The Glare Of News Media Reveals All

Michael Hedges September 2, 2013 - Follow on Twitter

The wave of contention between governments and news media returned from the summer holidays with many media watchers. Press freedom as a democratic concept may be enjoined by nearly all kings, princes, presidents and prime ministers but reality can be quite different. They like having media under their thumb and, more and more, don’t mind showing it.

Fallout from the decision by UK authorities to detain a journalist’s civil partner at an airport transit lounge for nine hours in August continues to perplex media watchers. “The protection of national security secrets must never be used as an excuse to intimidate the press into silence and backing off from its crucial work in the clarification of human rights violations,” said United Nations (UN) special rapporteur (investigator) on freedom of opinion and expression Frank La Rue in a statement (September 4). “The press plays a central role in the clarification of human rights abuses.”

Mr. La Rue and UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson have asked the UK government to explain why the civil partner of Guardian (UK) journalist Glenn Greenwald was held and interrogated under the UK Terrorism Act 2000, which is meant to keep terrorists in check. Mr. Greenwald wrote and the Guardian published several articles about government surveillance of individuals from information supplied by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Agents of the UK government forced technicians from the Guardian to physically destroy computer hard-drives.

The “glare of publicity” will be allowed in UK family courts, said senior judge Sir James Munby, reported by the Press Gazette (September 6), welcomed by the much-maligned UK tabloids. “If there is no basis for injuncting a story expressed in the temperate or scholarly language of a legal periodical or the broadsheet press, there can be no basis for injuncting the same story simply because it is expressed in the more robust, colorful or intemperate language of the tabloid press or even in language which is crude, insulting and vulgar,” said Sir James. “Freedom of speech is not something to be awarded to those who are thought deserving and denied to those who are thought undeserving.”

Newspaper industry group WAN-IFRA joined other press freedom monitors in criticizing the closure of Liberian news portal FrontPage Africa and the jailing of its managing editor Rodney Sieh until he pays an astronomical US$1.5 million defamation judgment. (See WAN-IFRA statement here) Mr. Sieh has been hospitalized after going on hunger strike, said Reporters Sans Frontieres. His 2009 reporting on corruption led to the former agriculture minister bring a lawsuit for libel, which the Liberian Supreme Court affirmed.

WAN-IFRA and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have appealed to Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to pardon Mr. Sieh, the CPJ calling his detention “disproportionate and tainted with political undertones.” President Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected head of state, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. A Liberian government spokesperson told WAN-IFRA that the libel case was a private matter between a journalist and a citizen. Attorneys for Mr. Sieh announced their intention to appeal his incarceration to the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in Nigeria.

Another Nobel Peace Prize laureate, US president Barack Obama, engaged the press freedom concept in a meeting with Russian civil society representatives following the G20 summit in St. Petersburg. When asked if the United States is perhaps not the best example for other countries in light of the Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning whistleblowing, President Obama reminded that journalists were “not under pressure, even if they publish such information,” reported Novaya Gazeta (September 6). “It’s their responsibility to tell what’s going on.”

While most criticism of press and media freedom infringement continues to be directed at nations under authoritarian regimes and dictatorships, the door for judicial intimidation of the news media has swung wide. Authorities in Switzerland were criticized by WAN-IFRA for searching the home of Le Matin editor Ludovic Rocchi and seizing documents and a computer in August. (See WAN-IFRA statement here) A University of Neuchatel director is suing Mr. Rocchi for defamation following his investigation of cheating. Over 100 Swiss media workers have signed a letter to Prosecutor General Andreas Brunner reminding that Swiss law “guarantees protection of sources and the vital watchdog role of the media.”

See also in ftm Knowledge

Press/Media Freedom - Challenges and Concerns

Press and media freedom worldwide is facing challenges from many corners. As authoritarian leaders impose strict control over traditional and new media with impunity, media watchers have concerns for democracy. This ftm Knowledge file accounts the troubles of this difficult decade. 88 pages. PDF (December 2011)

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UK Newspapers

The newspaper market in the UK is among the worlds most competitive. The publishers are colorful, editors daring, journalists talented and readers discerning. ftm follows the leaders, the readers, the freebies and the tabloids. 83 pages PDF (October 2010)

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