JOURNALISTS UNDER ATTACK EVERYWHERE
Sirikit Syah
The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam
hp?shape_ID=35033
June 29 2007
YESTERDAY, a bad news came from Indonesia: a reporter was found
murdered in a hotel room, in a small town near Jakarta. Only last week
we heard same bad news coming from the Philippines: another journalist
was shot dead, the 53rd under Gloria Arroyo. And then the grim vision
of Alan Johnson, a BBC reporter with explosives strapped onto his body.
It tells us even more that journalists are under attack every where
in the world _ with lethal weapons or via, less lethal but equally
silencing, legislation.
Focusing on the lethal attacks _ they are under attack in Indonesia,
the Philippines, Turkey, Ireland, the Middle East countries, and even
in more "civilised democracies" like the US, Britain, and the other
countries in Europe.
For terrorist groups, kidnapping journalists is one way to negotiate
their political goals. They use journalists as hostages and chips to
bargain with. Many times, their demands are not met and the hostages
were murdered. For mafia groups (or triads) killing journalists is
an expression of hatred, revenge, or a warning to others.
Veronica Guerin is an example of a journalist, whose life was taken by
a mafia leader in Ireland, because she was too persistent in exposing
the crimes conducted by the group.
The case of the reporter’s murder in the Philippines last week was
also said to have links with a local mafia group.
Government institutions have another way to scare journalists: threaten
them with jailable offences. That happened during President Megawati in
Indonesia. Whenever she disliked the news about her, she made the court
put the chief editor of the paper on trial, and sent him to jail. And
you think that would never happen in the US? Last year, Judith Miller,
the star reporter of The New York Times, a supporter of Bush’ lies
on the WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction), was sent to jail as well.
This is an irony for Judith Miller. After being criticised by
fellow journalists as being too close to the Bush Administration,
she eventually did the right thing as what the press ethics asks
journalists to do: protecting the identity of her sources. She suffered
the consequence.
In Australia, two reporters were also convicted of contempt of court
last week, when they refused to disclose their sources. They were
fined a huge amount of money. It creates a debate on the need for a
regulation to protect whistle blowers. For journalists, protecting
sources is a matter of trust. If you betray the trust of your sources,
you lose your credibility. In most cases, journalists prefer to be
sentenced to jail or fined, rather than disclose the identity of
their sources.
Journalism is indeed a profession with a lot of risks. Ersa Siregar,
an RCTI reporter was killed during the GAM-Indonesian Military conflict
in Aceh a few years ago. Daniel Pearl from the Wall Street Journal
was murdered in Pakistan in February 2002, while investigating a
story based on the story of shoe-bomber Richard Reid.
He was kidnapped on his way to interview a fundamentalist leader.
Anna Politkovskaya, a noted Russian journalist, was killed last October
in her Moscow apartment. It was said to be related with her constant
reports on human right abuses and other atrocities in Chechnya. In
Turkey, also last year, a journalist was killed. It was said to be
related with his reports on minorities and the past history of Turkey,
the suspected genocide of the Armenian population in particular.
Journalists risk their lives in conflicting or warring zones. In
Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza, they do their jobs so that we know. It is
disconcerting but somehow to be expected that _ after consuming these
reports written at risk to life and limb_ people do not do anything
to stop the wars or the atrocities.
Sometimes they were kidnapped, got shot and injured, or got killed.
With this high risk they’re taking in the name of humanity in the
world, there is very little appreciation to journalists. Those who
are close to journalists usually have vested interests. And those
who don’t have such interests ignore them.
Journalism is a profession similar to doctor, lawyer, and priest.
They are allowed to protect any information concerning their clients.
They also work without a time limit: they’re generally on call 24
hours a day, seven days a week .
The attack on journalists, for political or business purposes, shows
no respect for this profession. In fact, journalists do not wish for
respect. To be safe is the only thing they need to do their job well.