Reporting Most Urgent - A List

Michael Hedges March 19, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

With ascendent authoritarianism further blunting the pens of journalism, little seems effective to stem the tide of impunity. Institutional advocates for a reasonably secure existence for news media workers - Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and others - provide policy support, typically to the like-minded. This is called preaching to the choir; comforting but limited.

Media organizations - employers of reporters, photojournalists, columnists and editors - are equally interested in raising public awareness. Political process being what it is, these publishers are also looking for results. This, they have seen, is most likely through collaboration on specific goals.

Several well-known publishers and news agencies have formed the One Free Press Coalition to “stand up for journalists who are under attack because of their desire to tell the truth,” said a statement (March 15). The idea stems from discussions initiated by Forbes chief content officer Randall Lane of the ad-hoc International Media Council on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum last January in Switzerland. Members of this coalition (to date) include the Financial Times, Huff Post, Reuters, Associated Press, Yahoo News, Forbes, Time, De Standaard (Belgium), Euractiv, Le Temps (Switzerland) and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany). The CPJ and International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) are partners.

There is a deliverable. Each month the One Free Press Coalition will publish a “Ten Most Urgent” list of journalists “under attack or silenced.” Updates at the first of each month will include new and sustaining examples of abuse.

Here are the Ten Most Urgent for March 2019: (in no order)

Maria Ressa, founder of Philippines online news portal Rappler: arrested for civil libel, also charged with tax evasion.

Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post columnist: murdered at Istanbul, Turkey, Consulate of Saudi Arabia

Eman Al Nafjan, Saudi Arabian women’s rights blogger: jailed for reporting on elections and women’s right to drive automobiles.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters journalists in Myanmar: imprisoned for reporting on Rohingya massacre, appeals denied.

Claudia Duque, Columbian investigative reporter of online radio station Radio Nizkor: kidnapped and tortured, perpetrators released.

Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, Mauritanian blogger: jailed for criticising religious caste system, death sentence commuted, remains in prison at an undisclosed location.

Anna Nimiriano, South Sudan English-language newspaper Juba Monitor editorial director: harassed and threatened with arrest.

Pelin Unker, investigative reporter with Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, correspondent for Deutsche Welle: arrested for insulting the prime minister after reporting on corruption, sentenced to jail in January.

Thomas Awah Junior, publisher of magazine Aghem Messenger and correspondent with Afrik 2 Radio, Cameroon: arrested for interviewing protesters and inciting public unrest, jailed for 11 years, hospitalized last October with deteriorating health.

Tran Thi Nga, Vietnamese human rights blogger: jailed for spreading propaganda against the state, 9 years, denied family visits for refusing to confess.

“At its best, journalism puts emerging issues in the spotlight and exposes wrongdoing by people in positions of power,” wrote Financial times news editor Peter Spiegel, in a statement (March 15). “Highlighting the fate of fellow reporters who have suffered because they have done that is both critical in the current international environment and an important act of journalism in its own right.”

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