US Congress discusses threats on media freedom around the world

   Threats to media freedom around the world, especially, in the Middle East and Caucasus, has been discussed in front of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at the US Capital on Wednesday, with participations of top Congress Members and human rights defenders, TURAN’s Washington, DC correspondent reports from the hearing.

   “The free press plays a vital role in advancing democratic governance and promoting respect for human rights. However, in many countries journalists and media outlets are forced to work in a climate of fear and censorship”, said Democrat Congressman Jim McGovern, co-chairman of the Commission.

   Repressive governments impose severe legal restrictions and exert economic pressure on media outlets that do not support the government position. “Journalists who criticize authorities or expose crime, corruption, or human rights abuses risk harassment, intimidation, unlawful detention and even death”, he said.

 The testimony mainly focused on restrictions on freedom of expression and violence against journalists in the post-Soviet and Middle East region.

For Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, the

governments should understand that “threats to the free flow of information are threats to democracy”.

  15 journalists have been murdered so far in 2012, in addition to 14 killed in the line of duty this year, he said, the number of journalists under duress keeps growing, and “so must our work to protect them”.

   The Obama administration has redoubled the US government’s efforts to track the broad range of threats to media freedom today.

Speaking about the social media repression, Posner mentioned, the governments are prosecuting or persecuting Internet and social media users for what they blog, post, tweet, or text.

  “We have reported on more than 60 individuals in 17 countries who have been arrested for their

online activities in the past 20 months. These individuals range from journalists, editors, bloggers, and webmasters to students and grandfathers arrested for their tweets; from people who have questioned their own religion to those who were accused of insulting people of other religions; from political activists to an ordinary Saudi woman sentenced to 50 lashes allegedly for using swear words in a text message”, he said.

   For Robert Mahoney, Deputy Director of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), “it is a dangerous time to be a journalist”.

Last year the number of journalists imprisoned for their work reached a 15-year peak. Their continued imprisonment sends the same silencing message as the murder of journalists.

   CPJ research points to a general trend: where journalists are being silenced through imprisonment, they are often not being assassinated, but the result is the same— the perpetuation of fear leading to self- censorship or to exile, particularly in countries where it is clear that the rule of law barely exists.

  Journalists facing imprisonment and other threats for their work are being forced into exile worldwide, with more than 450 fleeing their countries in the past five years, CPJ research shows. In the past year, more than a quarter of the 57 journalists who fled their homes came from East Africa, reinforcing a trend from previous years, CPJ research shows.

   Freedom House‘s Project Director of “Freedom of the Press” Karin Deutsch Karlekar also mentioned that “influential authoritarian powers” resorted to a variety of techniques to maintain a tight grip on the media during recent years, detaining some press critics, closing down media outlets and blogs, and bringing libel or defamation suits against journalists.

   “These states were also notable for their attempts to restrict media freedom and influence the news agenda beyond their borders”.

  Given the importance of media freedom as a fundamental component of a strong democracy, as well as a lead indicator of the health of the democratic system in general, US government support is essential to help protect this threatened right in a variety of settings around the world, she said. 

  “We have found that a combination of international pressure, coupled with efforts by local advocates, to promote media freedom can create the necessary dynamics that can lead to positive reform”.

   Speaking to TURAN’s Washington DC correspondent both Mr. Mahoney and Ms. Karlekar have raised their deep concern on media restrictions in Azerbaijan and called the government to stop persuading the opposition journalist and reliance the arrestees immediately.

Alakbar Raufoglu

Washington, DC

07/25/2012