The Paris-based media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders puts the figure a bit lower, claiming 31 journalists were killed–one less than in its 2000 survey. But the number of journalists arrested jumped to 489 last year, up 50 percent from the year before, according to its report. And the number attacked or threatened last year rose to 716, up nearly 40 percent from the previous year. At the start of this year, 110 journalists were still being held in prisons throughout the world. And that number is likely to grow, particularly if the war on terrorism spreads into Iraq, Sudan or other states suspected of supporting or harboring terrorists.
The largest number of deaths was blamed largely on the war in Afghanistan. But the group says journalists are being intimidated, threatened, and imprisoned in countries from Burma to Bangladesh–and journalists in the United States are not immune either. Broadcast technicians were killed in the World Trade Center attacks and a Florida photo editor died from inhaling anthrax off a tainted letter. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke with Jean-Francois Julliard, the author of the Reporters Without Borders recently-released report and about the increase in dangers involved with reporting worldwide.
NEWSWEEK: This is the third year you’ve written this report. How would you describe the trend in press freedom over the past three years?
Jean-Francois Julliard: We can say there is a sharp deterioration of press freedom because all the figures we have of those attacked or assaulted have increased in 2001, compared to 2000, though the number of journalists killed remains the same. The year 2001 was a very difficult and a very bad year for journalists all over the world.
Why did the number of arrests and assaults increase so much?
It is always difficult to say. A lot of heads of government are still very sensitive and they don’t want any criticism from journalists. Many were arrested in 2001 for criticizing the governments or heads of state. That is the top reason why many are arrested. Another reason for the arrests is that more and more journalists want to be independent and denounce the situation–many started writing about corruption and publicly renouncing government officials who were stealing public funds. This happened in some very different countries–in Kiev, in the Ukraine, but also in some African countries like the Congo and in Angola. It’s also the case in Latin America. We find the same situation in very different countries.
What areas are particularly bad for journalists?
There is no press freedom in Burma, North Korea or China. It’s quite impossible for journalists to do their jobs in these countries. There are also new countries where the situation has just deteriorated in 2001. In Haiti, for instance, there were many killed or assaulted because they tried to denounce problems and corruption in the ruling party (most recently, reporter Brignol Lindor was murdered on December 3, and about ten journalists remain in hiding after threats from supporters of President Jean-Bertrande Aristide).
In Eritrea, Africa, the government decided to suspend every private newspaper on the same day in September without giving a reason. In the same week, at least 10 journalists were arrested. There are eight we know of who are still being detained but we are worried because we don’t know the whereabouts of about six other journalists–if they left the country, or are being detained elsewhere, or what their condition is. In Iran, we know of about 20 journalists who are being detained.
How do you get information about reporters who are killed, or assaulted or arrested?
We have correspondents in more than 100 countries in the world where there are problems with press freedom. These are local journalists who send us information every time there is a press infringement. Sometimes human rights activists contact us. And we get information from the local press–we get a lot of newspapers from all over the world.
Often, we are in contact with the families and lawyers of journalists who have been detained. We also get information from human rights organizations, some who are able to get into the jails to visit them. In Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, there is a local organization of Congolese called Journalistes en Danger who go to the jail every week to see who is there and to check on their conditions. The jails aren’t open but family members can visit every Sunday so they say they are family and no one ever checks.
What can you do to help those who are imprisoned besides writing letters to their government? Is that an effective strategy?
In places like Iran, where we know of about 20 journalists who are being detained, we try to put pressure on the government, and publicize particular cases. In November of 2001, we gave our top prize–the 2001 Reporters Sans Frontieres - Fondation de France Prize–to the Iranian journalist, Reza Alijani, of the monthly Iran-e-Farda, who was arrested in February. A few weeks after he got the prize, he was released. I’m not sure if it is only because he got the prize but we like to think it is one of the reasons he was released. A lot of journalists tell us after they are released that the most difficult thing for them is to be ignored in jail and forgotten. We always try to support them by publicizing their cases.
What about those journalists who are attacked, threatened, or killed by someone who is protected by the government? What kind of recourse do you or they have?
We always try and do something to help, but sometimes it is very hard. When someone is protected by the government we can’t go in and arrest them. There are limits to what we can do.
We try to collaborate with local justice if we think that justice can be independent. But in Kiev, a journalist (Georgiy Gongadze, whose body was found in September 2000) was killed and we know the responsibility of his murder is linked to the state. We tried to collaborate with local justice and the judge in charge of the trial, but when we understood the justice would never condemn this person or arrest him, we tried to turn to other systems. We have tried to get the United Nations, European Union, or international courts to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to do something, to arrest these criminals. In September 2001, we asked for the creation of an independent commission, but, so far, the Ukrainian government has not accepted it. We are hopeful though, because international justice is getting more and more powerful.
Eight journalists have been killed while covering the war in Afghanistan. How do you deal with that sort of case, where reporters are hurt or killed by criminals or militia members who may be impossible to track down?
There are more and more cases were journalists are threatened or assaulted, even killed, by militias or criminals or rebel groups–not by a government or established police force or Army. If it is the Army or police or government that has killed, threatened or hurt a journalist, you can send a protest letter. You know who is responsible and you can put pressure on them. But it is very hard to do something in a case like Afghanistan where we don’t know who killed them and, even if we did, they are criminals–we’d never catch them. We have contacted newspapers though and media and told them to be careful and to take special precautions.
What happens if the war expands into Iraq and other states accused of harboring or supporting terrorists? What are your main concerns for journalists going into those areas?
It is very hard to say what will happen. During the first war in Iraq there were no journalists killed. They were protected by the forces and could not go in the areas where there was fighting. It’s always difficult in a war situation. There are some countries where there is a war going on and there are no journalists killed. But journalists were killed in Afghanistan partly because they could go on the ground and into dangerous areas.
How do you balance the need to protect journalists with the importance of giving them the freedom to do their jobs?
We defend press freedom, of course. We will never say to a journalist not to go on the ground because of danger, because we think the main job of a journalist is to go on the ground and to report the facts. But we do try to find solutions with governmental and international institutions to find protections for these journalists. Sometimes we are confronted with a situation where the armies or the government can take advantage of that situation. They say they will protect the journalists but then try and control the information. We try to be very careful about this and we denounce it publicly when we think the government or armed forces are only wanting to control the journalists, not wanting to protect them. But we will not tell the journalists what to do, because this is their job.
