PARIS, May 2: The international association for journalists’ rights, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), which is marking the 12th Press Freedom Day on Friday with publication of an annual report on Press Freedoms around the world, has decided this year to spotlight the sorry state of press freedom in Sri Lanka.
“Press freedom is having a rough time,” says RSF, and notes that this year’s annual report “makes that clear: all the signs are alarming.”
According to RSF, “repression increased in 2001 and all the figures rose compared with the previous year. In 2001, nearly 500 journalists were arrested (up 50%), more than 700 were threatened or physically attacked (up 40%) and nearly 400 media outlets were censured (up 30%).
“A record 116 journalists are imprisoned around the world. And ominously for press freedom, 31 journalists were killed last year while doing their job, eight of them in Afghanistan.”
The situation, says RSF, has worsened since the Sept 11 attacks in the United States. “On the pretext of fighting terrorism, many regimes have openly targeted journalists who dare to raise questions, accusing them of playing into the hands of those who plant bombs.
“This was the case in Tunisia and with the Israeli army’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, where more than 50 journalists have been wounded or injured since the start of the second intifada.”
But authoritarian regimes, cautions RSF, are not the only ones to take such liberties with liberty. In democratic states too, laws have been passed and measures taken that are also blows to press freedom.
In the United States, the association observed, the USA Patriot Act and other measures curbed the flow of information on the internet and also the criticism by secretary of state Colin Powell of the Qatar-based TV station Al-Jazeera.
This deterioration in press freedom marks a radical change from past years. Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the international community has consistently denounced human rights violations, even if there are big gaps between words and actions, the RSF noted.
But press freedom had been steadily advancing in recent years. However, it said, taking into account the abuses of the past few months, this period is ending.
The RSF said the major powers now seem to have other priorities and were little concerned about whether those marching behind the anti-terrorist banner are respecting human rights or not.
As always, RSF says, it “deplores attacks on freedom of expression wherever they occur. In this annual report, 150 countries are criticized - many familiar enemies of human rights but also governments not often seen in their company.
“Measures have been taken in the United States and Canada that challenge a journalist’s right not to reveal sources and that increase monitoring of the Internet.”
The European Union is not spared either. Events there include murders in Spain and the United Kingdom as part of the Basque and Northern Ireland conflicts, the control of most of the Italian media by that country’s prime minister, and the detention and conviction of journalists in France and Germany.
RSF concludes by noting that “putting a face to enemies of press freedom is absolutely vital if the impunity enjoyed by far too many authoritarian regimes is to be rolled back” and says that a new list of “Predators of press freedom” will be published on Friday on its website: www.rsf.org