30 Sep 2010 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Top Russian investigators say they guarantee to pursue 19 cases of murdered journalists presented to them by a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The CPJ delegation led by CPJ Chairman Paul Steiger and board member Kati Marton met with the Chairman of the Investigative Committee Bastrykin and other investigators examining the cases.
CPJ representatives met with the Investigative Committee in September 2009 to discuss unsolved cases concerning Russian journalists. This year they returned for an update.
The investigator told CPJ delegation that Alkhazur Bashayev, alleged murderer of journalist Natalya Estemirova is alive. Authorities are trying to locate his whereabouts in Russia. Bastrykin also said he will find and arrest the suspected murderer of Anna Politkovskaya, who has fled in Europe.
24 Jun 2010 | News and features
Independent Radio station Ekho Moskvy is well known in Russia as a bastion of free speech. Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov tells Maria Eismont about everyday dealing with death threats, censorship and the Kremlin
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7 Jun 2010 | Uncategorized
In Bangladesh a pro-opposition Bengali-language newspaper Amar Desh has been closed down, allegedly because of publishing irregularities. Reports suggest that more than 200 police stormed the paper’s offices. You don’t have to be a cynic to suspect that the content and stance of the newspaper might have been what is at issue here.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, who is Italy’s largest media owner, is backing a draft bill that could imprison or impose heavy fines on journalists who report public interest stories that involve wire taps before the final phase of prosecution. Given the length of many trials, this is a serious block on some kinds of reporting.
Curbing the powers of journalists to report information in the public interest either by direct or indirect means is a significant assault on free speech and on the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Remove their power to criticise government policy or to expose some types of corruption, and journalists risk becoming organs of propaganda for the ruling party.
If Machiavelli were writing his guidelines for conscienceless princes today, then he would no doubt advocate scaring journalists into cowering submission, making them terrified to publish anything critical of the ruler. Luckily, however, journalism attracts some extraordinarily brave people Anna Politkovskaya, who relentlessly exposed corruption in Putin’s Russia, and was murdered for this, is just one humbling example.
One side effect of the Internet’s invention is that today what is suppressed in one place often reappears somewhere else. In fact the more forceful the attempt to clamp down on what is published, the more likely it is that the views being suppressed will be spread widely. Would-be censors take note. You may be sowing dragon’s teeth.
26 Jan 2010 | Magazine
Impunity is an urgent issue facing press freedom campaigners. Joel Simon of the Committee to Protect Journalists outlines a roadmap for action
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