pakistan government today. It was addressed to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira and was drafted by Islamabad’s foreign correspondent community. They were concerned about an article that appeared in Pakistan’s The Nation daily on November 5 accusing Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Rosenberg of working for the CIA, Israeli intelligence, and the U.S. military contractor Blackwater (now known as Xe). ]]> Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson wrote to The Nation’s editor, Shireen Mazari soon after the article had appeared. Thomson said he was disgusted with the story, calling it baseless and false. CPJ wrote about The Nation’s article, too. We called it “playing the spy card” because we have seen this tactic used in other places. It poisons the atmosphere for all journalists, no matter who their employer or where they come from.

The Islamabad foreign correspondents wanted the letter to be signed by top supervisors at their headquarters because this is a safety issue of paramount importance. As one commenter said recently on the CPJ Blog: “Such a baseless story not only put at risk the life of a foreign journalist but [those] of the local interpreters/fixers/translators who are working with these journalists.” It was not lost on anyone that the Journal’s Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and killed in 2002, was labeled a spy by his captors.

Today’s letter says, in part, “We strongly support press freedoms across the world. But this irresponsible article endangered the life of one journalist and could imperil others. It is particularly upsetting that this threat has come from among our own colleagues.”

And the broader threat is that, if such a tactic is successful in driving one reporter out of the country, why not use it to target more of them? It’s fair to say The Nation represents a strong nationalist position within Pakistan’s political spectrum, a position that grows more widely accepted as violence increases. There have been a few articles supportive of the Nation’s piece and critical of foreign media coverage of Pakistan.

That the threats could spread concerns foreign reporters. “We ask the government of Pakistan to take note of this story and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of all media personnel in the future,” the letter says.

I reported extensively on the threats to the Pakistani press in Swat and Mingora after meeting with more than 30 journalists in Islamabad and Peshawar in July. Many were threatened and harassed by all sides to the conflict—the military, the insurgents, the criminals who fill the social vacuum when war sweeps away the veneer of civility and leaves fear to rule. Pakistani journalists have worked too hard and have stood up to too many people who wanted to silence them to allow the country to sink into a swirl of unfounded accusations, launched with the aim of intimidation and silence.

A letter to the American hikers being held in Iran

2009-11-16T22:00:44Z

The families of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, the three hikers detained in Iran, said today they are concerned about their children’s emotional well-being after nearly four months in prison. They asked supporters to send letters, which they will seek to deliver to them in Evin Prison in Tehran, where the three are being held.

]]> We know from speaking with journalists who have endured imprisonment that these letters provide an enormous emotional lift, helping to break the overwhelming feeling of isolation. If you would like to write a letter, you can send it Free the Hikers, P.O. Box 15065, Duluth, MN 55815, USA. You can also send an e-mail to letterstohikers@gmail.com.

More information is available at freetheihkers.org.

The letter I sent is below:

November 16, 2009

Dear Shane, Josh, and Sarah,

The people who are holding you in Evin Prison may want you to believe you are alone and the world has forgotten you.

Don’t believe them.

There are thousands and thousands of people around the world who are thinking of you every day and working for your safe return home.

I wish you all strength and look forward to the day very soon when I have a chance to meet you in person.

All my best,

Joel Simon

Executive Director

Paul Steiger's challenge: Double your donation to CPJ

2009-11-16T19:48:10Z

We want to thank all of you who responded to the challenge set out by our chairman, Paul Steiger, calling on individuals who care about independent media to support CPJ. His e-mail has already generated an unprecedented response, but we still have a ways to go before reaching our goal. Paul has offered a $25,000 matching gift that will effectively double new or increased contributions, up to $500.

]]> If you are a regular reader, you may have noticed a shift in CPJ's work over recent years. As the media landscape has transformed, we increasingly take up cases involving individuals working alone or with limited institutional support—freelancers, Internet journalists, bloggers. Meanwhile, the mainstream media institutions that have long supported our work are themselves facing a profound economic and even existential crisis.

At this critical moment, we need individuals who care about free expression to step up to support journalists at risk around the world.

A glance through our Web site shows what's at stake. Twenty-six journalists are imprisoned in China; most of them were prosecuted for publishing news and opinion online. In Afghanistan, militants are increasingly targeting local journalists and foreign correspondents. The Russian government routinely turns a blind eye when journalists are murdered for reporting on crime or corruption.

Journalists from around the world depend on CPJ to speak out and deliver urgent assistance in crisis situations. Our advocacy literally saves lives.

Thanks again to all of you who have contributed to the campaign. If you haven't already, please consider making a donation to CPJ. And help spread the word about why it's so important to support media freedom now.

The Malawian who harnessed the airwaves

2009-11-16T19:28:42Z

After The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the autobiography of ingenious 22-year-old William Kamkwamba’s homemade electric windmill in Malawi, comes “the boy who harnessed the airwaves” by building a radio station with rudimentary materials. The tale of 21-year-old Malawian Gabriel Kondesi also showcases the inventiveness spawned by life in this impoverished, landlocked nation in southeastern Africa. Unlike the story of Kamkwamba, though, Kondesi’s tale is still unfolding.

]]> Kondesi constructed the station himself three years ago, using, among other things, three small transistor radios, car batteries, TV aerials, wires, and a radio cassette player. The structure itself is noted for its brick walls, grass roof, and relatively high foundation. The height of the foundation, intended to aid in the transmission, also gave the station its name: Pachikweza, meaning something very high in the local Chichewa language. The station was built with care. “What struck me was the way he treated the walls to make sure acoustics were right so he couldn’t experience echoes,” said Gospel Kazako, managing director of the Zodiak Broadcasting Station, a prominent Malawian private network, who visited the station.

Once Pachikweza was in full operation, it broadcast at 105.1 FM within a radius of about 25 kilometers in the densely populated Mulanje district of southern Malawi. Kondesi employed a Nokia cell phone so that listeners could phone in. Because his village of Soza has no electricity, he walked to an out-of-town barbershop to recharge the cell phone and the car battery that powered the station. The station had a volunteer staff of about 10, each of whom took three-hour shifts. “We used to have a lot of jokes. We also used to have news coming from neighboring villages,” Kondesi said.

But not everyone was pleased and, for that reason, Pachikweza is now off the air. Kelton Massangano, acting director of broadcasting of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority or MACRA, told CPJ in October that Kondesi had been arrested for broadcasting without a license.

“Local police in his neighborhood heard the broadcast in October and that was what prompted his arrest,” Massangano said. “There was no specific incident that initiated the closing of his station; we simply were not aware of its existence and so had taken no previous action.”

There are 23 radio stations currently operating in Malawi, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa. Malawi liberalized the use of its public airwaves after holding its first multiparty elections in 1994, but license applications were not accepted until 1998. Even now, the government accepts applications only during occasional, announced periods, according to Zadziko Mankhambo, a MACRA spokesman. A successful applicant must have a business plan and pay a yearly installment of 29,000 kwacha (US$200) over seven years. Local journalists have complained that political interference has tainted the process, and the government has often imposed censorship, and carried out arrests and closures of stations over political coverage, particularly during election cycles, according to CPJ research.

Kondesi gathered information to apply for a license two years ago but was told to wait for MACRA’s next call for applications. Operating without one, he was subject to penalty. Arrested in mid-October, he faced a hard choice: Pay a fine of 50,000 kwacha (US$350), an extremely high amount in Malawi, or go to prison for 10 months. He spent only a night in prison before family, neighbors, friends and fans of his radio station pooled their limited resources to pay the fine.

Kondesi’s case has generated national headlines, and a Facebook support group counts some 475 members. He was also offered a scholarship to Kaphuka Private Secondary School in the commercial city of Blantyre and began attending classes this month. In the days after his release, he met with MACRA officials to discuss potential options for acquiring a license so that he could reopen his station. However, no concrete decisions have been made regarding this matter, according to Mankhambo.

Kondesi’s story highlights the importance of radio in small communities in Africa. "I found out that so many people were looking up to me,” he said. “The people of the village expect me to continue broadcasting to them because I used to give them the opportunity to express themselves. Everybody’s expecting a lot from me so I will continue to be a radio broadcaster.”

Mohamed Hassim Keita is CPJ’s Africa research associate. Caitlin Clarke is a CPJ consultant.

CPJ pleased by Kabwela acquittal in Zambia

2009-11-16T18:25:16Z

We issued the following statement after the Lusaka Magistrate Court acquitted Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela today on pornography charges. The independent daily Post editor was charged with pornography for disseminating photos to several government officials of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park during a nurses strike in June...

]]> “CPJ is pleased by the decision to acquit Chansa Kabwela on the spurious charge of disseminating obscene photographs,” said CPJ’s Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “The Zambian government must stop seeking ways to intimidate and censor the country’s leading independent daily.”

Free Speech Protection Act could slow 'libel tourism'

2009-11-16T15:57:50Z

Free press advocates in Britain are looking to a bill stuck in the U.S. Congress for moral support in the fight to reform England’s draconian defamation laws. The U.S. bill, the Free Speech Protection Act 2009, is itself the product of those laws, which have made London the capital of “libel tourism.” ]]> A prime backer of the legislation now before the Senate Judiciary Committee is

U.S.

investigative author Rachel Ehrenfeld. In her 2003 book “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It,” Ehrenfeld accused billionaire Saudi businessman Khalid bin Mahfouz of channeling funds to terrorist groups. The book was published in the

United States

and Ehrenfeld assumed she would be shielded by the First Amendment. Bin Mahfouz, who has denied financing terrorism, decided to sue. Not in Riyadh or New York, but in London.

“Only 23 copies were sold in the UK on Amazon,” Ehrenfeld told CPJ. “The book has nothing to do with England, I have nothing to do with England,” said Ehrenfeld who refused to contest the suit in an English court.

In 2005, a court in London entered a default judgment against her, ordering the payment of damages of little more than $250,000. It also ruled she should apologize to Bin Mahfouz, who died in August this year, and destroy copies of her book.

Ehrenfeld had become another victim of libel tourism, a growing practice among wealthy non-British business tycoons and Hollywood stars who file defamation suits in London, usually against U.S.-based publishers, that would be thrown out by a U.S. court. English libel law is notoriously plaintiff-friendly. It puts the burden of proof on the defendant, who has to show that what is written is true. In the United States, the plaintiff has to prove that material in a book or article is false.

So anyone with deep pockets can claim he has a reputation to defend in England and bring a libel action. Courts have allowed suits where a ludicrously low number of copies have circulated in Britain, as in Ehrenfeld’s case. The English definition of what constitutes “publication” is also arcane, and again, favors the plaintiff. Any issuing of the offending statement or piece, no matter how long after it first appeared in print, is deemed a publication based on an anachronistic 19th century precedent (Duke of Brunswick v Harmer [1849] 14 Q.B. 185). With the archiving of information in the digital age, huge amounts of material are susceptible to a suit.

“In the UK they should be embarrassed and should change the law,” says Ehrenfeld. U.S. media outlets and publishers share this view, fearing the chilling effect of an English system that forces defendants to settle rather than face some of the highest legal costs in the world and the prospect of crippling damages.

They laid out their concerns in March in a submission to a British parliamentary committee that is looking into libel law reform. The House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sports Committee is expected to make its recommendations to the government before the end of the year, although free speech advocates doubt there will be a fundamental overhaul of defamation law any time soon. London’s Sunday Times went so far in an article this month as to suggest American news outlets might block access to their Web sites and stop selling newspapers and magazines in Britain to avoid litigation.

Nobody knows how many U.S. publishers may already have pulled publications from the international market because of English libel laws, which are the basis for defamation legislation in much of the Commonwealth as well, according to New York-based First Amendment lawyer Daniel Kornstein.

Kornstein, who represented Ehrenfeld, is pushing for Congress to pass the free speech bill because U.S. journalists now enjoy only patchwork protection. In May of last year, New York became the first state to pass an anti-libel tourism statute. Illinois, Florida, and California have followed suit, offering writers there some protection from enforcement of a foreign court order.

“This bill should be passed,” Kornstein told CPJ. “One, it requires no funding. Two, it makes a public statement about freedom of expression, holding the banner aloft for everybody. [And] it should remove the chill that could surround the publication of certain controversial books.”

Mark Stephens, an English libel lawyer who drafted the U.S news organizations’ submission to the British parliamentary committee, agrees federal legislation would help. “I think it would be hugely beneficial,” he told CPJ from London. The only serious opposition to English libel reform comes from a small number of law firms in the UK that have grown rich on libel cases.

Some, according to Stephens, employ overseas agents to encourage litigants to come to London. “Lawyers have been … ambulance chasing around California with agents in Beverly Hills, lawyers who act for celebrities in Beverly Hills saying, ‘Look, you can’t do anything in America because of the First Amendment, but come to London. You can do it there, and then we can affect what coverage your client gets by getting a judgment in England, which is effective in America.’ It’s crazy,” he said.

Stephens says even at the state level, U.S. legislation has helped him. “I am using the American defenses probably three or four times a month … the majority in relation to books and bloggers. But I am also using it probably once a month in relation to large media organizations.” The Free Speech Protection Act, which is sitting on the desk of Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, would also offer U.S. journalists and authors protection from malicious or frivolous lawsuits brought overseas, according to Ehrenfeld.

She cites the case of U.S. freelance Joe Sharkey who faces a $280,000 civil defamation suit in Brazil over comments about a plane crash he says were wrongly attributed to him. Sharkey, who writes for the New York Times, was aboard a U.S. business jet that collided with a Brazilian commercial aircraft over the Amazon in 2006.

“If he lived in New York he’d be protected,” said Ehrenfeld, referring to the Libel Terrorism Protection Act passed by the state legislature last year. “But he lives in New Jersey and Arizona, states that do not have such a law. That’s why it is important Congress passes this bill.”

Russia must effectively investigate Beketov case

2009-11-12T21:52:29Z

We issued this statement on the first anniversary of the brutal attack on Mikhail Beketov, editor-in-chief of the Khimki-based independent newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda, who was beaten nearly to death and left in his backyard. Beketov had criticized the Khimki administration’s decision to cut down a vast area of the region’s forest in order to build a highway. As a result of the attack, Beketov underwent a series of surgeries, had a leg and several fingers amputated, and is still hospitalized...

]]> “We are deeply concerned that a year after our colleague Mikhail Beketov was savagely beaten, his assailants and those who commissioned them are still at large,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “We call on Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to ensure that the investigation into this brutal attack is carried out thoroughly and effectively. Impunity must not be left to reign supreme in this important case.”

Shakeup at China’s leading investigative magazine

2009-11-11T22:13:04Z

You wouldn’t have heard it from her, but Hu Shuli resigned from her post as editor of Caijing magazine on Monday. The battle over political coverage and finances at Caijing (cai is “finance” and jing is “economics”) had been reported for about three months, but the missing component in the coverage was Hu herself—she has never made a public statement about what was going on at what was most likely China’s most provocative yet mainstream magazine (it’s a biweekly.) Wang Shuo, Caijing’s managing editor, posted his resignation on his Twitter page. Wang said almost all the other top editors who hadn’t already left are leaving too.

]]> Caijing put the spotlight on corruption and took on political issues. I always saw it as a prime example of just how good journalism in China could be if a publication has good reporters and editors and enough political protection—not that it always stayed out of trouble. When I searched CPJ’s Web site, I found we had made 21 references to the magazine, the first in 2002—and they were usually in the context of some sort of reaction from the government over critical coverage. The magazine’s journalism was good enough for the Asian Wall Street Journal’s high editorial standards, and the two had an agreement to reprint each other’s articles at times.

The problem has been brewing for a long time, but reached something of a crisis point in mid-October. The Associated Press reported from Beijing that Caijing announced that Executive Director Daphne Wu Chuanhui and 60 to 70 employees who worked for her in the business department have resigned, but she declined to comment on the reasons for the exodus. Throughout the entire ordeal, Hu has never been quoted and has maintained media silence.

There was a swirl of e-mail messages in late September and October among China media watchers, but it was never clear what was happening at the magazine. The question seems to boil down to, “So why has so much of the editorial staff walked out—was it politics or finances?” Running after the story back then, I asked a friend in Hong Kong who asked not to be identified, and got this answer: “The decision is both, almost equal parts, but I can’t divulge anything without Shuli’s permission.” Other friends told me that trying to contact Hu with a CPJ e-mail address might make matters more complicated for her—access to CPJ.org is still blocked in China—so I backed off.

But some people are starting to talk, and from friends in Hong Kong and Beijing, one of whom worked at the magazine for a few years and has maintained contact with colleagues on the staff, here’s what I can piece together:

There are no “independent” media outlets of any sort in China. All news organizations have to be tied to a state entity in one way or another, and except for a few flagship organizations like Xinhua and China Daily, all are expected to be self-sustaining—basically, they have to make money. Caijing’s official link came through the Stock Exchange Executive Council (SEEC), an economic think tank with loose government ties. The SEEC Media Group Ltd., its publishing business, is registered as a company in Hong Kong. It first focused on straightforward economic reporting with titles like Securities Market Weekly.

But SEEC’s roots were in the south of China, in Shanghai and the special economic zone of Shenzhen, which abuts Hong Kong—areas aimed at exporting and international trade. They have been the financial centers for China’s economic growth for the last several decades. Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, less so Shanghai, became centers for aggressive reporting. The Southern Media Group—particularly its Guangzhou-based Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis Daily)—is another example of an aggressive news group which aims its publications at the more globally connected audiences in the south.

The general consensus, at least in the English-language media coverage, is that SEEC’s profit taking from Caijing, which took away cash from the budget for news coverage, coupled with the owners’ aims to dial back the magazine’s coverage of corruption and malfeasance that made the government unhappy at times, proved to be a fatal combination for Hu and her staff. SEEC’s worried about the plans to cover the ethnic riots in Xinjiang in July—a hot-button issue for the government—most likely accelerated what had already become a downward spiral of internal dissent.

Not surprisingly, it was Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post that broke the news, in English, at least, that “The founder and editor of Caijing, the mainland’s most influential business magazine, has resigned to launch a new multimedia business venture, after she failed to patch up differences with the publisher over the direction of the magazine, according to staff members.” The SCMP also reported that Hu will head Sun Yat-sen University’s School of Communication and Design—in Guangzhou, not surprisingly. The paper quoted an anonymous university employee as saying that “Hu had visited the university on Wednesday and signed a contract on Friday.” The SCMP also said Hu’s team has already leased space in Beijing’s central business district, and “some of the business staff have already moved in, indicating that she has already received some initial investment” from undisclosed financial backers.

Caijing looks like it will stay alive for now, if only in a milder version of its feisty former self. But it won’t be able to rest on its laurels: “Hu said she was in discussions with a number of potential investors about forming a new multimedia platform that could cover the publication of business magazines, provide business news online and be involved with new media ventures,” according to the South China Morning Post.

And, just for the record, there is no mention of Hu and her staff’s departure on either the English or Chinese version of the magazine’s Web site.

Mexico must continue to investigate Will death

2009-11-10T22:15:35Z

We issued the following statement today in response to reports that a tribunal in Oaxaca state called for the release of Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, who was charged last year for the 2006 killing of U.S. journalist Brad Will. The tribunal determined there was insufficient evidence to continue holding the suspect...

]]> "We have no reason to object to the decision of the Mexican tribunal as we have seen no evidence against Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno," said Carlos Lauría CPJ senior program coordinator for the Americas. "Our main concern is that the Attorney General's Office now pursues other lines of investigation including disregarded evidence that implicate supporters of the Oaxaca government.” Brad Will was killed on October 27, 2006 while documenting civil unrest in Oaxaca.

Sierra Leone's criminal libel law sparks barber boycott

2009-11-10T19:24:18Z

My looks have completely changed in recent months. Long hair now colonizes my chin and my head. Never in my adult life have I waited longer than a week without a shave or a haircut, let alone for four months. One ends up doing the strangest things for press freedom in Sierra Leone.

It all started when Sierra Leone’s Supreme Court (which doubles as its constitutional court), missed a constitutionally set deadline to deliver a ruling—in this case on our country’s obnoxious criminal defamation law. Section 120/16 of the country’s 1991 constitution states that all courts must deliver a ruling within 90 days of final arguments.

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) took the criminal libel law to court in February 2008 in hopes that the measure would be repealed. It took the country’s highest court a year to hear the matter. And when the court finally did, it disregarded rules it compels others to respect. Without explanation, the court has yet to rule. If the old maxim that justice delayed is justice denied, then Sierra Leone’s journalists are being denied justice.

In July, SLAJ embarked on an indefinite news blackout on the activities of the judiciary as a way to prod the court to issue a ruling; at the same time I vowed not to have my haircut until a ruling was handed down. SLAJ suspended the blackout after receiving assurances a ruling would be issued, but I refused to call off my barber boycott until we have a verdict in hand.

My new looks have caused me embarrassment and inconvenience. Immigration officials have stopped me because my looks no longer match my passport photo. My wife does not like it, although she is coping with it now.

SLAJ wanted to stage a peaceful protest march over the issue but we were barred without explanation by Police Inspector General of Police Brima Acha Kamara. Not even the usual pretext—that such a march would pose a threat to security—was given. Again, this is a right guaranteed under the law that was denied us.

I would not be surprised if the court finally delivers a ruling that allows criminal libel to remain in force in our country. But the good thing is that it will remind President Ernest Bai Koroma, if he needs reminding, that he promised during his campaign to review the law if he won the election.

SLAJ was founded primarily to resist this law. I may not be the first to fight against it, but I am determined to be the last.

Umaru Fofana is president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists.

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Playing the spy card against WSJ in Pakistan

2009-11-09T18:31:43Z

Last Thursday, Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper published a reckless and unsubstantiated story accusing Wall Street Journal South Asia correspondent Matthew Rosenberg of being a spy. It’s an accusation that gravely endangers Rosenberg’s safety. Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson responded with a scathing letter to The Nation’s editor, Shireen Mazari, expressing his disgust at the publication of the story, which he called baseless and false. He demanded an immediate retraction.

]]> It’s of course deeply disturbing to us at CPJ that a newspaper would publish a story like this that clearly puts the life of a fellow reporter in danger. But we are also concerned about the source for this scurrilous information, someone the reporter identified as “an official of law enforcement agency, who requested anonymity.” Could this be a deliberate government attempt to intimidate Rosenberg and other foreign correspondents working in Pakistan? That’s a deeply chilling possibility that must be investigated.

Read Thomson’s letter to Mazari here.