WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2013: How safe are Journalists?

World Press Freedom Day is annually observed on May 3 to inform the international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. This day reminds people that many journalists brave death or face jail to bring daily news to the public. It helps to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. World Press Freedom Day is a global observance and not a public holiday. World Press Freedom Day was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1993 as an outgrowth of the Seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press. This seminar took place in Namibia in 1991 and led to the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media. The Windhoek Declaration adopted on May 3, 1993 called to establish, maintain and foster an independent, pluralistic and free press. It emphasized the importance of a free press for developing and maintaining democracy in a nation, and for economic development. It has its root from the United Nations’ Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights that states that everyone “has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”. World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) celebrates its 20th anniversary today with the theme: Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media. WPFD 2013 focuses in particular on the issues of safety of journalists, combating impunity for crimes against freedom of expression, and securing a free and open Internet as the precondition for safety online. This focus builds upon principles set out in the Medellin Declaration on “Securing the Safety of Journalists and Combating Impunity” which was adopted by the participants of the WPFD held in Colombia in 2007. The Medellin Declaration urges States to comply with the commitments of Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference in 1997 to combat impunity of crimes against journalists and to comply with Resolution 1738, adopted the year before by the United Nations Security Council, regarding the status of journalists during war. It further calls on news associations to promote actions that secure the safety of journalists. These developments coincide with the growing awareness that ensuring freedom of expression must also necessarily extend to safety online. Why should a free press even be up for discussion? Are we failing to get the message across? The simple answer is that the press equals power, and wherever power lies there are those who seek to control or influence it. By nature, a free press is untamed; capable of speaking unfiltered to public opinion, it has always been a vital conduit for free expression. It has therefore been a constant target. As we increasingly embrace our digital citizenship, the tyrants who oppose free speech are quickly learning how to act as digital oppressors. Targets are more numerous, attacks more complicated and diverse. Our awareness and vigilance must adjust with similar voracity. Impunity for the killers of journalists extends also to those who murder bloggers. Censorship does not discriminate between editorial platforms. Prisons are built for those who “offend”, regardless of media. Securing the safety of journalists continues to be a challenge due to an upward trend in the killings of journalists, media workers, and social media producers. In 2012 alone, UNESCO’s Director-General condemned the killings of 121 journalists, almost double the annual figures of 2011 and 2010. In addition, there continues to be widespread harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and online attacks on journalists in many parts of the world. To compound the problem, the rate of impunity for crimes against journalists, media workers and social media producers remains extremely high. Sadly, Nigeria today joined the list of countries where journalists are routinely murdered and assaulted without any convictions for their attackers. Amid militant sect activity in the north and politically inspired violence across the country, at least five journalists have been murdered due to their work since 2009. None of the cases have been solved. Many more have been attacked. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists timed the release of its 2013 Impunity Index for World Press Freedom Day, today, as journalists around the world remember reporters, cameramen, researchers and editors who have been killed, injured, imprisoned or harassed for their work. It is the first time Nigeria has been in the Impunity Index, following a decade or so of relative safety for the media. Many of the attacks are made on those covering the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram. Mr. Enenche Akogwu of Channels Television was shot and killed last year by Boko Haram members when he was interviewing witnesses of a terror attack in the city of Kano. No charges are thought to have been brought despite the incident being in front of a crowd. In 2012, The Leadership Newspapers photojournalist, Mr Benedict Uwalaka was battered during his work by a Director of TOS Funeral Homes (undertakers), Bayo Ogunsola, and his accomplice. In October 2011, policemen raided the offices of The Nation newspaper in Abuja and Lagos and detained six of its employees. In 2008, operatives of the State Security Service shut down the Channels TV in Lagos over a report the station sourced from the News Agency of Nigeria. The worst years for journalists in Nigeria were during the military regimes. The founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, Dele Giwa, was killed via a letter bomb in October 1986 during the dictatorship of Ibrahim Babangida. A senior correspondent of TheNews magazine in Kaduna, Bagauda Kaltho, was also killed during the dictatorship of Sani Abacha. Some other Nigerian journalists who have been brutally murdered are Bayo Ohu of The Guardian and Godwin Agbroko of ThisDay. Two Nigerian journalists, Krees Imodibie and Tayo Awotusin, went to cover the Liberian war. They were brutally killed by Charles Taylor and his murderous gang. The painful aspect of these killings is that the perpetrators act with impunity. Today, the killers of Dele Giwa are still walking the streets free. Nobody has been duly convicted or punished. The same thing goes for the killers of Bagauda Kaltho. Up until now, nobody has been brought to justice for that barbarity. In a statement in Lagos, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE regretted that successive administrations in Nigeria had treated the media with suspicion, instead of regarding it as an ally in national development. The statement by the President of the guild, Mr Femi Adesina, noted that Nigeria’s robust and vibrant media had a history of commitment to noble causes, and played key roles in the struggle for independence, democratic rule, social justice and human rights. “Today, the media is still in the vanguard of upholding all that is noble, just, fair and would rebound to the progress of the nation. We urge the government to resist anything that might bear the slightest semblance to a curtailment of the freedom of the press. The media parades professionals, who are passionate and committed to the growth and development of the country on all fronts, and they do not deserve to be hounded, repressed or harassed. If there are inadvertent infractions of the rules, we expect nothing but the strictest form of conformity to due process and the rule of law in addressing such. The line between press freedom and repression is quite thin, and eternal vigilance is needed at all times,” Our right to seek, receive or impart information through any media may be enshrined in international human rights law, yet the media must fight daily to remain a bulwark against intrusions on free speech. As a check on power, an independent press acts as society’s window through which the abuses, digressions, untruths and self-interests of the powerful are revealed for public scrutiny. According to corrupt governments, violent criminals, and fundamentalists of every description, this window would be better permanently bricked-up. Wherever you live, whatever you do, pause for a moment and reflect on what kind of a society would be in front of you, were it not for the presence of an inquisitive media. Who makes decisions on your behalf, and just how transparent is the process? Above all, with a sense of solemn reflection, 3 May is an occasion to remember colleagues targeted for their work, especially those killed in the line of duty. That ‘duty’ was not simply to bring us the news. Their work – by nature risky, sometimes dangerous, yet always outspoken – went beyond the headlines that became unintentional obituaries. Their work signifies a belief in a principle, exhorted by democracy and made tangible with every article, picture or broadcast. It is that principle behind which we stand proud. It is upon that principle that our industry is founded, and that journalism thrives.