First step to justice in Fabio Polenghi’s killing
EDITOR’S NOTE: A court in Thailand ruled today that Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi was shot and killed by a bullet fired by a soldier during a government crackdown on street protesters on May 19, 2010. The inquest ruling established the circumstances surrounding his death but failed to apportion blame to any individual military commanders or…
Anxiety for jailed Tibetan filmmaker as release nears
In a better world, it is usually a time for joy when a prisoner nears his or her release date. Jailed Tibetan journalists and their families do not live in that world. They live in a crueler place, where freedom is a distant mirage that might never be reached, and exhaustion or death is the…
Medill digital security guide helps fill journalism void
One day, every journalism school in the United States and beyond will offer a full three-credit, 15-week course in digital safety, along with more advanced classes. But that day has not yet come. Only a year ago, Alysia Santo reported in the Columbia Journalism Review that no American journalism school offered formal digital safety training.…
Roots of Impunity
Pakistan’s Endangered Press And the Perilous Web of Militancy, Security, and Politics More than 20 journalists have been murdered in reprisal for their work in Pakistan over the past decade. Not one case has been solved, not a single conviction won. This perfect record of impunity has fostered an ever-more violent climate for journalists. Fatalities…
Roots of Impunity
About This Report This report was written by Elizabeth Rubin, an independent journalist who has covered Pakistan and South Asia for numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine. She has reported from conflict zones around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans. The Committee to Protect Journalists commissioned Rubin to conduct this independent…
Roots of Impunity
Introduction By Bob Dietz At least 42 journalists have been killed—23 of them murdered—in direct relation to their work in Pakistan in the past decade, CPJ research shows. Not one murder since 2003 has been solved, not a single conviction won. Despite repeated demands from Pakistani and international journalist organizations, not one of these crimes…
Roots of Impunity
1. The Murder of Wali Khan Babar On January 13, 2011, Wali Khan Babar, a 28-year-old correspondent for Geo TV, was driving home after covering another day of gang violence in Karachi. Babar was an unusual face on the airwaves: Popular and handsome, he was a Pashtun from Zhob in Baluchistan near the border with…
Roots of Impunity
Sidebar: Verbatim: Threats, Promises, and Fears “No half-hearted police measures or words of consolation from the highest offices in the land will suffice in the aftermath of the brutal treatment meted out to journalist Umar Cheema of The News.” —Editorial in the newspaper Dawn condemning the September 2010 abduction and beating of Cheema. Intelligence agents were suspected in…