A Tribute to 60 IPI World Press Freedom Heroes

Transcription

WOrDs OF FrEEDOM A Tribute to 60 IPI World Press Freedom Heroes
ISBN 978-3-9503007-0-3
WOrDs OF FrEEDOM
Words of Freedom · A Tribute to 60 IPI World Press Freedom Heroes
WOrDs OF
FrEEDOM
This book is brought to you with the friendly support of
Words of Freedom:
A Tribute to 60 IPI Press Freedom Heroes
ISBN 978-3-9503007-0-3
Publisher:
The International Press Institute
Spiegelgasse 2
1010 Vienna
Austria
Ph.: (43) 1 5129011
Fax: (43) 1 5129014
Email: [email protected]
Printed by: Lindenau Productions, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Cover photo: gettyimages
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
4
INternatIonal
Press
InstItute
The Vienna-based International Press Institute
(IPI) is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists. It is dedicated to
the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and
expression, the promotion of the free flow of
news and information and the improvement of
the practices of journalism.
For more information on IPI and its work, write to:
International Press Institute
Spiegelgasse 2/29
1010 Vienna
Austria
[email protected]
www.freemedia.at.
In 2010, IPI celebrated its 60-year anniversary.
This publication featuring IPI’s 60 World Press
Freedom Heroes is a tribute to that year-long celebration and to the journalists who fight for and
uphold IPI’s values.
5
CORPORATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 60 ET SEQ. OF THE SWIS
AND RADIO AND TV SYSTEMS FOUNDATIONS, OTHER INSTITUT
OFTHENETEARNINGS,IFANY,OFTHEINSTITUTESHALLENURET
H: PUBLICATIONS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EXCHANGE PRO
VIDEOS AND ELECTRONIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE SE
RYING OUT THESE PURPOSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROMOT
OR NATIONAL COMMITTEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL OR
NALCOMMITTEE.¶ARTICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEMBE
YJOURNALS,NEWSAGENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCASTIN
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TIMATE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. ¶ 3. MEMBERS
A NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BROA
TERNET SERVICE MAY BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ONE F
ESOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERATIN
MEMBERSOFJOURNALISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVISO
F DEPARTMENTS/SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, BR
RENTAFFAIRSPROGRAMMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERSON
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RE NATIONAL COMMITTEES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE TO
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NEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES
ATE IN ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHAL
EMEMBERSHIPSHALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEM
AND 2, TO COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITI
ADCASTINGFIELDS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPA
UTHORITYOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRD
EEXECUTIVEBOARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVEN
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WIT
WHOSHALLACTCONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHE
BOARD, BUT EXPULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON
TOGETHER WITH THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SH
OARDSHALLBEGRANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERS
EXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE O
BEROFTHEINSTITUTE;NOTICEOFSUCHACTIONSHALLBEGIVE
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ONSIDERSTHATTHEREISFUNDAMENTALCHANGEINTHECOND
LEIIOFTHEPRESENTCONSTITUTION.¶ARTICLEIII¶NATIONALC
Contents
9
11
13
15
Foreword
Introduction
Sponsor’s Note
Preamble of the Constitution of the
International Press Institute
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
Aslam Ali
Rudolf Augstein
Omar Belhouchet
Kenneth Best
Hubert Beuve-Méry
J. Jesús Blancornelas
Grémah Boukar Koura
José Burgos, Jr.
Lydia Cacho
Guillermo Cano
Juan Pablo Cárdenas
Pedro Joaquín Chamorro
May Chidiac
Suk-Chae Choi
Júlio de Mesquita Neto
Jiří Dienstbier
Hrant Dink
Harold Evans
Antonio Fontán
Laurence Gandar
Akbar Ganji
Gao Yu
Katharine Graham
Veronica Guerin
Shiro Hara
Amira Hass
Tara Singh Hayer
Đoàn Viê´t Hoa.t
Abdi İpekçi
Kemal Kurspahić
Daoud Kuttab
Gwen Lister
Mochtar Lubis
Kronid Lyubarsky
Savea Sano Malifa
Veran Matić
Adam Michnik
Fred M'membe
Indro Montanelli
Nizar Nayouf
96
98
100
102
104
106
108
110
112
114
116
118
120
122
124
126
128
130
132
134
Freedom Neruda
Pius Njawé
Germán Ornes
Anna Politkovskaya
Percy Qoboza
Raúl Rivero
Nuno Rocha
Pap Saine
Yoani Sánchez
Faraj Sarkohi
Nedim Şener
Arun Shourie
André Sibomana
U Thaung
Jacobo Timerman
Ricardo Uceda
Eleni Vlachou
Lasantha Wickrematunge
C.E.L Wickremesinghe
José Rubén Zamora
137
139
141
143
145
Editor’s Note
Contributors and authors
Production credits
Photo credits
Index
E;INSTITUTINTERNATIONALDELAPRESSE,INFRENCH;INSTIT
UTE. ¶ 3. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF THE INSTITUTE SHALL B
IP CORPORATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 60 ET SEQ. OF THE SW
RS AND RADIO AND TV SYSTEMS FOUNDATIONS, OTHER INSTIT
RTOFTHENETEARNINGS,IFANY,OFTHEINSTITUTESHALLENUR
UGH: PUBLICATIONS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EXCHANGE P
OR VIDEOS AND ELECTRONIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE
ARRYING OUT THESE PURPOSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROM
ER OR NATIONAL COMMITTEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL
TIONALCOMMITTEE.¶ARTICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEM
HLYJOURNALS,NEWSAGENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCAS
STITUTESOBJECTIVESANDWHO,INSEEKINGMEMBERSHIP,D
PREAMBLEABOVE.¶2.FULLMEMBERSHIPCANBEACQUIREDA
HALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWH
HALLBEMADETOTHEINSTITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHA
E ULTIMATE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. ¶ 3. MEMB
OF A NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BR
INTERNET SERVICE MAY BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ON
IPLESOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERA
S,MEMBERSOFJOURNALISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVI
S OF DEPARTMENTS/SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES
URRENTAFFAIRSPROGRAMMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERS
NALISTS GROUP) FROM ANY ONE NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, RA
TED PROVIDING THE APPLICANTS PROCURE WRITTEN APPROV
ARE NATIONAL COMMITTEES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE
NTS.INCOUNTRIESWHERETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITT
MINEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCA
CIPATE IN ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SH
ATEMEMBERSHIPSHALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEM
HS 1 AND 2, TO COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERS
ROADCASTINGFIELDS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTIC
EAUTHORITYOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEI
THEEXECUTIVEBOARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAV
BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR W
TEWHOSHALLACTCONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTIN
VE BOARD, BUT EXPULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT O
N, TOGETHER WITH THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES
EBOARDSHALLBEGRANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBE
E NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOT
EMBEROFTHEINSTITUTE;NOTICEOFSUCHACTIONSHALLBEG
RHISOBLIGATIONSTOTHEINSTITUTE,UPTOTHETIMETHATME
foreWord
Ten years ago I had the pleasure of helping a
committee of International Press Institute
members choose editors, journalists and publishers for inclusion in a booklet of 50 press freedom heroes, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the institute. The celebration of those 50
heroes took place in Boston in the United States
of America.
This year that list is extended to 60 heroes to
celebrate IPI’s 60th anniversary. Indeed it is a
great honour being part of such an admirable
endeavour to create a journalism pantheon
which, I believe, is the first of its kind. It rectifies
a long-standing omission by the press to create a
permanent record of a representative group of
the remarkable men and women throughout the
world who fought great – sometimes insurmountable – odds in carrying out their duty
to uphold press freedom and keep the public
informed.
But there was heartache, too, and it was
brought on by the recognition that there were so
many journalists who showed immense determination and courage in both unearthing the
information and publishing it while so many
powerful, often ruthless and brutal, forces were
ranged against them. There were so many and
yet we have been able to recognise only a few.
We had to make anguished choices.
The heartache was even more painful as we
read of their achievements, invariably astounding and always defying those in authority and
powerful criminal mafias who sought secrecy
and used every means, no matter how foul, they
could muster to try to ensure it.
These were men and women who had set off
on a career in journalism, pen or keyboard in
hand, who felt and believed, almost instinctively,
that the search for truth and its speedy dissemination to the public at large transcended attempts
to keep matters secret and the public in ignorance. And those pens and keyboards were the
only instruments they had which they could use
against authoritarian dictates to keep silent the
guns, bludgeons, instruments of torture and
prison bars that were ranged against them.
Journalists are a singular breed of people.
Their work is regarded as a civilian activity
which normally requires people engaged in that
sphere merely adequately to apply themselves to
the job at hand. There may be instances, not frequent, where a call is made on them to exhibit
courage and steadfastness in meeting the ethical
standards their jobs require.
But journalists are almost constantly facing
challenges because they are confronted by a society where there is a persistent undercurrent of
officialdom and commercial interests seeking to
keep information about maladministration, corruption and other wrong-doing secret. And that
is the information that journalists believe the
public has a right to know about.
The dangers facing journalists have been
growing and records show that an ever-increasing number of them are killed in the line of duty.
But there are also numerous journalists who are
threatened, arrested, detained, beaten up and
tortured, sometimes with their papers or broadcast stations being attacked or closed down. It is
a remarkable testimony to their courage that
they carry on delving for the truth despite the
attacks on them.
The salient feature of all these stories is that in
every one of these journalists was a solitary
combatant. They were not part of an army or a
group. Most had support from their news organisations but when it came to the knife-edge issue,
every one of them was on their own.
Three categories of heroes were chosen:
* Press Freedom Defenders: persons who have
made a significant contribution to press freedom by providing independent news coverage,
opinions and views under difficult and often
dangerous conditions. To defend press freedom, they have risked arrest, imprisonment
and violence against themselves and their
families.
* The Victims of Press Freedom Violations:
persons who were deliberately targeted and
killed, because of their work or opinions.
* Press Freedom Promoters & Protectors: persons
who have (a) made critical contributions to
press freedom on a global basis; or (b) profoundly strengthened the free press in their
own country, often risking their careers
and/or professional reputations in the process.
My thanks go to the jury who made the current
selections: IPI board members Mr. N. Ravi, editor,
The Hindu, India; Ms. Galina Sidorova, editor-inchief, Sovershenno Sekrento, Russia, Ms. Ferai Tinç,
columnist, Hurriyet Daily, Turkey; and IPI Fellow,
Mr. H. David S. Greenway, columnist and former
editorial page editor, The Boston Globe, USA.
Raymond Louw, editor and publisher,
Southern Africa Report, South Africa
9
the undyIng
flame of
Press freedom
Ten years ago in Boston, in a solemn ceremony
marking its 50th year defending press freedom
around the world, IPI honoured 50 World Press
Freedom Heroes. They came from the four corners of the globe and were united by one golden
common thread: their courageous determination
to uphold press freedom, against all odds.
If their nemeses – the killers, torturers, kidnappers, jailers and corrupt security and judicial
officials – were hoping to make an example of
them, and in doing so to deter those who would
follow in their footsteps, they have resoundingly
failed.
Despite the perils associated with critical independent reporting and the harrowing tales of
those who have taken on the oft corrupt repressive establishment, there is no shortage of bold
reporters surging forward to push back the
proverbial barricades.
In doing so, they confirm that the force for
freedom – embodied by reporters risking death,
violent attack, torture, intimidation, unjust trial
and imprisonment – is unstoppable. That force
will not bow to the tactics of those who would
prefer the truth to remain untold, and who use
assassins and thugs shrouded in the cowardly
cloak of impunity, to further this goal.
The additional 10 World Press Freedom
Heroes, chosen by IPI to make a full 60, in the
organisation’s 60th anniversary year, bear
further powerful testimony to this remarkable
resilience.
Only seven of the 10 new heroes are still alive.
One is maimed for life. All have imprinted themselves on the consciousness of humanity.
IPI’s 60 World Press Freedom Heroes are but
the tip of the iceberg. They are flanked by many,
many more brave journalists, who are no less
courageous.
In naming 60 World Press Freedom Heroes, IPI
pays tribute to all of those journalists – including
the many unsung heroes – who through their
refusal to toe the line are keeping the flame of
press freedom alive.
International Press Institute Secretariat
Vienna
11
heroes to
all of us
Those of us in the financial and business worlds
may not always agree with what we see in the
press, but I know we can agree that freedom of
the press is one of the strongest pillars of a free
society.
People who live in democracies tend to take
this freedom for granted. But in today’s complex, interconnected world where the truth of
what is happening in one country can affect
decisions made in many other nations, freedom
of information takes on a new, more global
meaning. It is something we must continually
fight to preserve, for we know it is what those
who would restrict our freedom fear most. As
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “I fear the
newspapers more than a hundred thousand
bayonets.”
That is why the heroes in this book are, in fact,
heroes to all of us. They are fighting for a free-
dom that we cherish. That freedom will always
be tested, sometimes abused, occasionally
restricted. But the search for truth – the shining
of a light into the dark corners of the world – will
always be fundamental to our individual liberty,
and to our right to know. Without the truth it is
impossible to have a just society and intelligent,
informed people.
I congratulate the International Press Institute
for its 60 years of fighting for press freedom, and
for giving us this book. It reminds us that the
members of the press are heroes to us all.
Alessandro Profumo
Chief Executive, UniCredit Group
13
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World peace depends on understanding
between peoples and peoples. If peoples are
to understand one another, it is essential
that they have good information. Therefore, a
fundamental step towards understanding among
peoples is to bring about understanding among
the journalists of the world.
In accordance with this belief there is established
an organisation to work towards the following
objectives:
• The furtherance and safeguarding of freedom
of the press, by which is meant: free access to
the news, free transmission of news, free
publication of newspapers, free expression of
views
• The achievement of understanding amongst
journalists and so among peoples
• The promotion of the free exchange of
accurate and balanced news among nations
• The improvement of the practices of journalism
The words of the preamble are set as a backdrop for the ensuing photo pages
15
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Left: Aslam Ali, a family
man, in happier days
with his wife. Bottom
right: Ali, seated second
from left, with senior
management of Pakistan
Press International news
agency.
PAKISTAN
1924–1978
slam Ali is my hero, not only because he
was my father, but also because he stood
up for the journalistic principles of independence, fairness and objectivity when few
dared to do so. When Pakistan Press International (PPI) was snatched from my father, I was
at the impressionable age of 17. It was from him
that I understood first-hand why it was so important to defend peoples’ right to speak, hear
and publish, even if the effort destroyed you
physically, emotionally and financially.
PPI was set up in 1956 by Muazzam Ali. Aslam
Ali joined the agency in 1964. During its existence the agency has had to face many threats.
Surviving crisis after crisis, facing stoppage of
telecommunication services and threats of closure, PPI continued to professionally cover the
mass public movement against the government
of General Ayub Khan.
This independence was maintained despite
pressure from Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to toe the line
of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). PPI’s unwillingness to yield to these pressures was deeply resented by Bhutto. He expressed his annoyance
with the agency not only privately, but also in
public. At a press conference in Lahore on 3
March 1970, Bhutto threatened that Muazzam
Ali and PPI would be “fixed up.” His comments
led to a partial walkout by the newsmen covering the press conference.
Bhutto continued his attacks on PPI, issuing
wild allegations against it. When Aslam Ali, then
General Manager of PPI, protested against the
militant attitude of Bhutto, Bhutto’s party responded by organising rowdy demonstrations in
front of PPI’s office to ‘protest’ against the
agency.
Upon assuming power in 1971, the Bhutto
government became more aggressive. Maulana
Kausar Niazi, minister of information and broad-
casting, warned Muazzam Ali of “serious consequences” if the agency circulated stories against
the government.
When PPI continued its policy of independent
political coverage, the Bhutto government set
out to destroy PPI through various coercive
measures to financially cripple it, ordering the
suspension of the agency’s service to the government-controlled radio, television and the newspapers of the National Press Trust (NPT).
Having failed to achieve the demise of PPI
through financial strangulation, Bhutto ordered
the agency taken away from the owners.
The prime minister’s special assistant, Yousuf
Buch, was assigned the task of preparing the
plan for the transfer of PPI to a member of PPP.
The chief minister of Sindh, Ghulam Mustafa
Jatoi, in March 1975, directed Aslam Ali to transfer the shares of the agency to Latif Ibrahim
Jamal. Jatoi warned that if the agency was not
transferred, he had orders to proceed against
Aslam Ali under the draconian emergency laws.
Aslam Ali, however, declined to transfer the
agency.
After this refusal, Ali had to bear the full
wrath of the government. Telephone and
teleprinter lines of the agency would be disconnected without notice. Threats of arrest and assault became a painful routine. Telephone calls,
in the middle of the night, were made, informing
that police parties had been dispatched to arrest
him. Such relentless harassment irreparably
damaged Ali’s health. In a matter of just a few
weeks he dropped from 145 pounds to barely
100 pounds, and lost most of his hair. He had
aged years in such a short period, not only physically but also in spirit. The deterioration of his
health was so dramatic and rapid that his family
feared for his life. But Ali remained adamant that
he would not compromise on the principles that
had made PPI a respected name not only in Pakistan but also throughout the world.
When the government realised it could not
subdue Aslam Ali through financial pressures or
threats to his person, they resorted to the ultimate
act of cowardice – they threatened his family. S.N.
Qutub, joint secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, delivered the message to
Ali that he should carefully consider the consequences of his refusal, especially since he had a
wife and four young daughters. This threat to his
family was too much to bear and Aslam Ali
agreed to transfer the shares to the PPP nominee.
PPI was transferred on 11 April 1975 for a paltry
163,000 rupees (about $3,000 USD); its true worth
was hundreds of times that amount.
The level of vengeance was such that even
when Aslam Ali was advised by doctors to go
abroad for treatment for diabetic complications,
he was informed that his name was on the ‘exit
control list,’ and that he would not be allowed to
leave the country until he repented and apologised to the government. Ali refused.
After the fall of the Bhutto government, the
owners made an application to the authorities
for the return of PPI as the transfer was made
under duress and coercion. The appointed arbitrator ruled that the transfer had been illegal and
the agency be returned to the original owners.
Aslam Ali put his heart and soul into reviving
the agency and, by maintaining a punishing
schedule and long working hours, succeeded in
reorganising the agency. Unfortunately, years of
harassment had irreparably damaged his health,
and he died on 13 February 1978, just three
months after the agency was restored, at the age
of 54.
Written by Owais Aslam Ali, son of Aslam Ali and
secretary general of the Pakistan Press Foundation.
17
rUdolf
augsteIn
GERMANY
1923–2002
Top to bottom: Rudolf Augstein being interviewed after
his release from pre-trial detention, 1953; gesturing during a panel discussion;
shortly after being arrested
by criminal police in 1962.
18
d
er Spiegel (The Mirror) was dubbed by its
founder and owner Rudolf Augstein as
“the heavy artillery of democracy.” Established immediately after World War II, it quickly
became one of Germany’s most important publications, pioneering investigative reporting that
uncovered cases that stunned the country and
inspired press freedom after years of manipulative propaganda.
The sixth of seven children, Augstein was
born to a Catholic merchant on 5 November
1923 in Hanover, Germany. At the age of 9, he
witnessed the rise of the Nazis, but Augstein’s
bourgeois parents sent their son across town to a
grammar school over which the Nazis had little
influence. Even as a child Rudolf showed an aptitude for politics when in a school essay he commented that a German victory was unlikely.
When he finished grammar school at 18, Augstein volunteered to write for the Hannoverschen
Anzeiger (Hanover Gazette). Drafted into the
army as a radio operator then artillery observer,
he was sent to the Eastern Front until he was
captured as a prisoner of war by the Allies in
1945. Upon his release at the end of the war, he
charged into a career in journalism with the
Hannoverschen Nachrichtenblatt (Hanover Newspaper).
In an attempt to reach out to German civilians
blundering in a post-war daze, the British occupiers launched Diese Woche (This Week) on 16
November 1946. At 23, young Augstein was politically spotless, so, making use of his, albeit
scant, background in journalism, the British
soon named him both publisher and editor-inchief, re-launching the news magazine as Der
Spiegel on 4 January 1947. Within months, Augstein had created a formidable team of investigative reporters, whose eloquent writing and penetrating rummaging resulted in exquisite exposés
of government corruption and ineptitude.
As editor in chief, Augstein was often called to
court to answer for articles he had published
that wandered a little too close to the line. While
others shied away from such controversy, Augstein was proud to face it head on. In 1962, he revealed that the army was in such a financial
mess that it would be incapable of defending the
country in the event of a communist attack; ordinarily, considering the state of post-war Germany, this would not have been a surprise, until
one became aware of the exorbitant funds funnelled into Defence Minister Franz Josef Strauss’
budget.
On 26 October 1962, 60 federal police stormed
Der Spiegel’s new Hamburg office and arrested
three of the magazine’s staff. Clearly incensed,
the German police also issued a warrant for the
magazine’s defence specialist, Conrad Ahlers,
who had written the offending article and was
arrested while holidaying in Spain.
In essence, Ahlers exposed the secret NATO
exercise ‘Fallex 62’ and alleged that the Western
Alliance estimated a potential 15 million British
and German civilian deaths and casualties in the
event of an atomic war. By his calculations,
Ahlers claimed West Germany was woefully
under-prepared for such a catastrophe.
Handing himself over to authorities on 27 October 1962, Augstein was arrested to the sound of
worldwide protests and condemnation. Terrified
of a return to the autocratic regime Adolf Hitler
had imposed just a few years earlier, the German
public took to the streets to defend their democratic liberties and right to a free, transparent
press. So virulent was the public reaction to the
government’s role in the closure of Der Spiegel
and Augstein’s arrest that Strauss had to resign in
December 1962.
Der Spiegel fought to print the following
week’s edition and continued to provide intelligent, pertinent reporting despite its presses
being closed. Augstein’s story, however, had a little longer to play out. Incarcerated for treason for
104 days, he was released on 14 May 1965 when
the accusations were proven unfounded.
Continuing to be a powerful contributor to
Germany’s recovery and development, Der
Spiegel’s sententious reporting has won it widespread respect and established itself as one of
Europe’s biggest selling dailies – with a circulation of more than a million each week. Over the
years, Augstein had slowly been increasing his
shares in the paper; by 1969, he finally bought
out the last remaining share-holder, Günter
Gaus, to become sole owner of Der Spiegel. Augstein continued to move the news magazine forward, starting TV programmes with the German
stations RTL and SAT1.
In recognition of his commitment to journalism, he was awarded two honorary degrees – one
from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and the other from Germany’s University of
Wuppertal. As a hobbyist historian he published
several bestseller books, and in December 1999,
Augstein, who still wrote his hard-hitting column for his beloved publication, was named
Journalist of the Century by 100 prominent German journalists. Following a lifetime of significant contributions to the defence and promotion
of press freedom, two years before his death of
pneumonia on 7 November 2002, aged 79, Augstein was heralded a hero by the International
Press Institute.
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Clockwise from left: Rudolf
Augstein seated with Der
Spiegel director general,
Detlev Becherlinks, at court,
1966; Augstein after being arrested under the suspicion of
treason, 1963; Augstein with
chief editor of Der Spiegel,
Erich Böhme, 1985; Augstein
gesturing in front of the 50th
anniversary Der Spiegel cover.
VIEWS.¶•THEACHIEVEMENT omar
OF THE PRACTICES OF JOUR BelhouChet
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3. THE OFFICIAL
PORATION PUR
ALGERIA
1954–
Above: Omar Belhouchet looks
pensive during a Reporters
Sans Frontières press conference held on International
Press Freedom Day. Below:
Belhouchet with fellow World
Press Freedom Hero, Pius
Njawé, at the 30th Anniversary
of the Le Messager in Douala,
Cameroon.
n 17 May 1993, Omar Belhouchet’s two
children walked safely through their
school door before he turned to see assailants charging at him, firing. Flattening himself to the car seat and with his foot on the accelerator, he escaped with his life.
It takes a brave man to continue after an assassination attempt; even braver after three, but
Belhouchet’s commitment to press freedom and
truth in Algeria is unwavering. He said: “Only
democracy can save this country. That is why I
publish. They can do what they want to us. We
are ready for them and we are not afraid. Without a debate, there is only darkness here.”
With a team of optimistic, enthusiastic journalists, Belhouchet founded the French-language
daily El Watan (The Nation) in 1990, following
the disestablishment of the one-party system
that Algeria had known since its independence
from France. Promising freedom of expression,
the relatively liberal 1989 constitution inspired a
media boom unprecedented in the Arab world.
Peace, however, was short-lived: growing support for the Islamic Salvation Front in December
1991 swayed the army to cancel the first multiparty elections. Terror erupted as Muslim fundamentalists, furious about the intervention,
brought unthinkable atrocities against Algeria’s
civilians for the following six years.
With restrictive government-dictated press
laws and the walls of censorship closing in, Algerian journalists operated under horrendous
conditions and constant threat in the brutal
guerrilla war. Seventy were killed during the
course of the struggle, and many more fled the
country. Political advances in 1997 had no effect
on the terrorists: stories of disembowelled pregnant mothers, massacred foetuses, chainsaw be-
headings and gang-rapes became regular, abhorrent headlines.
Unlike state-run media, El Watan is not directly censored, so Belhouchet’s dissident voice
against the authorities has often resulted in the
independent paper being suspended using a
state of emergency decree which silences “activities [that] endanger public order and security.”
Between 1993 and 1997, Belhouchet estimated
30 prosecutions against him for publishing security-related information or articles implicating
government officials in alleged corruption. His
current count stands at over 150 suits, 10 of
which have led to his receiving prison sentences.
His first suspended six-month sentence in January 1993 was for ‘prematurely’ reporting the
murder of five policemen at a police station by
Islamic fundamentalists. During his struggle to
promote democracy and defend a free press, Belhouchet and several of his journalists have been
jailed, prompting significant international outcry.
“I have received many letters of solidarity on
the part of colleagues, and newspapers have
published many articles on [our plight],” Belhouchet said. “It is true that we do not today
have the same response as before, but when it
comes to the imprisonment of journalists, we act
as if we belonged to the same family.”
Although internationally a civil issue, defamation and insulting government officials and state
institutions is a criminal offence in Algeria. His
crusade has not gone completely unrewarded: he
found justice handed to him on a crumpled
piece of paper on 19 October 1997. Following
weeks of headline-allegations claiming that Justice Minister Muhammad Adami was responsible for the suffocation death of 32 prisoners in
June 1997, the minister resigned.
After Belhouchet had filed an appeal against a
three-month sentence for a report about drug
trafficking in the western region of Algeria,
which was considered defamatory, his prison
term was over-turned and replaced by a £550
fine in July of 2008 in an unprecedented u-turn.
In the same year, however, an appeals court upheld a decision against Belhouchet who, in addition to being incarcerated, was ordered to pay
one million dinars in damages to the Prefect of
Jijel for comments made in a column published
in El Watan in June 2006.
On 29 December 2008, Belhouchet was jailed
for three months along with one of his journalists, Salima Tlemcani. They were found guilty in
a libel suit dating back to 2004, when El Watan
published an article claiming that a faith healer
was an imposter.
Born on 9 February 1954 in Sétif, Algeria,
Omar Belhouchet studied economics at the University of Algiers. In 1987, he co-founded the
Journalist Movement of Algeria and later the
Journalist Union of Algeria. As the 1994 laureate
of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and one of
the International Press Institute’s press freedom
heroes, he is a well-known and respected member of the international media community, and
El Watan, with its 300 staff and 100 journalists, is
a participant in the Arab Newspaper Development Programme, designed to strengthen independent newspapers in the Arab world.
With so many newspapers, one could be forgiven for believing that Algeria is a country with
a vibrant press; but many are state-owned, bent
on flooding the market with censored stories. It
is, in fact, down to a few to resiliently bring undiluted, untainted news to the nation’s readers.
Belhouchet is one of those remarkable few.
21
ON OF TH
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OURNALI
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VIEWS.¶•THEACHIEVEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEP
OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND
N.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDE
ED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGU
EWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTAN
RATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶W
DONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPT
FTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGANISATIONTOWORKTOWA
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPER
ONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NA
GBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEY
TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS
RTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEW
VEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFR
FJOURNALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESA
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NTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING
DANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJ
ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF V
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEM
AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFOR
UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS E
SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSM
NDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHA
NALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOU
TAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JO
WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF T
Editor and founder of The
Daily Observer newspapers
in Liberia and The Gambia,
Kenneth Best, pictured
here, says: “Press freedom
is like the law. It is the
cement that holds together
the social and political
fabric in a democracy.”
Kenneth a
Best
LIBERIA
1938–
s founder of both The Daily Observer of
Monrovia, Liberia, and its sister paper of
the same name in Banjul, The Gambia,
Kenneth Y. Best is a member of an exclusive
group of international journalists – those who
have been harassed, threatened and persecuted
by the military governments of two different
countries.
Best was born on 28 October 1938 in Harrisburg, Liberia. He had been working in Kenya as
the information director of the All Africa Conference of Churches when he decided to move back
to Monrovia with his family to found The Daily
Observer, Liberia’s first independent daily newspaper, in 1981. He did so despite the concerns of
family and friends that the paper would make
him a target of the ruthless military regime of
Master Sergeant Samuel Doe, who had assumed
power months earlier after a bloody coup. But
Best was determined to provide the people of
Liberia a courageously independent press, one
that would resist all government efforts to silence its voice.
“Press freedom is like the law. It is the cement
that holds together the social and political fabric
in a democracy,” Best said in an interview. “Only
the free and independent press has the power to
examine the conduct of the government … Only
the free press can do so and inspire the changes
that are needed if the nation and the society are
to make progress in the right direction.”
From the outset, the Observer launched an aggressive campaign to rout out public corruption
by exposing the illicit activities of top-ranking
government and military officials. One of the
paper’s first stories was about corruption at the
Ministry of Justice, which prompted Minister
Chea Cheapoo to make death threats against
Best and his staff – threats that were carried live
on national television. Several weeks later, the
paper published an open letter to Doe that asked
for the reinstatement of student activist Commany B. Wesseh. Wesseh had been ousted from
the Constitution Commission and fired from his
job for publicly disagreeing with Doe on development issues. As a result of the letter, Doe’s security forces arrested and jailed the Observer’s
entire staff and held them in prison for several
days before releasing them.
All told, the Observer was shut down four
times for reporting that offended the Doe government. This included a six-month ban imposed in January 1984 by the vice Head of State
J. Nicholas Podier for burying a story on the
paper’s back page about a visit by Israeli President Chaim Herzog – placement the government
considered an insult to Herzog and an embarrassment to Doe. The government moved to
revoke the paper’s articles of incorporation in
court but was unsuccessful. During this tumultuous time, Best himself was arrested twice and
the Observer was the subject of two arson attacks.
Throughout it all, Best pressed on.
During a recent interview, Best spoke of the
government’s unrelenting campaign of media repression. “There were numerous such incidents
in which we and other media institutions suffered from the military regime throughout the
1980s and from the warlords during the civil war
in the 1990s and beyond,” he said.
This civil war erupted in December 1989, as
Charles Taylor’s rebel forces toppled Doe’s government and fought various ethnic factions for
control of the country. Taylor’s forces captured
and killed Doe in clashes that destroyed much of
the capital city. The Observer’s offices burned to
the ground in 1990, and Best went into exile to
The Gambia with his family. In 1991, Best
launched that country’s first daily paper, also
called The Daily Observer.
The Gambia’s Observer quickly became the
most popular and widely-read paper in the
country. In 1994, then 29-year-old lieutenant
Yahya Jammeh assumed power in a bloodless
coup. The Observer repeatedly pressed the new
government to set a deadline for democratic
elections, a campaign that led to Best’s arrest and
deportation to his war-torn homeland Liberia in
October 1994.
A week later, Best emigrated to the United
States where he and his family were granted political asylum. While living in the U.S., Best
worked as a media consultant and also launched
the website of Liberia’s The Daily Observer.
In April 2005, with stability restored in
Liberia, Best and his family returned to their
country to rebuild the Observer as a newspaper
that, according to its website, “seeks to keep the
Liberian people informed, the government accountable, and to be the watchdog for the repetition of historical mistakes.” Best, at age 71, serves
as the paper’s publisher and managing director.
23
hUBert
Beuve-méry
FRANCE
1902–1989
t
here is a firmly held legend in French journalism that Hubert Beuve-Méry, the founding editor of Le Monde, famously instructed
his staff: “Gentlemen, if you want to be taken seriously, be boring.”
Even if he actually did say that, it was hardly a
piece of advice that he applied to himself – even
if he did ban photographs in a newspaper whose
makeup embodied the cliché ‘good grey.’
Under the pen name ‘Sirius,’ the brightest star
in the firmament, Beuve-Méry, followed up virtually every major statement made by President
Charles de Gaulle with a front-page editorial expectantly awaited by the French political class
for its trenchant comments on the ruler’s deliberately provocative positions.
Beuve-Méry’s strong criticisms of De Gaulle
were all the more striking in that the founding
editor had been given the newspaper thanks to
the president soon after Paris was freed from
German occupation. Their love-hate relationship
came to symbolise Le Monde’s independence.
As France’s quality newspaper of record, Le
Monde was the direct successor of the discredited
Le Temps, which had been the paid, unofficial
organ both of the French Foreign Ministry and of
France’s heavy industry federation. Barring that
morally compromised paper from reopening, De
Gaulle wanted a clean start for French journalism.
Beuve-Méry was a highly logical choice to lead
a French journalistic renaissance. Before the war,
he had been the correspondent of Le Temps in the
Czechoslovakian capital of Prague. When, in 1938,
the paper backed Hitler’s view that Czechoslovakia was the illegitimate oppressor of its German
minority, Beuve protested strongly and resigned.
During his 12 years in Czechoslovakia, BeuveMéry resigned three times as Prague correspondent of a Paris paper.
Born in Paris into a modest family, BeuveMéry worked at a number of odd jobs to put
himself through a doctor of laws degree. BeuveMéry started out contributing to small Catholic
24
intellectual weeklies and monthlies. And that
was where he found his vocation, entering journalism as others entered the priesthood.
Back in Paris after Munich, he published a
widely-read pamphlet against the accord. During
the immobile, so-called Phoney War of 1939-40,
he served first as a lieutenant behind the Maginot Line and then as a liaison officer for two
regiments of Czechoslovak volunteers, whose escape he helped organise after the fall of France in
June 1940.
Thanks to his close ties to Emmanuel
Mounier, a leading Catholic social philosopher,
Beuve-Méry became director of the École des
Cadres, founded at Uriage under the auspices of
the Vichy government’s Youth Ministry.
Mounier’s idea was to train future leaders for a
French comeback after the country’s defeat.
Vichy Prime Minister Pierre Laval correctly suspected that the school was instilling a spirit of resistance to the Hitlerite New Order. Laval had the
school dissolved in December 1942, after it had
trained some 2,000 young cadres. Beuve-Méry
then joined the Resistance, becoming a lieutenant in the French Forces of the Interior.
The first edition of Le Monde, housed in the offices of Le Temps and printed on its presses, appeared in mid December 1944, with the help of a
government loan. By April 1945, Beuve-Méry
had repaid the loan. Having observed Le Temps’
pre-war compromises, Beuve-Méry insisted that
financial independence, however difficult, was
the condition of editorial independence. As he
once said: “What probably lost Le Temps was that
it had too much money; one of the great
strengths of Le Monde was not to have it.”
Beuve-Méry shunned the Paris whirl of journalists socialising with political leaders. His Le
Monde had no compunction about taking sides
in the great debates that shook post-war France.
Often at the cost of circulation, the paper advocated anti-colonialism and, in the 1950s, Cold
War neutralism.
Beuve-Méry presided over a daily ritual in
which some 15 editorial department chiefs gathered in his office every morning at 7 a.m. to decide how to report and comment on the day’s
news, to be printed by 2 p.m. Creating a sense of
urgency, the editorial conference was conducted
standing up. When Le Monde started in 1945, it
had 50 journalists. By 1975 it had 175 – generally
seen as the country’s best at their respective
beats.
When General de Gaulle returned to power in
1958 under dubious legal circumstances, purportedly to avert civil war led by generals determined to keep Algeria French, Beuve-Méry
broke with the Leftist opposition to endorse the
Gaullist takeover as the lesser of evils. BeuveMéry’s apartment was dynamited in January
1962 by last-ditch partisans of French Algeria.
Once Algeria gained its independence, Le Monde
resumed its warnings against the dangers of
Gaullist authoritarianism.
De Gaulle resigned in April 1969 after losing a
national referendum vote. In a typically nuanced
Beuvianisme, the editor wrote: “His faithful followers feel a sadness shared by many of his adversaries, more or less.” The publisher-editor followed
De Gaulle into retirement that December, after 25
years as chief of a newspaper that had worked to
restore the honour of French journalism.
In retirement, Beuve-Méry continued to go to
his office and produce daily critiques of the paper;
to supervise training of young journalists by heading Journalistes en Europe, a fellowship program
focused on the emerging European institutions;
and to be active with the IPI, of which he was one
of the founders. He died in April 1989 at age 87.
Written by Ronald Koven, European Representative,
World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC) and longserving Paris-based correspondent for newspapers
including The International Herald Tribune and
The Boston Globe
MONG PEOPLES IS TO B
TIVES:¶•THEFURTHERA
HEACHIEVEMENTOFU
ACTICES OF JOURNALI
RE,AFUNDAMENTALS
ANISATION TO WORK T
PUBLICATION OF NEW
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THER,ITISESSENTIALT
LD.¶INACCORDANCE
NT: FREE ACCESS TO TH
ES.¶ • THE PROMOTION
IAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAM
LD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANO
S,BYWHICHISMEANT:FREEACCESSTOTHENEWS,FREETRANSMISS
OURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES. ¶ · THE PROMOTION OF THE F
RTICLE I ¶ GENERAL ¶ 1. THE ORGANISATION DEFENDS EVERYONE’S
RTICLEXIXINTHEUNUNIVERSALDECLARATIONOFHUMANRIGHTS,
TITUTINTERNATIONALDELAPRESSE,INFRENCH;INSTITUTOINTERN
¶ 3. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF THE INSTITUTE SHALL BE ENGLISH
RPORATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 60 ET SEQ. OF THE SWISS CIVIL C
D RADIO AND TV SYSTEMS FOUNDATIONS, OTHER INSTITUTIONS AN
THENETEARNINGS,IFANY,OFTHEINSTITUTESHALLENURETOTHEBE
UBLICATIONS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EXCHANGE PROGRAMM
EOS AND ELECTRONIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE SENDING O
NG OUT THESE PURPOSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROMOTE A FAIR
NATIONAL COMMITTEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL OR OTHERW
ALCOMMITTEE.¶ARTICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEMBERSHIPOF
OURNALS,NEWSAGENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCASTINGSYSTE
TESOBJECTIVESANDWHO,INSEEKINGMEMBERSHIP,DECLAREFOR
MBLEABOVE.¶2.FULLMEMBERSHIPCANBEACQUIREDASFOLLOW
NESHALLHAVETHEPOWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWHETHERORN
BEMADETOTHEINSTITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHALLHAVETH
MATE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. ¶ 3. MEMBERSHIP SHA
NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BROADCASTI
RNET SERVICE MAY BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ONE FULL MEM
OFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERATINGINTHE
MBERSOFJOURNALISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVISORS.¶·AS
EPARTMENTS/SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, BROADCA
NTAFFAIRSPROGRAMMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERSONSHOLDI
TS GROUP) FROM ANY ONE NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, RADIO, TV ORG
ROVIDING THE APPLICANTS PROCURE WRITTEN APPROVAL FROM T
NATIONAL COMMITTEES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE TO THE NA
NCOUNTRIESWHERETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLIC
WHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROL
E IN ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHALL HAVE N
EMBERSHIPSHALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP
ND 2, TO COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND C
CASTINGFIELDS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPATEINAL
HORITYOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRDELEGAT
XECUTIVEBOARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVENOVOTIN
E EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WITH THE AG
OSHALLACTCONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHEPRESEN
ARD, BUT EXPULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON THE APP
GETHER WITH THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SHALL BE G
RDSHALLBEGRANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERSHALLSO
T GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE OF MEMBE
Above: Hubert BeuveMéry, second from left,
listening at the discussion “The Written and
the Spoken Word,”
1967. Below: BeuveMéry in portrait.
J. Jesús
BlanCornelas
MEXICO
1936–2006
o
n the morning of 27 November 1997, J.
Jesús Blancornelas, editor of the weekly
newspaper Zeta, set out on the six-block
trip from his home to the paper’s offices in Tijuana. Lying in wait for him was a gang of 10 assassins led by David Barron Corona, a.k.a. C.H., a
notorious member of the Tijuana drug cartel
whom Zeta had tied to the killing of two Mexican
soldiers the week before.
The red Ford Explorer driven by Blancornelas’
bodyguard Luis Valero was quickly ambushed.
The car was attacked on both sides in a barrage
of nearly 200 bullets. Valero, hit 38 times, died at
the scene, as did Corona who was accidentally
struck in the eye by a ricochet. Blancornelas was
hit four times but survived. He was badly injured, a bullet fragment lodged near his spine.
The attack was retaliation for Zeta’s groundbreaking investigative journalism that tackled
public corruption and drug trafficking, topics the
Mexican media had traditionally shied away
from. While it was commonplace for government officials and cartel members to bribe reporters to publish their propaganda, Zeta forged
a new path of independent, unflinching reporting that was fearless in its quest for truth. The
paper never hesitated to take on the highest
ranking cartel members and government officials. As such, many suspected that government
officials were complicit in the attack on Blancornelas. Just weeks before, the government had
withdrawn bodyguards assigned to him by a
state governor due to the numerous death
threats the editor had received.
26
But in Blancornelas’ view, reporting on the
exploits of the Tijuana drug cartel and government corruption was all in a day’s work. “I maintain that I am not here to wage war against the
mafia,” Blancornelas wrote in a May 1999 essay.
“But that news is news and I am a journalist.”
Born Juan Jesús Blanco Ornelas in San Luis
Potosi on 14 November 1936, Blancornelas
began his journalism career in the sport section
of the El Sol de San Luis newspaper in 1956. From
there, he went on to work as a reporter, city editor and news editor for El Mexicano, a daily
newspaper based in Tijuana. He later joined the
Mexicali daily La Voz de la Frontera as a sub-editor before rising to the rank of editor in chief.
In 1977, Blancornelas, along with his longtime colleague Hector ‘El Gato’ Felix Miranda,
founded the ABC newspaper in Tijuana, their first
foray into hard-hitting investigative journalism
that exposed government corruption. The paper
was taken over by the government in 1979 in a
trumped-up labour dispute that was retaliation
for Blancornelas’ refusal of a demand by State
Governor Roberto de la Madrid to fire Miranda
for his columns that were highly critical of local
politicians. In 1980, Blancornelas, accused of
fraud in connection with the government seizure,
fled to San Diego to launch Zeta, where he operated outside of the reach of Mexican officials for
two years, editing and publishing the paper and
exporting it to Tijuana. He returned to Mexico in
1982 when the charges against him were dropped.
The trouble for Blancornelas did not stop
there, however. In 1987, Zeta’s plant was sprayed
with machine-gun fire. The following year, Miranda was assassinated while driving to work.
After his murder, Blancornelas continued to
print Miranda’s name on the masthead as copublisher.
A month after the attempt on his life, Blancornelas returned to Zeta. He was surrounded by
armed soldiers around the clock. To quit would
have sent the message to the cartel that journalists could be intimidated, Blancornelas said in a
2003 interview with the Poynter Institute. “If I
had retired, I would have put my colleagues at
risk,” he said in the interview.
Blancornelas’ courageously pioneering work
ushered in a new era of Mexican journalism, one
in which more media outlets operated independently of authorities and in which the government was held more accountable for its misdeeds. His work also earned him the acclaim of
the international press freedom community.
In 1997, Blancornelas and other leading journalists created the Sociedad de Periodistas, or Society of Journalists, a press freedom organization
that was formed in response to the growing violence against Mexican journalists. The group demanded investigations of attacks on journalists
as well as security for those receiving death
threats. In 1999, Blancornelas received the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom
Award.
Blancornelas continued to edit Zeta until his
death on 23 November 2006 after a long battle
with stomach cancer. He was 70.
Ut
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news is news and
I am a journalist.”
J. Jesús Blancornelas
holds the UNESCO/
Guillermo Cano World
Press Freedom Prize
won for his reporting of
drug-related corruption on the Mexican
border around Tijuana.
NACCORDANCEWI grémah
WHICHISMEANT:FR BouKar
Koura
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PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY
EFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHIS
RGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS
REE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF TH
ND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PE
NOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGA
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MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST J
OPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DE
EENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTA
G ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWIN
NCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESS
OFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEANDBALANCEDNEWSAMONGNATIONS.¶•THEIMPROVE
NALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMA
ALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABL
KTOWARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS,BYWHICHISMEANT:FREEACCESSTOTHENEWS,FREETRANSMISSIONOF
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NG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAN
HAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS O
WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY W
HE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO A
N OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTAN
OPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PE
TANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES:
UARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS.
ANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT O
¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.T
P TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISH
OWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF
OPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION.
THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PE
Grémah Boukar AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES:
TANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED
Koura pictured
in
UARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION
OF NEWS,
FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS.
theseOF
portraits
in
ANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE
ACCURATE
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¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTAND
his office and theONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. T
P TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS
OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISH
radio studio of his
OWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE
PRESS,
station
RadioBY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF
SPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS
AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACC
Anfani, Niger.
NG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING
BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAN
NIGER
1959–
a
s director of Niger’s Radio Anfani, Grémah
Boukar Koura had an open door policy.
Anyone who wanted to sound off on the
news of the day – from the price of commodities
to the military rule of Colonel Ibrahim Bare
Mainassara – could access the airwaves. Boukar
preferred walk-ins to call-ins. People with
telephones were the affluent. He wanted to give
voice to the afflicted.
“We don’t take telephone callers and put them
on the air. It shouldn’t be such a small circle,”
Boukar said in a 1998 New York Times interview.
“The only way to really be free is to accept criticism.”
Boukar’s philosophy, however, was not shared
by Mainassara, who repeatedly tried in vain to
permanently force Radio Anfani off the air for its
unflinching examination of the atrocities committed by his regime.
Born on 2 February 1959 in Maine-Soroa,
Niger, Boukar founded Radio Anfani in 1994 as
an offshoot of the Anfani newspaper and magazine, of which he was publisher. The station was
launched during the administration of Mahamane Ousmane, Niger’s first democraticallyelected president. But a 1996 coup led by
Mainassara upended Ousmane’s government
and put Radio Anfani, the country’s leading
source for domestic and international news, in
the crosshairs.
That same year, soldiers stormed the Radio
Anfani offices in the capital of Niamey after the
station gave opposition parties, non-governmental organisations and trade unions airtime during the presidential elections. The station was
barred from broadcasting for nearly a month.
After Mainassara assumed the presidency
through a fraudulent election, the attacks on
Radio Anfani intensified. In March1997, armed
men vandalised the radio station, destroying
$80,000 (USD) in new equipment and temporarily forcing the station off the air. Weeks later,
Boukar, three Radio Anfani journalists and two
security guards were arrested on unnamed
charges following a libel complaint the military
had lodged against the Anfani newspaper for a
story that reported that the army was behind the
attack. Boukar and one of the guards were subsequently charged with orchestrating the destruction of the station’s equipment to gain sympathy
and financial assistance from the international
community. They were later released.
The most harrowing episode in the clash
between Radio Anfani and the Mainassara
regime came in April 1998. The opposition to
Mainassara was gathering steam. Supporters
took to the streets in protest. In an effort to quell
the uprising, the government banned private
radio stations from broadcasting news it felt
added fuel to the fire. In an attempt to silence the
government’s fiercest critic, security agents abducted Boukar from his home. He sat bound in a
sack as his captors described how they were
going to kill him and dispose of his body. However, the murderous plot was foiled by the captors’ realisation that they had been spotted by
Boukar’s neighbours and were certain to be identified if he was killed. Boukar was eventually
released.
Despite the arrests, vandalism and botched assassination attempt and with the threat of being
shut down dangling constantly overhead,
Boukar persevered. As other dissenting voices
were quashed, Radio Anfani remained the lone
radio outlet offering critical coverage of the
Mainassara government until the president’s assassination in April 1999.
With the subsequent fair election of the retired colonel Tandja Mamadu, the immediate
threat to Radio Anfani and Boukar lifted. Still, it
remained a struggle in Niger as it did in much of
West Africa to practise journalism free of government influence or intimidation.
Yet Boukar continued to fight for press freedom, driven by a sense of duty to make the government accountable to the governed.
“It seems to me that journalism goes with
democracy,” Boukar said in The New York Times
interview. The unwavering pursuit of journalism, he added, is “my moral obligation.”
“It seems to
me that
journalism
goes with
democracy.”
29
José
Burgos, Jr.
PHILIPPINES
1941–2003
t
he Philippines boasted a vibrant, vital, free
press before President Ferdinand Marcos
declared martial law in September 1972.
He destroyed Congress and civil liberties, and
kept the press to heel. While most independent
newspapers sold up, rather than face closure or
manipulation, José Burgos stood strong: defying
tyranny and fearlessly reporting on the moral
bankruptcy of Marcos’s military regime.
Born the son of a journalist on 4 January 1941,
the future tyrant-toppler, José G. Burgos Jr.,
started out as a police reporter with the Manila
Times at the tender age of 20. Within nine years,
he earned his first accolade as one of Ten Outstanding Young Men, thanks to his reports of
election-related violence in Ilocos Sur. The paper
he wrote for was banned early in Marcos’s reign,
so from deep inside martial law the maverick
Burgos decided to launch a battery of independent newspapers: Malaya (Free) and Masa
(Masses) and the English-language weekly WE
Forum, from a small office in Manila in May 1977.
Supported by “his ragtag band of journalists”
WE Forum was the widest-read dissident voice
available to the oppressed citizens, who “had to
whisper its name, like buying pornography,”
Burgos recalled. “The vendor would reach under
the counter and fold it so small you could put it
in your pocket.” The beginnings of the ‘mosquito
press’ made a nuisance of itself in its rebellion
against Marcos’s attempts at propaganda.
Soldiers closed the entire operation on 7 December 1982 when they stormed the newsroom
and arrested Burgos and nine of his staff. “I was
accused of being a subversive,” Burgos joked. “I
was a super-subversive because the military accused me of having been an officer of all the ille-
30
gal organisations in the Philippines and even the
U.S.” While perhaps something of an exaggeration, Burgos was truly unrelenting in his pursuit
of truth, fairness and objectivity.
Although an international outcry for his release bought his liberty quickly, the court case
lumbered through two years – leaving WE Forum
out in the cold and its voice silenced. With WE
Forum out of action, and stuck under house arrest, Burgos turned to his vernacular outlets; he
developed Malaya into WE Forum’s persistent little sister, shouting his crusade and giving hope
to his ever-increasing readership.
Committed to verity, Malaya published the
only full account of opposition leader Benigno
‘Ninoy’ Aquino’s murder at Manila Airport as he
returned from three years in exile in August
1983. Millions of people mourned “the greatest
president we never had,” yet there was no official
recognition or coverage of either the assassination or the funeral.
While a media blackout darkened the Philippine press, everyone at Malaya, from the trafficweaving newsboys to Burgos himself, lived
under constant threat: brutal murder, or ‘savaging,’ was the ultimate price paid by anyone
who dared to challenge the official line. Burgos,
with the humour needed to survive such obscurity, said, “I am the best-dressed man in the
Philippines because I have so many [law] suits!”
Aquino’s widow, Corazon, led the charge of
the People Power opposition movement, with
Malaya and Burgos inspiring others in the ‘alternative press’ to join the rally against Marcos.
When Marcos fraudulently claimed victory, his
regime came to an end as even his ministers
crossed the floor in support of Corazon, who was
sworn in as president while Marcos fled to the
United States. Burgos’ part in felling Marcos was
acknowledged by Ninoy’s sister years later:
“Without Joe and his publications at the frontline, the revolution would not have happened.
Nobody could argue the fact that the brave fight
for freedom and democracy would have been a
much tougher battle without Joe.”
Having almost single-handedly re-established
a free press in the Philippines, Burgos was
named International Journalist of the Year in
1986 and recognised by the International Press
Institute as one of 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the Century in 2000. On 10 May 2000, the
Philippine senate honoured him for “his heroic
deeds and steadfast struggle as a journalist.”
With his country returned to political order,
Burgos merged his two passions when he turned
his hand, and pen, to organic farming in 1988.
Drawing on his 1973 education in ecology,
gained as a Jefferson fellow at the East-West
Center, University of Hawaii, he established a 12hectare organic farm in San Miguel, Bulacan. Immersing himself in the world of agriculture, Burgos shared his experiences with his rapt readers.
Again his profound commitment to writing
about what he loved earned him high praise as
Agricultural Journalist of the Year in 1994, as did
his radio programme and active involvement in
agricultural and ecological concerns which
ranged from practical farming methods to relevant, affordable and environmentally-friendly
technologies.
When he died aged 62 on 16 November 2003
he was laid to rest on the beloved organic farm
he had worked so hard to create, in his beloved
country, which he had fought so hard to free.
ON OF THE INTERNATIONA
IAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD
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F THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOU
ES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAM
NDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION
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LydIa
CaCho
MEXICO
1963–
32
s
he is known as Mexico’s most wanted journalist; and yet she won’t be quiet. Not even
to save her life.
Born on 12 April 1963 in Mexico City to a
French mother, journalist and human rights activist, Lydia Cacho Ribeiro began her career in
the mid 1980s as a reporter for the social section
of Novedades de Cancun. In her early twenties,
she wrote about social news but soon turned her
attention to racism, poverty and other issues
impacting people in her city. At age 24, she
began writing about violence against women
and the men who perpetrated it. Between 1994
and 1999, she took the issue of violence against
women to the airwaves, hosting the show “Estas
Mujeres” (These Women). From 2000 to 2005,
she anchored the television program “Esta Boca
es mia!” (This Mouth is Mine).
At the tender age of 23, Cacho moved to Cancún
because she wanted to be a poet – a dream
deferred when a literature teacher, after reading
one of her poems, told her: “You will never be a
good poet because you are too worried with reality,” and suggested journalism. Cacho moved to
Cancún for yet another reason: the beauty and the
scuba diving. “I just moved there because it was
beautiful and I wanted to have a peaceful life,” she
said in an interview with ABC 1, the national
public television channel in Australia. But she
soon discovered that she was “really curious” and
“good at listening and building trust with people.”
After a few years as a journalist, Cacho’s life
was anything but peaceful.
By the mid 1990s, Cacho had advanced to
writing about the prostitution of young girls
from Cuba and Argentina in Cancún. Her concern for the rights of women and children, and
the encouragement of her activist mother, led
her to establish a shelter for battered and sexually-exploited women and children in Cancún,
where she lives. By 2009, the Centro Integral de
Atención a las Mujeres in Cancún (CIAM) had
handled 33,000 cases within its first 10 years.
Although her newspaper writings did not go
unnoticed, it wasn’t until she started naming
names that things became difficult. In 2003,
Cacho wrote a series of articles for Por Esto newspaper accusing a prominent local hotel owner of
involvement in a child pornography ring. She
followed the newspaper reports with a 2005
book, “Los Demonios del Edén” (“Demons of
Eden”), which accused a hotel owner of being involved in the pornography and child prostitution
ring. The book also named high-profile politicians and other prominent businessmen. One of
those businessmen, whom Cacho accused of protecting the hotel owner, sued her for defamation.
Cacho was arrested in Puebla by a group of po-
ON OF THE INTER
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licemen who drove her to a jail nearly 20 miles
from her home and tortured her for 20 hours. At
one point, the officers took a blindfolded Cacho
out of the car and threatened to throw her into
the ocean below. “In the moments that I thought I
was going to die, I was truly scared. So scared that
I stopped feeling my body,” she told ABC 1, adding
this about the defamation suit that followed: “It
will sound strange, but after you go through all
this, you are absolutely sure you will die … because that’s what torturers do. Torturers don’t torture you to get the truth out of you. They torture
you to make you understand that your life doesn’t
belong to you. That you are absolutely vulnerable
and that you are at the mercy of the bad guys. So
after that, everything is easier, I guess.”
Eventually, Cacho paid a fine and was freed;
she later sued – successfully charging the Puebla
government over violation of her human rights.
The charges were dropped against Cacho and her
investigations have so far led to the arrest and
conviction of the man involved in the pornography ring who filmed the young girls in sex acts.
In early 2006, only months after Cacho was released from jail, tapes were leaked to the daily La
Jornada in Mexico City containing telephone
conversations between the businessman who
had sued Cacho and the governor of Puebla, discussing putting Cacho in jail as a “favour’” and
having her beaten while in custody to silence her.
But when it comes to fighting for the rights of
women and for freedom of expression, the word
‘silence’ is not in Cacho’s vocabulary.
“It’s the way I was educated in my family,”
Cacho told Mother Jones in an interview in 2007.
“My mom was French; she was born in France,
but she grew up in Mexico. And she has always
told us that she was shocked by how willing
Mexicans were to negotiate their dignity in exchange for apparent freedom. When I was a
teenager, I asked her what she meant by ‘apparent freedom’ and she said, ‘You are always under
somebody if you sell your dignity to them.’
When all this happened, I realized what she
meant. I won’t negotiate my dignity because it
has to do with my real freedom – my freedom of
speech, my freedom of being a woman, protecting others. I have met hundreds of people that
are really amazed at what I’ve done, and they
keep telling me – mainly men, which is pretty
strange – ‘Aren’t you afraid of getting killed?’
People are so, so afraid.”
Recipient of the Premio Francisco Ojeda al
Valor Periodístico (Francisco Ojeda Award for
Journalistic Courage), Cacho, a columnist for El
Universal, continues to fight for the rights of
women, releasing a book in 2010 entitled: “Slaves
of Power: A World Map of Sex Traffickers.”
MONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JO
TIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHE
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NDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE
Above Left: Lydia Cacho, shown
in jail, charged with libel and
slander for her book “Demons
of Eden”, which accused a
prominent businessman of
pedophilia. Above center:
Cacho is released from jail on a
US $ 10,000 bail. Above right:
Cacho at a news conference for
her book “Demons of Eden.”
Above: Cacho
stands in front of
supporters outside
of the courthouse
after her trial,
2005.
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OURNALISTS
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MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANC
Guillermo Cano,
pictured in these
portraits, chose to
fight the war on drugs
with words as editor
of El Espectador in
Columbia.
gUILLermo
Cano
COLOMBIA
1925–1986
u
nlike the United States’ mighty ‘War on
Drugs,’ Guillermo Cano Isaza’s campaign
against drug trafficking in Colombia was
fought humbly with words. As editor, Cano used
the pages of El Espectador to spotlight the burgeoning international drug trade taking root in
Columbia in the 1980s, uncovering the government’s complicity in the activities of the Medellin
Cartel and drawing the ire of its infamous leader
Pablo Escobar.
Cano’s work put him on Escobar’s bad side, a
precarious position he was all too aware of. “The
problem about our business is you never know if
we will return home at night,” Cano said in an
interview with the Association of Journalists of
Bogotá on 16 December 1986.
The next day, Cano was leaving the El Espectador offices shortly after 7 p.m. in his car when
two gunmen on motorcycles shot him in the
chest eight times with a machine gun. Trying to
escape the hail of bullets, Cano sped up but got
only a short distance before crashing into a light
pole. He died on the scene. He was 61.
Born 12 August 1925 in Bogotá, Cano began
his journalism career at age 17, writing about
bullfighting for El Espectador, which was
founded and run by his father Fidel Cano Gutiérrez. He also worked for a short time as a copy editor before launching the paper’s Sunday magazine and going on to serve as its Europe correspondent. In 1952, at age 27, Cano was named
editor of El Espectador. “He had a wonderful
sense of what news is,” one colleague recalled.
When cocaine trafficking took a hold of
Colombia in the early-1980s, Cano shifted the
focus of his journalism to helping rout out what
he saw as a scourge eroding the very foundation
of society. “He felt that if not stopped, the drug
gangs would like to run the government, which
is what we are experiencing now,” his older
brother Luis Gabriel Cano Isaza, president of the
Inter American Press Association from 19961997, once said.
One of Guillermo Cano Isaza’s first salvos
against Escobar was a 1983 article about the
drug kingpin’s early arrest for hiding cocaine in
the tires of a stolen car. Shortly after that story
ran, Cano ran into Escobar again at the opening
ceremony of the Congress in 1983. Escobar had
aspired to run for Congress but his plans were
derailed by a front-page story Cano ran the next
day detailing Escobar’s drug connections.
From there, El Espectador set out to investigate
the on-going crimes of the Medellin Cartel and
its growing influence on Colombian society.
Cano often used his column, ‘Notebook,’ to
launch regular attacks against Escobar. He also
advocated for the extradition of drug traffickers
to the United States for prosecution, deeming
Colombia’s judicial system too corrupt and too
inept to properly mete out justice. By this time,
Escobar had developed a practice of brazenly
murdering his adversaries, ordering hits on
dozens of law enforcement authorities, including
the country’s justice minister, the justice of the
Supreme Court and the head of the narcotics police. Cano and his fellow investigative journalists
were also on that hit list.
In 1986, Cano earned the National Journalism
Award for his courage in fighting for press freedom. Shortly thereafter, he was murdered by contract killers hired by Escobar. The assassination
established Colombia as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Since then, more
than 100 journalists have been killed in Colombia.
Cano’s murder touched off a groundswell of
outrage. The funeral procession the next day was
led by then-president Virgilio Barco and attended by thousands of mourners. The Circle of
Bogotá Journalists called for a media blackout in
Cano’s honour and no media outlet published or
broadcast that day. Columbian journalist Javier
Dario Restrepo was there that solemn day. “We
left the park … and proceeded along the Avenida
Jimenez in an unusual manifestation of journalists. We were silent, (wearing) dark suits and
white handkerchiefs ... I fail to specify our dominant feelings (about) the protest. Is (it) the rage,
or (is it) the pride of being journalists like
Guillermo Cano?”
Cano’s murder was just the beginning of the
attacks waged on El Espectador as the paper continued its crusade against the cartel. Cano’s sons,
Juan Guillermo and Fernando, who took over for
their father, received numerous death threats and
were forced into exile several times in the years
following his death. Four other journalists at the
paper were forced to flee as well. As for the paper
itself, distribution was sabotaged when the director of distribution and general manager were
killed. Between 1989 and 1990, the paper could
only be delivered in Medellin with military protection. The battle between the cartel and the
paper came to a head in 1989 when Hector Giraldo Galvez, the Cano family lawyer who was
helping oversee the murder investigation, was
killed. That same year, the newspaper’s offices
were destroyed by a 300-pound bomb and the
Cano family summer house was burned down.
The investigation into Cano’s murder took
nine years, an inquiry frustrated by the cartel’s
bribery, threats and murder of judges, court officials and jurors. The two hit men suspected to
have killed Cano were themselves murdered by
the cartel to tie up loose ends. In 1995, four people were convicted for conspiracy in connection
with Cano’s murder, but three of those convictions were later overturned. Luis Carlos Molina
Yepes, whose conviction was upheld, served six
years before being released in 2004. Members of
the international journalism community continue to push for a re-opening of the case and a
full account of the circumstances surrounding
Cano’s murder.
35
Juan PaBlo
Cárdenas
CHILE
1949–
B
y day, Juan Pablo Cárdenas, editor-in-chief
of the weekly newspaper magazine Análisis,
published stories detailing the government
corruption and human rights’ abuses committed
under General Augusto Pinochet’s military
regime. By night, he served an 18-month, nighttime prison sentence imposed in retaliation for
those stories.
The year was 1987. Cárdenas, who had written
a series of editorials that landed him on the
Chilean dictator’s bad side, was sentenced to 541
nights in prison. He would report to the prison at
10 p.m. and leave at 7 a.m., returning to Análisis’
offices to continue his crusade against the corrupt regime. The nightly ritual drew international attention and established Cárdenas as an
ardent defender of press freedom.
Born on 1 December 1949 in Santiago, Cárdenas, known as Juanpa by friends, studied journalism at the Universidad Católica de Chile and
was editor of the weekly magazine Debate Universitario until 1973.
In 1977, Cárdenas sent a letter to hundreds of
his contacts letting them in on the idea that he
had to start a new independent magazine. His
appeal for pre-subscriptions resulted in cheques
from 400 people, which provided the seed
money he needed to launch Análisis. From those
first hundred subscribers, the magazine grew to
a circulation of nearly 70,000. Análisis dared to
take on government corruption and the human
rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship, subjects few publications in Chile would touch.
36
“Thirty years ago, few believed that the magazine could be created under the rule of a dictatorship and with so many restrictions on freedom of expression and human rights,” Cárdenas
said in a 2007 interview with Chile’s Citizen
Newspaper Network marking the magazine’s
30th anniversary special edition. “However our
publication is and will be recognized as one of
the more notable efforts of imagination and
boldness in the Chilean struggle against oppression.”
Cárdenas and his colleagues at Análisis paid a
steep price for their fearlessness. In 1986, Jose
Carrasco Tapia, the magazine’s foreign news editor, was kidnapped; his body found hours later
riddled with bullets. Cárdenas was arrested more
than half-a-dozen times and Análisis was shut
down numerous times, including on three occasions in 1986. The staff faced constant threats,
harassment and lawsuits. Análisis was denied
state advertising, and news vendors were told
not to stock the magazine. The simple act of
owning too many issues would put readers at
risk of government persecution for possessing
subversive materials.
Upon Cárdenas’ release from his nightly
prison sentence in 1989, he continued to be targeted by the government. That same year, his
home was badly burned in a case of arson. Cárdenas was undeterred and continued his crusading work until Análisis closed in 1992. The
demise of the magazine was widely reported to
be the result of a loss of readership and revenue
as well as the shifting political landscape
brought about by the 1990 presidential election
of Patricio Aylwin, which restored democracy
and press freedom to Chile. Cárdenas, on the
other hand, blamed Aylwin for the closure of
several publications, accusing the government
of working behind the scenes to undermine
Análisis and other media that were critical of
Pinochet. Shortly after Análisis’ end, Cárdenas
founded the magazine The Times and the online
journal First Line. Unfortunately, both publications were short-lived, a fate he also blamed on
Aylwin.
Cárdenas went on to serve as press attaché at
the Chilean embassy in Mexico from 1994 to
2000 before joining the faculty at the University
of Chile’s School of Journalism. He is currently
director of Radio Universidad de Chile, the station which he has transformed into one of the
most popular in the country, and has helped
train the next generation of Chilean journalists
to follow in his trailblazing footsteps. In addition, Cárdenas continues to write newspaper
and magazine columns providing political
analysis.
In 2009, Cárdenas published his autobiography, “A Danger to Society,” which won a Book
Council Award the same year.
“Adhering to the journalistic vocation is not to
appease or please the authority but to lash out
and to ensure that through our work, which is
often unpleasant and painful, situations change,”
Cárdenas said in his acceptance speech.
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Pedro Joaquín
Chamorro
NICARAGUA
1924–1978
a
fter 30 years of doing battle against the
corrupt Somoza family that ruled
Nicaragua with an iron fist, Pedro Joaquín
Chamorro Cardenal, editor of La Prensa, wrote a
letter to President Anastasio Somoza Debayle informing the leader that he was prepared to accept his fate.
“I am waiting, with a clear conscience, and a
soul at peace, for the blow you are to deliver,”
Chamorro wrote in 1975. Three years later, that
blow would come as a barrage of bullets:
Chamorro was gunned down in his car on his
way to La Prensa’s offices in Managua. And he
saw it coming.
After all, Chamorro had dared to wage war
against Somoza’s tyranny in the pages of La
Prensa, his family’s newspaper serving as the
front line of the opposition. And the price often
paid for opposing Somoza was death. But
Chamorro would not be scared into silence and
instead led the resistance that worked to oust Somoza, his pioneering activist journalism laying
the groundwork for the eventual upending of
Somoza’s presidency.
Born 23 September 1924 in Granada,
Chamorro’s opposition work began in law school,
where he took part in demonstrations against
dictator General Anastasio Somoza García. In
1944, Chamorro was jailed briefly for making an
anti-Somoza speech at a university rally. That
same year, the family was forced into exile to
Mexico, the newspaper temporarily shut down
by the regime. In Mexico, Chamorro studied journalism and returned to Nicaragua in 1948 to
work at La Prensa. In 1952, Chamorro assumed
the editorship of the paper after his father’s
death.
At the helm of La Prensa, Chamorro was the
most visible and outspoken opponent of the Somoza regime, using the paper to spotlight the
acts of corruption and human rights abuses
committed by the president. He was also active
in the Democratic Union of Liberation (UDEL),
which fought for human rights and the restoration of democracy in Nicaragua.
Chamorro’s political activism riled Somoza,
who used threats, intimidation and, in many
cases, brute force to try to stop his work. In 1954,
Chamorro was jailed, tortured and imprisoned
on charges of rebellion. A year later, the sentence
was commuted to house arrest.
The following year, Chamorro was arrested
again during a brutal and bloody government
crackdown following Somoza’s assassination, an
act in which Chamorro was suspected of being
complicit. In 1957, he was subsequently charged
again with rebellion and banished to San Carlos,
a remote town in northern Nicaragua. Chamorro,
instead, fled to Costa Rica with his wife, Violeta
Barrios de Chamorro, to regroup and organise a
mission to overthrow the government of Somoza’s eldest son, Luis Somoza Debayle. Unfortunately, the group’s members were captured before their plan was executed. Chamorro was convicted of treason in a military trial and sentenced
to nine years in prison. He was released in 1969,
when he regained his editor post at La Prensa
and continued his crusade against the Somoza
regime – now led by Anastasio Somoza Debayle,
the son of the former dictator.
In 1975, the government imposed a 32-month
suspension of constitutional rights in reaction to
an attack from Cuban-backed rebels. The Somoza
regime also imposed censorship measures on
Chamorro and La Prensa. The paper was required
to submit its pages for review by a board of censors composed of officers of the National Guard.
Chamorro fought against the censorship and continued to press for Somoza’s removal from office,
drawing the world’s attention to Nicaragua’s plight.
“I am very optimistic. I see the end of the Somoza dynasty,” Chamorro said in a 1978 interview with Atlas World Press Review. “The majority of the people are against Somoza, except for
the government workers. Somoza’s regime is
near the end because he lost support of the U.S.
administration and public opinion in America
and Europe. The newspaper now gives the truth
about Somoza. He is a thief. He doesn’t distinguish between his own interests and the inter-
ests of the state. When the dynasty disappears it
will happen in Nicaragua as it happened in Spain
when Franco died.”
Chamorro would not live to see his prophecy
come true.
The day he was murdered, 10 January 1978,
was like any other. As was his habit, Chamorro
made a quick trip that morning to his neighbourhood Catholic church before heading to
work. His car was rammed from behind, trapping
him as three men approached with machine
guns and riddled the car with bullets. Chamorro
died at the scene. He was 53.
Chamorro’s wife, Violeta, who took over La
Prensa after his death, said in a 1981 interview
with the paper that she and her husband often
spoke of his demise as the inevitable conclusion
of his work. “During his last years we spoke of
death as if it were a natural thing,” she said. “I, understandably, didn’t want to speak about it, but
one has to be a realist and see that we are all going
to die one day, perhaps earlier than we think.”
Chamorro’s murder set off civil war in
Nicaragua and ignited a groundswell of citizens
to demand Somoza’s resignation. Tens of thousands of people rioted in the streets of Managua
and in other parts of the country, setting buildings and cars ablaze, particularly those belonging to the Somoza family. Workers went on
strike. The government retaliated with escalating
violence, including seven machine-gun attacks
and attempted bombings of La Prensa in 1978.
The paper and Violeta continued Pedro’s crusade
to end the Somoza regime. In 1990, Violeta
Chamorro was elected president of Nicaragua.
Chamorro’s courageous work as publisher and
editor of La Prensa is summed up in a short inscription on his mausoleum in a Managua cemetery: “El nunca claudico – He never wavered.”
39
may
ChIdIaC
LEBANON
1964–
40
I
n her more than 25 years in Lebanese journalism, May Chidiac has broken the barriers of tradition and gender. She managed to distinguish
herself as a serious journalist from a very young
age even when the odds were perfectly stacked
against her. She was a woman in a war-torn
country, without a father in a patriarchal society,
but being who she was, she always managed to
come out on top.
Her professional success is only overshadowed
by her success as a caring aunt and loyal sister.
Around her huge family, which she affectionately
calls her ‘tribe,’ she is known to be the aunt who
gets you out of trouble.
In Lebanon they call her the living martyr; in
the United States they call her the living hero. Not
only is May Chidiac a personal hero of many, but
she is also a woman who makes you want to
push yourself to achieve what others might think
is impossible in the same manner that she did.
Chidiac started her career as a radio news
broadcaster at the Voice of Lebanon radio station,
and managed to use her success in radio to jumpstart her television career as a war correspondent
at the newly-formed LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting
Corporation). She worked as a reporter in critical
areas of Lebanon during the civil war. Death
never seemed to faze her, and Chidiac’s strong
will and personality helped cement her as one of
Lebanese journalism’s elite.
She soon became a star as an editor, news anchor and host of political talk shows, and she became known for being among the few to publicly
challenge the Syrian hegemony over Lebanon.
From 1998 to 2005, she fought for freedom
through her television show Nharkom Saiid
(Good Morning Lebanon) by bringing in guests
who spoke openly and defiantly against Syria’s
interference. She was harassed by threatening
messages that were meant to scare her, but which
had the exact opposite effect.
She finally saw the fruition of her long struggle with the Lebanese resistance on 14 March
2005 when over a million Lebanese gathered in
Martyr’s Square to protest against the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and
demand the withdrawal of the Syrian military
from Lebanon.
October 2004 marked the beginning of a series
of assassinations targeting prominent public figures.
On 25 August 2005, Chidiac was a victim of an
improvised explosive device placed under her
car. The bomb caused her to lose her left arm, and
her left leg was amputated above the knee.
Chidiac has undergone 33 surgeries in Beirut and
Paris along with a difficult recovery in a French
rehabilitation centre. However, the would-be-as-
sassins who planned her execution never really
got what they wanted. In July 2006, 10 months
after the assassination attempt, Chidiac was back
on-air in an evening prime-time talk-show called
“Bikol Joraa” (With Audacity) that soon became a
top-rated hit centering on national, regional and
international news.
On 3 February 2009, as a protest against political interference in her work and the oppression
of journalists, Chidiac decided to cease broadcasting her acclaimed programme. She believes her
decision has successfully restored respect to both
the profession of journalism and Lebanon’s living
martyrs.
Chidiac has received numerous global honours and acknowledgments, including the Prix de
la Francophonie pour la Liberté d’Expression in
2005, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press
Freedom Prize in 2006 and the International
Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Courage in
Journalism Award. In May 2007, Chidiac was
decorated by the then-French President Jacques
Chirac with the Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion
d’Honneur medal at the Elysée Palace. The same
year, she published her autobiography “Le Ciel
M’attendra” (Heaven Will Wait for Me).
Aside from her media career, Chidiac taught
journalism at Notre Dame University (NDU) in
Lebanon and, in 2006, launched the May Chidiac
Foundation, which is dedicated to education, social welfare and human rights with an emphasis
on women’s rights. She also set up the MCF
Media Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit organisation dedicated to research and training on
issues regarding the media and democracy.
In 2008, Chidiac finally gained her PhD, which
she had intended to submit in 2005 until the assassination attempt forced her to place her studies on hold. Re-written following the events of
that fateful day, her thesis – entitled “The Influence of Politics on the Evolution of the Television
Landscape in Lebanon, 1958-2008” – was
awarded high distinction by the assessment jury
at the Pantheon-Assas Paris II University.
They say that it is easy to kill a person, but impossible to kill an idea, and that is what Chidiac is
– an idea that exemplifies resistance and persistence. A persistence in resisting the oppression of
her people and her profession; that is precisely
what placed her on the hit list of those who could
not bear the words that she spoke. One can only
hope that the acts and words of May Chidiac
have inspired a new generation of journalists
willing to carry the flame of true journalistic values without hesitation and fear.
Written by May Chidiac’s nephew, Fadi Baaklini.
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Clockwise from left: Police inspect May Chidiac’s car after a
bomb explosion that resulted in
the loss of part of her left arm
and leg, 2005; Chidiac among
demonstrators during a rally
where journalists walked toward
the Hariri’s Future TV station
that was forced to close by
Hezbollah guerrillas in Beirut,
2008; Chidiac sits with Siham
Tueni and her daughters during
the WAN Gebran Tueni Award
ceremony in Beirut, 2007.
Chidiac, a 2006
UNESCO/Guillermo
Cano World Press
Freedom Prize Laureate, speaks in Paris at
a forum in her honour,
2009.
HAT THEY HAVE GOOsUK-Chae
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EWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE AC
RATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRA
DONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFO
FTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGA
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PU
ONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BA
GBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER
TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN
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NTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP T
DANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOW
ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAP
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG
AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THA
UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE W
SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS T
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NALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPE
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WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGU
ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAP
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG
AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THA
UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE W
SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS T
NDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROM
NALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPE
TAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDE
WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGU
SOUTH KOREA
1917–1991
I
n 1964, General Park Chung-hee’s military
regime moved to clamp down on the media in
South Korea. The idea was to pass a press code
of ethics, an odious set of rules and regulations
to muffle independent reporting. But Suk-Chae
Choi, a long-time journalist and vice chairman
of the Korean Newspaper Editors’ Association
fought back.
As he had done three years earlier when he
refused a request from Chung-hee to make a
radio statement and write articles supporting his
regime, Choi balked at the ethics code and challenged it at every turn. Choi’s relentless opposition to the bill and defense of press freedom in
Korea wore down the regime, which eventually
gave up on the idea. The episode is legendary in
Korean journalism but was not unique for Choi.
Throughout his nearly 50 years in journalism,
Choi courageously opposed communism and official wrongdoing, defending press freedom and
serving as an inspiration for journalists during
South Korean’s transition to democracy in the late
1980s.
Choi believed it was his duty to fight for a free
press. “Journalists should keep their pride high
in spite of any oppression or difficulty,” Choi said
shortly before his death.
Born on 21 November 1917 in Boeun, North
Chung-Chong Province, Choi began his journalism career in 1942 as a magazine reporter. He
later worked for the daily Maeil in Tae-gu, first as
a managing editor and then as an editorial writer
before becoming editor in chief.
Choi was a frequent critic of the government.
In 1955, he wrote an article for Maeil entitled
“Don’t Capitalize on Students for Political Gains”
in which he blasted corrupt Democratic Party officials for forcing students to applaud them during public speeches. In retaliation for the piece,
Choi was forcibly removed from Maeli’s offices
and detained by police for 30 days. He was later
acquitted of any wrongdoing by the Supreme
Court.
In 1960, Choi went to work for Chosun Ilbo, a
national daily. He continued his crusade against
communism, writing his columns and articles
unsigned to avoid government reprisal. His 1960
article “Let’s Stand Up Against the Government”
criticised government fraud and led to a series of
student protests in April of that year.
His work drew widespread attention once
again in 1963 when he wrote “Rebuke Officers
with No Common Sense” in response to a
demonstration against a civilian government by
hundreds of officers and soldiers supportive of
General Chung-hee’s regime.
Still, Choi considered his defeat of the press
code of ethics bill his greatest career triumph. He
was later offered several positions within the government, including ministerial posts, but refused
them all in favour of his beloved journalism.
Choi was appointed editor-in-chief of Chosun
Ilbo in 1965. He was also chairman of Munhwa
Broadcasting Company, honorary chairman of
Maeil and chairman of the Korean IPI National
Committee.
Choi died on 15 April 1991. He was 74.
Suk-Chae Choi,
pictured here, spent
nearly 50 years in
journalism, much of
that time as editorin-chief of South
Korea’s Chosun Ilbo
newspaper.
43
JúlIo
de mesquIta neto
BRAZIL
1922–1966
I
n 1968, the Fifth Institutional Act went into effect in Brazil, granting the government wide latitude in censoring the printed media. Every
newspaper and magazine was required to submit
to government censorship. The board of censors,
acting as ‘guardians of the state,’ edited all offending stories and images from the publications and,
in some instances, banned them from publishing
at all. The censorship dealt a devastating blow to
the publications, many of which folded. Others
resorted to self-censorship to stay alive.
And then there was O Estado de S. Paulo (The
State of São Paulo), whose courageous publisher
Júlio De Mesquita Neta protested the censorship
with poetry, replacing the edited articles with excerpts from famed 16th-century poet Luís Vaz de
Camões’ opus, “Os Lusiadas.” The tale about Portuguese adventures in the Orient became a symbol of O Estado’s adventures in government repression, alerting readers that their paper had
been altered and putting Mesquita Neta’s battle
against censorship on public display.
Born on 11 December 1922 in São Paulo,
Mesquita Neto joined O Estado as a reporter in
1947 after graduation from the University of São
Paulo. Passion for free expression and freedom of
the press was in his blood. His grandfather, Julio
Mesquita, began the fight at the turn of the century as O Estado’s publisher, his clashes with the
government landing him in prison on more than
one occasion. Mesquita Neto’s father, Júlio de
Mesquita Filho, carried the torch on the paper’s
44
editorial pages, where government threats twice
forced him into exile. After working as a reporter
and an editor, Mesquita Neto succeeded his father as publisher in 1969.
Under Mesquita Neto, O Estado grew to a staff
of more than 400 journalists, providing the most
comprehensive coverage of any newspaper in
the region. The paper became required reading
for people of influence in Brazil. It also became a
target when Mesquita Neto refused to censor his
pages as decreed by the government.
Over Mesquita Neto’s objections, the government’s censors staged a takeover of the paper,
planting themselves in the editorial department
for five years. In place of the hundreds of articles
the censors cut during that time, Mesquita Neto
ran snippets of Camões’ poem. All told, the poem
appeared in the paper 665 times.
“O Estado did not passively accept the censorship that was submitted,” Mesquita Neto said in
October 1973 at a general meeting of the Inter
American Press Association.
The government’s oppression didn’t stop at
censorship, however. O Estado journalists were
also pressured, persecuted and threatened because of their work. In March 1974, the paper’s
Recife bureau chief, Carlos Garcia, was arrested
and tortured. In October 1975, Luiz Costa, the
Sao Jose dos Campos correspondent was arrested and tortured.
That same year, the government’s censorship
campaign began to ease a little with the adminis-
AVE GOOD
NCEWITH
ANT:FREE
SO AMON
AL ¶ 1. THE
UNUNIVE
tration of President Ernesto Geisel. It was a ‘compromise’ that Mesquita Neto did not fully trust,
viewing the new-found freedom of information
as a posture of the government that could be reversed on a whim.
Mesquita Neto vowed that the paper would
continue to resist any efforts by the establishment to restrict its journalism.
“Estado will not change its opinions. Under a
totalitarian regime, we will be oppressed and
continue to fight for freedom. Under a free
regime, we will worry about the dangers and excesses of democracy,” he said in a 1975 Time
magazine interview. “It’s really easier for Brazil
to change than it is for Estado to change.”
O Estado’s pioneering journalism established
Mesquita Neto as one of the most ardent opponents of the military regimes that ruled Brazil
between 1964 and 1985. And through his work
with the Inter American Press Association, including a stint as president, Mesquita Neto was a
champion of press freedom throughout Latin
America. He was awarded the World Association
of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom in 1974
for his “brave and lonely fight against censorship
in Brazil.”
On 5 June 1996, Mesquita Neto died of cancer.
He was 73. His funeral was attended by hundreds, including Brazil’s freely-elected president,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, whose position was
made possible in part because of Mesquita Neto’s
calls for democracy in the pages of O Estado.
LES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED A
FURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS,BYWHICHISMEANT:FREEACCESSTOTHENEWS,FREETRANSMISSIONOFNEWS,FRE
MENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEANDBALA
JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER,
AMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶IN
TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: F
N OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶
NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PE
SSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGA
ORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGANISATIONTOWORKTOWARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEAN
CESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UND
ROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURN
NDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALS
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GUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NE
NDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEANDBALANCEDNEWSAMONG
DPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATT
DSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHT
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XPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEO
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F THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FR
TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGS
EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE
S ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UN
NG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE
EEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FRE
GST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATION
EDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAV
DERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS
OLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS
EEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH
MEANT:
Júlio IS
de Mesquita
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publisher of
O Estado de
S. Paulo,
courageously PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAV
EDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDING
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on print
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JIří
o
dIenstBIer
CZECH REPUBLIC
1937–
46
n August 21 1968, enduringly his proudest moment, Jiří Dienstbier and his colleagues at Radio Prague locked the Warsaw Pact representatives in a cupboard and continued to broadcast until Czech politician
Alexander Dubček returned a week later and
dragged Czechoslovakia into “the time of darkness.” This slightly mischievous, exceedingly
daring character trait rings true throughout Dienstbier’s life, coupled with an unwavering optimism and ability to see the best in even the
worst of situations.
When the Iron Curtain was drawn across
Czechoslovakia with the Soviet invasion of August 1968, Dienstbier’s legitimate livelihood also
suffered. In 1969 he was branded a dissident and
expelled from the Journalists’ Union, along with
1,500 other members; in 1970 he was dismissed
from broadcasting. No longer permitted to publish legally, he went underground publishing
Čtverec (The Square), bringing hope to his compatriots. “I believed then, as always, that life may
be decent, and the only problem is that it sometimes takes decades before you get to it,” he said
in an interview. Until the fall of communism in
1989, his “decent” future was making a living as
an archivist, night-watchman and stoker.
Born 20 April 1937 in Kladno, Czechoslovakia, Dienstbier had a burning passion to learn
from an early age: “I was interested in foreign
policy; I bought my first history of diplomacy,
three books, at the age of 10, so I studied it all
my life,” he once said. He graduated from
Charles University, Prague, in 1960 with a master of arts degree from the faculty of philosophy,
so, when he was jettisoned from “the lazy job of
a boiler-man to become foreign minister of
Czechoslovakia,” he was able to take it in his
stride.
From the day the Soviet Union occupied his
homeland Dienstbier started fighting. While he
continued to publish hundreds of samizdat essays and articles as well as books both at home
and abroad, he was also a part of the group of
prominent Czech intellectuals involved in
preparing democratic changes. In 1977, he was
among one of the first signatories of Charter 77,
a human rights movement based on International Covenants on Human Rights.
His arrest and incarceration in 1979 for his
opposition to the regime did not interfere with
his crusade. “I said many times, even to my
mates in prison, that life is everywhere, and I always tried to use every experience as something
positive.Say, ‘I am here for three years and I
must profit from it as much as possible.’ ”
Aside from joining the International Press Institute in 1988, over the following decade, Dien-
stbier was instrumental in preparing the ground
for the Civic Forum, which aimed at unifying all
anti-authoritarian forces to overthrow the communist regime. Using peaceful protest, the Velvet Revolution succeeded when, on 28 November 1989 the Communist government relinquished power, and left the new Czech Republic
to make its own ‘decent life.’
Dienstbier laughs about forming the new
government: “Because Mr. Čalfa understood that
we were not some hippies and we understood
that he was no Biľak or Jakes, in two hours the
government was formed and it was necessary to
work.” The new republic prepared to move forward as an independent state. As part of the
fairly ad hoc government, Dienstbier was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Czech and Slovak Federal
Republic on 10 December 1989, and remained
as such until 1992.
Dienstbier was the proud co-founder and
chairman of the editorial board of the paper that
symbolised the Velvet Revolution, the samizdat
monthly Lidové Noviny (People's News), which
began publishing openly in January 1988 –
initially twice a week and after April 1990 as a
daily. In 1990, speaking at the 39th IPI General
Assembly in Bordeaux, Dienstbier commended
the international media for its role in bringing
freedom to his country: “The influence of samizdat newspapers in Czechoslovakia was strengthened by cooperation with the world media and
international press organisations. Without this
understanding from members of the international community we could never have succeeded”.
After receiving an honorary doctorate in 1993
from the University of Burgundy, France, Dienstbier has been an active lecturer throughout Europe and in the United States, as well as “working as ambassador at large, as former foreign
minister for specific negotiations, because some
things are better negotiated in unofficial discussions.” He continues to add to his library of published works both about his experiences as minister and about the Balkan events of the
Nineties. From 1998 till 2001 he worked as a
United Nations special rapporteur on human
rights for former Yugoslavia; in 2005, he became
a trustee and director at Reuters Founders Share
Company, where he works to preserve media independence, integrity and freedom.
“If someone asks me the basic question
whether I am satisfied, I say, ‘Of course,’ because
I have lived for so many decades after my activities. The greatest honour for me was the end of
the former regime. It would be enough for one
life.
“Now the important issue: What next?”
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Above: Former German Foreign
Minister Hans Dietrich
Genscher and Jiří Dienstbier
look through a gap in the wall
covered by barbed wire in Nove
Domky where the two cut the
wire as a symbol of liberty on
23 December 1989.
Below: Dienstbier accepts the
IPI World Press Freedom
Hero Award at the IPI World
Congress in Boston, 2000.
hrant
dInK
TURKEY
1954–2007
48
C
hampion of human and minority rights in
Turkey and advocate for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, Hrant Dink was the
founder and editor in chief, journalist and
columnist of the bilingual weekly Agos that was
first printed on 5 April 1996. The paper was established to give Armenian minorities a voice
and the chance to communicate with Turkish society by publishing in both Turkish and Armenian. In February 2006 Dink said, “I want to write
and ask how we can change this historical conflict into peace.”
However Dink did not live to see peace. Murdered on 19 January 2007 after many death
threats, he was shot twice in the head and once
in the neck by a 17-year-old ultra-nationalist,
Ogün Samast. At his funeral, held on 23 January,
banners read: “We are all Armenians” and “We
are all Hrant Dink,” while Armenian songs filled
the air as over 100,000 mourners filled the
streets to silently protest his assassination.
In the week before his death, Hrant Dink’s
lawyer said that his client was “nervous and
afraid” for his life because of mounting hate mail
about an article Dink had written in 2004 about
the Armenian genocide, for which he was being
prosecuted. In his last column on 10 January
2007, Dink wrote: “It is obvious that those wishing to alienate me and make me weak and defenceless have reached their goal. Right now
they have brought about a significant circle of
people who are not low in number and who regard me as someone ‘insulting Turkish identity’
due to dirty and false information.”
While Turkish nationalists considered his reports to be treacherous, Dink also faced three
legal prosecutions accusing him of denigrating
‘Turkishness’ under the country’s restrictive Article 301, which the Turkish government is under
increasing pressure to repeal since his murder.
Although often critical of both Turkey’s denial of
the World War I Armenian genocide, and of the
diaspora’s campaign for its international recognition, Dink made it his career’s purpose to harmonise the discordant nations.
Despite having no formal training in journalism, Dink appealed to his Agos audience
through his editorials and to a broader Turkish
audience in columns in two of Turkey’s dailies.
Said novelist Elif Shafak at his funeral: “As a
true supporter of freedom of expression, Hrant
believed that it should be up to people – Turks
and Armenians together – to develop the means
to reconcile, and not for politicians to dictate
knowledge of history.” It was not long before
Dink was considered a leader within the Armenian community and a well-known public
figure in Turkey.
Dink was born the eldest of three sons on 15
September 1954 in Malatya. After his family was
destroyed by Dink’s father’s gambling addiction,
Hrant’s grandfather enrolled the penniless boys
at the Gedikpaşa Armenian Orphanage, but continued to support them and offer them a positive, educated role model.
Schooled at the orphanage, every summer the
brothers stayed at the Tuzla Armenian Children’s
Camp, where Dink met his future wife, Rakel
Yağbasan, and where he became aware of the Armenian community’s struggle for acceptance in
Turkey. After receiving his degree in zoology
from Istanbul University, where he became a
Communist sympathiser, Dink entered military
service. Hrant was denied promotion to sergeant,
which he believed was because of his nationality.
Although he had been subject to discrimination,
Hrant “was free of anger and resentment,” said
Shafak in her eulogy.
When the owner of the Tuzla camp was imprisoned for anti-Turkish propaganda, the Dinks
took over the camp’s management; it was later
closed down. A 1974 ruling stated minority foundations were forbidden to buy new land after
1936. Having spent so much of his life at the
camp, Dink was deeply affected by its closure: “I
went to Tuzla when I was 8. I poured my labour
in there for 20 years. I met my wife Rakel there.
We grew up together. We were married in the
camp. Our children were born there ...” Despite
the new owner’s offer to return the camp, legislation decrees that the land remain empty, a shell
of the life it used to contain.
Dink married his childhood sweetheart on 19
April 1976. They had three children: Arat, who
adopted his murdered father’s job and crusade,
Delal, and Sera. At his funeral, Rakel remembered her husband as “half of my soul, my
beloved, the father of my children and your
brother.” She urged mourners to conduct a slogan-free, peaceful march that would “generate
immense sound through our silence” proclaiming that “what made [Hrant Dink] great was his
living spirit, his deeds, his style, and the love in
his eyes and his heart. It was what he did, the
style he chose, the love in his heart that made
him great.”
s.NCE
¶ • tHEWITH
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Above: A protester leaves a
banner reading “For Hrant,
for justic” next to a portrait
of Hrant Dink, pictured
below, in front of the Agos
newspaper office during a
demonstration in Istanbul
on 19 January 2010 to mark
the third anniversary of
his killing.
harold
evans
UNITED KINGDOM
1928–
d
ubbed for his services to journalism, Sir
Harold Evans was the knight in shining armour for hundreds of thalidomide-inflicted children suffering devastating birth defects. One of the most memorable days in his life
was 26 April 1976 when, having battled both the
drug companies and the British government, he
won a famous victory in the European Court of
Human Rights against the House of Lords’ suppression of thalidomide articles, securing compensation and a life for the families, and instituting a change in the law which had inhibited the
reporting of civil cases.
It was not the first time, nor would it be the
last, that Evans risked his livelihood and reputation championing a cause in which he passionately believed. As a young editor at The Northern
Echo, he campaigned successfully for a national
cervical cancer detection programme, and for a
posthumous pardon for a man wrongly accused
of murder.
No doubt Harold Evans’ parents believed in
their first son, but they could not have imagined
the frail little boy born on 28 June 1928 in Manchester, England, would vault from his working
class origins to become one of Britain’s most respected, award-winning journalists and the head
of many leading publications both in the UK and
the United States.
Failing to win a place in high school, he got a
job as a reporter and caught up. Or, as he wryly
put it: “I left school at 15, but raced along at university later on – well, someone has to blow one’s
trumpet!”
As a member of the International Press Institute for nearly 50 years, he has long been actively
committed to international press freedom. In the
1960s he conducted seminars in Southeast Asia,
freely offering his time, skills and knowledge to
empower news editors and reporters in developing countries, so that they could make more direct and effective contact with their populations.
A vital end product of the seminars was The Active Newsroom, the first IPI manual, edited by
Evans, for news editors in the developing world.
50
Having survived the German bombing of his
hometown in World War II, Evans was called to
national service in the Royal Air Force in 1946.
In 1949, he achieved an honours degree in politics and economics at the University of Durham,
became an assistant editor of the Manchester
Evening News and subsequently earned a master’s degree for a thesis evaluating how the Suez
crisis of 1956 was reported in the American
press. The award of a Harkness Fellowship (195657) enabled him to travel throughout the United
States and study at both the University of
Chicago and Stanford University.
On his return to the UK, he successfully won
editorship of The Northern Echo, which led him to
be invited to join The Sunday Times of London.
During his 14 years as its prize-winning editor,
he changed forever the landscape of investigative reporting. Under his guidance, The Sunday
Times challenged stories and scandals which
were officially denied or ignored, presenting
them for public scrutiny. In 1981, he became editor of The Times, the only person ever to edit
both these prestigious newspapers.
Evans believes passionately in the importance
of journalism: “All the argument about print versus the web misses the point,” he writes in his
new autobiography. “In the end it’s not the delivery vehicle that counts. It’s what it delivers. We’ll
always need a vigilant press, a vibrant press, that
reports faithfully but also explores and brings to
light the hidden stories and mischiefs – and that
is best assured by a diverse, free and competitive
press.” He jokes, “You know I may even have
missed a few stories myself.”
In editing The Sunday Times, his frustration
with suppressive laws led him to dub the British
press the ‘half-free press.’ The famous Insight
team Evans established at the start of his editorship fought hard to publish the Kim Philby Soviet spy scandal and stories of financial wrongdoing. He was threatened with jail for challenging the Official Secrets Act by publishing the revealing diaries of former Labour minister
Richard Crossman.
Dispirited by labour stoppages, the papers’
unflinchingly supportive owners put The Sunday Times and Times up for sale. Evans led a
management attempt to buy out and run The
Sunday Times, but management preferred to sell
to Rupert Murdoch. “They thought Murdoch
would be able to handle the unions,” he says.
“They were,” he conceded with good humour,
“proved quite right in this judgement.” Certainly, Murdoch freed the British press of the
print union obstructions, and that led the way
to the modern computer typesetting and display the unions had resisted, thus at one blow
making all British newspapers viable. Evans
went on to edit The Times for one colourful year,
but found the cherished political independence
of the paper under siege, and sensationally resigned.
He accepted an invitation to America to teach
about the press and law at Duke University,
eventually becoming editorial director of the
Washington-based news magazine US News and
World Report. Tina Brown, his new wife, was by
this time editing (and saving) Vanity Fair magazine and then The New Yorker. “Bifurcated between D.C. and New York,” as he put it, “we could
not easily start a family, so after two years I
joined her in New York.”
In all these years, he had been researching
and writing a monumental, illustrated history of
American politics from 1889-1989. “The American Century” was an acclaimed bestseller in
1998, and in 2004, he followed it with another,
the first and only history of American innovation over 200 years, called “They Made America:
From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine,
Two Centuries of Innovators.”
In 2009, he released his autobiography “My
Paper Chase,” receiving plaudits for its writing.
He was prompted to look back, he says, by his
children’s wonderment about whether he had
spent his life well or badly. Asked what his best
times have been, he chuckled. “I am an incurable
optimist. The best is yet to come.”
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L
BE
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¶
IPI
CONSTITUTION
PAGE
3
¶
8.
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FUNDAMENTAL
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Above, pictured from left are
William Rees-Mogg, editor of
The Times; Harold Evans, editor
of The Sunday Times; and Denis
Hamilton, editor-in-chief of The
Times and The Sunday Times,
after being appointed by The
Times new owner, Lord Thomson, 1967. Below: Evans delivers the K.C. Mammen Mappilai
memorial lecture in New Delhi,
India, 2007. Bottom: Evans
pictured with American broadcast journalist Barbara Walters.
ELIEFTHEREISESTABL antonIo
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VIEWS.¶•THEACHIEVEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEAND
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N.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD
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EWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOP
RATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEE
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FTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGANISATIONTOWORKTOWARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERAN
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
ONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JO
GBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMEN
TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO W
RTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION O
VEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEANDBALANCEDNEWSAM
FJOURNALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTH
AMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEW
OWORKTOWARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS,BYWHICHISMEANT:FREEACCESSTOTHE
F NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION O
WS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. I
NTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDIN
DANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING O
ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMO
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PE
AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARD
UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS
SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS
NDERSTANDINGAbove
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and below:
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Madrid,
1967.
F NEWSPAPERS,Diario
FREE
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Right: Speaking
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WS AMONG NATIONS.¶
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conference.
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Fontán
pictured
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F NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
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WS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD
PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. I
Foundation, 2007.
SPAIN
1923–2010
t
he international importance of Antonio
Fontán Pérez is curiously and largely due
to the worldwide dissemination of a 1973
photograph. The photograph showed the demolition of a building in Madrid that had housed
the headquarters of the newspaper Diario
Madrid, of which Fontán was the editor.
The picture of the explosive demolition of the
building, located in the central Salamanca district in Madrid, was a simple real estate transaction, since the newspaper had been closed by the
Franco regime two years earlier after numerous
arrests, closures, sanctions and fines against it.
But thanks to the skills of the newspaper’s former attorney, the Republican politician Antonio
García Trevijano, the photograph of the demolition was picked up by newspapers all over the
world, turning it into the metaphor for the destruction of an independent newspaper by a dictatorship.
Antonio Fontán Pérez was born in Seville,
Spain on 15 October 1923. Educated at the universities of Seville and Madrid, he received his
doctorate in classical philology in 1948. A full
member of the Opus Dei, Fontán had a very important professional career, not only as a journalist. He was a professor of classical philology
and a great connoisseur of Latin, at the universities of Madrid (Complutense), Granada and
Navarre. He was one of the professors of thenPrince Juan Carlos de Borbón, today’s King of
Spain. As a politician, he founded liberal organisations as well as a liberal party together with
the late Joaquín Garrigues Walker. Fontán was
the democratic president of the Senate and later
Minister of Territorial Administration in 1979
and 1980 under the government of Adolfo
Suarez.
Fontán’s journalistic career is of no less importance. He graduated in 1954 at the Official
School of Journalism; for years he was the editor
of the weekly La Actualidad Española, and eventually joined the newspaper Diario Madrid, of
which he was the editor between 1967 and 1971
together with a small group of brilliant young
journalists. Keeping within the numerous wellknown limitations imposed by the dictatorship
during the Franco regime, the newspaper recognised and spread the desire for freedom. It was
the first of a short-list of media outlets – including Diario 16, and El Pais – that were essential to
Spain’s transition from the Franco dictatorship to
democracy.
Fontán was also the director of the University
of Navarra. Finally, he was the editor in chief of
the bimonthly publication, Nueva Revista.
Diario Madrid was a newspaper that to survive
used the loopholes offered by Franco’s 1966
press law that theoretically suppressed prior censorship.
But Fontán, who had recently joined the
paper as editor, soon realised the law was not
enough to save the newspaper, which was closed
for four months in 1968 for an article entitled
“Withdrawal Time. No to General de Gaulle”,
which covered the events of May 1968 in Paris.
The regime believed that in calling for the removal of French President General Charles de
Gaulle, the paper was surreptitiously calling for
the removal of General Franco.
Determined to defend not only the independence and dignity of the media, which was under
constant attack by the Franco regime, but also
Fontán’s position as editor of the newspaper –
his resignation had been demanded by the thenMinister of Information, Sánchez Belle – staff at
Diario Madrid formed Spain’s first journalists’ association.
Eventually, after facing repeated harassment
and judicial proceedings, Diario Madrid was ordered to close after publishing a heavily critical
article on General Franco’s right-hand man, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. The move was widelycriticised in the Spanish press. In response to the
Ministry of Information’s offer to take over the
newspaper and run it with its own staff and editorial line, Diario Madrid’s management, Fontán
and his staff all refused.
“We are ready to sell the presses to pay the
staff rather than agree that the paper should lose
its independence,” the journalists said.
Although democracy was restored in Spain in
1975 following the death of Franco and the reestablishment of the monarchy, and the order to
close Diario Madrid was revoked, the paper,
which had sold everything to pay its staff, could
not be relaunched, due to financial difficulties.
As a prominent promoter of press freedom in
Spain, Fontán was an early member of the International Press Institute (IPI) in Spain and a
member of IPI’s executive board, as well as an
honorary life member of IPI in recognition of his
staunch defence of the principles of free expression.
Antonio Fontán passed away on 14 January
2010, after a long illness. He was 86.
Written with contribution (originally in Spanish)
from José Luis Gutiérrez, journalist, writer and publisher of LEER magazine. Gutiérrez is also a columnist for the newspaper El Mundo
53
LaurenCe
gandar
SOUTH AFRICA
1915–1998
t
he features that impacted those confronted
by Laurence Owen Vine Gander as he
presided over the evening news conferences at the Rand Daily Mail were his ascetic profile and piercing hazel eyes, the air of reserve
and economy of words as he ticked off items on
the news diary.
There was an aura of cool remoteness which
appeared to defy attempts by his staff to get to
know him better and which, on occasion, infuriated the authorities who were trying to intimidate the English-language press in general and
the Rand Daily Mail in particular.
This was the man who changed the face of
South African journalism at a time when the
National Party government was getting into
stride with its programme of apartheid. As the
Nationalists were legislating for separation of
the races to the ultimate degree, Gandar, whose
editorship of South Africa’s Rand Daily Mail
began in 1957, stood out as a firm and loud
solitary voice in the establishment opposition,
denouncing apartheid, pleading for the political emancipation of blacks and urging economic integration. Gandar led the paper as editor until 1965; from 1966 to 1969, he was editor
in chief.
Indeed, Gander was on a crusade. He wrote articles under his byline exhorting white South
Africans to make the inevitable, ineluctable
choice. Whites could not have the best of both
worlds, enjoying the fruits of economic integration and ignoring their political obligations.
They had to make a choice – on the one hand,
political separation which would require enormous economic sacrifices, and on the other, economic integration which would demand extensive political concessions.
It was an argument which upset whites, especially those in government – but also members
of the board of the owners. SA Associated Newspapers grew increasingly restive when circulation figures dropped and advertising revenues
began shrinking. Rand Daily Mail readers as well
as advertisers were also upset.
54
Some people complained that Gander was
ahead of his time, but clearly he helped condition the mindset of white South Africans to accept that the only just and equitable solution for
the country was majority rule. His liberal philosophy of non-discrimination, of freedom, tolerance and justice for all, forcefully infected the
thinking of white South Africans at that time,
which helped prevent the country from sliding
into civil war, a circumstance not acknowledged
by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Gander introduced to South Africa investigative journalism, or journalism which lifts the lid
on issues and matters of public concern rather
than merely reporting around them. He concentrated on exposing the government’s attempts at
social engineering, which inevitably meant the
removal of black people from homes they had
occupied for generations to generally bleak and
inhospitable areas of the country, the iniquities
of the ‘pass laws’ and the abominable treatment
of blacks in prison.
This last subject resulted in a series of articles
in 1965 about prison conditions that reverberated around the world and which resulted in
Gandar and the reporter, Benjamin Pogrund, undergoing an eight-month trial after which they
were convicted and fined (with Pogrund being
given a suspended jail term as well).
The authorities removed Gandar’s and
Pogrund’s passports and on one occasion, thugs
fired shots at the Rand Daily Mail offices. But the
impact of the newspaper exposé – one of the
most courageous and far reaching of its kind ever
published in South Africa at the time – was international surveillance of South Africa’s prison system and the forced revamping of the conditions
under which prisoners are held in jail.
These events and the board’s growing unease
resulted in Gandar’s dismissal as editor of the
Rand Daily Mail and his eventual retirement, in
some disillusionment, to the south coast of Natal.
Laurence Gandar was born in Durban in 1915
and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Natal
University after which he joined the Sunday Trib-
une and later the Natal Daily News and the Pretoria
News. During World War II, he served in North
Africa and Italy in the Royal Durban Light
Infantry, ending up as a Brigade Intelligence
Officer in the 6th Armoured Division’s 12th
Motor Brigade with the rank of captain. In 1953,
he joined Anglo American Corporation’s public
relations office from which he was plucked by
SAAN General Manager Henri Kuiper to be editor
of the Rand Daily Mail. The only directive he was
given was that the Mail traditionally supported
the United Party, but he insisted on and was
given ‘complete editorial independence’ – which
he interpreted as giving him the right to support
the United Party offshoot, the Progressive Party
(now after several mutations, the Democratic
Alliance), in 1959. It was this support that helped
Helen Suzman’s long tenure as the only liberal
voice in parliament and the eventual rise of the
party and finally the demise of the United Party.
He won many international awards both for
the paper and himself, the most prestigious
being the American Newspaper Publishers’
World Press Achievement Award after the prison
series in 1966.
But the image of the remote Gandar in the
newsroom was misleading. Behind the aloofness
was a warm, friendly and generous spirit with a
captivating and lively sense of humour, a most
hospitable host and a man who loved the arts,
good food, wine and good companionship. He
died in Pietermaritzburg in November 1998, a few
months after the sudden death of his son Mark.
Written by Raymond Louw, editor and publisher of
the weekly current affairs newsletter Southern
Africa Report and editor of the Rand Daily Mail
from 1966 to 1977
UNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTA
ATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWIN
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VIL CODE. THE RESOURCES OF THE INSTITUTE ARE DERIVED FROM MEMBERSH
AND BUSINESSES, WHICH SUPPORT THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM OF THE P
EBENEFITOFANYMEMBERORINDIVIDUAL.¶5.THEGOALSOFTHEINSTITUTE,
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MEMBER UP TO A LIMIT OF TEN. ¶ 5. THERE SHALL BE ELIGIBLE AS ASSOCIATE
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VE NO VOTING RIGHTS. THE DUES FOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE HA
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MAYBEENTRUSTEDWITHADMINISTRATIVETASKSSUCHASTHECOLLECTIN
Laurence Gandar
presents a cheque
to Derek Scorer,
accompanied by
Peter Whitwork at the
South Africa Ocean
Racing Trust.
VIEWS.¶•THEACHIEVEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALIST
OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDE
N.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMON
ED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES
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FTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHED
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS
ONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE
GBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEA
TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE W
RTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH
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DANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WO
ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF N
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS
AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSEN
UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCOR
SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE A
NDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • TH
NALISM.¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPL
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WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AN
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ESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF N
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UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCOR
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Above, right and left:
Supporters rally for Akbar
Ganji. Below: temporarily
let out of jail for medical
treatment, Ganji flashes a
victory sign next to his wife
Masumeh Shafiei after a
press conference at his
home in Tehran, 2005.
IRAN
1960–
m
y political and social activities have always
been inspired by the goal of equal rights to
security, freedom, peace and a dignified life
for all human beings.” – Akbar Ganji, 2010
Akbar Ganji has been called Iran’s most prominent political dissident. The son of a poor and
very religious family in southern Tehran, he became involved with the Iranian revolution at an
early age, even joining the Revolutionary Guard,
a branch of Iran’s military constituted after the
revolution of 1978.
Ganji has written that he was drawn into the
revolution on ideological grounds, believing that
it was geared towards “overthrowing a despotic
regime to create better conditions.” However, he
quickly grew disillusioned as it became evident
that these better conditions never came about.
One despotic kingdom replaced another despotic
kingdom.
“What he discover[ed] is that the Shah’s
regime was in a sense only repressive of one dimension, which was politics, but the Islamic Republic of Iran was repressive of almost every dimension,” Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, said of Ganji in awarding him the Milton Friedman Award for the Cato Institute in the
United States.
Ganji increasingly came to believe that revolutions could not lead to democracies and that a
secular democracy was the only way to secure
Iranian’s freedoms. In 2006, he said that revolutions can only create cycles of fear, a phenomenon
that has been repeated since the French Revolution, which according to Ganji established the
pattern for all other revolutions. Only greater freedom, civil disobedience and liberty for all could
lead to the end of despotism.
“We started a revolution to create heaven, but
we created a hell,” he said in 2006.
In the mid 1990s armed with these convictions,
Ganji broke from the ideology of the republic he
had so fervently supported and turned to journalism. In 1998, a year after the then-obscure cleric
and reformist Mohammad Khatami had been
elected president in the 1997 elections, Ganji
spoke out against the dangers of a fascist interpretation of religion. He was arrested and sentenced
to a year in prison, but was released after three
months. He has also written about his opposition
to velayat-e-faqih (the clause in the Iranian constitution that calls for an Islamic jurist to serve as the
Supreme Leader of the government).
His most significant brush with the regime,
however, came in 2000.
In the fall of 1998, the systematic and serial
murders of dissidents who were critical of the government came to light. For many years since the
1980s, the government had been eliminating criti-
cal voices. In 1994, for example, 134 writers published an open letter entitled “We Are the Writers!”
demanding that censorship be abolished and calling for the establishment of an autonomous writers association. The hardliners reacted by publishing an article entitled “We Are the Dead!” in their
mouthpiece, the daily Kayhan. According to an article by Muhammad Sahimi for PBS, many of
those who had signed the letter all died under
mysterious circumstances.
In 1998 alone, between late summer and autumn, according to PBS, six dissidents and intellectuals were murdered in what came to be known as
the ‘Chain Murders’ (ghatl-haye zanjireh-i).
Ganji, along with investigative journalist
Emadeddin Baghi wrote a series of exposés in the
daily Sobh Emrouz (This Morning) in 1999 on the
chain murders, accusing several high-level political figures and clerics of having been involved in
the assassinations and accusing then-president
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s government of fostering “moral and financial corruption.” The exposés were collected into a book called “The Dungeon of Ghosts,” which quickly became a bestseller, and is credited with helping to defeat many
conservative candidates in the 2000 elections.
Retribution was swift. In March 2000, the editor
of Sobh Emrouz, Saeed Hajjarian, was shot in the
face by an unidentified gunman. He was not
killed, but was left paralyzed for life.
In December 2000, two months after the elections, Ganji was arrested and accused of endangering national security and spreading propaganda.
He was eventually sentenced to six years in prison,
much of which he spent in solitary confinement
in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Notwithstanding the conditions in prison, and
the repeated and continuous physical abuse, Ganji
continued to write. His “Republican Manifesto”
outlined the steps by which Iran could achieve a
secular democracy and emphasized respect for
human rights, an independent press and an independent judiciary.
Ganji was released in 2006, and left Iran immediately. He has spent the years continuing to
campaign for freedom and liberty for Iran and for
all nations. He was ardently opposed to the U.S.
invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, stating that
“you cannot bring democracy to a country by attacking it.”
In the words of Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria,
“What you are searching for is the inner substance
of democracy and liberty and I think all of us
around the world who believe in liberty, who believe in human rights and who believe in freedom,
owe you an enormous debt of gratitude. When
you bear witness for the liberty of Iranians, you
are bearing witness for the liberty of all of us.”
57
gao
yu
CHINA
1944–
58
l
anguishing away in a Chinese prison in the
mid 1990s, suffering from a myriad of medical problems including kidney ailments
and Meniere’s disease – which causes hearing
loss and heart problems – dissident journalist
Gao Yu was offered a way out. All she had to do
was sign a written confession admitting to leaking state secrets.
The crime in question was related to a series
of articles she’d written in the Mirror Monthly
and Overseas Chinese Daily which detailed economic and structural changes proposed by the
Chinese Communist Party, changes that had already been reported in the Hong Kong press.
And yet Gao’s reports, written under a pseudonym, drew the wrath of the government. She
was jailed both to silence her and deter other
journalists from reporting on issues that the government wanted to keep quiet.
Though in desperate need of medical attention, Gao refused to sign a confession that would
render her pursuit of truth a crime. “This sentence can devastate my health but not my spirits,” Gao said at the time. “I am willing to sacrifice
all that I have for my country’s modernisation
and journalism.”
And sacrifice she did.
Gao spent more than five years in prison before she was released by the government in a political ploy to gain favour with the international
community. Her release came just two weeks before U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
was scheduled to visit China. Gao served out the
remainder of her sentence under house arrest
and was forbidden to speak to journalists.
Upon the completion of her house arrest, she
returned to journalism, freelancing for several
publications, and becoming one of China’s most
renowned and outspoken opponents of the government’s human rights abuses and free speech
repression.
In a 2008 presentation on China’s media practices at a Paris conference on press freedom, Gao
spoke of the challenges she and other independent journalists face. “Journalists who tell the
truth are punished, and the rewriting of articles
by the official media has become a Chinese specialty,” she said.
Born on 23 February 1944 in Chongqing, Gao
attended the Renmin University of China, where
she initially planned to major in news media but
instead enrolled in the Chinese Language and
Literature department because the news media
programme had been suspended due to the
Great Chinese Famine. She graduated with a degree in literature theory and went to work in a
variety of reporting and editing jobs, establishing
herself with her investigative reporting on eco-
nomic issues and the reform movement. She
worked as a reporter for the China News Service
from 1979 until she left to take a job as deputy
chief editor of the weekly Economics magazine in
1988.
The magazine, run by some of the country’s
most prominent dissident intellectuals, was shut
down by the government after the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Gao was arrested in
the government crackdown, abducted by the
Beijing Security Bureau on her way to work on 3
June 1989. Declared an “enemy of the people” for
pro-democracy writings the government felt
helped fuel the uprising, she was jailed without
formal charges for 15 months until she was released for health reasons.
After Economics was shut down, Gao worked
as a correspondent for the Hong Kong newspaper Mirror. She worked there until she was arrested again in 1993.
On 2 October 1993, Gao was arrested for leaking state secrets, days before she was scheduled
to travel to New York for a one-year fellowship at
Columbia University. Following a sham trial, on
10 November 1994 she was sentenced to six
years in prison.
During her stint in jail, Gao received a number
of awards in absentia, including the 1995 International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in
Journalism Award and the first
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom
Prize in 1997.
Gao received the Courage in Journalism
Award again in 2006 in a ceremony she was able
to attend. In her acceptance speech, she spoke of
being a “hostage card” in the Chinese government’s political tug-of-war with the West. She
also spoke of the efforts of authorities to rob the
Chinese press of its independent spirit.
“Chinese authorities require that the past be
forgotten and the present be whitewashed. Reporters who dare to tell the truth are fired – or
worse,” she said.
Gao went on to recall a quote from Shi Liangcai, a Chinese newspaper reporter and pioneer of
the independent media who was murdered by
secret agents from the Kuomingtang government
in 1934. “You have a gun. I have a pen,” Gao recalled Shi saying to authorities.
Gao then added, “History has given me the
choice of a pen.”
REEDOM, THE FREEDOM OF EXP
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UNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALIST
ATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, B
CATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO
NCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERST
R, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG
D. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVE
EANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEW
EOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMEN
WEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION
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ERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION O
MENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF AC
S OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTA
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Above: A supporter is
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overtaken by emotion
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Below: Former President
Richard M. Nixon talks
with Katharine Graham,
shown above and far
right, at a newspaper
industry meeting in San
Francisco, 1986. Opposite
page: Graham with
Truman Capote.
KatharIne
graham
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1917–2001
a
s publisher of The Washington Post in the
early 1970s, Katherine Graham made two
courageous decisions in the name of press
freedom that forever altered the course of U.S.
history and her own.
In 1971, with a federal injunction against
competitor The New York Times and a similar
prohibition from the U.S. Justice Department
looming, Graham gave the green light for the
paper to publish excerpts of the secret Pentagon
Papers. The documents detailed government deceptions surrounding U.S. policy during the Vietnam War. She gave the go-ahead at the urging of
the paper’s executive editor and over the advice
of her lawyers, a decision that was later validated
by a U.S. Supreme ruling in the Post’s favor, one
that was widely considered a major victory for
press freedom.
The following year, Graham entrusted the
paper’s reputation to a pair of rookie reporters,
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, with a tip
that President Richard Nixon was behind a
break-in at the Democratic National Committee
offices in the Watergate complex, a group of office and residential buildings near downtown
Washington, D.C. Graham backed the reporters
and faced down threats from the Nixon administration – then-U.S. Attorney General John
Mitchell infamously threatened, “Katie Graham’s
gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer” – as
the paper pursued an investigation of illegal activities of the White House. The effort led to the
criminal convictions of several members of
Nixon’s administration and the first ever resignation of an American president.
Not bad for a self-described “doormat wife”
who reluctantly took over the reins of the Post at
the death of her husband and turned the paper
into a giant of American journalism.
Born 16 June 1917, Graham attended Vassar
for two years before transferring and graduating
from the University of Chicago in 1938. After
graduation, she worked for a short time as a reporter for the San Francisco News before joining
the staff of The Washington Post, a paper her father, Eugene Meyer, bought at a bankruptcy auction years earlier.
Graham’s husband, Philip, took over the Post
from her father in 1945, at which time she ended
her journalism career to raise her four children
and entertain in their Georgetown home. In
1963, Philip, who had long suffered from mental
illness, committed suicide, leaving the paper to
Graham. “I had very little idea of what I was supposed
to be doing, so I set out to learn,” Graham wrote
in her 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, “Personal History.” “What I essentially did
was to put one foot in front of the other, shut my
eyes, and step off the edge.”
Graham stepped off the edge and into the fray.
In “Personal History,” she wrote of the intense
pressure she faced from the Nixon White House
for the paper to back off from the Watergate
story. Members of the administration, working to
prop up Nixon’s re-election bid, launched a campaign to destroy the Post and Graham’s reputation, branding the paper as uncredible and Graham as being on a personal vendetta. The paper’s
reporters were frozen out and the government
launched challenges to the broadcast licenses of
television stations owned by The Post Company.
“The investigation of such a tangled web of
crime, money, and mischief was made much
harder given the unveiled threats and harassment by a president and his administration,” she
wrote. “Bearing the full brunt of presidential
wrath is always disturbing. Sometimes I won-
dered if we could survive four more years of this
kind of strain.”
She would not have to find out. Two years
after the Post broke the Watergate story, Nixon
resigned. With that, the Post had successfully
weathered the biggest threat to its editorial independence in its history.
“Immediately after watching Nixon’s departure
speech, I returned to Martha’s Vineyard, where I
had interrupted my August vacation,” Graham
wrote. “I turned on the television and heard a
voice referring to ‘President Ford.’ Then and only
then did I experience pure relief. I actually felt a
weight leave my shoulders. It was over.”
The Watergate fight may have been over, but
Graham’s impact on journalism had just begun.
She presided over the company as it expanded to
include Newsweek magazine, more television stations and cable TV systems. In 1979, she passed
the publisher job on to her son, Donald, but remained active in journalism, serving as chair of
the executive committee of The Post Company
and co-chair of the International Herald Tribune,
among other pursuits. She won several honours,
including the 1973 Zenger Award for Freedom of
the Press and the People’s Right to Know and the
1992 Burton Benjamin Memorial Award from
the Committee to Project Journalists.
During a 2001 trip to Sun Valley, Idaho, Graham hit her head in a fall. After being in a coma
for days, she died on 17 July 2001. She was 84.
Graham’s funeral at the Washington National
Cathedral was attended by a who’s who of Washington. She is buried in the historic Oak Hill
Cemetery across from her former Georgetown
home, where she famously hosted the city’s elite.
In 2002, Graham was posthumously presented
the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
George W. Bush.
61
VeronICa
guerIn
IRELAND
1958–1996
62
v
eronica Guerin’s two-year career as an investigative journalist for Ireland’s Sunday
Independent was short – and far from
sweet. She was executed by members of Dublin’s
underworld on 26 June 1996, becoming the 24th
journalist to die that year.
Readers appreciated the brazenness found in
Guerin’s undiluted exposés of the burgeoning
drug world of Dublin, which had thousands of
addicts living in the city. Following 12 unsolved
gangland murders, Guerin was frustrated by the
police’s inability to bring the crime bosses to justice. She famously stated: “The dogs in the street
know who the drug barons are.” She felt it her
duty to parade the criminals for all to see, using
street names and pseudonyms to bypass what
she called “ridiculous, restrictive libel laws.”
Born into a Dublin family of five children on 5
July 1958, Guerin went to a Catholic school,
where she excelled at sports. With a degree in accountancy from Trinity College and a successful
public relations career, nothing in her history
suggested ‘Ronnie’ would become a maverick
crusader. In an interview Guerin admitted that,
had she known at the beginning she would be
shot, threatened and her family intimidated, she
would never have started. But once in, for
Guerin, there was no way out.
Aileen O’Toole, editor at the Sunday Business
Post, for whom Guerin had first worked as a
business journalist, recalled: “She had no basic
training [as a reporter]. She just had a simple
philosophy that she wanted to get the truth.” She
was both tenacious and bold, preferring not to
use police sources, but to go after a story, persuading the gangland bosses to talk to her directly.
Just a month after Guerin’s first report – about
a drug kingpin – was published in October 1994,
bullets shattered her cottage window as she
played with her young son, Cathal. The first
warning to stay away.
Opening her front door on 30 January 1995,
the day after she exposed the mastermind of a
$4.4 million heist, she was met by a revolver
pointing to her head before being shot in the
thigh. Defiantly committed to continuing her
campaign, she left hospital, proclaiming: “No
hand can deter me from my battle for the truth,”
and visiting local crime bosses, on her crutches,
to show she was not intimidated.
On 13 September 1995, she was attacked
again, this time by convicted criminal John Gilligan, who viciously beat Guerin when she visited
his home and questioned his lavish lifestyle
when he had no apparent source of income. According to Guerin, Gilligan called her the next
day, threatening: “If you write a word about me, I
REEDOM,
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will find your boy and kidnap him and rape him.
I am going to kill you if you write a word about
me.” Concerned for her family’s safety, the Irish
police provided her with 24-hour protection,
which Guerin soon dismissed, claiming it hampered her work.
As a direct consequence of her work, Guerin
was murdered on 26 June 1996, when the pillion
rider on a motorcycle shot her at close range as
she made a phone call at a traffic light in her car
on the Naas Road just outside Dublin. Only 37
when she died, Guerin was assassinated two
days before she was due to address a conference
in London on “Dying to Tell a Story: Journalists
at Risk.”
Some have accused her employer, the Sunday
Independent, of not telling her to tone down her
reports, and of even putting pressure on her to
produce the next dramatic revelation, but even
Guerin admitted that she could not be stopped
in her crusade for a decent society. Others have
questioned her foolhardiness. Even after she was
attacked, shot, and her young son threatened,
she continued to go head-to-head with Dublin’s
drug barons. But predominantly, Veronica
Guerin is considered an icon of press freedom, a
martyr, whose sacrifice spurred massive changes
in Irish media and government legislation.
In the weeks following her death, Irish parliament established the Criminal Assets Bureau
using tax laws to deter and punish criminals,
and started one of the biggest investigations into
organised crime in Ireland’s history.
Ireland’s introduction of its first ever witness
protection programme facilitated the life-time
imprisonment of four very dangerous men.
While Gilligan, who had so violently threatened
her just a year earlier, was acquitted of murder,
he was sentenced to an unprecedented 25 years
for cannabis trafficking. Gilligan fingers on-therun John Traynor, who was Guerin’s confidential
source, as the architect of her murder.
In 2003, Cate Blanchett immortalised Veronica’s fight in the movie Veronica Guerin. The film
portrayed Guerin’s life and death, including the
moment that touched the Irish soul: her husband, Graham Turley, lifting seven-year-old
Cathal up to kiss his mother’s casket in a final
farewell. Earlier Graham had used Lego pieces to
re-enact his wife’s death for his son, who asked:
“Is mom coming back?” Told no, he said: “I get it.
she’s with God now, and she’ll be looking down
on everything I do.”
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Above: Veronica Guerin
gathers with recipients
of the 1995 International Press Freedom
Awards, from left, José
Rubén Zamora, Fred
M’membe and Yevgeny
Kiselyov.Opposite
page: Guerin pictured
with her son Cathal.
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JAPAN
1908-1989
Shiro Hara, pictured,
was widely regarded
as a skilled and
thoughtful journalist
who fought for
social justice.
a
s city editor of Yomiuri Shimbun, Shiro
Hara was a crimefighter, a Japanese Clark
Kent without a cape, who crusaded against
the gangs controlling Tokyo’s underworld and
forced police officials to take notice to address
the problem.
Through the pages of the national daily, Hara
tackled government corruption while keeping
readers informed about the rapid, post-war
changes in the country. He also assembled a formidable team of young journalists that he
trained to produce must-read journalism, transforming Yomiuri into the country’s premier
paper.
Born in Gifu Prefecture on 15 February 1908,
Hara graduated from Hosei University. He joined
Yomiuri Shimbun in 1936 and quickly made his
mark as a skilled and thoughtful journalist focused on righting social injustices. In 1937, Hara
worked as the paper’s foreign correspondent in
China, where some of the articles he wrote angered Japan’s Department of Army because they
were critical of the occupation. He also led the
paper’s coverage of the Japanese Peace Treaty
that was brokered in San Francisco.
Returning to Japan, Hara was named city editor and set his sights on Tokyo’s underworld. In
the post-war chaos and ensuing economic transition, gangs flourished in Tokyo, working handin-hand with corrupt police officials. It was a situation Hara saw as a serious threat to the city’s
stability and he launched a campaign to end the
cosy relationship.
In 1952, Hara wrote a series of articles condemning the taking over of Shinjuku, Tokyo’s
amusement district, by foreign criminals. He
wrote about the increasing influence of American gangsters and international gambling groups
in the city and how they were trying to turn
Tokyo into a gambling Mecca on par with
Monaco and old Shanghai. He told of how rightwing government officials were complicit in the
activities – very risky reporting at the time.
Despite threats and harassment from government officials and criminals, Hara worked to expose links between local police and gang bosses.
Through Yomiuri, he criticised the government
and police for their inability to stop the activity
in the city’s underworld and was successful in
getting the police superintendent general to
admit responsibility and take steps to clean up
the area.
Hara also used Yomiuri to warn of the dangers
of nuclear testing. In 1954, Hara wrote a series of
influential articles encouraging the peaceful use
of nuclear power, buoyed by an international
scoop on a story about a fishing vessel that was
exposed to radioactivity during the United
States’ testing of atomic weapons on Bikini Atoll.
He drew a wider readership to the stories by running them on the heavily-read city pages.
Of his many talents, Hara was heralded as a
great moulder of young journalists. He had a
knack for assessing a reporter’s strengths and
playing to them, giving them assignments in
which they could excel. The result was reporting
that was both enlightening and engaging. Readers flocked to the paper’s city pages and Yomiuri
quickly grew into the world’s largest circulated
newspapers. Hara’s uncanny news judgement
and voracious appetite for scoops earned the respect and concern of rivals fearful of being
beaten by the paper.
In addition to his work training future journalists, Hara was a founding member of the
Japan National Press Club in 1969. It remains the
only national press club in Japan. Hara also
served as the club’s first chairman.
Hara died on his birthday, 15 February 1989.
He was 81.
65
amIra
hass
ISRAEL
1956–
66
a
mira Hass chose to ‘Go to Gaza,’ which for
many Israelis is tantamount to ‘Go to
Hell!’ Since 1991, however, she has been
the only Jewish-Israeli journalist living in the
Palestinian Territories. Romanced by the humour, warmth and dignity she experienced in
the Gaza Strip when she first visited, she stayed.
She continues to live and breathe the Palestinians’ plight, sharing it with her Ha’aretz column
readers, committed to harmonising Palestinian
and Israeli relations. For such a sensational part
of the world, where bloodshed and horrors are so
frequently reported, Hass’s focus is the faithful
representation of daily life and hardships.
With an innate dread of being a bystander, the
prominent left-wing journalist recalls a story
told by her European-Jewish mother detailing
the horrendous march from a cattle train to
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: “She and the
other women had been 10 days in the train from
Yugoslavia. They were sick and some were dying.
Then my mother saw these German women
looking at the prisoners, just looking.” Mortified
that anyone should ‘just look’ and not want to
help both confused and motivated the young Israeli. By her justification, the Jews know what it
is to be fenced in, behind barbed-wire, and
should never inflict such humiliation on any
other people.
Deeply upsetting for her are the borders and
fences which so clearly separate the Palestinian
Territories and Israel: “Villagers need to have a
special identity card, additional to what they [already] have, which is the Israeli authorisation
for them to live where they live – this is a very
new issue – because they live in this area which
was declared a closed area, but only to Palestinians.” Despite warnings to the media to stay away,
Hass felt duty-bound to expose the continued injustice and severity of the Israeli occupier and
share the dignity and resilience of the Palestinian occupied.
Her open criticism of both Israel and Palestine
often sees her under fire from both communities, leaving her in something of a no-man’s land.
There are some Israelis who support and encourage her crusade, along with Palestinians who
consider her the conscience of Israel, but over
the years she has been branded a Nazi and a traitor in tirades of abuse from Israelis who she feels
are unaware of the degradation of the Palestinians as a result of Israeli occupation. Her focus is
to work for a better world, where equality is
paramount.
Since she joined the Ha’aretz news desk in
1989, having dropped out of her history degree
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hass has
tried to help her readers understand and respect
the differences, and similarities, between two of
the most fractious communities on earth. “I believe that what I’ve been describing is the truth. I
don’t believe that it makes much change and
much influence. It does not preach to the nonconverted. It does not reach the non-converted.
It reaches the converted. But, still, I believe this is
true, what I’ve been writing.”
She was researching the history of the Nazis
and the attitude of the European Left to the
Holocaust for her master’s degree when the first
intifada broke out. She was compelled to leave
academia and to try to make a difference. “I volunteered in a group called Workers Hotline. We
assisted Palestinian workers, mainly, whose
rights were violated by Israeli employers. They
were not represented properly by Israeli trade
unions. So we started this advocacy group, and
also offered active assistance in the sense of approaching the employers either through lawyers
or directly in order to get for these people what
they deserved.”
Her humanist, caring words speak volumes in
reports which laud the importance of family; explore the emotional, tenacious ties to homes the
Palestinians are unlikely to see again; discuss the
spiritual impact of displacement; consider the
degrading descent into poverty; and marvel at
the daily resilience of a people whose occupiers
enforce a policy of ‘closure’ that besieges Palestinian towns and throttles their economy.
Her actions speak as loudly as her words.
In December 2008, she was arrested for being
in Gaza without a permit when she returned to
Israel on a protest vessel, after demonstrating her
opposition of the Israeli blockade. And on 12
May 2009, she was arrested after living in the
Gaza Strip for several months ‘for violating a law
which forbids residence in an enemy state.’
Born in Jerusalem on 28 July 1956, Hass does
not, however, believe she makes a difference:
“I’ve been writing extensively in my paper, and
then my books. People read me. But, somehow, it
did not sink in. Most of the people, I would say,
did not get the message, because it’s not for one
writer to change things; you need a movement.”
But there is a flurry of awards and accolades that
confirm that she is in fact an extraordinary
woman, determined to tell the truth and blow
misconceptions out of the water.
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N
CANADA
1936–1998
Above right: Tara
Singh Hayer at his
60th birthday party.
Below right: Hayer,
also pictured above
left, with his wife
Baldev Hayer.
n 18 November 1998, Tara Singh Hayer,
founder and publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times, got out of his car in the garage
of his Surrey home in British Columbia and into
the wheelchair he was confined to. A decade earlier, he had been sitting in his office at the paper
when a gunman walked in and shot him twice at
point-blank range. The attack was designed to
stop him from speaking out against violence and
religious extremism and his promoting of tolerance and peace within the Sikh community.
Hayer survived this first assassination attempt and forged ahead undeterred, writing
powerful, hard-hitting columns condemning
such violence and building the Indo-Canadian
Times into the largest Punjabi-language weekly
in North America.
But when an assassin set his sights on Hayer a
second time, the journalist wasn’t as fortunate.
Hayer died from his injuries at the age of 62, a
death that sent ripples through Canada’s journalism community, as it was the first time a journalist had been killed in the country for his work.
Born on 15 November 1936 in a tiny village in
Punjab, India, Shaheed Tara Singh Hayer emigrated to Canada in 1970 and worked a series of
odd jobs, including as a miner and truck driver
before founding the Indo-Canadian Times in
1978. Once supportive of the cause of Sikh separatism and the military struggle to liberate Khalistan from India, he later changed his mind
based on the corruption and terrorism he saw
poison the movement during the 1980s. During
the frequent acts of terrorism against non-Sikhs
in Punjab and after the bombing of Air India
Flight 182 in 1985, Hayer sided against the militants, condemning the violence and calling for
greater understanding between ethnic and cultural groups. His stance made him a regular target of Sikh fundamentalists who were fighting
for the hearts and minds of the tens of thousands
of Sikhs in British Columbia.
In 1986, a bomb was placed outside Hayer’s
printing plant. Two years later, he was excommunicated by a Sikh high priest in Amritsar,
India, who also forbade all Sikhs from buying or
reading his paper. Hayer received numerous
death threats, including calls for his assassination on Punjabi radio.
A month before his murder, Hayer had agreed
to be a witness in the trial of Babbar Khalsa
leader, Ajaib Singh Bagri, who was accused in
the Air India bombing. In 1985, Hayer visited
Tarsem Singh Purewall at the offices of his
friend’s newspaper, Des Pardes, in London, England. During the visit, Hayer said he overheard a
conversation between Bagri and Purewall in
which Bagri outlined his role in the bombing.
Though Hayer’s murder remains unsolved,
many speculate that the journalist was killed to
prevent him from testifying at Bagri’s trial. Others believe his killing was designed to intimidate
voters in advance of upcoming Sikh temple elections in Vancouver and Abbotsford. A 2009 Vancouver Sun article suggested that Hayer was the
subject of at least three simultaneous murder
plots related to his criticism of the tactics used by
a handful of Sikh separatists in British Columbia.
Many in Canada’s journalism community believe the authorities mishandled the repeated
death threats against Hayer and that they should
have provided him with police protection. For
his part, Hayer was unconcerned about the
threats.
“If they get me, they get me,” Hayer said in an
interview a week before his death. “There’s nothing I can do and I’m not going to stop my work.”
Hayer received numerous honours for that
work, including having the annual Canadian
Journalists for Free Expression Award renamed
for him in 1999. In 2000, he was inducted into
the Canadian News Hall of Fame, making him
the first non-English or non-French Canadian to
receive the honour.
69
TEP TOWAR
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Ðoán Viê´t Hoạt, reunited with his wife,
Trần Thi. Thú’c, after 19
years in a Vietnesmese
prison, speaks to supporters upon his arrival
at Los Angeles International Airport.
Đoàn
vIÊ´t hoạt
VIETNAM
1942–
I
f ever there was a case for the irrepressibility of
the press freedom movement, it is in the life
story of Đoàn Viˆ
et
 Hoa∙t.
The world-renowned Vietnamese political dissident was imprisoned for nearly 20 years to prevent him from conducting independent reporting and espousing his views on democracy. And
yet his writings resonated around the world, unbound by the shackles of communism or the
confines of his prison cell. Through his underground pro-democracy newsletter Dien Dan Tu
Do (Freedom Forum) and his writings from
prison, Hoa.t drew the world’s attention to the repression in Vietnam and became an international champion of free expression.
Born in Vietnam on 24 December 1942, Hoa∙t
protested the South Vietnamese government’s
suppression of Buddhists while a student in the
1960s. Moving to the United States to study, he
then earned a doctorate in education from
Florida State University in 1971. After graduation, he returned to Vietnam to work as a professor and vice president at Saigon’s Van Hahn University, where he also edited the university magazine Tu Tuong (Thought).
To think is to be free, Hoa∙t believes, and
through his work with the magazine and in
other writings, he called for economic reform in
Vietnam. It was a position that incurred the
wrath of the Vietnamese government, which denounced him as being anti-communist. In 1976,
without the benefit of trial, Hoa∙t was imprisoned
for 12 years, crammed into a cell with 40 inmates.
Upon his release in 1989, he was urged to
leave Vietnam and to join his sons and brother
in the U.S. But Hoa∙t had a vision of a free Vietnam and wanted to work to make that vision a
reality. Shortly after his release he published the
first issue of Dien Dan Tu Do, which featured a
variety of pro-democratic views and despatches
from Vietnamese living overseas.
Doan produced four copies of the must-read
newsletter, issues that were passed from reader
to reader before the government got wind of the
rebellious publication. The newsletter was shut
down in 1990 and Hoa∙t was arrested in a sweep
of intellectuals and political dissidents. Charged
with ‘conspiring to overthrow the government,’
Hoa∙t was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a
trial in which he was forced to represent himself.
After an appeal, his sentence was reduced to 15
years.
While in prison the second time, Hoa∙t passed
the time with yoga, Zen meditation and writing.
From his cell, he offered criticism of the regime
and spoke of the need for democracy – writings
that were smuggled out of the prisons with the
help of sympathetic inmates and guards. In an
effort to muzzle Hoa∙t, the government transferred him to more remote prisons to break up
his distribution network.
“After I wrote the reports the officials increased their efforts to isolate me,” Hoa∙t said in a
1998 statement after his release. “Still, I felt that
if I kept silent in jail, then the dictators had won.
And I wanted to send a message to the people
who wanted to fight for freedom that the dictators could not win by putting us in jail. I wanted
to prove that you cannot, by force, silence someone who doesn’t agree with you.”
Hoa∙t was eventually placed in solitary confinement without access to the outside world or
to the medical treatment he needed for his deteriorating health, which included bouts with kidney stones and failing eyesight. Hoa∙t spent more
than four years in solitary before international
pressure led to his release in 1998. He was expelled from Vietnam and returned to the United
States, reuniting with his family and becoming
scholar-in-residence at the Catholic University of
America in Washington, D.C. He continues to
work for improvements in human rights and
democracy in Vietnam.
In an excerpt from an interview he gave for
the 2000 book “Speak Truth To Power,” he explains what drives him to continue the fight:
“My dream for the future is a dream of Vietnam. Our country has a long history of people
who fought against aggression and injustice. Our
highest calling is love of country, as has been
demonstrated by many Vietnamese patriots in
the past. I, too, have been moved by the love of
my country and also by the greatness of my
country’s future and the world’s future. I believe
in a very bright future for Vietnam and for the
whole region of Southeast Asia. Time has passed
too slowly for my country and my people, and a
long history of suffering left. These thoughts
make me so unable to keep silent – my knowledge, vision and love of country urge me to
speak. And I always believe that truth, justice
and compassion will prevail, no matter how
strong the dictators are, no matter how bad the
situation might be.”
71
aBdI
İPeKçI
TURKEY
1929–1979
t
hrough a fog of brutal political assassinations, Abdi İpekçi good-naturedly implored his Milliyet (Nation) readers to nurture acceptance and respect for each other and
for Turkey’s Greek neighbours. As a political
moderate, he was a calming advocate of democracy, harmony and reconciliation in a country
torn by violence and an unstable government.
With his gentle intellect and powerful commitment to human rights, İpekçi stood firm behind
the notion that “the light of truth arises from a
clash of ideas.”
Considered the colossal name of the Turkish
press, his innovative style of journalism incorporated many Western ideas. According to his old
friend and Milliyet colleague, Sami Kohen, “Abdi’s
understanding of journalism, according to that
time was very different and modern. An advanced type of journalism was representative of
the true Turkey.” Reading European and American newspapers, İpekçi developed a keen awareness of other cultures and openness to new ideas.
Born in Istanbul on 9 August 1929, he developed a reputation as an honest, morally-upstanding man. When he graduated Galatasaray
Lisesi High School in 1948, his uncle arranged
two weeks’ work experience with family friend
and well-known journalist Ahment Emin Yalman. The internship was a disaster. Yalman told
Abdi to go to law school and lose his ‘creative
writing’ style. Abdi dutifully complied, but could
not turn his back on journalism; he wrote for the
university paper before eventually leaving to
kick off his journalism career as a sport reporter
for the daily Yeni Sabah.
Having joined the burgeoning Milliyet at age
25 as its publishing manager, thanks to his aptitude in innovative journalism he was promoted
to editor-in-chief in 1959. Determinedly guiding
and nurturing his newspaper, he elevated its status to one of Turkey’s most successful and influ-
72
ential dailies, while also raising the standards of
the Turkish press by introducing his journalistic
criteria, despite tight, often stifling legislation
thwarting press freedom.
Although Milliyet was his baby, he considered
it to be just a small part of the puzzle when it
came to reaching Turkey’s population. As a president of the Istanbul Journalists’ Union and a lecturer at Istanbul University’s Institute of Journalism from 1968, he shared his considerable skills
and knowledge with new and seasoned journalists from across the country, pooling resources
and bridging gaps, he worked towards a congenial media community.
As well as being internationally active with
the International Press Institute, he was an executive board member assisting with the organisation of the Istanbul General Assembly in 1964.
İpekçi’s greatest triumph here came in 1971
when he was vice-chairman. With the support of
the IPI, he organised the November 1978 conference in London for Turkish and Greek editors to
dispel many of the bitter myths that divided
both countries, and to enable the pundits to
forge new links, thus helping them to portray
their foes in a more positive light.
In January 1979, the delegates continued their
discourse in Rhodes. Well-respected in both
communities, İpekçi orchestrated a “media
swap” where leading Turkish editors visited the
Greek prime minister, and the Turks hosted
those from Greece.
In a year in which 600 Turks were killed in
terrorist violence, İpekçi was busy organising a
conference on political extremism and the media
in Turkey for the visiting Greek journalists. As he
drove home from work on 1 February 1979,
İpekçi was riddled with nine bullets. The one to
his heart killed him.
The exact circumstances surrounding his assassination remain foggy and rife with hearsay
and rumour. In 1973, Turkey officially recognised the existence of Counter-Guerrilla as the
Turkish branch of a United States’ initiative
founded to organise a guerrilla force capable of
countering a Soviet invasion. By the time it had
found its way to Turkey, its goal was to subvert
communism. Hearsay suggested that İpekçi was
slain by order of the CIA station chief in Turkey
in a move to silence İpekçi, who had learned of
and attempted to stop the organisation’s move to
recruit civilians into the Counter-Guerrilla.
Über-nationalist, right-wing militants known as
Bozkurtlar (Grey Wolves) were the most visible,
yet unofficial force used by Counter-Guerrilla.
The most dangerous members, Mehmet Ali
Ağca (who later attempted to assassinate Pope
John Paul II in May 1981) and Oral Çelik,
were allegedly paid 100,000 Turkish lira for
İpekçi’s assassination.
The street on which he lived and lost his life
was renamed Abdi İpekçi Street in the journalist’s
memory, and on 1 February 2000 the municipality of Şişli erected an Erhan İşözen-designed
bronze statue, which includes the universallyrecognised dove of peace atop a bust of Abdi.
Turkey’s largest multi-purpose indoor sports and
events arena opened in 1986 also proudly carries
his name. Days after his death, Dr. Andreas Politakis, a Greek, instituted the biannual Abdi İpekçi
Peace and Friendship Prize that honours individuals and organisations working tirelessly to promote peace and friendship between the two
countries.
On the day of Abdi İpekçi’s funeral the nation’s newspapers appeared with black borders,
and news offices halted their presses as a mark
of respect. Thousands of mourners paid their respects in one of Istanbul’s largest ever public
gatherings: a fitting tribute to the man who
stopped at nothing to stand up for democracy
and civil freedom for his compatriots.
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Clockwise from far left: Abdi
İpekçi signing the Code of Press
Ethics in 1960, put forth by
newspaper owners and editors
as a move towards a free and
responsible press in Turkey;
İpekçi showing off his newspaper; İpekçi, second row, third
from left, during a 1958 visit of a
group of Turkish journalists to
the NATO Headquarters in Paris.
WHICHISMEANT:FRE Kemal
JOURNALISTS AND SOKursPahIć
SM.¶WORLD PEACE D
ORE, A FUNDAMENTA
IS ESTABLISHED AN O
ENEWS,FREETRANS
S.¶ • THE PROMOTION
TANDING BETWEEN P
ERSTANDING AMONG
K TOWARDS THE FOL
, FREE PUBLICATION
XCHANGE OF ACCURA
D PEOPLES. IF PEOPLE
TOBRINGABOUTUND
VIEWS.¶•THEACHIEVEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPR
T OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND
N.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDE
ED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGU
NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTAN
URATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶W
DONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPT
FTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGANISATIONTOWORKTOWA
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS
ONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NAT
GBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEY
TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS
RTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEW
VEMENTOFUNDERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFR
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AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORM
A policeman in
Belgrade beats
Kemal Kurspahić
during the student demonstrations in Belgrade,
June 1968.
Kurspahić and
then-U.S. Senator
Joseph Biden in
front of the
Oslobođenje
building during
the war in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
1946–
t
o be an editor in chief during a war is not
easy. To be an editor-in-chief of a newspaper during a city siege lasting several years
– when getting paper to print a newspaper is a
struggle and snipers are shooting at city dwellers
– is close to impossible. Nonetheless, Kemal
Kurspahić managed.
Editor-in-chief of the Sarajevo daily
Oslobođenje, Kurspahić and this team managed
to publish from an atomic bomb shelter
throughout the Sarajevo Siege from 1992 to
1995. In one of the more legendary confrontations, a Serb commander called the newspaper
asking whether it had ordered 32 mortar shells,
promising to deliver them right away. Moments
later, 32 mortar shells were fired at the newspaper’s building.
Kurspahić understood the importance of all
Sarajevians being able to read a newspaper – war
or not; or maybe, especially because there was a
war, that it was important to have a good paper.
So, when the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina
began in 1992, Kurspahić called together the editors, reporters and other staff members of the
daily and made a grim offer to those willing to
work under relentless artillery tank and sniper
fire. He said: “I cannot promise that you will be
alive when the siege is over, nor can I promise
you that you will get any award or promotions.
But I can promise you this: as long as Sarajevo
exists, this newspaper will publish every day.”
And this promise Kurspahić, fondly called
‘Kemo,’ kept.
By printing during the war, he and his team
kept the flame of press freedom alive. They were
devoted to one goal: to produce a newspaper that
upheld the highest standards of journalism and
morality. In the process, they bore witness to the
Siege of Sarajevo and the murder of more than
10,000 people.
Kurspahić became the editor in chief of
Oslobođenje in 1988, several years before the war
started. Under his leadership, the paper broke
from the League of Communists control to become Paper of the Year in the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia in 1989. For publishing
under impossible conditions, Kurspahić and his
team received numerous international awards.
Born in 1946, Kurspahić became a smalltown correspondent for Oslobođenje in 1962 as a
high school freshman. As a student at Belgrade
University’s Law School, he was an editor of the
weekly Student during the 1968 students’ unrest
in Europe and Yugoslavia. Kurspahić’s book
“Prime Time Crime: Balkan Media in War and
Peace” speaks about this period with a photo
showing Belgrade students protesting the media
distortion of their demonstrations with the sign:
“Don’t Trust the Press.” But one other photo
from 1968 also speaks about Kurspahić: one that
shows him on the ground after being beaten by
a policeman while covering the student demonstrations for Student. Kurspahić later became a
professional correspondent for Oslobođenje in
Belgrade in 1969 and then a correspondent in
Jajce (1971-1973). He was later editor of the
newspaper’s sports, politics and newsroom departments from 1974 to 1981, the paper’s U.N.
correspondent in New York (1981-1985) and
Oslobođenje deputy editor in chief from 1985 to
1988. In December 1988, he became the first
editor-in-chief elected by the editorial staff of
Oslobođenje.
After the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Kurspahić served as the managing editor of The
Connection Newspapers in McLean, Virginia,
U.S.A. from 1997 to 2001 and again in April 2007.
In that capacity, he received the Virginia Press
Association’s Best Editorial Pages Award in 1999.
Kurspahić, recipient of the Dr. Erhard Busek
South East Europe Media Organization Award
for Better Understanding, has published several
books in which he analyses the war and the role
of media in the war in former Yugoslavia. Today
he heads the Media in Democracy Institute in
Washington, D.C.
75
daoud
KuttaB
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
1955–
76
t
he power of the digital age has facilitated
Daoud Kuttab’s transformation from the
young U.S.-educated business administration graduate, who couldn’t resist the lure of the
Palestinian newsroom, to one of the most respected and prolific news pundits in the Middle
East. From the moment he saw his name printed
in the weekly English supplement of Al Fajir, the
by-line bug bit him.
Kuttab’s career in journalism is underpinned
by his belief that “our job as media professionals
is to know and to let others know,” and every
new, creative step he takes is on his path “to effect a genuine change [in] the role of media as
an alternative source of public service.” Both the
Israelis and the Palestinian Authority have imprisoned Kuttab during his fight for press freedom. The first time, he was imprisoned for six
hours following a peaceful ‘mouths silenced by
duct tape’ march initiated by the Arab Press Association against Israel’s censorship policy. He
was then jailed for several hours following accusations of anti-Semitism in his column for the
Jerusalem Post. This was followed by imprisonment for seven days by the Palestinian Authority
following a legitimate broadcast of a particularly
lively Palestinian Legislative Council session discussing corruption.
What Kuttab considers his greatest victory
started an hour short of midnight on 20 May
1997 when he was invited to the police station
for a coffee and a chat. He was detained in an
empty administration office at the police station
where officers had been told to treat Kuttab
kindly and with respect. For three days, he was
‘entertained’ on the premises until a TV crew followed his visiting children into the building, riling the chief of police. Angered by his children’s
expulsion, Kuttab went on an impromptu
hunger strike and was bundled off to a secure
prison. While there, he heard the news drifting
across the exercise yard that “the U.S. State Department had issued a statement calling on
Arafat to release [him].” He knew nothing of the
rallying and international support he was receiving from the outside world: the French foreign
ministry’s statement, The Washington Post editorial, the White House spokesman – all calling for
his immediate liberation. Upon his release, despite being warned to not talk to the waiting
media, Kuttab stood in front of his peers, revealing: “I felt that I was the victim of an attempt to
restrict my freedom of expression.”
While he was honoured as a press freedom
hero by the International Press Institute in 2000,
he considers this role to be a natural extension to
his job as a journalist. As a result of that accolade, he attended an IPI-sponsored conference in
Amman, at which he met a Jordanian official
who boasted that his country opposed any kind
of Internet censorship. Showcasing his ability to
creatively bypass government monopolies and
media restrictions, Kuttab consequently founded
AmmanNet, the Arab world’s first online community radio, and now one of the world’s largest
podcasters.
Based in Jordan, AmmanNet deals with everyday Jordanian ‘pocket-book’ issues, how to deal
with ever-increasing fuel prices, salaries and the
failing local transport, as well as continuing Kuttab’s crusade to expose miscarriages of justice. A
series humanising the plight of the “30-something Jordanians still in jail after 20 years of
peace treaty,” motivated the Red Cross to encourage the Jordanian government to permit family
visits, inspiring talk of having the prisoners released.
Chief of AmmanNet, Daoud is also a regular
columnist for the Jordan Times and Jerusalem
Post as well as continuing as founding director of
the historic Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds
University in Ramallah and its purely educational TV station, which he created during the
exciting days following the Oslo Peace Process in
1991. Before the Israelis destroyed the station’s
premises on 8 April 2002, Al Quds TV “dealt with
subjects ranging from the physical and sexual
abuse of children to the problems of early marriage among young Palestinian women to the
lack of respect for people with disabilities.” Kuttab tried to sue the Israeli army for unprovoked
destruction of property, amounting to over
$200,000 (USD), but the Israeli courts threw it
out as the cost of war.
Having rebuilt Al Quds TV for the next generation, in partnership with Israeli educational television, he now produces “Sesame Stories,” a
Middle East version of Sesame Street that features Israeli and Palestinian children playing together and learning tolerance.
Born in Bethlehem on 1 April 1955, Kuttab’s
parents relocated the family to the United States
when he was 17. Knowing that his future lay in
Palestine, he returned home and briefly worked
as business manager at Al Fajir in Jerusalem,
soon joining the reporting team and starting his
journey to change the face of Palestinian media.
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PAGE 2
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Above, left and right: Daoud
Kuttab at work. Middle, right to
left: Kuttab speaking at the IPI
World Congress and 45th General
Assembly in 1996; mingling with
conference delegates; pictured
with fellow IPI World Press
Freedom Hero, May Chidiac.
Below: Kuttab interviewing U.S.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
ATIONALE
KING LANG
DERIVED F
PLES OF FR
EGOALSO
S TV AND R
ENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEWORLD.¶INACCORDANCEWITH
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WS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES
ENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDIN
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MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEAC
PEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDER
TANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLO
ARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPR
NGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURATEANDBALANCEDNEWSAMONGNATIONS.¶•THEIMP
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RE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMON
G THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTI
DOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIE
ST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEME
EPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATIO
RSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTAB
LOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION
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HE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERS
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HERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION
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Above left and right:
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OF
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from the triple grenade
CHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED
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attack on the offices of
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The Namibian, August 1990.
G THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD.
¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTI
Below: Lister speaks at the
DOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH2004
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gWen
lIster
NAMIBIA
1953–
t
wenty-five years ago, at the height of the
South African occupation of the province
once known as South-West Africa, The
Namibian emerged. The rebellious brainchild of
founder and editor Gwen Lister, the newspaper
dared to challenge the status quo, openly advocating the liberation of Namibia and serving as
an international pipeline of unfiltered information for the atrocities and human rights abuses
committed by the South African Army.
Lister’s crusade to bring about both a free
press and a free Namibia incurred the wrath of
the government, which used all manner of
threats and intimidation to muffle her increasingly influential voice.
“I guess they thought being a woman … that if
they put the fear of God into me, that I’d soon resign from journalism and go on and do something else,” Lister said in a 2003 interview on
ABC Australia's Radio National. “But that didn’t
happen because the more I guess they targeted
me, the more I dug my heels in.”
Born on 5 December 1953 in East London,
South Africa, Lister moved to Namibia shortly
after college and began her journalism career at
the Windhoek Advertiser. Her tenure at the Advertiser was short however; she resigned when the
South African government pressured the paper
into a written agreement that it would stop publishing positive stories about the South-West
Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, the opposition liberation group.
Lister and former Advertiser editor Hanes
Smith went on to found the Windhoek Observer
in 1978. As political editor of the weekly Observer, Lister was repeatedly harassed and threatened by the South African government for her
critical reporting on its apartheid policies in
Namibia. During her six years with the Observer,
Lister had her home raided by police and she
was tried for several violations of South African
laws, including the Publications Act, the Customs and Excise Act and the Internal Security
Act. She fought the charges and was acquitted.
In May 1984, the South African Publications
Board imposed a ban on the Observer, one that
Lister successfully fought after raising funds
from the international community. While Lister
was protesting the ban, the Observer’s management demoted her, blaming her for the legal battle. The paper’s staff walked out in solidarity with
Lister. They were fired and Lister subsequently
resigned.
Later that year, Lister distributed to the media
a government document that authorized the interception of her mail by the security police. The
document had been sent to her by mistake rather
than to the postmaster general and Lister was
jailed for distributing it. Upon her release, her
passport was confiscated, she was confined to the
Windhoek district and she was required to report
to the police three times a week. These measures
were widely viewed as attempts to prevent her
from generating the financial backing for a new
newspaper. But they were unsuccessful.
The Namibian was launched in August 1985 as
the first and only independent journalistic voice
in the country’s struggle for liberation. In the
face of both government pressure and social
pressure from white Namibians to not disturb
the status quo, Lister used The Namibian to shine
an international spotlight on the brutality of the
South African occupation. The newspaper’s pioneering journalism helped lay the pavement for
the United Nations settlement plan for Namibia,
Resolution 435. It also made Lister a target again.
In June 1988, Lister, four months pregnant,
was detained as the government tried to pressure
her into revealing the source of a confidential
document outlining a plan to give greater powers
to police and to declare a state of emergency in
Namibia. Lister was held for several days before
the government bowed to international pressure
to release her. The government’s campaign of intimidation continued as issues of The Namibian
were confiscated and white advertisers boycotted
at the behest of authorities. The Namibian’s office
was regularly shot at and tear-gas was put in the
building’s air-conditioning system. In October
1998, the offices were burned down by a rightwing group known as the ‘White Wolves.’ Lister
herself was branded a SWAPO supporter and as
such received constant death threats, even after
Namibia gained its independence in 1990. In
1991, the Civil Cooperation Bureau of the thenSouth African Defence Force, sent Irish mercenary Donald Acheson to Namibia in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Lister.
Namibia’s independence brought with it a
constitution that guaranteed press freedom,
eventually bringing about a less dangerous environment for journalists. Still, Lister’s work continues to ruffle the government’s feathers. In
2000, the Namibian Cabinet banned all government advertising in The Namibian for its ‘antigovernment’ stance. Former President Sam Nujomo extended the ban in 2002 to prohibit government agencies from buying the paper with
state money. Both bans remain in effect.
In the interview with the ABC, Lister reflected
on her decades-long journey in journalistic
courage. “It’s a very strange thing, but I suppose I
kind of felt as though nothing would happen to
me,” Lister said. “I was so completely convinced
that I was doing the right thing that I really
didn’t look over my shoulder.”
79
moChtar
luBIs
INDONESIA
1922–2004
80
t
ime had its own agenda for Mochtar Lubis,
who spent his life defending Indonesia’s
dignity through his newspaper editorials
and the copious amount of fiction penned both in
and out of his long periods of detention.
Where most find being an author or a newspaper editor in chief job enough, Lubis wore both
mantles successfully, earning himself the reputation of being one of Indonesia’s most respected
journalists and best-known authors. While taking
an active role in many of Indonesia’s journalism,
communication and literary associations, he also
forged relationships with many international
bodies. His vast catalogue of work was recognised
by an equally vast catalogue of awards and honours – from the National Literary Award in 1958
to his being the first Indonesian to receive the
Raman Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. In his acceptance speech (read for him in his absence) he
said, “We maintain that freedom from hunger
and freedom of expression are one and indivisible, that democracy, human dignity and freedom
are worth fighting for.”
In his 1959 short story “Kuli Kontrak” (Contract Coolies), Lubis remembers a pivotal childhood experience of secretly witnessing his father
overseeing a lashing in the local prison. This upsetting event rooted Lubis’ belief in universal humanism and concern for human dignity.
His human-focused moral code insisted he expose corruption and government misconduct in
Indonesia. During his last detention, he wrote, “I
am ... fully convinced that our era is the era of
human freedom and human cooperation and
not the era of human enslavement and inevitable confrontation ... But only a truly free
press can help build up traditions of freedom.”
As an intelligent, knowledge-hungry man, he
read widely, making use of his Western-style education to understand his own nation and international affairs. Aware of his unique position
and fuelled by his nationalism, he felt it his duty
to translate his privileged education and firsthand experiences of the Western world – gained
through his travels with the International Press
Institute – for his Indonesian compatriots, exposing them to cultures dramatically different to
their own.
Lubis was born on 7 March 1922 into a
wealthy, aristocratic family in Padang, West
Sumatra. His biographer, Professor David Hill,
described him as “tall, handsome, urbane, and
articulate in several languages” with “a booming
laugh.” Lubis’ father was a well-paid, Dutch-appointed demang (assistant regional administrative head); his childhood was filled with luxury.
Nonetheless, his father instilled a strong work
ethic alongside a hey recommendation that
Lubis and his siblings never work for the colonial government.
In fact, no Indonesian government was spared
Lubis’ criticism. As a young crusading editor at
the pro-Republican daily Indonesia Raya (Glorious Indonesia), his pencil sharpened against corruption, his questioning of President Sukarno’s
motives and agenda linked him inextricably
with Indonesia’s political upheaval of the 1950s.
Lubis sided with the insurgents of a bloodless
coup led by a West Sumatran regimental commander in 1956 suggesting, “If necessary for the
greater good, then President Sukarno and Chief
of Staff (Abdul Haris) Nasution must also be prepared to relinquish their positions.” This time, he
was imprisoned – without trial – for four years,
making him the first Indonesian journalist detained for more than a few weeks for stirring
anti-government sentiment.
As Lubis was chairman of IPI’s National Committee in Indonesia, the IPI succeeded in having
him transferred to house arrest for the majority
of his four-year detention. During this time he
strolled free in his imagination and penned his
internationally-acclaimed novel “Jalan Tak Ada”
(Road with No End) in which he explored fear
and courage during the Indonesian revolution.
Unperturbed by his stolen years, Lubis, upon
his sudden release in April 1961, gave an inspiring, damning address to IPI’s general assembly in
Tel Aviv, resulting in his re-arrest on his return to
Indonesia.
Imprisoned hundreds of kilometres from his
Jakarta home, he learnt that his book “Twilight
in Jakarta” had been translated and published in
English. This pioneering event inspired a series
of other works drawn from the developing world
and presented in English, establishing Lubis as a
literary spokesperson for the Third World.
Released by President Suharto in 1966, Lubis
returned Raya to its previous notoriety: accusing
the New Order government of working with
Japanese investors to control the Indonesian
economy. Raya was banned for the last time and
Lubis was investigated and arrested a year later,
accused of being heavily involved in the Jakarta
riots on 15 January 1974, in reaction to Japanese
Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka’s visit.
On his release, he toured Indonesia faithfully,
recording its history, and he became
director-general of the Press Foundation of Asia
(PFA), established in 1967.
Throughout his life, Mochtar Lubis’ dedication
to truth and humanity was recognised and
praised. Sadly, in his final years, Alzheimer’s stole
his memories. He died in Jakarta on 2 July 2004
aged 82.
HIS BELIEF THERE
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Middle: Mochtar Lubis,
fourth from left, facing
camera, leading the
Indonesian delegation
during the IPI hosted
discussion designed to
improve Dutch-Indonesian
press relations, 1956.
ATIONA
KING LA
DERIVE
PLES OF
ENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHE
WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF
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ENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION.THEREFORE,AFUNDAMENTALSTEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDIN
DANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTHEREISESTABLISHEDANORGANISATIONTOWORKTOWARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJE
SS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIE
MOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEME
PEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODINFORMATION
TANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISH
ARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF
NGAMONGSTJOURNALISTSANDSOAMONGPEOPLES.¶•THEPROMOTIONOFTHEFREEEXCHANGEOFACCURA
EACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONE
UNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJOURNALISTSOFTHEW
OLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS,BYWHICHISM
RESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEO
HE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWE
OOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BR
HERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERA
ANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMEN
CHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES O
RE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FU
G THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANIS
DOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PU
ST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND B
EPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTH
RSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORL
LOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS ME
Clockwise, from far left:
Kronid Lyubarsky pictured
with friends, at work and
resting. Below left:
Lyubarsky says farewell to
friends, Moscow 1977.
Below right: Lyubarsky
looking at the Tungus
meteorite, Siberia 1961.
KronId
lyuBarsKy
RUSSIA
1934–1996
t
he unassuming Kronid Arkadyevich
Lyubarsky drove Russia’s human rights
movement for over 25 years. Despite being
a prominent activist, he stayed quietly behind
the scenes, opting instead to undermine USSR
policies through factual, non-opinionated samizdat (Soviet literature) publications, his most famous being the Chronicle of Current Events.
After graduating from Moscow University in
1956, Lyubarsky worked as an astrophysicist
studying meteors and space biology at the AllUnion Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where
he was involved in the Soviet programme of interplanetary exploration of Mars. The success of
the Mars 2 space probe he read about inside his
prison cell.
Incensed by state censorship and the Soviet
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Lyubarsky,
like many scientists of his generation, joined the
fight for human rights. On 14 January 1972, police raided his home, confiscating more than 600
documents, manuscripts and books. Throughout
his closed trial Lyubarsky fought to defend his
right to call himself a scientist – at one point the
state threatened to revoke his degree – and to be
allowed free access to the information he needed
to fulfil his role as a scientist.
In October 1972, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, Lyubarsky was moved between
Gulag labour camps and prisons in Mordovia
and Vladimir Central Prison. His wife, Galina Salova, and their teenage daughter, Vika, lived 50
kilometres from Moscow, but “lived through the
five long and hard years” with him, on the outside. When Salova visited him in prison she was
proud, and relieved, to see “with [her] own eyes
that there was not even a shadow of a soul break,
and that even there Kronid was full of plans.”
Where Lyubarsky had expected to meet “solid
ranks of like-minded men in the camp, [he]
found a large number of groupings of prisoners.”
Camp administration actively sowed the seeds of
suspicion to ensure the various groups’ continued segregation.
A failed attempt to reveal prison conditions to
the outside world helped him “realise that a common effort of all political and national groups was
needed to overcome the internal disagreements ...
The inmates were ready to unite and act jointly to
confront their common enemy.” Lyubarsky’s goal
was to unify the prisoners not only in his camp,
but across the nation. He instituted the annual
country-wide prison hunger strike in the 1970s,
which Russia still celebrates annually on 30 October as ‘Political Prisoners’ Day.’
Released from the Gulag, Lyubarsky was exiled to Tarusa, near Moscow, where he remained
under constant threat of re-arrest for his dissident activities. He helped manage a political
prisoners’ aid fund set up by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and was a member of the Soviet branch of
Amnesty International. Eventually, he fled with
his family to Munich, where he vigorously continued his human rights activities.
During his 13 years in exile, he produced an
abundance of publications, all made possible by
brave, trusting contacts who smuggled to Munich information of Soviet human rights abuses.
Lyubarsky established the bi-monthly Vesti iz
SSSR (News from the USSR) printed in English
and Russian, uniquely providing objective and
comprehensive information about the human
rights situation and resistance to the Communist
regime, earning the Soviet political prisoners’
plight centre-stage in the Western human rights
movement. Until the release of the last political
prisoner in 1989, Vesti iz SSSR published the annual ‘List of Political Prisoners in the USSR,’ the
go-to global reference for information about political prisoners in Soviet labour camps, prisons
and mental hospitals.
In 1984, as editor and publisher for Strana i
mir (The Country and the World), Lyubarsky
published works about international economic
and political developments written by prominent Westerners, alongside reports of repression
and conflict in the USSR. Boris Khazanov, one of
the journal’s editors, explained that the paper
was distributed, rather than sold: “We know that
Strana i mir is kept in the special book repository
of the Lenin Library, where it is read zealously by
various people with access to the repository ...
Our mailbox used to overflow with responses.
We now receive even more material from the Soviet Union, as well as articles that have been
written especially for our journal.”
Born in Pskov, Russia, on 4 April 1934,
Lyubarsky again became a Russian citizen in
1992. He rejoined his old dissident friends and
was soon central in Russian politics. Boris Yeltsin
trusted his advice, and Lyubarsky was one of the
authors of the country’s new constitution, in
which he focused strongly on citizens’ rights and
freedom of choice.
Concurrently, he edited a number of magazines and led the human rights organisation
Moscow Helsinki Group. In February 1993, as the
first deputy editor in chief of Novoye Vremya
(New Times), his articles changed the personality
of the magazine to one unafraid of speaking out
against human suffering, political atrocities and
the war in Chechnya.
Novoye Vremya’s staff paid him tribute following his death: “Owing to his unblemished reputation, journalistic talent, encyclopaedic knowledge and polemical skill, each of his articles was
an important event.” He had put so much of his
heart into the fight for democracy and in defence
of human rights that his heart eventually gave
up while holidaying in Indonesia on 23 May
1996. He was 62.
83
savea sano
malIfa
SAMOA
1948–
I
n May 1998, after years of using physical
threats and property damage in its fight against
the Samoa Observer, the Samoan government
took a new tack. Parliament granted top officials
the right to use public money to file libel lawsuits against the media, leading to a barrage of
claims against the Observer and its activist editor-in-chief Savea Sano Malifa.
As was the case with the withdrawal of all
government advertising two years earlier, the
government funding of lawsuits was designed to
bankrupt the Observer and prevent it from pursuing its investigations of government corruption. The lawsuits included a defamation case
brought by Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana in
retaliation for a 1997 story claiming that public
money was used to upgrade a hotel owned by
his children. Together, the suits sought hundreds
of thousands of dollars in damages and cost the
paper just as much to fight.
The prime minister was initially awarded a
judgement of $125,000 (USD) before he died and
the cases were thrown out. Another official withdrew his lawsuit without explanation. And a
third official’s case is still pending despite the
fact that he was jailed in 1999 for plotting the
murder of another cabinet minister.
“We did not break any of the laws for which
we were sued,” Malifa said in a 2007 keynote address for UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day. “...
Those lawsuits were all acts of outright intimidation, as far as we’re concerned.”
But the intimidation tactics were unsuccessful
as Malifa never wavered in his mission to elimi-
84
nate corruption, increase government transparency and fight for press freedom in Samoa.
Malifa, a poet, playwright and renowned novelist, studied engineering in Wellington, New
Zealand, before he made the switch to journalism. He was living in the United States in the late
1970s when he got word that his mother was
sick. He returned to Samoa, where he founded
the weekly Samoa Observer in a cookhouse in a
village near Apia in 1978. Together with his wife
Jean he founded a second paper, the Sunday
Samoan in 1987.
The Observer ran into trouble with the government from the start as it rattled the establishment with investigative reporting of corruption
that had previously been unheard of in Samoa.
As a result of the paper’s reporting, Malifa and
his family received numerous death threats.
In 1994, the Observer’s printing plant was
burned down in a fire. Later, it was discovered
that the minister of women’s affairs, Leafa Vitale,
had arranged for the arson in retaliation for a
story the paper had run linking him to a scandal
involving the sale of cattle. As a result of that
story, Vitale threatened to kill Malifa and his family. Malifa was also assaulted by Vitale’s brothers.
That same year, Malifa was awarded the Pacific Islands News Association’s Freedom of Information Award.
“To practice serious journalism in Samoa during that time, one had to work one’s way carefully through a minefield of physical assaults;
threats to kill; ‘suspicious’ arson; intimidation
tactics such as refusing business licenses; bans
.10,1948).¶2.THENAMEO
NALDELAPRENSA,INSPA
CH, GERMAN AND SPANIS
THE RESOURCES OF THE IN
INESSES, WHICH SUPPOR
TOFANYMEMBERORINDIV
AINING COURSES, ACADE
EGATIONS AND MISSIONS
NCE OF WOMEN AND MEN
FOR THE INSTITUTE, AND T
NSTITUTEISOPENTOPERS
ONTHEINTERNET,WHOS
LYANDBYWRITTENSTATE
OUNTRIESWHERETHEREA
ENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.
ERTOINITIALLYDETERM
ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS
on government advertising; being followed at
night as you drove down the street, and all the
way to your home; defamation and criminal libel
lawsuits,” Malifa said in the 2007 keynote address. “It was a time when the free press in
Samoa was mangled underfoot at will by the
mighty and the powerful.”
Soon after the arson, the lawsuits began, bolstered by parliament’s decision to allow officials
to use government funds for their legal fees. “It
was clear then, that even parliament did not care
what press freedom was, and whether it lived or
died,” Malifa said.
And yet, he persevered.
In November 1998, Alesana died and Tuilaepa
Sailele Malielegaoi took over as Samoan prime
minister, ushering in an era of greater latitude
for the press. Nonetheless, Malifa’s fight for press
freedom continues.
He is working to get the government to repeal
the Printers and Publishers Act of 1992, which requires publishers and editors to reveal their
sources to government officials who claim they
have been defamed by the media, particularly
newspapers. He views the law as a clear attempt
to frighten sources from revealing information to
the media, undermining freedom of information.
He is also working to have the government abandon its policy of allowing public funds to be used
for legal fees incurred by officials suing the media.
“So what is press freedom?” Malifa asked
rhetorically in his speech. “It is everyone’s freedom. It is the lifeblood of democracy; without it,
democracy wilts and dies.”
REE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AM
AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD
E ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWAR
HE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARD
HICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAP
AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG
DINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATT
PLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WIT
THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO TH
E ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION
E PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLE
EFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTAN
ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDIN
Above: Savea Sano
Malifa accepting the
IPI World Press
Freedom Hero award
at the IPI World
Congress in Boston,
2000.
ENTALSTEPTOWARDS
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ISTOBRING
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Above: Veran Matić announces
B92 is resuming work under the
new name, B2-92, and from a
new office, four months after
the government forcefully took
over the original station in Belgrade on 2 August 1999. Below:
Matić speaking about press
freedom at a conference. Right:
Matić at work on the airwaves.
Veran
matIć
SERBIA
1962–
I
n March 1989, a group of young journalists and
journalism students from Radio Beograd 202’s
student programme, Indeks 202, and Studio B’s
youth programme, Rítam srca, met to establish a
new radio station in Belgrade – B92, which began
broadcasting on 15 May 1989.
Radio journalist Veran Matić, with Rítam Srca
when he helped establish Radio B92, became the
station’s editor in chief almost immediately. And
just as the new station would quickly make its
mark on Belgrade, so would Matić.
In the beginning, Radio B92 was predominantly youth-oriented but with strong critical
voices about the political developments in Serbia
and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
It was a time when nationalism in Serbia was
growing every day, and within a few months of
its founding, B92 became one of the most important voices for democratic and anti-nationalist
developments in Serbia.
But there was one problem: B92 could only be
heard in certain parts of the city. The fact that the
signal was weak, however, also aided B92’s survival. It was assumed that as long as the station
was small, authorities wouldn’t bother with it.
Besides, Serbian president Slobodan Milošević
and his regime were more than happy to use
B92’s existence to show the world that they were
accepting of alternative and critical voices. Nevertheless, B92 had a strong influence on the forming
of public opinion. It became especially popular
during the first big anti-Milošević demonstration
in Belgrade in March 1991, when all other electronic media was under state control. While B92
was reporting the events of 9 March, including
police violence against demonstrators, the state
media only reported on a “small group of several
hundred persons that were demonstrating.” During this first big public expression against Milošević, people in Belgrade began speaking about B92
and ‘crazy Veran,’ chief of the station.
Matić, born in 1962, fought for press freedom
and democracy from the very start. He was always unconventional; often he would be seen in
the office with a bottle of beer. But he was always
professional. Engaged in journalism since 1984
when he started to cooperate with alternative
and youth media in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana, Matić, with his critical voice, was being
observed by state security even before B92 was
founded. It began in 1987 when Matić’s
neighbours had a visit from authorities, asking
questions about that “strange Matić,” the journalist recalls.
When the war in former Yugoslavia began,
Matić publicly supported anti-war activities and
fought against nationalism. B92 became a strong
anti-regime voice, but always upheld professional standards. Fighters for democratic developments in Serbia regularly met in the newsroom, where it was possible to speak openly
on-air about the regime’s war crimes and criminal activities.
By maintaining a very strong factual news programme amid the virulence of propaganda and
war mongering of the state-owned broadcaster
RTS, B92 had positioned itself firmly in the heart
of the anti-war scene in Belgrade. In the Nineties,
it became a hub for foreign journalists visiting
Serbia. The station was an important and trusted
source during a period in which getting independent and non-propagandist information in
south eastern Europe was difficult.
B92 was banned several times, but managed
to continue broadcasting until it was taken over
by the Milošević regime in 1999, during the
NATO air strikes against former Yugoslavia.
During this period, Matić was briefly detained by
police. After the regime’s illegal take-over of B92,
Matić and all employees of the radio station refused to co-operate with the new management
and were fired. But that didn’t stop Matić. He took
to the Internet, creating the FreeB92 website that
subsequently led to Radio B2-92, broadcasting in
Belgrade at 99.1 MHz. The website and FreeB92
were important elements in supporting democratic development and political changes
in Serbia.
“The biggest of all problems, besides being
banned and technically disabled, was the state of
war and military censorship,” Matić said in an interview with JURIST: The Law Professors’ Network. “Possibilities of working under military
censorship is a big topic and insufficiently spoken about. Anyway, we somehow managed to
work even under such conditions. At least in a
way that hate speech was never used.”
During B92’s first 10 years, Matić was often described by Milošević-controlled media as a spy, a
criminal or anti-Serb. He was repeatedly accused
of ‘selling Serbia’ or ‘working for NATO’ by the
media and members of the Serbian Parliament.
In 2000, in order to overcome the banning of
B92 in Belgrade and with assistance from partners from Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Matić launched a network that would cover the
largest part of Serbia: Television B92, first broadcast via satellite and through regional networks.
After the democratic changes in October 2000 in
Serbia, Radio and Television B92 continued to develop its independent professional journalism.
With Matić always at the helm.
Independent of his power as editor in chief,
and later also chief executive and co-owner of
B92, Matić was unobtrusive and open to new
ideas at all times, something that helped many
young journalists in learning the profession. He
developed B92 as a socially responsible media
company by initiating a series of humanitarian
and socially-relevant campaigns, such as the creation of safe houses for the victims of family violence, campaigning for breast cancer prevention
or holding voluntary blood donations. He also
supported minorities and diversity in society.
Over the years the ‘weak’ B92 has become a
strong company. It now runs two TV channels
(TV B92, founded in September 2000, and B92
Info, launched in 2008); B92.net web (which
began in 1995 as OpenNet) and a film and video
division. It also has its own record label, a book
publishing arm called Samizdat B92 and the Rex
Culture Centre.
87
adam
mIChnIK
POLAND
1946–
e
ditor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza (Electoral
Gazette) since the newspaper’s launch in
spring 1989, Adam Michnik is an historian
by education, a commentator and essayist by nature, and a politician and human rights activist
by temperament.
During the Communist era, he spent a total of
six years in prison for his political activities.
Starting out as a student activist of the 1968 generation, he became an adviser in the first nonCommunist party-controlled trade union, Solidarity, and during the period of martial law, he
served as one of Solidarity founder Lech Wałęsa’s
closest aides.
Michnik was born 17 October 1946 in Warsaw.
In 1965, he became one of the leading figures in
the fledgling Polish democratic opposition
movement, with a secular and leftist tinge. In
March 1968, at the very outset of the anti-Semitic and anti-intelligentsia campaign orchestrated by the Communist party, he was expelled
from Warsaw University, triggering a series of
strikes and student riots. As a result of the socalled ‘March events,’ he spent over a year in
prison.
In 1970, after earning a degree in history from
Poznań University, he worked for more than a
year on the assembly line at the Róża Luksemburg factory in Warsaw. There he co-founded the
Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR), a structure
aimed at building social ties and supporting
workers who were persecuted after the July 1976
strikes and riots. KOR gave rise to a number of
other independent initiatives, including the
NOWA Independent Publishing House, an underground publishing operation co-founded by
Michnik that reintroduced Polish readers to authors who had been banned by the communists.
Another initiative was the ‘Flying University,’ a
series of independent lectures and seminars on
subjects such as literature and recent history,
which took place in private homes, often bru-
88
tally interrupted by the political police. Michnik
was among the regular lecturers.
Imprisoned under martial law, Michnik was
later arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow the political system by force (a charge carrying the maximum sentence of death). He was
offered freedom and the possibility to emigrate
to the West – in return for discontinuing his political activism – but he declined the offer and
convinced other imprisoned Solidarity activists
to do the same. He was imprisoned from 19811984 and again from 1985-1986. Each time, he
was released under an amnesty.
During the Polish Roundtable Talks, Michnik
was one of the key architects of the agreement
between the government and opposition groups.
And following the 1989 elections, he became a
member of Poland’s first non-Communist parliament after the Second World War. He published,
among other things, the editorial “Your President
– Our Prime Minister!” in Gazeta Wyborcza,
which opened the way for Tadeusz Mazowiecki
to become Poland’s first non-Communist head of
government in post-war history.
Gazeta Wyborcza, initially a daily newspaper
launched to support Solidarity candidates in the
June 1989 elections, became the first free newspaper ‘between the Elbe and Vladivostok.’ It was
created as a result of the Roundtable Talks but
was never an official Solidarity organ. Over the
next year or so, despite pressure from the trade
union and non-Communist MPs, as well as Lech
Wałęsa himself, the paper successfully defended
its independence. Michnik declared then that
Gazeta – though proud of its dissident lineage,
from the times of the KOR and martial law-era
underground Solidarity – would operate on its
own account and responsibility, for the independence and freedom of democratic Poland,
rather than representing the interests of any political party or union organisation. He also
stressed that, whilst he gladly took the blame for
REE PUBLICATION
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the paper’s mistakes and failures, its success was
an effect of the hard work of its entire team.
Soon Gazeta Wyborcza – today with many supplements, a colour reportage magazine and a
weekly women’s magazine – became one of the
most influential media outlets in Europe, and it
is now the largest quality newspaper in Poland
(second to only one tabloid in terms of circulation). Its publisher, the multimedia group Agora,
created by people active in the pre-1989 democratic opposition movement, is one of Poland’s
largest companies.
Michnik has written hundreds of essays and
many books, translated into dozens of languages.
Undoubtedly, two of the most important are “The
Church and the Left,” published in the late1970s, which opened the secular anti-communist opposition circles to cooperate with the
Catholic Church; and “Letters from Prison and
Other Essays,” a collection written in and smuggled out of communist prisons, one of the key
readings of the martial law era explaining the
need for talks and compromise.
Privately, Michnik is the proud father of son
Antek as well as a book lover, a raconteur, the
life and soul of every party, until recently a keen
– though bad – dancer and a connoisseur of fine
liquor, though not someone to spurn simple
whisky. The owner of hundreds of jokes, it was in
the context of Michnik’s anecdotes that Pope
John Paul II reportedly said he would be the first
pope in history to die of laughter.
Once during a 1990 meeting with intellectuals
in Castel Gandolfo, John Paul II, deeply worried,
posed the question: “Gentlemen, what will be
with Poland now?” Those present pondered the
question with the pope. Only Michnik replied: “It
will be well, Holy Father, it will be well.”
Written by Pawel Smolenski, staff reporter at
Gazeta Wyborcza.
Above: Adam
Michnik in 1989.
Below: portrait of
Michnik while attending University
of Warsaw.
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INSTITUTE’S
OBJECTIVES
SANDADVISORS.¶·ASAFFILIATE
MEMBERS
(LEA
UNDERSTANDING
AMONG
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MAGAZINES, BROADCASTING OR NEWS AGENCIE
OLLOWING
OBJECTIVES:
¶
•
THE
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NTERS,PERSONS
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EDITORIAL
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OURNAL,
RADIO,
TV ORGANISATION
OR NEWS AG
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¶
•
THE
ACHIEVEM
TEN APPROVAL FROM THEIR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. ¶ 6
ALLIMPROVEMENT
BE MADE TO THE NATIONAL
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HE
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THE
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ARESUBJECTA
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UT THEYISSHALL
HAVE NO VOTING
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THE DU
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¶
IPI
CONSTITUTION
PAG
ANSMISSION
OF
NEWS,
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PUBLIC
OF
UNIVERSITIES AND
COLLEGES,
SCHOOLS
AND
MAYPARTICIPATE
INALLTHEINSTITUTE’S
ACTIV
CHANGE
OF ACCURATE
AND BALAN
ZAMBIA
1959–
Above: Fred
M’membe, also pictured below, and
Lucy Sichone leave
the High Court after
a contempt case
hearing, 1998.
Above: M’membe
holds a photocopy of
a page from his
newspaper, The Post.
Below: M’membe
leaving court on
4 June 2010 after
being sentenced to
four months hard
labour.
ince the launch of Zambia’s biggest selling
newspaper, The Post, on 26 July 1991, every
government that has come to power has either arrested or abused Fred M’membe.
Armed with nothing but a pen, M’membe has
had to bear the harassment of politicians who believe any criticism or challenge should remain
taboo. Throughout The Post’s existence, Zambian
politicians have used the police as their attack
dogs in an operation to remove and intimidate
M’membe.
Throughout this campaign, the editor has witnessed police raids of not only The Post’s offices
but also his own home and the homes of his staff.
In addition, politicians have been peddling unfounded rumours that he intends to run for president.
“We live in a society that is intolerant. When
you differ with a dominant clan they will banish
you … We have faced high levels of intolerance
from those who do not want to be challenged.
They wanted to abuse and misapply the resources
of the country without being questioned,”
M’membe told a fellow colleague in April 2010 on
behalf of the International Press Institute.
This intolerance has led to his imprisonment
on various charges. “I have been detained by Parliament abusing the powers which they did not
have. There is no regime that has not arrested or
abused us,” says M’membe, adding that he is not
intimidated or discouraged as he knew that
“paving a road where there was previously a stop
sign” would not be an easy task.
“We had chosen to publish news in the conditions we were living in. Our goal was to advance
democratic governance in our country, to create a
much more fair and humane society. Without
press freedom you cannot defend freedom of expression. Without freedom of expression there
cannot be democratic governance. That is why
press freedom is being defended in the U.S., in
Europe and elsewhere. What’s more, for our society, the challenge becomes bigger.”
Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba
pursued The Post with all his energy, but things
turned against Chiluba when The Post called him
a thief in 2001. “For all our deficiencies, we have
made people speak out. People are still able to
speak. We exposed the corruption of Chiluba and
helped in his prosecution to secure a favourable
judgment, which orders that he pays back what
he stole. There are a number of top civil servants
and top military officers who have been convicted of corruption,” said M’membe.
He adds: “There is nothing that sets me apart
from the others; I am just one of them. I have
fought alongside others. I have learnt from others
and they have learnt from me. Together we have
struggled and together we will struggle, and together we will continue to improve. I am just part
of the global army.”
M’membe has not withered in the face of persecution; he has defended freedom of the press
with all his energy. He is always ready to compromise, but not at the expense of press freedom and
freedom of expression.
“It appeared like an exercise that would end
tomorrow, but now we have to fight for press
freedom for the rest of our lives,” he says.
M’membe leads a very busy life, and in the early
years of the newspaper, he would get home very
late to find his children sleeping on his bed, having fallen fast asleep waiting for his return.
When the British-born columnist of The Post,
Roy Clarke, was deported on charges of insulting
the late-president Levy Mwanawasa, by calling
him ‘muwelele’ (foolish elephant), M’membe
reprinted the satire under his own name to share
the responsibility.
When a magistrate cited M’membe for contempt during the ‘pornography trial’ of the
paper’s news editor, Chansa Kabwela, the former
chairman of the International Press Institute and
Guardian editor Peter Preston described
M’membe as a hero in a mad world. “Fred
M’membe, editor of the Zambia Post, is one of my
heroes – utterly straight, utterly fearless, and utterly up to his neck in trouble again,” Preston
wrote in his column. “A professor at Cornell University wrote an article criticising the minister.
The journalist (M’membe) was promptly charged
with distributing material that could corrupt
public morals … Fred has been charged with contempt of court and M’membe could be sent to
prison for six months. You couldn’t make it up.
But that’s Fred, a rock-solid citizen in an utterly
mad world.”
Although he never sought acclaim, M’membe
has found himself recognised as a fighter for
press freedom and freedom of expression. Aside
from being named a World Press Freedom Hero
by the International Press Institute, he is also the
recipient of freedom awards from the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists. In 1995,
he was named International Editor of the Year for
Entrepreneurship by the World Press Review for
his “courage and leadership in advancing press
freedom and human rights.” He also received the
Pringle Media Award from the South African
Union of Journalists and the Percy Qoboza Foreign Journalist Award from the U.S.-based National Association of Black Journalists.
Written by Sam Mujuda, deputy managing director,
The Post newspaper in Zambia.
91
INdro
montanellI
ITALY
1909–2001
I
f there were one word to describe Indro Montanelli it would be “independent” – and fiercely
so. Incurring the wrath of fascists, Nazis and
leftist extremists, Montanelli, arguably Italy’s
most famous journalist, refused to bow down to
pressures from either the right or left of the Italian political establishment, taking great pride in
being controcorrente – always swimming against
the current.
Born in Fucecchio, Tuscany, on 22 April 1909,
Montanelli studied law at the University of Florence before starting his career with newspaper
L’Universale, which was founded by the GUF, the
student wing of the National Fascist Party (PNF).
He later moved on to Paris Soir in France and the
United Press news agency in New York, where he
developed a distinctive, uncomplicated style, in
stark contrast to his Italian contemporaries, who
preferred a more verbose, long-winded style of
writing.
In his youth, Montanelli had been a supporter
of the early anti-establishment ideals of fascism,
but this initial enthusiasm began to wane following Italian leader Benito Mussolini’s clampdown on the press in 1935 – including L’Universale – for questioning the nature of fascism. In
1936, when Mussolini launched the campaign in
Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia), Montanelli left
his post at United Press and enlisted as a volunteer, but the colonial campaign left Montanelli
further disillusioned with the fascist movement.
On his return from Abyssinia, Montanelli became a war correspondent for Il Messaggero, reporting from the Spanish Civil War. Refusing to
toe the fascist propaganda line, his objective reporting of the war earned him expulsion from
the Italian journalists’ union as well as from the
fascist party in 1937.
Exiled from Italy, Montanelli was sent to report from all over Europe by Corriere della Sera
for his own safety. His reporting took him to Estonia, Finland, Norway, Albania and Greece,
earning him a reputation for honest and independent reporting. His unflattering reports in
92
Italy on Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci,
led to his arrest by the Gestapo, and in 1944 he
was sentenced to death as a traitor. He luckily
avoided his death sentence with the help of the
archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster, and escaped to Switzerland, where he stayed
until the end of the war.
After the Second World War, Montanelli returned to Corriere della Sera as a columnist and
built a reputation as one of Italy’s most-respected, though controversial journalists. He reported from various European countries and was
one of the first correspondents in Budapest during the Hungarian revolution in 1956.
In 1974, Montanelli left Corriere della Sera,
after refusing to follow the leftist editorial line
set by the new owners. Montanelli, along with
several other former Corriere writers, founded a
new conservative newspaper – aptly named Il
Giornale Nuovo (The New Newspaper), later
known simply as Il Giornale – with Montanelli as
its editor.
Montanelli’s conservative, anti-communist
line gained him not only a readership, but also
the ire of the extremist left. On his way to the
paper’s offices in Milan on 2 June 1977, Montanelli was shot four times in the legs by members of the revolutionist radical Red Brigades
movement. Undaunted, he returned to his position as editor in chief of Il Giornale, launching a
campaign against terrorism. “If [the terrorists]
think I am going to shut up, they are very mistaken,” he said at the time. “There is no one at
the paper who would give in to these tactics.”
Montanelli continued to challenge political and
media establishment throughout his career and
well into old age. In 1994, he left Il Giornale after
then-proprietor Silvio Berlusconi moved into politics against Montanelli’s advice and wishes, moving on to set up yet another paper, La Voce (The
Voice). At the time, Montanelli said: “Without my
knowledge he came into the newsroom and said
everything must now be changed because now
the newspaper must be put at his service.”
EC.10,1948).¶
IONALDELAP
ENCH, GERMA
DE. THE RESOU
BUSINESSES, W
EFITOFANYME
, TRAINING CO
ELEGATIONS A
Although not as successful as his previous
newspaper – La Voce closed after just one year
due to financial difficulties – the paper maintained a hard line against Montanelli’s former
friend, a line he maintained even when many of
his former colleagues had firmly backed the
media mogul.
Author of more than 60 books, mostly on Italian history, the tall, slim Italian – noted by those
who knew him as gruff and grumpy – was eventually persuaded to return to Corriere della Sera,
which was considered by some as his natural
journalistic home. The now elderly Montanelli
continued to write, answering readers’ letters on
a wide range of topics. However, unsurprising
given his conservative nature, he never owned a
computer, preferring his old typewriter, and
shunned the Internet, admitting in an interview
with the UK’s Financial Times that he did “not
know how to adapt.”
Ever the relentless critic, at age 92 he wrote a
number of editorials criticising Berlusconi ahead
of the 2001 elections, less than five months before his death.
Montanelli passed away following a short illness on 22 July 2001. Corriere della Sera carried
his obituary on the front page and even his longtime nemesis Berlusconi declared: “With Indro
Montanelli a witness of the century disappears
… I weep for the friend with whom I have shared
many battles and to whom I was bound even
when he expressed dissent at my positions, with
the spirit of freedom that has always animated
his work and I have always respected.”
ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THE
E AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRA
F UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCH
URNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLES AND PEOPLES. IF PEOPLES ARE T
ENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE
O WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF
EWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS O
SSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTAND
CORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWIN
REE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESS
.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IM
OPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITISESSENTIALTHATTHEYHAVEGOODIN
Above and left: Indro
Montanelli after he
was shot four times
in his legs by members of the revolutionist radical Red
Brigades movement
on 2 June 1977.
NACCORDANCEWITHTHISBELIEFTH
REE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRA NIZAR
THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCH NAYOUF
PLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETO
T UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOU
D SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF T
I
ERSTANDINGAMONGSTJOURNALIST
¶WORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDER
OWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONG
DSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•
FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE
ONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE P
Y HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THERE
S BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN O
S, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FR
E FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AN
PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE
G AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF TH
G OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WH
AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO A
NCH;INSTITUTOINTERNACIONALDELAPRENSA,INSPANISH;INTERNATIONALESPRESSEINSTITUT,INGERMAN;HEREINAFTERREFERR
UTE SHALL BE ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN AND SPANISH; THE WORKING LANGUAGE SHALL BE ENGLISH. ¶ 4. THE INSTITUTE IS A NONEQ. OF THE SWISS CIVIL CODE. THE RESOURCES OF THE INSTITUTE ARE DERIVED FROM MEMBERSHIP DUES, CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NEW
THER INSTITUTIONS AND BUSINESSES, WHICH SUPPORT THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION A
SHALLENURETOTHEBENEFITOFANYMEMBERORINDIVIDUAL.¶5.THEGOALSOFTHEINSTITUTE,ASDESCRIBEDINTHEPREAMBLE,MAY
XCHANGE PROGRAMMES, TRAINING COURSES, ACADEMIC LECTURES TV AND RADIO BROADCAST MATERIAL WHICH CAN BE IN THE FO
ERNET, THE SENDING OF DELEGATIONS AND MISSIONS TO COUNTRIES AND GOVERNMENTS, AND COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ORGA
HALL PROMOTE A FAIR BALANCE OF WOMEN AND MEN IN ITS STRUCTURES AND IN ITS ACTIVITIES. ¶ IPI CONSTITUTION PAGE 2 ¶ 7. NO
LITY, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE, FOR THE INSTITUTE, AND THE INSTITUTE ASSUMES NO LIABILITY, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE, FOR ANY INDIVID
1.FULLMEMBERSHIPOFTHEINSTITUTEISOPENTOPERSONSWITHRESPONSIBILITIESFOREDITORIALORNEWSPOLICYINNEWSPAPERS
BROADCASTINGSYSTEMSORONTHEINTERNET,WHOSUPPORTTHEPRINCIPLEOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSANDDESIRETOCO-OPERATEI
MBERSHIP,DECLAREFORMALLYANDBYWRITTENSTATEMENTTHEIRWILLINGNESSTOWORKFORTHEACHIEVEMENTOFPRESSFREEDOM
ACQUIREDASFOLLOWS:INCOUNTRIESWHERETHEREARENATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLICATIONSSHALLBEMADETOTHENATIONAL
ERMINEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INCOUNTRIESWHERETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLICATIONSF
OALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROLMENTSA
D. ¶ 3. MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS. HOWEVER, IF A NATIONAL COMMITTEE SO DECIDES MEMBERSHIP MAY ALSO BE
OR RADIO BROADCASTING SYSTEM OR AN INTERNET SERVICE. ¶ 4. A NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BROADCAS
RE THAN ONE FULL MEMBER UP TO A LIMIT OF TEN. ¶ 5. THERE SHALL BE ELIGIBLE AS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE DEV
FCO-OPERATINGINTHEINSTITUTE’SOBJECTIVES,FOREXAMPLE,THESEMAYINCLUDE:¶·ASASSOCIATEMEMBERS:EXECUTIVESOFME
SANDADVISORS.¶·ASAFFILIATEMEMBERS(LEADINGJOURNALISTSGROUP):PERSONSOPERATINGINJOURNALISTICCATEGORIESFO
MAGAZINES, BROADCASTING OR NEWS AGENCIES, EDITORIAL WRITERS, COPY EDITORS, BUREAU CHIEFS, CORRESPONDENTS, TV AND
NTERS,PERSONSHOLDINGSIMILAREDITORIALPOSITIONSONINTERNETSERVICES.¶THENUMBEROFASSOCIATEANDAFFILIATEMEMBE
OURNAL, RADIO, TV ORGANISATION OR NEWS AGENCY IS NOT LIMITED. AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP (LEADING JOURNALISTS GROUP) SH
TEN APPROVAL FROM THEIR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. ¶ 6. ASSOCIATE
AND AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP CAN BE ACQUIRED AS FOLLOWS. IN COUNT
Clockwise from left: Drawing by
ALL BE MADE TO THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE, WHICH ALONE
SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO INITIALLY DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT TO EN
Nizar Nayouf while in the SydALCOMMITTEES,APPLICATIONSFORMEMBERSHIPSHALL
BEMADETOTHEINSTITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWER
naya Military Prison, Damascus,
S.INALLCASES,ENROLMENTSARESUBJECTTOTHEULTIMATE
AUTHORITYOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.¶7.ASSOCIATEANDAFFILIATEM
dated 2 January 2001; Nayouf
UT THEY SHALL HAVE NO VOTING RIGHTS. THE DUES FOR
ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE HALF THE DUES FOR FULL MEMBERSHIP. T
on the first day of his release, 6
SSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP.¶IPICONSTITUTIONPAGE3¶May
8.2001,
INSTITUTIONAL
MEMBERSHIPSHALLBEOPENUNDERTHECONDITIONSOFARTI
together with his
OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, SCHOOLS AND CENTRES
OF
JOURNALISM,
PRESS INSTITUTES AND JOURNALISTS’ ORGANISATIONS
youngest brother Hayyan; Nizar
MAYPARTICIPATEINALLTHEINSTITUTE’SACTIVITIES.
THEDIRECTORSHALLHAVEPOWERTOENROLINSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSUBJEC
Nayouf arriving in the Royan
BEROFTHEIRDELEGATESISNOTLIMITED.DUESFORINSTITUTIONAL
Station, near Bordeaux, south-MEMBERSSHALLBEFIXEDBYTHEDIRECTORINACCORDANCEWITH
SSHALLHAVENOVOTINGRIGHTS.¶9.INSOFARASASSOCIATE
ARECONCERNED,DUESFORCERTAINCATEGORIESOFTHESEM
western France, JulyMEMBERS
2001.
DIRECTOR WITH THE AGREEMENT OF THE BOARD. ¶ 10.
THE EXECUTIVE
BOARD SHALL HAVE POWER TO SUSPEND OR EXPEL ANY MEMBE
SETOUTINTHEPRESENTCONSTITUTION.SUSPENSIONOFAMEMBERMAYBEORDEREDBYAMAJORITYVOTEOFTHEMEMBERSPRESEN
ED EXCEPT ON THE APPROVAL OF TWO-THIRDS OF THE MEMBERS PRESENT OF THE BOARD. ¶ 11. WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE CONSIDERAT
GED CAUSES, SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE MEMBER CONCERNED SIXTY (60) DAYS PREVIOUS TO THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD AN
THATMEMBERSHALLSODESIRE.ANYMEMBERSOORDEREDSUSPENDEDOREXPELLEDBYTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDSHALLHAVETHERIGH
JORITY VOTE OF MEMBERS PRESENT SHALL BE RECOGNISED AS THE FINAL DECISION OF THE INSTITUTE. ¶ 12. ANY MEMBER SHALL BE FR
NSHALLBEGIVENEITHERTOTHENATIONALCOMMITTEEORTOTHEDIRECTOR.¶13.ANYMEMBERRESIGNINGOREXPELLEDSHALLBEBOU
METHATMEMBER’SRESIGNATIONOREXPULSIONBECOMESEFFECTIVE.¶14.MEMBERSHIPSHOULDBECANCELLEDINCASESWHERETH
GEINTHECONDITIONSUNDERWHICHMEMBERSHIPHASBEENGRANTEDANDWHERETHESECHANGESAREINCONTRADICTIONTOTHE
II¶NATIONALCOMMITTEES¶1A)SUBJECTTORECOGNITIONBYTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDANDCONSEQUENTLYTORATIFICATIONBYTHENE
OVISIONALLYINACOUNTRYWHERETHEREAREATLEASTFIVEFULLMEMBERSFORMALLYCOMMITTEDTOTHEPRINCIPLESOFTHEPRES
OARD SHALL NOT NECESSARILY IMPLY THAT THE EXECUTIVE BOARD ALSO RECOGNISES THAT THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THE NATIONAL C
ONALCOMMITTEESSHALLACTIVELYPURSUETHEAIMSOFTHEINSTITUTEINTHEIRCOUNTRIES,RECRUITMEMBERSANDMAYREPORTT
TICULARLYONTHREATSTOFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSORTOTHEFREEFLOWOFNEWS.ATTHEREQUESTOFTHENATIONALCOMMITTEE,TH
IONALCOMMITTEESMAYBEENTRUSTEDWITHADMINISTRATIVETASKSSUCHASTHECOLLECTINGOFMEMBERSHIPDUES.THEYMAYEM
ITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SECRETARIAT. FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE COORDINATED WITH THE IPI DIRECTOR. AN ANNUAL A
ONPAGE4¶4.THEEXECUTIVEBOARDSHALLHAVEPOWERTODECLAREANATIONALCOMMITTEEINACTIVEORSUSPENDRECOGNITIONOF
NSIDERSTHEOBJECTIVESOFPARAGRAPH2OR3ABOVEHAVENOTBEENFULFILLEDORTHEREISAFUNDAMENTALCHANGEINTHECONDIT
ITTEEHASBEENGRANTED.¶DECLARATIONOFANATIONALCOMMITTEE’SINACTIVITYORSUSPENSIONOFANATIONALCOMMITTEEMAY
RDPRESENT.WRITTENNOTICETHATSUCHACTIONWILLBECONSIDEREDBYTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD,WITHASTATEMENTOFTHEREASO
COMMITTEE CONCERNED SIXTY (60) DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE SHALL HAVE T
HERINWRITINGORBYTHEPERSONALAPPEARANCEOFAMEMBERORMEMBERSOFTHENATIONALCOMMITTEEATTHEEXECUTIVEBOA
RESENTATIONS.¶ANATIONALCOMMITTEEFROMWHICHRECOGNITIONHASBEENORDEREDTOBESUSPENDEDBYTHEEXECUTIVEBOA
HALLHAVETHERIGHTTOAPPEALTOTHENEXTGENERALASSEMBLY,INWHICHCASEAMAJORITYVOTEOFMEMBERSPRESENTSHALLBE
HAT THE EXECUTIVE BOARD MAY AT ANY TIME RESTORE RECOGNITION TO A NATIONAL COMMITTEE. ¶ NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVIS
ITTEE OR THE DECISION OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD TO CONSIDER A NATIONAL COMMITTEE INACTIVE SHALL NOT AFFECT THE RIGHT OF
T COUNTRY TO CONTINUE AS MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE AND TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN ITS AFFAIRS. ¶ WHERE THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
ANATIONALCOMMITTEEINACTIVE,THETASKSFORMERLYEXECUTEDBYTHISCOMMITTEEWILLBEPERFORMEDBYTHEDIRECTOR.¶NAT
A EVENTS" IN THE FORM OF CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS, ETC, TO DISCUSS MEDIA FREEDOM ISSUES OR ANY OTHER RELEVA
ARING ON EDITORIAL ACTIVITY. THEY ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO COLLABORATE WITH ORGANISATIONS IN THEIR COUNTRIES OR REG
FREEDOMOFTHEMEDIA.¶ARTICLEIV¶IPICOMMITTEESOFEXPERTS¶1.IPICOMMITTEESOFEXPERTSSHALLEXISTTODEALWITHDIFFE
O: ¶ · ADVISE THE EXECUTIVE BOARD ON POLICY ISSUES; ¶ · ASSIST THE DIRECTOR IN ARRANGING CONFERENCES/SEMINARS OR OTHER
ON,PLUSTWODEPUTIES,APPOINTEDBYTHEBOARD,REPRESENTINGDIFFERENTGEOGRAPHICALREGIONS.FURTHERMEMBERSSHALLB
E’SCHAIRPERSONORONEOFHERORHISDEPUTIES.INGENERAL,COMMITTEEMEMBERSHIPSHOULDNOTEXCEED20ANDIPIMEMBERS
INGCOMMITTEESHALLBEESTABLISHEDTOOVERSEETHEACTIVITIESOFTHEIPIPRESSFREEDOMFUND.THISFUNDISTOBEADMINISTERED
IPFOREDITORS,MEDIAEXECUTIVESANDACADEMICSINTHEFIELDOFCOMMUNICATION,WHO,FORSPECIALREASONSANDCIRCUMSTAN
RTICIPATE IN ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE. THIS PERMANENT COMMITTEE MAY ALSO DECIDE TO USE FUND RESOURCES FOR THE ORGA
AGE 5 ¶ ARTICLE V ¶ GENERAL ASSEMBLIES ¶ 1. GENERAL ASSEMBLIES OF THE ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE HELD ANNUALLY. ¶ 2. THE G
ASMUCH AS THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES IS TO PROVIDE A MEETING PLACE WHERE JOURNALISTS OF THE FREE
HERESHALLBETOTHISENDBOTHORGANISEDANDINFORMALDISCUSSIONOFNEWSPAPERS,RADIO,TVANDINTERNETOBJECTIVES,PO
EMBLY WILL FOCUS ON THE PROBLEMS OF THE COUNTRY OR THE REGION IN WHICH THE CONFERENCE IS HELD, CONFERENCE ORGANIS
OR“BURNING”)INTERNATIONALISSUESOFTHEDAY.ASSEMBLYARRANGEMENTSMAYVARYFROMTIMETOTIMEANDNEEDNOTFOLLO
MULATE THE INSTITUTE’S GENERAL PROGRAMME AND POLICY, ELECT THE EXECUTIVE BOARD, APPROVE THE ACCOUNTS AND VOTE THE
AVE THE POWER TO ADOPT AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDED THAT PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUT
THEGENERALASSEMBLYDATE.UNDERTHESAMECONDITIONSTHEYSHALLHAVEPOWERTODECIDEONTHEHEADQUARTERSOFTHES
R IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY, IN SO FAR AS POSSIBLE. THE SITE AND DATE OF EACH GENERAL ASSEMBLY SHALL BE DECIDED BY THE EXECU
UIDELINES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. ¶ 3. THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL PRESIDE AT GENERAL ASSEMBLIES. ¶
DIVIDUAL MEMBERS, EACH FULL MEMBER PRESENT HAVING ONE VOTE. BALLOTING TO ELECT THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
E EMPLOYED IF SO MOVED AND SECONDED. ¶ 5. NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITIN
MEMBERS.¶ONEMONTHINADVANCEOFTHEGENERALASSEMBLYTHEDIRECTORMUSTSENDOUTALISTTOALLMEMBERSCONTAININ
¶B)THENAMESOFTHOSEMEMBERSOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDWHOSETERMSAREEXPIRING,AND¶C)THOSERETIRINGMEMBERSOFTH
LE VI ¶ EXECUTIVE BOARD ¶ 1. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL HAVE FULL SUPERVISION OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE INSTITUTE, IN ACCORDAN
HALL REPORT ON ITS ACTIVITIES TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IT SHALL MEET AS OFTEN AS IT DEEMS NECESSARY, BUT IT SHALL HOLD A
GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IT SHALL SELECT THE PLACE FOR EACH OF ITS MEETINGS. NOTICE OF THE TIME AND PLACE OF THE MEETING SHALL
GE 6 ¶ 2. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL CONSIST OF 24 MEMBERS WHO SHALL BE ELECTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR A TERM OF
UEREGARD,ASFARASPOSSIBLE,TOGEOGRAPHICALDISTRIBUTION,MEDIASKILLSANDGENDERANDNOCOUNTRYSHALLBEREPRESE
HE END OF THEIR FIRST TERM BOARD MEMBERS MAY OFFER THEMSELVES FOR RE-ELECTION FOR ONE FURTHER FOUR-YEAR TERM. NO M
SYRIA
1962–
n 1998, after years of torture, solitary confinement and three attempts on his life, Nizar Nayouf was forced to choose between his deeply
principled convictions and his health, possibly
his life. Until he promised to refrain from political activity and admit that he had made false
declarations about human rights abuses in his
homeland, Syria, he would not receive medical
treatment for his curable, but debilitating
Hodgkin’s disease, or for any of the injuries sustained under torture.
Aware that he and 32 other human rights activists were wanted by authorities for membership in an illegal organisation, publishing false information about alleged violations of human
rights and for undermining public confidence in
the revolution and the socialist system, Nayouf –
who was also charged with inciting people to revolt against the socialist system, organizing and
leading an illegal association and issuing a
monthly publication without a license – went
into hiding. But on 2 January 1992, he was forced
to surrender in order to obtain the release his
then-wife, Nada and 11-month-old daughter, Sara.
On 17 March 1992, the Syrian Supreme Court
for State Security sentenced Nayouf to 10 years
hard labour for “founding and leading [the
banned Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom in Syria (CDF)] and issuing its
monthly Sawt ad-Dimocratiyyah (Democracy’s
Voice) without permission”. ‘Hard labour’ it
turned out meant living in a tiny, solitary cell
with no access to daylight.
During those dark years, he managed to publish four books, write the incomplete collection,
“The Prison Cahiers,” and win several awards for
his fight for human rights and a free press.
Ignoring his own suffering, given even half a
chance to support others, Nayouf moves into
gear. When first imprisoned, Nayouf tried to organise a prisoners’ rebellion, so he was transferred to a military prison where he began a
hunger strike. In another attempt to quash his
resilience, Nayouf was soon moved to a solitary
cell in the notorious Palmyra desert military
prison. Although torture left him partially paralysed, nearly blind in one eye and almost deaf in
one ear, he continued his struggle for justice and
human rights by smuggling out information
about the torture methods inflicted both on him
and his fellow prisoners.
Although attempts were made by various delegations to visit Nayouf in prison, none were successful. But word of his torture was spreading like
wildfire. He managed to smuggle out details of
his torturous life behind the gates of the military
prison revealing that he was near death and that
he had “been subjected to the most excruciating
forms of torture, including being tied to the notorious ‘German chair,’ which stretches the spine.
He also [had] been thrown into an electrified
bath and hung by his feet for two to three hours a
day for a month. And while he was hanging by
the feet, he was beaten with an iron pipe. Following another beating, guards urinated on his broken skull in a mock ‘baptism’ after he refused to
pray, in a ritual required of other inmates, before
a portrait of President Hafez al-Assad.” For over two years following the report, international human rights and freedom press organisations appealed to Syrian ambassadors and applied pressure to Syrian authorities to free Nayouf and allow him the medical treatment he
needed to save his life. Finally, when he visited
Syria, Pope John Paul II’s personal plea on behalf
of global human rights bodies resulted in Nayouf’s transferral on 6 May 2001 to house arrest,
where he awaited a passport so he could travel to
Europe for medical treatment.
Astonishingly, despite his nine-year incarceration and failing health, Nayouf immediately returned to his cause: just days after his release, in
a letter to the International Press Institute, he requested “monetary and logistic support” in order
to re-activate the Syrian Organisation for Defence of Press Freedom. Born 29 May 1962 in Syria, near the Mediterranean town of Jablah, Nayouf had a varied, but
successful tertiary education that enabled him to
study at the American University of Beirut,
where he became a master of economics and
political science in 1989. Nayouf left Syria for
Paris on 15 July 2001.
Barely settled in Paris, he founded the National Council for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Syria, (SYNATIC), an NGO defending
human rights, particularly investigating and
documenting the “specific” crimes committed by
the Syrian regime.
On 7 September 2001, Syrian authorities again
issued a warrant for his arrest following an interview he gave on 15 August on Al Jazeera TV that
revealed he had evidence of crimes committed by
the Syrian regime and of “the existence of mass
cemeteries of former political prisoners in Syria, ”
and “importing nuclear and chemical waste in
the 1980s by then Vice-president Abdulhalim
Khaddam and his sons in order to be buried in
the Syrian desert for millions of dollars .” By January 2004, Nayouf had said publicly that he knew
the exact locations of Iraq’s hidden weapons of
mass destruction, which, he claimed, had been
transported by seemingly innocuous ambulances and stashed deep behind their borders.
For three years, Nayouf coordinated a research
team at the European Centre for Arab-Levant
Studies. Opposed to the French administration’s
relations and intelligence cooperation with the
Syrian regime, he is now based in London where
he is editor in chief of Syria Truth, through which
he continues his irrepressible campaign for the
release of political prisoners and to highlight
abuses against the freedom of expression in both
Syria and the Arabic World.
95
freedom
neruda
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
1956–
96
f
reedom was more than Neruda’s moniker. It
was his mantra.
Born Tieti Roch d’Assumption in 1956, he
adopted the surname Neruda as a tribute to
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda whose writings
served as his inspiration. But Freedom was his
destination, the compass by which he pursued a
journalistic path that defied the establishment in
the Côte d'Ivoire that used brute force to crush
those who spoke truth to power.
A former mathematics teacher, Neruda began
his journalism career as a copy editor for the
daily Ivoir’ Soir in 1988. But it was through his
work as an investigative reporter for La
Chronique du Soir and later La Voie that he shed
light on the corrupt government of then-Ivorian
president Henri Konan Bédié. He did so in violation of national censorship laws that made perceived disrespect of government officials a criminal offense. A journalist found to have insulted
or attacked an official was subject to prosecution
for criminal libel and two years in jail.
Of the Ivorian laws that strangled free expression, Neruda said in an interview for the 2000
book “Speak Truth To Power”: “If you read these
laws and you want to become a journalist, you
really should go grind peanuts because it is better for you.”
And yet he pressed on as managing editor of
La Voie. In the face of near constant harassment
by the Bédié government, the daily threat of imprisonment and the October 1995 fire-bombing
of his offices, Neruda turned La Voie (called Notre
Voie in 1998) into the country’s best-selling independent newspaper.
The battle of wills between Neruda and the
Bédié government came to a head in December
of that year. That’s when La Voie published “He
Brought Bad Luck to the ASEC,” Neruda’s satire
about President Bédié’s attendance at the African
Champions Cup final and how, contrary to
Bédié’s ‘I’m good luck’ campaign slogan, the
president’s presence at the match may have
doomed the Cote-d'Ivoire soccer team.
As a result of the article, Neruda was arrested
on 2 January 1996 for seditious libel in a sweep
that also netted La Voie publisher Abou Drahamane Sangare and reporter Emmanuel Kore.
The three were sentenced to two years in prison
while the paper was fined $6,000 (USD) and
banned for three months. The next day, L’Alternative emerged as a thorn of another name in
Bédié’s side. Using the temporary pseudonym
Bintou Diawara, Neruda smuggled stories out of
prison, using his stint there to write about deplorable prison conditions as well as the judicial
bias in the sentencing of rich Lebanese émigrés,
who were often given much lighter punishments
EC.10,194
CIONALD
ENCH, G
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than their Ivorian counterparts. Both Neruda and
La Voie operated under their respective assumed
names until the three-month ban was lifted.
For a year, Neruda and his colleagues shared a
cell in the Maison d’Arret et de Correction d’Abidjan (the Abidjan House of Arrest and Correction),
a prison built for 1,500 in which 5,000 prisoners
were wedged. They subsisted on meager food rations – in some cases just two small yams a day –
that were supplemented by food sent to them by
the paper. There was widespread disease. And yet
the group refused Bédié’s offer of a pardon in exchange for the withdrawal of their appeal that
was pending before the country’s Supreme Court.
“We said no, we are fighting for justice,” Neruda
said in the Speak Truth To Power interview. “Release would be good, but not if you can’t look in
your neighbour’s eyes,”
The war of words between Neruda and Bédié
raged on after his release in 1997 as La Voie continued to hammer away at Bédié’s political failings, exposing his vulnerability to a challenge by
former Ivorian prime minister, Alassane D. Ouattara, in the upcoming presidential election. The
paper chronicled Bédié’s attempts to repress
Ouattara’s candidacy by challenging his nationality and ordering his arrest on charges of forgery of the documents Ouattara presented proving his eligibility. Bédié also imprisoned 11 leaders of Ouattara’s party for demonstrating against
the biased reporting of the state-run broadcasters. La Voie reported on each twist and turn, with
Bédié’s growing intolerance laid bare for all his
countrymen to see.
In the end, it was Neruda and free expression
that were the ultimate victors. On Christmas Eve
1999, the Bédié government was overthrown by
an Ivorian military coup that ushered in democratic rule and greater press freedom. About a
month later, Neruda was promoted to deputy
chief editor of Notre Voie.
In the wake of the coup, Neruda wrote about
the need for reconciliation. The time had come
for renewal, not revenge. “The people have no
need to avenge themselves,” Neruda wrote. “On
the contrary, they should stand above that and
offer a pardon to those who failed to understand
that no star shines forever.”
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Above: Pius Njawé standing next to a memorial
commemorating Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a
Dream” speech. Below:
Njawé with his late wife
Jane and supporters after
a trial in Douala.
Below left: Njawé
with his granddaughter and
daughter. Below
right: Njawé with
his late wife Jane.
PIUs
NJaWé
CAMEROON
1957–2010
P
ius Njawé always said that journalism was
his religion.
“I came into journalism as a priest coming into a religion; journalism is my religion because I found the power of the word.” Over the
course of his career, Njawé was arrested 126
times – a test of faith by any measure. But the
founder and editor of Cameroon’s oldest independent newspaper, Le Messager, never let any of
it – the arrests, the threats, or the attacks – stop
him from fighting for press freedom.
“From time to time, when the situation is very
bad, many ideas pass through my spirit, among
them the idea of giving up,” wrote Njawé. “But
this never prospered because giving up would
have meant a victory for my prosecutors … a victory that they don’t merit!”
At age 19, Njawé had his first run-in with the
authorities when he helped reveal the news that
oil had been discovered in Cameroon, according
to a 2008 interview with Radio Netherlands. The
first time he was tortured came a few years later,
when he reported that students in a local Doula
city high school had scored poorly on entrance
examinations. After a day of beatings and placement on an electric chair, he was eventually let
off when he proved that his story was factually
correct.
Njawé founded Le Messager in 1979, when he
was 22 years old. He had been working for a
Doula-based weekly named La Gazette, but decided to start his own paper “in accordance with
my conviction about the social function of a
journalist,” Njawé said. “I thought that the best
way for me to fulfil my mission as a journalist
was to own a personal instrument to share and
promote values in which I believed.”
The paper would go on to make Cameroonian
and African history. “There is no doubt in my
mind and in the mind of serious analysts that
the genuine history of democratic progress in
Cameroon, especially between 1990 and 2000,
will have to include [Njawé] and his pioneering
newspaper Le Messager as crucial actors of that
defining period,” wrote Professor Jean-Emmanuel Pondi, secretary general of the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon.
The newspaper was banned in November
1992 and Njawé was forced into exile after he received threats to his life. He launched a substitute paper, Le Messagere, from Benin. Although
he had unofficially been accused of gun running,
sedition, drug dealing, and counterfeiting
money, Njawé was able to return to Cameroon in
February 1993, when he founded the Cameroon
Organisation for Press Freedom (Ocalip).
Njawé served three prison terms. In August
1995, Njawé and another journalist at Le Messager
were handed deferred sentences of two months
in prison and fined 300,000 Cameroonian francs
for “abuse and slander” of the Cameroonian police chief, Jean Fochive. The newspaper had published an article that accused the police force of
mishandling millions of francs.
The next year, on 18 October, Njawé was arrested and convicted of insulting the president
and members of the National Assembly after he
published an article and two cartoons in his
satirical publication, Le Messager Popoli. He was
granted a provisional release after one month.
In December 1997, Njawé was again arrested,
and on 13 January 1998 was sentenced to two
years in prison for spreading “false information.”
The charge was linked to a report that appeared
in Le Messager on 22 December 1997, which alleged that President Paul Biya had suffered heart
problems during a football match.
Njawé’s wife, Jane, miscarried as the result of
abuse at the hands of prison guards. “I could not
stop myself from crying when Jane gave birth to
a still-born child on 9 January 1998, four days
before my trial, following beatings she received
the previous day when she brought me food, by
prison guards who did not even have pity on her
late pregnancy,” Njawé recalled in a statement
for the World Association of Newspapers on
World Press Freedom Day in 2006.
Through the pain, Njawé kept writing. Bribing
a string of guards and fellow prisoners to ensure
that his column, “The Convict’s Notebook” (“Le
Bloc-notes du bagnard”), came out.
His efforts in the face of unrelenting repression earned Pius Njawé numerous accolades, including the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom Award
and the International Press Freedom Award from
the Committee to Protect Journalists. Ronald
Koven of the World Press Freedom Committee,
who translated Njawé’s letter from prison in 1998
into English, said of Njawé: “He has a gift of making the fight for press freedom seem worthwhile.”
Njawé’s conviction also earned him plenty of
enemies, including President Biya. “Since the
Biya regime failed in its projects to silence me by
assassination, intimidation and corruption, or by
definitely banning Le Messager, they understand,
I think, that there is no way to kill a spirit,” wrote
Njawé. He was nonetheless wary: “Mr. Biya and
his government had no other choice but to tolerate me […] But with them, I can’t close my two
eyes while sleeping, because I’m sure that they
will ‘finish with me’ at the first occasion. And I
don’t want to give them this opportunity.”
One month before the tragic car accident that
ended his life, at age 53, in July 2010, Njawe
bravely wrote: “A word can be more powerful
than a weapon, and I believe that with the word,
with verbs, we can build a better world and
make happier people. So, why give up while
duty still calls? No one will silence me, except
the Lord, before I achieve what I consider the
mission in my native country, in Africa and, why
not, in the world.”
99
germán
ornes
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
1919–1998
100
f
or more than 50 years, Germán Ornes, editor and publisher of El Caribe and an architect of the Inter American Press Association
(IAPA), stood watch over press freedom in the
Dominican Republic and throughout the Western hemisphere.
The concept of a free press operating outside
the interference of government was novel in
Latin America and yet necessary, in Ornes’ opinion, if dictatorships were to be defeated and
democracy to flourish. Seeing that freedom of
the press in the region was under attack more
than ever before, Ornes issued a report at IAPA’s
1994 Hemisphere Conference on Freedom of the
Press, an ominous warning about the terrorism,
dictatorships, censorship and legal and physical
threats that thwarted Latin American publications.
Ornes was pivotal in drafting IAPA’s Declaration of Chapultepec, which outlined 10 principles necessary for a free press to thrive. Named
after the Mexico City castle at which the 1994
IAPA free speech conference was held, it was
based on a concept Ornes lived by: “no law or act
of government may limit freedom of expression
or of the press, whatever the medium.”
Born on 30 July 1919 in the Dominican Republic, Germán Emilio Ornes Coiscou, like many
journalists, studied law at the University of Santo
Domingo and worked briefly as a lawyer before
switching to journalism. As a young man, he was
a member of the Central Committee of Revolutionary Youth, an activist group at the forefront
of the fight against dictator General Rafael
Leonidas Trujillo Molina, who ruled directly
from 1930 to 1947 and by proxy until his assassination in 1961.
Ornes began his career in 1940 as a reporter
for the La Nación newspaper in the Dominican
Republic. In 1945, he worked for a short time as
editor in chief of La Opinión before he became
editor of El Caribe.
In 1955, a picture caption in El Caribe mistakenly said that flowers had been placed before
Trujillo’s tomb when they had actually been
placed before a bust of the dictator. In a 1956
Time magazine article, Ornes said the error was a
fatal one because Trujillo “is very vain and superstitious. He thinks he is immortal, and the
worst thing you can do is suggest his death.”
Ornes went on to say that when he saw the word
‘tumba’ in print, he told his wife: “This is the end
of everything.”
El Caribe was confiscated by the Trujillo
regime and Ornes went into exile. He lived in the
United States and Cuba and wrote for a variety of
publications, including Harper’s, The Colorado
Quarterly and El Mundo. He continued his jour-
EC.10,1948).¶2
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nalistic crusade against Trujillo, whom he described in the Time interview as a “despot.” Ornes
said Trujillo’s regime was a “tyranny” and accused him of “usurpation, plunder and criminal
violence.”
After Trujillo’s 1961 assassination, Ornes returned to the Dominican Republic and resumed
the editorship of El Caribe. He was also publisher
of the paper, which he quickly re-established as
the country’s leading daily.
In a December 1961 El Caribe editorial published after the fall of Trujillo’s regime, Ornes
spoke of a new chapter in the paper’s history.
“The official hand has left the newsroom. This
newspaper, for the first time since its foundation,
is published free of foreign interference to direction,” he wrote. He went on to say that the people
of the Dominican Republic “sighed because the
long-awaited day arrived that there was freedom
of the press.”
The following year, Ornes was elected to
IAPA’s board of directors and played a vital role
in the association’s work, championing press
freedom through the Americas. Among several
positions he held within the organisation, Ornes
was IAPA president from 1978 to 1979 and
headed its Committee on Freedom of the Press
and Information for several years. His work opposing a New World Information and Communication Order, which he considered a serious
threat, established him as one of the world’s
most fervent defenders of press freedom. The
Chapultepec Declaration was endorsed by heads
of state throughout the Americas.
Ornes died of a heart attack on El Caribe’s 50th
anniversary, 14 April 1998. He was 78.
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Germán Ornes with
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presidents of IAPA.
Right: sharing a laugh
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1977. Left: Ornes pictured with Lee Hills and
Horacio Aguirre, 1976.
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ESTABLISHED
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RUSSIA
1958–2006
Politkovskaya leaves a
theater after negotiations
with gunmen in Moscow
as Chechen rebels
threatened to begin
killing their 600 hostages
in a Moscow theatre 25
October 2002.
Above: A man holds a
portrait of the killed journalist Anna Politkovskaya
as a woman lights up a
candle during a commemorative rally in
St. Petersburg on 7 October 2009, three years
after her murder.
n 7 October 2006, the news of Anna
Stepanovna Politkovskaya’s death rocked
the world when she was found shot dead
in her elevator. Even in death, her life’s work inspires and drives others to pursue truth, justice,
press freedom and accountability.
Anna Politkovskaya’s sister tells of a little girl
whose conscience questioned authority and protected the vulnerable: “Since she was very
young, she was quite a determined person, she
always wanted to protect people. At school, she
was a kind of leader in her class. When she
thought that the teacher wasn’t being fair to
somebody, she would stand up and say so.”
For Chechnya’s oppressed and terrified civilians, Anna shone through their darkness as one
of the world’s most respected journalists. As a
rare voice defending the true principal of peace
and reconciliation, she gave hope and inspired
strength. As a mother of two, and expectant
grandmother, she fought to create a better world
for posterity.
She was born in New York to two Russian
diplomats on 30 August 1958 and raised in Russia; she could have chosen a comfortable and
controversy-free path, but journalism called
early, tempting her with places and people otherwise hidden behind the Iron Curtain. With a
Moscow State University degree in journalism,
her career took off in 1980 at the Soviet paper
Izvestiya. She later worked for Aeroflot, the Soviet Union’s state-owned airline.
In 1994, she joined the vibrant national newspaper Obshchaya Gazeta as a crime correspondent; she was part of a dynamic reporting team
that focused on the controversial issues of
Chechnya’s war, state corruption and privatisation. The paper was a champion of the people,
committed, like Politkovskaya, to forcing back
the ever-encroaching state from the boundaries
of press freedom and the public’s right to know.
When she left to join Novaya Gazeta in 1999, she
had risen to editor-in-chief.
Working at one of Russia’s only remaining independent newspapers, she wrote passionately
about Chechnya’s unhappy destiny and national
sorrow – reports that state-owned papers tried to
squash. Her book, “A Dirty War,” documented
those reports, revealing her commitment to the
Chechen people’s liberation and safety, which
led her into incredible personal danger, a danger
she considered to be her obligation to face.
“Everyone has a conscience,” Politkovskaya believed. “I think that I currently fulfil all the obligations I have to my conscience.” Ignoring the
suffering of others was, for her, utterly abhorrent; she committed her life to ensuring that
readers could not ignore the atrocities experienced by others.
With cropped grey hair and a diminutive appearance, she could slip across borders and become invisible. Despite numerous death threats,
she continued to report the true nature of the occupation of Chechnya, revealing human tragedy
and the suffering of the Chechen people. In 2001,
after interviewing a Chechen grandmother who
had endured 12 days of beatings, electric shocks
and confinement in a pit by federal forces,
Politkovskaya was detained by Russian troops
and tortured before being subjected to a mock
execution. But it did not stop her.
As President Putin’s nemesis, she was damning of the corruption within the government,
which was once again paralysing Russia’s freedom. Politkovskaya’s book “Putin’s Russia” exposed Putin as a power-hungry product of his
own KGB history. Mourning the decline of the
dissident intelligentsia, she revealed mafia dealings and scandals in the provinces, and detailed
corruption in the military and judiciary. Many
consider her near-fatal poisoning in 2004 to be
connected to the release of her pejorative exposé,
which Putin’s regime dismissed as ‘insignificant’
and also rubbished her criticism of the Kremlin.
Following the poisoning, friends and family
implored her to go abroad, to write a book – to
write about anything but conflict and corruption. She negotiated a compromise: the birth of a
grandchild would, her sister said, see “her write
about something more pleasant.”
Politkovskaya’s negotiating skills had been
called upon on 23 October 2002 when Chechen
rebels stormed a Moscow theatre, taking 850
hostages. Trusting her journalistic integrity, they
requested she mediate their demands for the extraction of Russian troops from Chechnya. In Los
Angeles to accept an award, Anna promised to
speak with the authorities, but by the time she
arrived in Russia the siege was over and 120
hostages were dead.
With her focus to work “for people, and for the
sake of people,” Politkovskaya was threatened,
coerced and intimidated by a state trying to protect its society from ugly truths. The government
made it difficult for journalists to interview her.
But interview her they did. On 5 October 2006,
she gave her last interview, in which she expressed the hope that Chechnya’s President
Ramzan Kadyrov would be tried for numerous
human rights’ abuses.
Her family was looking forward to the promised step-down from Anna’s crusade; mother and
pregnant daughter spent the morning of Putin’s
birthday shopping for a baby’s bath. When Anna
seemed tired – a residual after-effect from the
poisoning – her daughter Vera insisted she return home. A few hours later, her son, Ilya,
popped in to see how she was, to find his mother
murdered.
Politkovskaya’s fight for others’ lives had
stolen her own. As those initially accused of her
murder were found not guilty in February 2009,
fingers point liberally into the upper echelons of
Russian government, igniting Anna’s crusade
and fuelling a deeper national passion for truth
and a free press.
103
PerCy
qoBoZA
SOUTH AFRICA
1938–1988
H
is colour rendered his opinions irrelevant,
but Percy Qoboza, nonetheless, faced up
to the monster known as apartheid. He
shared his opinions loud and clear – in black and
white. Speaking at the IPI 29th Annual General
Assembly in Florence, Qoboza said: “One of the
problems with South Africa is that we are a society obsessed by race. With shining consistency,
South Africa has condemned journalists.”
Qoboza dedicated his life to truth, transparency
and tolerance: He believed South Africa should
belong to all its peoples.
Born on 17 January 1938 in the harsh Sophiatown to a strong Xhosa family, Qoboza experienced the brutalities of daily discrimination and
oppression of blacks. Entrenching Qoboza’s quiet
anger, the government destroyed his home
township in 1952 during a systematic cleansing
in which residents were packed into cattle trucks
and relocated.
Where many could easily find reason to be
bitter, Qoboza was a light-hearted gentleman
with an indomitable humour, as remembered by
most. His friend, former Harvard University Nieman Fellow, Aggrey Klaaste, reminisced about
discussions with a group of white Catholic
priests, during which he and Qoboza put the
world to rights: “We argued religion, discussed
politics ... over copious quantities of booze, to the
extent that when the money ran out, we convinced the prelates to raid the collection plate.
We cleaned that out. Not once, if my memory
serves me right.”
Set to become a priest himself, Qoboza took a
degree in theology at Lesotho National University, but when his father suffered a stroke
Qoboza’s path changed. In 1963, as breadwinner
for his father and two sisters, he entered the controversial world of South African journalism as a
junior reporter at the then-entertainment daily,
The World.
104
Qoboza’s careful-yet-persistent criticism of the
South African government stepped away from
the regulations, laws and restrictions that stifled
serious reporting, and saw him promoted to editor in chief within a decade. “One has to make a
choice whether to be outspoken and go to jail
where you’ll be silenced, or to take a milder platform so you can keep working,” he said.
In 1975, Qoboza was nominated as a Nieman
Fellow at Harvard University. In the United
States, he saw equality, he saw colour-blind respect; in essence he saw the dream he had been
chasing for so long. Secure in the knowledge that
equality between races was possible, he returned
to South Africa even more committed to his passive-aggressive fight against oppression: “I found
myself completely maladjusted, quite unable to
accept the things that seemed quite normal before.”
In June 1976, now The World’s editor-in-chief
offering hope and a voice to politically-motivated blacks, Qoboza ran the only first-hand account of the violent Soweto riots, cementing his
role as an enemy of the government and a figure-head in the fight against oppression.
For the paper’s dedicated readers, in his everanticipated column Percy’s Pitch, he wrote, “I do
not believe that I will be serving the interests of
my country and all her peoples by suppressing
the truth simply because such a truth is unpalatable to certain sections of the population.”
Qoboza preached sanity, truth and moderation
despite many threats and attacks against both
him and his family.
When The World again fervently condemned
the apartheid regime following political activist
Steve Biko’s death in detention in September
1977, the government banned the paper. Qoboza
was arrested without charge and was not seen or
heard from for six months. An international
campaign secured his release – a fate that did not
meet six of his reporters who were “wiped off the
face of the earth,” Qoboza recalled. Despite
months in prison and the loss of several close
friends, when asked by a reporter what lessons
he had learned in prison, Qoboza’s typically dry
response was, “How to diet.”
For Harvey Tyson, editor-in-chief of Johannesburg’s The Star, the end of The World marked the
end of press freedom in South Africa: “We knew
that from the moment they came to take Percy
Qoboza away no newspaper was safe in South
Africa.” Committed to his crusade, Qoboza remained in journalism as editor in chief at The
Post (owned by white liberals) until it, too, was
banned.
As journalism became increasingly dangerous
for anti-apartheid voices, Qoboza accepted the
role of guest editor covering Third World and UN
affairs for The Washington Star in the United
States capital. For two years, with his family in
Washington, D.C., he continued to champion the
anti-apartheid movement.
Upon his return home in 1984, he became editor of The City Press, where, despite pro-government ownership, he enjoyed editorial independence, allowing him to continue his anti-apartheid crusade and to inspire the paper’s recordbreaking 200,000 readers.
Qoboza’s death on his 50th birthday in 1988
cut his career, and life, tragically short. Breaking
the rules, in a style of which he would have been
enormously proud, 5,000 mourners attended his
funeral, bucking governmental orders to limit
numbers to 200.
Twenty-two years later, on 28 April 2010,
South African President Jacob Zuma posthumously honoured Percy Qoboza with the Order
of Ikamanga, the highest national honour bestowed on individuals who have excelled in
shaping South Africa.
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Above: Raúl Rivero at
work. Below: Rivero
talks on the phone while
holding his daughter
Yenia as his wife Blanca
stands with them on the
balcony of their home
in Havana, 2004.
CUBA
1945–
P
oet and journalist Raúl Rivero Castañeda
was born in Morón, Camagüey, in central
Cuba, in 1945. Disenchanted with the
Cuban revolution and Fidel Castro’s movement,
for which he campaigned, he later became, like
many other Cuban writers, artists and intellectuals, a dissident.
Few people embody and represent, by themselves and with such vigour, the courage and
inner strength to fight for their own freedom and
that of their country as Raúl Rivero. He represents, through his struggle as a journalist and
poet and through his allegations from the Cuban
dungeons where he was imprisoned, one of the
best examples worldwide of political dissent.
His struggle serves many purposes, including
highlighting the sick side of the Cuban dictatorship – capable of muzzling, silencing and imprisoning poets, writers, journalists. Perhaps because
verse is more powerful than the bullet, Rivero embodied the words of Spanish poet Blas de Otero:
“Only the word is left to us” (“Nos queda la palabra”).
Rivero graduated from the Journalism Faculty
at the University of Havana in 1969, 10 years
after Castro rose to power. He collaborated with
the Cuban leader in the renowned journals Bohemia and Cuba Internacional. Later on, he
worked at the official news agency of the communist regime, Prensa Latina. During that time,
his literary work was recognised by the Castro
regime and he was awarded the David Prize for
Poetry, an award from the Cuban Writers’ Union.
Rivero was, at first, like other Cuban writers
and intellectuals – an enthusiast of the Revolution. But in 1972, the Cuban regime sent Rivero
to Moscow as a correspondent for Prensa Latina
and in the Soviet capital – where he remained
for nearly three years – his personal disenchantment began when he found out what so-called
“real Soviet socialism” was.
On his return to Cuba, Rivero’s progressive detachment from the Revolution made his writings
ever less important: he returned to the magazine
Cuba, where he had begun his career and later, as
international editor of a small local newspaper,
Tribuna de la Habana. He re-wrote carefully selected and censored articles that he received
from the news agency. Eventually he was expelled from Tribuna de la Habana and ended up
barely surviving on his mother’s monthly pension of 75 pesos (just over two euros a month).
He was marginalised further after signing the
famous “Charter of Ten,” a letter to Fidel Castro
in 1991, which was widely distributed all over
the world and called for the release of prisoners
of conscience. He became victim of personal attacks by the regime; fear made his friends and
acquaintances turn away or alienate him.
In 1995, along with some companions and coinciding with the Cuban telephone connection
to satellite, Rivero set up the Cuba Press Agency,
where he began writing for newspapers in other
Latin American countries. To receive money
from abroad, the agency joined the Inter American Press Association.
By the year 2000, Raúl Rivero already had the
embryo of a news agency; a rudimentary school
of journalism, which, for lack of classrooms,
taught classes in private homes; a magazine, De
Cuba, which published just three or four editions; and a fledgling Independent Journalists
Association. In 2003, he was imprisoned, together with the ‘Group of 75,’ accused of receiving money from the United States.
He was kept in solitary confinement in the most
famous political prison in Cuba, Villa Marista,
where he received a nauseating meal of hunger,
based on herbal broth, sugared water, a ball of rice
and a flour dumpling for breakfast. For dinner, a
similar menu. His solitary confinement cell, where
he remained for a year, was a small enclosure in
which he lived in total isolation, given respite only
for 50 minutes twice a week in another, roofless
cell where he was exposed to the sun’s rays. Later,
to complete his two remaining years in prison, he
shared cells with common criminals.
His release was a product of international pressure on the Cuban government. Besides the numerous awards won by Rivero, and his accusatory articles, which appeared in newspapers in
continental America, there were also the initiatives by European press freedom organisations,
such as IPI; support for Rivero from media like
CNN; personalities such as French actress Catherine Deneuve, and notable writers, for example,
the now deceased Susan Sontag. He even had the
support of someone influential to Castro –
Gabriel García Márquez, the Colombian Nobel
Prize winner for literature and a personal friend
of the dictator. The ultimate support was from the
Spanish government, which lobbied the Cuban
executive through President José María Aznar
and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s governments.
After his release from prison in 2004, Rivero
travelled to Spain, where he now lives, working
as a journalist and columnist for the newspaper
El Mundo. In Spain, he continues with his books
and other literary works and his activism for the
release of political prisoners and prisoners of
conscience in Cuba and the implementation of
human rights on the island.
Written by José Luis Gutiérrez (originally in Spanish). Guitérrez is a journalist, writer and publisher
of LEER magazine. He is also a columnist for the
newspaper El Mundo.
107
NUNo
roCha
PORTUGAL
1933–
108
d
ragged away from his wife and one-yearold daughter at six o’clock in the morning
on 13 April 1975, Nuno Rocha was bundled
from his bed by four armed soldiers ready to fire.
Taken to the high-security fortress-prison in
Caixas, near Lisbon, he was clad in prison garb
and forced into a cell.
His crime? Fighting for the right to a free press.
He was among 40 bankers and businessmen
arrested in the early hours of 13 April, all accused
of being counter-revolutionary by the ruling Portuguese Communist Party. While Rocha’s agenda
remained moderate and focussed on the truth, his
country’s politics swung from one extreme to the
other.
Born in Porto on 13 February 1933, Nuno Augusto Ferreira Alves Rocha grew up under the dictatorial ‘New State’ government that was founded
on fascist ideologies, creating a country in which
civil liberties and political freedom were repressed. Portugal, however, enjoyed unprecedented financial stability and growth provided by
the popular New State regime, which was wholly
different to the chaos that ruled the First Republic.
Starting his journalism career when he left
school, Rocha enjoyed something of a dream job
for young men, writing for the Sportive Press for
four years before joining his town’s more serious
daily O Primeiro de Janeiro. In search of gravitas,
he moved to Diário Ilustrado in Lisbon and mingled with the politicians and journalists of the
day. Within 10 years, by 1962, he had made a
name for himself at O Diário Popular as a senior
reporter, where he interviewed the big names of
the day: Willy Brandt, Jimmy Carter and Valerie
Giscard.
During the New State’s regime, many intellectuals and free-thinkers fled the country, with a
million finding a new home in France. At O Diário
Popular, Rocha composed articles detailing the experiences of those emigrants based on his own
undercover investigations. In 1965, Rocha published the articles in his critically-acclaimed bestseller, the first of several publications, “France: A
Painful Emigration,” in which he documented observations made on his ‘dummy’ journey to Paris
with other emigrants on a bus transporting some
legal and some illegal emigrants. He shared with
his rapt readers his disgust of the transport, the
injustice and the exploitation of the migrants trying to make a life in a free country.
As an open liberal, his opposition to António
de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship was satisfied
when Marcelo Caetano ascended to Portugal’s
premiership in September 1968. Any hopes Rocha
had harboured for a moderate Portugal were
dashed: “When Marcello Caetano took over the
leadership of the government, hope was reborn.
EC.10,1948).
IONALDELA
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But, instead, censorship was tightened,” Rocha
said. “At the same time, the journalists, because it
was alleged that they had engaged in political activities, were repeatedly put into prison, and they
spent years in these prisons of the secret police.”
By the time a band of young army officers
overthrew Caetano in a bloodless coup on 25
April 1974, Rocha had been director of O Diário
Popular’s Sunday edition – Diário de Lisboa – for
two years. The junta promised liberal reforms and
a much brighter future. A few days later it was an
enthusiastic, relieved Rocha who addressed the
23rd IPI General Assembly in Kyoto, Tokyo: “In
Portugal, 48 years after it was trampled underfoot,
the flower of liberty opened its petals on the 25
April, and with it was reborn the freedom of the
press.”
Liberal Portugal was short-lived. After a failed
counter-coup orchestrated by high-ranking rightwing officers, the country’s political pendulum
swung left in March of 1975 and the Supreme
Revolutionary Council was born. “Those in power
at the time [revolutionary military officers and
the Portuguese Communist Party], aware of the
importance of the press ... managed to penetrate
the press milieu and dominate it completely,”
Rocha said. “A year after the revolutionary action,
most of the newspapers in Portugal were in the
hands of communist directors and journalists.”
After years of fighting for freedom, the socialists proved worse; furious about the censorship
imposed on his writing, Rocha quit and moved to
start a new, independent publication, which led to
his arrest in April 1975. Accused of criminal associations and CIA links, Rocha was released after
17 hours, thanks to significant global support and
exposure.
Forty-five days after his release, Rocha’s liberal,
dissident Tempo hit the shelves and became immediately popular with an audience disenchanted with propaganda. Within a year, Portugal
elected the more moderate General Ramalho
Eanes, and Tempo was Portugal’s best selling
newspaper, with a circulation of 150,000.
Leaving Tempo in 1988, Rocha became director
of the journalism school at Lisbon’s Universidade
Independente in 1995 and created its Center for
the Study of Communications Sciences, often
travelling to lecture aboard. He founded Media
XXI in 1996 and was director there until retirement. When he was named a freedom press hero
for the International Press Institute in 2000, the
former IPI executive board member announced
his intentions to promote press freedom and empower journalists in Portugal’s former colonies. In
2002, Rocha suffered a small stroke, which
prompted him to leave his lecturing days behind
and retire from public life.
G NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALIS
T THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL S
TH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK
E NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEW
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LES. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIA
ANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDA
RDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACC
NDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE P
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OWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT U
ARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SA
APERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDE
APERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDE
Above: Nuno Rocha,
also pictured below,
accepting the IPI
World Press Freedom
Hero award at the IPI
World Congress in
Boston, 2000.
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AREAND
TOSOUN
THE GAMBIA
1952–
Above: Pap Saine,
also pictured right
and below, working
as a broadcaster at
the Swedish-founded
Syd Radio in Banjul
in the 1970s.
P
ap Saine, managing director, co-founder
and editor of The Point newspaper in The
Gambia and the dean of Reuters correspondents for West and Central Africa, is also a
renowned and widely-respected advocate for
press freedom in a country whose reputation for
implementing draconian laws on freedom of expression have greatly restricted the rights of
journalists. Through The Point and other forms of
news media, Saine has helped to change the role
of mass media in the country by providing an
outlet for the expression of divergent views and
opinions, championing press freedom and noble
governance in the country.
Throughout his journalistic career, Saine has
faced multiple threats, criminal charges and arrests for the pursuit of justice, particularly in his
public opposition to the Gambian government’s
refusal to thoroughly investigate the mysterious
death in December 2004 of The Point co-founder
Deyda Hydara, who was also Saine’s long-time
friend and fellow press freedom advocate. Saine’s
valiant efforts in maintaining indispensable
human rights have proven him to be a man who
has earned honourable recognition.
Born in the Gambian capital city of Banjul on
4 October 1950, Pap Saine eventually pursued a
career in journalism after gaining inspiration
from radio news broadcasters at Radio Gambia
and Senegalese Radio. In 1970, Saine entered the
journalism world as a broadcaster at the
Swedish-founded Syd Radio in Banjul. Six years
later, Saine was recruited by Reuters news
agency to work as its correspondent in Banjul, a
position he still holds today. By 1982, Saine
joined forces with Babucarr Gaye and Deyda Hydara as editors for the Senegambia Sun newspaper, which was published weekly in The Gambia.
Motivated by a common desire to create an
independent newspaper and to promote respect
for human rights and the consolidation of
democracy in The Gambia, Saine, Hydara, and
Gaye collaborated to form The Point newspaper
in 1991. The Point faced many challenges in its
first few years, including Gaye’s resignation
within the paper’s first months of formation, the
spatial limitations of a tiny cardboard-partitioned office at the Banjul Press Centre and a severe lack of proper publishing equipment and
computers. Despite such challenges, Saine and
Hydara moved forward with The Point, choosing
the phrase “For Freedom and Democracy” as the
motto for the newspaper.
In 2004, the Gambian government, under the
supervision of President Yayha Jammeh, implemented strict media laws that resulted in widespread self-censorship by the country’s news
media. Journalists convicted of press violations
became subject to heavy fines, criminal lawsuits,
harassment, imprisonment and death threats. In
December of the same year, Hydara was brutally
murdered following his announced plans to
challenge two controversial laws introduced in
The Gambia. The investigations into his murder
yielded no results, despite pleas for further investigation from Saine and The Gambia Press
Union. Consequently, Hydera’s death was widely
believed to be a result of his work in journalism.
Following the murder, Saine took the role as
managing director and editor of The Point.
In August 2009, Saine and five fellow journalists were sentenced to two years in prison on
criminal defamation and seditious publication
charges for issuing a joint statement holding
President Jammeh’s regime responsible for Hydara’s murder. The group of journalists was detained at Mile Two prison in Banjul under harsh
conditions, and Saine, after collapsing in his
prison cell, was hospitalised.
By September 2009, the imprisoned journalists were released on presidential pardon. Although under pressure from organisations such
as IPI, The Gambia Press Union and the Media
Foundation for West Africa to release the detained journalists, President Jammeh reportedly
claims to have pardoned the journalists in the
‘spirit of Ramadan,’ an Islamic spiritual observance which encourages forgiveness and purification through honourable acts.
Currently, Saine remains the managing director and editor of The Point, and continues to advocate for human rights and press freedom in
The Gambia. The newspaper maintains its pivotal role in Gambian society as a watchdog
against corruption, drug trafficking, crime and
political discrepancies and has acted as a strong
instrument for expressing diverse opinions and
perspectives. The perseverance of Saine for the
sake of restoring freedom of expression among
The Gambian people functions to inspire others
who are committed to the fight for press freedom.
111
yoanI
sánCheZ
CUBA
1975–
ime magazine may have chosen Yoani
Sánchez as one of the 100 most influential
people in the world, but she has never
seen the award. In fact, she hasn’t been granted
permission to leave her native Cuba to collect
any of the awards showered on her in the past
three years.
For Sanchez, though, it’s not about the awards.
Born on 4 September 1975 in Havana, Cuba,
Sánchez accidentally fell in love with computer
science and the Internet. For a person of her age,
a member of Generation Y, it seemed natural.
The problem lay in the politics of her homeland.
A philologist by training, Sánchez studied at
the Pedagogical Institute in Havana with a focus
on Spanish literature. In 1995, she transferred to
the faculty of arts and humanities, graduating
five years later with a degree in Hispanic
philology. In 2000, Sánchez went to work for the
publisher Gente Nueva (New People), but soon
realised that she couldn’t support her family,
which included her 5-year-old son, on the
average Cuban wage. Quitting her social service
position, she decided to pursue a more lucrative
path – teaching Spanish to German tourists
visiting Havana.
In 2002, Sánchez emigrated to Switzerland,
but returned to Havana two years later “for family reasons.” It was a decision that would not
only change her life, but would eventually call
greater attention to the dismal press freedom
record of a struggling nation.
Upon her return to Cuba, Sánchez and a group
of friends founded Consenso, a magazine “of reflection and debate.” That experience led her to
the Internet.
Partly to reach more tourists interested in
Spanish and Cuban culture, Sánchez and her
husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar, set up
the domain http://www.desdecuba.com in mid
2006. Unable to buy a web domain in Cuba as
normal citizens, Sánchez and Escobar reached
out for help from a long-time friend based in
Germany, who registered the site in his name.
Sánchez and Escobar’s site carried a tourism
profile, offering intensive Spanish language
T
112
courses and tours of Havana and Cuban culture. The site was popular – and profitable.
Eventually, the money raised for the site allowed Sanchez to foray into another area –
blogging.
In April 2007, Sánchez launched her blog,
Generación Y, with much trial and error. “I had
designed everything with an old version of
Dreamweaver on an obsolete laptop that I had
bought from a chronic rafter who was in need of
a motor for a Chevrolet,” recalled Sánchez in an
online interview with Ted Henken, author of the
El Yuma blog. “My new ‘site’ lacked a database
and did not make use of the magic triad ApachePHP-MySQL that has afforded blogs so much potential. It was like trying to fly to the moon with
a rocket made of rocks and tree limbs.”
Such a sight would draw attention from even
the most remote corners. And draw attention
Generación Y did.
In December 2007, Generación Y was reborn
with more sophisticated tools, including the ability to allow readers to post comments. Sánchez’
success lasted just three months, yet she had already gained a reputation as the most prominent
member of Cuba’s independent blogger movement. In mid March 2008, the Cuban government set up a filter to block the domain from
Cubans trying to access it from public Internet
sites.
“If it was already difficult without a blockade,
it became impossible with the wall of censorship.
Luckily, by that time I had already developed
good friendships with various assiduous commentators and readers of the blog. Some of them
offered me a hand in solidarity and I decided to
trust in this virtual relationship that had developed over the course of a few brief months,”
Sánchez told Henken’s readers. “I began to send
my texts via e-mail, accompanied by an image
which my ‘helpers’ would then publish for me.
“A web of citizen solidarity was stitched
around me.” That solidarity grew exponentially
after the events of 6 November 2009 when
Sánchez and fellow bloggers Claudia Cadelo and
Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo were abducted and
beaten by Cuban authorities while on their way
to an anti-violence march in Havana. The three
were left lying on a street in Timba.
The incident made international news and
soon people from all over the world were hearing about the bold blogger from Cuba, who
dared to challenge the Revolution by writing
about challenges and struggles in Cuba. Readers
offered to translate the blog into Dutch, English,
Chinese, Portuguese. Today the blog can be read
in 17 different languages.
Sánchez, webmaster, international columnist
and editor of desdecuba.com, is the recipient of
numerous awards, including Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Award for excellence in
Latin American reporting; the site has also received several notable honours.
Months after the attack, Sánchez wrote to
President Barack Obama with a list of seven
questions, addressing issues that “keep her from
sleeping.” To her surprise, Obama responded and
praised the blogger for her courage. “It is telling
that the Internet has provided you and other
courageous Cuban bloggers with an outlet to express yourself so freely, and I applaud your collective efforts to empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology,”
Obama wrote. “The government and people of
the United States join all of you in looking forward to the day all Cubans can freely express
themselves in public without fear and without
reprisals.”
Sánchez shares this sentiment. “Material autonomy is the base upon which citizen autonomy is built,” she says. “This precept is one of the
maxims of my life and I will neither be ashamed
nor made to feel guilty for having freed myself
from paternalism, state dependence and ridiculous subsidies. I aspire to a Cuba where anyone
who wishes can have a web domain, pay for it
with their work, not be forced to pay any ideological quota to obtain it, and above all neither
be accused of being a ‘mercenary’ nor of being
constructed by a foreign power for the mere act
of refusing to conform to material indigence and
technological disability.”
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IPI
CONSTITUTION
PAGE
3
¶
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¶
IPI
CONSTITUTION
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CH
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AL
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IPI
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H
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RWISE
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TS
IN
SELECTED
COUNTRIES.
¶
IPI
PAGE
5
¶
ARTICLE
V
¶
GENERAL
ASSEMBLIES
¶
1.
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ASS
ARDS THE
FOLLOWING
OBJECTIVES:
¶MAIN
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Left: Yoani Sánchez in portrait. Above: Sánchez walking inside her Havana home.
Below: Sánchez takes the
stage during a performance
at the 10th Biennale of
Contemporary Art in Havana,
2009. Below left: An injured
Sánchez gets assistance
from a friend.
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UTE, AND THE IN
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EDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPL
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OLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AN
XPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF U
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURN
GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMEN
F THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO W
S ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSE
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GST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • T
EDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPL
DERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABO
OLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AN
XPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF U
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURN
GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMEN
F THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO W
IRAN
1947–
Faraj Sarkohi
has been a key
organiser of
the Declaration
of 134 Writers
in Iran.
I
ranian writers were disappearing under a
cloud of terror in the 1990s, leaving others behind to suffer persistent persecution. Desperate to restore freedom of speech and opinion to
Iran, Faraj Sarkohi became a key organiser of
the 1994 Declaration of 134 Writers, which appealed to the Iranian government to allow expression of beliefs, individual independence and
democracy and claimed that “defending the
human and civil rights of every writer is, under
all circumstances, the professional duty of all
writers.”
While his wife, Farideh Zebarjad Sarkohi, and
two children fled to safety in Germany in 1995,
Sarkohi, was threatened, arrested, imprisoned
and tortured several times between 1994 and
1996.
On 3 November 1996, he vanished.
Sarkohi had been waiting at Tehran
Mehrabad Airport to board a plane to Hamburg.
Alerted to his enigmatic disappearance, international human rights bodies feared the worst.
Later Sarkohi reported, “From the very first day
they told me: ‘You have been reported missing.
It has been made known that you have left the
country. You will be kept here in isolation and
when the interrogations, the interviews and our
inquiries are over, we are going to kill you and
bury your body in secret’.”
Publically, the Iranian authorities insisted he
had flown to Germany; the Germans insisted he
had never arrived. A reliable source reported
seeing Sarkohi with an Iranian official, which
sparked further international demands to know
the whereabouts of the press freedom fighter. At
a press conference in Toronto his wife, terrified
that her husband was dead, compelled Western
governments to keep their focus on Iran, and on
her husband’s disappearance: “If Faraj is still
alive it is only due to these international pressures.” On 20 December, after 48 days, Sarkohi
reappeared at a press conference at Tehran airport claiming, unconvincingly, that he had been
visiting Germany.
Forbidden to leave Iran, on 3 January 1997,
he smuggled a letter to his wife, revealing that
he had never left Iran; that instead, he had been
subjected to intensive interrogation, which included beatings and death threats.
“I am writing this note in great haste in the
hope that one day someone or some people will
read it so that Iranian and international public
opinion and especially my loved ones will learn
of the terrifying experiences I have had ... a testament to the pain and suffering I have experienced.
“I don’t know how long I have. I await imminent arrest or an incident whereby I will be
murdered and my death will be presented as a
suicide. Torture, prison and death await me.”
True to his expectations, Sarkohi was soon arrested again and detained for nine months before going to trial in September 1997; initial
sources said he was arrested on charges of espionage, but he was ultimately sentenced to a
year’s imprisonment for spreading illegal propaganda and slandering the Islamic Republic.
Sarkohi’s nightmare ended on 28 January
1998 when he was released, although when interviewed his wife said she would not be content until he was out of the country: “He has no
papers, any document to prove who he is, and in
his situation – considering that many Iranian
journalists and intellectuals have died in very
mysterious circumstances – anything could
happen to him.”
Finally issued a new passport – his old one
had been used fraudulently to send another
man to Hamburg in his place on the day of his
disappearance – Sarkohi left Iran to live in exile
with his family in Germany in May 1998.
Born in Shiraz, Iran on 3 November 1947,
Sarkohi studied art, sociology and Persian literature at universities in Tehran and Tabriz. During
his university years, he found his dissident
voice, writing papers and essays that spoke out
against censorship and repression. As a member
of the student movement opposing Muhammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi’s autocratic rule, he was imprisoned in 1969 for a year and then sentenced
again for 15 years in 1971. He was released,
along with other political prisoners, during the
1979 revolution, having served eight years of his
sentence.
He founded and edited the independent literary Iranian magazine Adineh in 1985. The magazine soon became crucial reading matter for
those both at home and abroad who were opposed to the repressive politics, thanks to its
focus on controversial social issues, like the status of women in Iran. For the rebellious articles
he wrote, along with his peers, he was branded a
‘cafe-dwelling guerrilla’ by The Identity, a statecontrolled, prime-time television show.
Now no longer living under imminent threat,
Sarkohi continues to battle resolutely for freedom of expression in Iran. In 2007, he wrote regular book reports for Radio Farda in which he
commented that “under Ahmadinejad there has
been an increase in the intensity and recklessness of censorship.” From his home in Germany
he serves on the board of advisors at the Middle
East Media Research Institute, which aims to
bridge the language gap between the West and
the Middle East. He continues to defend press
freedom and the right to write.
115
NedIm
Şener
TURKEY
1966–
a
s an investigative journalist working on
corruption, organised crime and money
laundering, Nedim Şener’s main motivation has always been to reveal to the public the
realities that others try to hide.
Born in Germany on 28 November 1966,
Şener studied for his master’s degree in Economics at Istanbul University before joining the
Turkish national newspaper Dünya and later the
daily national newspaper Milliyet in 1994 as a
news reporter. Although he started out reporting
on the financial markets and agriculture, Şener
chose to pursue writing and reporting on poverty
and corruption. Believing that journalists in
Turkey have great influence, he started working
in investigative journalism.
By his own admission, he was curious, determined and stubborn. Şener developed a reputation as a leading investigative journalist in
Turkey, uncovering corruption, raising the ire of
the Turkish authorities and finding himself in
the dock for his writing.
Always taking his readers seriously and reporting with utmost care and accuracy, he is well
respected by the wider Turkish journalist community for being noncommittal to any side or
group and approaching every event fair-mindedly and from the aspect of the victim. He defines it as the motto for his professional life.
His most famous piece of writing to date is
“Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies,” a book on
the murder of fellow Turkish IPI World Press
Freedom Hero, Hrant Dink. Because of it Şener
faced trial in Turkey, accused of multiple
charges: targeting the persons who have taken
responsible tasks in the fight against terrorism,
identifying people as targets for terror organisations, obtaining secret information, revealing secret information, violating communication privacy and attempting to affect a fair trial.
116
Through his investigations for the book, Şener
uncovered the truth behind the preparation, implementation, investigation and adjudication of
Dink’s murder, drawing attention to the roles
played by official staff. Şener’s investigative writing showed that the murder had been professionally planned well in advance, blowing the
cover of officials at the National Intelligence Organisation who threatened the Turkish-Armenian editor in 2004.
Furthermore, he revealed that the police investigating the Dink murder case also played a role in
Dink’s death, indicating that the head of the Directorate of Security Affairs attempted to blur the evidence, while at the same time investigating the
murder. Name by name, Şener showed the Turkish public that not only the Istanbul Police Department, but also the Trabzon and Ankara Intelligence departments, the National Intelligence Organisation and Gendarmerie Organisation shared
responsibility for Dink’s untimely death.
Not surprisingly, the reality revealed by
Nedim Şener disturbed the police. A number of
senior police chiefs launched legal complaints.
The prosecutors called for a 28 year sentence to
be imposed on Şener, and in another, separate
case for a sentence of four years and six months,
for publishing diagrams showing the relations
between the Ergenekon suspects (an alleged secret ultra-nationalist group with links to the
Turkish military and security forces) and the
Dink murder in his book. Thus, Şener faced a
total requested prison sentence of 32 years and
six months, whilst Dink’s murderer faced only 20
years in prison.
Şener’s trial gained the attention of several international organisations which urged the Turkish authorities to drop the charges against him.
He was eventually acquitted in June 2010, after a
year-long trial.
It can clearly be put that Şener’s main success
in the scope of the Dink murder was in changing
the perception of Dink’s assassination. He claimed
that the facts were blurred in the case and perverted the course of justice. Furthermore, the Dink
case helped bring together other families who had
been denied justice. A civil platform was formed,
which named itself “We are Dink’s deep family.”
Thanks to Şener’s work, published not only in
his book but also in Milliyet, where he still works
as a reporter, newspapers and TV stations no
longer view Dink’s murder through a narrow
window. Originally, only the group who committed the murder and the negligent gendarmerie
were considered responsible. Now it is acknowledged that other official agencies were also involved. Nedim Şener is now accepted and called
on as an expert on this issue.
Şener’s work has gained him a host of awards
and accolades. The Publishers’ Association of
Turkey honoured him with the Freedom of
Thought and Expression award and the Turkish
Journalists’ Association (TGC) bestowed upon
him the 2009 Press Freedom Award. And in 2010,
he was awarded the Abdi İpekçi Journalist of the
Year award, named after another fellow Turkish
IPI World Press Freedom Hero.
Besides his investigative reporting and writing, which includes several other books, Şener
holds a Ph.D. in economics from Istanbul University and writes a column in Posta, Turkey’s
largest-selling daily newspaper.
He confesses, frankly, that he is scared but
feels that he has to reveal the facts. Neither the
courts nor the threats he has faced have been
able to stop him from being an investigative
journalist.
Written with contributions from Yurdanur Atadan,
secretary of the Turkish IPI National Committee.
TEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAM
WARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVE
ERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ •
NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF T
THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. TH
NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEW
F THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURAT
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ORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTA
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ERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ •
NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF T
THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. TH
NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEW
SM. ¶ ARTICLE I ¶ GENERAL ¶ 1. THE ORGANISATION DEFENDS EVERYONE’S PERSON
EDINARTICLEXIXINTHEUNUNIVERSALDECLARATIONOFHUMANRIGHTS,(DEC.1
GE;INSTITUTINTERNATIONALDELAPRESSE,INFRENCH;INSTITUTOINTERNACION
ITUTE. ¶ 3. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF THE INSTITUTE SHALL BE ENGLISH, FRENC
HIP CORPORATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 60 ET SEQ. OF THE SWISS CIVIL CODE. T
ERS AND RADIO AND TV SYSTEMS FOUNDATIONS, OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND BUSI
ARTOFTHENETEARNINGS,IFANY,OFTHEINSTITUTESHALLENURETOTHEBENEFITO
UGH: PUBLICATIONS, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES, TRA
/OR VIDEOS AND ELECTRONIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE SENDING OF DELEG
CARRYING OUT THESE PURPOSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROMOTE A FAIR BALAN
BER OR NATIONAL COMMITTEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE, FO
ATIONALCOMMITTEE.¶ARTICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEMBERSHIPOFTHEIN
THLYJOURNALS,NEWSAGENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCASTINGSYSTEMSORO
NSTITUTESOBJECTIVESANDWHO,INSEEKINGMEMBERSHIP,DECLAREFORMALLY
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CHALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWHETHERORNOTTOE
SHALLBEMADETOTHEINSTITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHALLHAVETHEPOW
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N INTERNET SERVICE MAY BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ONE FULL MEMBER UP
CIPLESOFFREEDOMOFTHEPRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERATINGINTHEINSTIT
NS,MEMBERSOFJOURNALISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVISORS.¶·ASAFFILIA
DS OF DEPARTMENTS/SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, BROADCASTING O
CURRENTAFFAIRSPROGRAMMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERSONSHOLDINGSIM
NALISTS GROUP) FROM ANY ONE NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, RADIO, TV ORGANISA
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RMINEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROLMENTS
ICIPATE IN ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHALL HAVE NO VOTI
LIATEMEMBERSHIPSHALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP.¶IPIC
PHS 1 AND 2, TO COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEG
BROADCASTINGFIELDS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPATEINALLTHEIN
TEAUTHORITYOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRDELEGATESISNO
YTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVENOVOTINGRIGH
D BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WITH THE AGREEME
UTEWHOSHALLACTCONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHEPRESENTCONS
IVE BOARD, BUT EXPULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON THE APPROVAL
ON, TOGETHER WITH THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SHALL BE GIVEN T
EBOARDSHALLBEGRANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERSHALLSODESIRE
E NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE OF MEMBERS PRE
MEMBEROFTHEINSTITUTE;NOTICEOFSUCHACTIONSHALLBEGIVENEITHERTOTH
ORHISOBLIGATIONSTOTHEINSTITUTE,UPTOTHETIMETHATMEMBER’SRESIGNAT
RDCONSIDERSTHATTHEREISFUNDAMENTALCHANGEINTHECONDITIONSUNDER
RTICLEIIOFTHEPRESENTCONSTITUTION.¶ARTICLEIII¶NATIONALCOMMITTEES¶1
MBLY,ANATIONALCOMMITTEEMAYBEFORMEDPROVISIONALLYINACOUNTRYW
ON. ¶ 1B) SUCH RECOGNITION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL NOT NECESSARILY
EDENJOYSFULLFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS.¶2.NATIONALCOMMITTEESSHALLACT
ATONDEVELOPMENTSAFFECTINGTHEPRESS,PARTICULARLYONTHREATSTOFRE
RDCANWAIVETHEEIGHTYEARTERMLIMIT.¶3.NATIONALCOMMITTEESMAYBEEN
OLLECTED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE INSTITUTE, WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SEC
LLBESUBMITTEDTOTHEDIRECTOR.¶IPICONSTITUTIONPAGE4¶4.THEEXECUTIVEB
MITTEEINCASESWHERETHEEXECUTIVEBOARDCONSIDERSTHEOBJECTIVESOFPA
CHORIGINALACCREDITATIONOFANATIONALCOMMITTEEHASBEENGRANTED.¶D
Nedim Şener
speaks to the
media after his
trial in Istanbul,
June 2009.
SES, ACADEMIC LECTURE
MISSIONS TO COUNTRIES arun
N AND MEN IN ITS STRUCT shourIe
UTE, AND THE INSTITUTE
ENTOPERSONSWITHRES
NET,WHOSUPPORTTHEPR a
TENSTATEMENTTHEIRW
ERETHEREARENATIONAL
PLICANTS.INCOUNTRIES
LYDETERMINEWHETHER
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TIVES,FOREXAMPLE,THE
(LEADINGJOURNALISTS
NCIES, EDITORIAL WRITE
ALPOSITIONSONINTERNE
TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UN
EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOU
S ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAME
NG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION
EEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICAT
GST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANC
EDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDERSTANDONEANOTHER,ITIS
DERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN A
OLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: F
XPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶
THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEO
GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING AB
F THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE A
Arun Shourie, pictured, said:
“Criticising a government and
pillorying it is most certainly
not ‘anti-national.’ It is the
media’s job to keep governments on their toes … Correspondingly, it is the job of
governments to explain the
reasons that have led them to
a policy or measure.”
INDIA
1941–
run Shourie has been compared to a racehorse, described variously as a pioneer, a
crusader and a muckraker. He has also
been identified at various times as a journalist,
author, columnist, editor, politician and administrator. In his own words, according to the 1982
Magsaysay Award citation, he describes himself
as “a concerned citizen employing his pen as an
effective adversary of corruption, inequality and
injustice.”
The one label that cannot be denied him,
though, is that of the journalist who forever
changed the landscape of journalism in the
country that he served: India.
Shourie was born in 1941. His family, along
with other Hindu families in the city at the time,
was moved across the border into India, where
his father started work in the Punjabi city of Jalandhar. “I have been very fortunate, meaning I
have not had to struggle with poverty, so to say. I
am the son of a very honest civil servant, a very
creative one,” says Shourie. “But I struggled
against authority, which would mean governments, dominant intellectual fashions, etc.”
Shourie’s real ‘struggle,’ however, was not to
begin until many years later. He had a privileged
childhood, attending a progressive school in the
Indian capital Delhi, before going on to study at
Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College and then on to Syracuse University in New York. In 1966, he joined
the World Bank as an economist, a job he was to
stay in for 11 years.
In 1975, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
invoked Article 352 of the Indian Constitution to
declare an internal emergency that, in her own
words, “brought democracy to a grinding halt.”
The Emergency, as it became known, heralded an
intense crackdown on civil liberties and the free
press, and its wrath descended heavily on the paper Shourie was later to head, the Indian Express.
In 1979, he accepted an offer to become Executive Editor of the Indian Express. The magazine
India Today praised Shourie for giving the paper
“not just a new look but a conscience.” Tehelka
magazine wrote: “Shourie’s years as an editor
shone with inspiration: he was a lighthouse in a
dark time.”
Shourie instigated a series of high-profile exposés at the Indian Express, many of which he
wrote, unmasking corruption at the highest levels of government and sparking major scandals,
including one dubbed ‘India’s Watergate.’
“It is nobody’s case that the press should not
be critical,” Shourie said in a 2010 interview.
“Criticising a government and pillorying it is
most certainly not ‘anti-national.’ It is the
media’s job to keep governments on their toes …
Correspondingly, it is the job of governments to
explain the reasons that have led them to a policy or measure.”
In 1981, Shourie started a crusade against
Abdul Rahman Antulay, who extorted millions
of dollars from businesses dependent on state resources and deposited the money in a trust
named after Indira Gandhi. The story led to the
resignation of the state governor, the highestranking official in India ever forced from office
by newspaper reporting, and was of great embarrassment to Gandhi and her ruling Congress
Party.
Also in 1981, under Shourie’s editorship, an
Indian Express reporter purchased a young girl to
highlight the trafficking of women.
In 1982, government pressure led to Shourie’s
dismissal from the newspaper.
Between 1982 and 1986, Shourie wrote for
various newspapers and magazines. He was appointed executive editor of The Times of India in
1986 but returned to the Indian Express in 1987.
That same year, the Express broke the story of an
incident that has passed into collective Indian
memory as the Bhagalpur Blindings, where policemen in the city of Bhagalpur blinded 33 prisoners by pouring acid into their eyes. The reports
by the Express were accepted by the Supreme
Court as a writ petition. The case ended in a
judgement that became a landmark precedent in
Indian legal history.
Among the many battles Shourie fought for
press freedom, perhaps the most famous was his
crusade against the government’s proposal in
1988 to introduce a defamation bill. It was
widely perceived that the bill had been introduced to parliament with unusual speed in an
attempt to muzzle the Indian Express, and the entire media community joined Shourie and the
Indian Express in condemning the move.
At one stage, there were 300 cases filed by the
government against the Express, and the paper’s
credit supply from banks was cut off. Shourie,
however, continued his battle against government corruption until 1990, when differences on
editorial policy forced him to resign from the
paper. After that, he devoted his energy to writing books and regular columns that appeared in
30 newspapers throughout India. His writings
have gained him a vast following, as well as
many enemies, across the country. Shourie, who
was India’s minister of disinvestment for many
years, has earned many national and international awards, including the World Press Review’s International Editor of the Year and the
Freedom to Publish Award of the Indian Federation of Publishers. He continues to be one of the
most respected and revolutionary figures in Indian journalism.
119
andré
sIBomana
RWANDA
1954–1998
120
a
ndré Sibomana, editor of Rwanda’s oldest
newspaper, was widely known and respected as a principal human rights activist in his country before, during, and after the
1994 Rwandan genocide. In a nation whose political regime violated the most basic human rights
on an enormous scale, Sibomana devoted his life
to helping the voiceless while fearlessly denouncing the injustices facilitated by Rwandan authorities. He faced many death threats and assassination attempts in order to publicly condemn the
organised murder of more than half a million
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu
majority. Sibomana later became an outspoken
critic of human rights abuses by the new Tutsiled government, which remained intolerant of
investigative reporting and political dissent.
Born in the central Rwandan town of
Masango on 21 July 1954, Sibomana took the
path toward priesthood. He trained at the Nyakibanda Major Seminary and was ordained as a
Roman Catholic priest in 1980. Following a period of journalism coursework at the Catholic
University of Lyon, France, Sibomana became
the director and editor of the Roman Catholic
newspaper Kinyamateka, in 1988. As the only private newspaper in Rwanda, Kinyamateka was
published in the national language and circulated widely via the network of parish churches.
Strong-willed, Sibomana was determined to promote legitimate, systematic journalism via
Kinyamateka with no guarantee of freedom of expression from the Rwandan government.
Known as “the father of journalism” to many
of his contemporaries, Sibomana was among a
handful of brave journalists who remained in
Rwanda after the first few days of violence of the
1994 genocide had ensued, despite the fact that
most reputable journalists were either killed or
forced to flee the country. By April 1994, Kinyamateka had to stop publishing after one of its
journalists and several employees were killed
and the newspaper offices were badly damaged
during the substantial fighting. The newspaper
recommenced publication in December of that
same year, even in the face of direct and indirect
pressures placed on the Kinyamateka staff.
NGST JOURNA
SM. ¶ ARTICLE
EDINARTICLE
GE;INSTITUTI
ITUTE. ¶ 3. THE
HIP CORPORA
ERS AND RAD
ARTOFTHENE
Despite being of Hutu ethnic origin, Sibomana
publicly criticised the ‘hate media’ that was fostered by the Rwandan government to promote
anti-Tutsi propaganda and facilitate support for
the slaughter of the minority Tutsis. Sibomana’s
publication remained highly influential and
acted as a powerful opponent to the surplus of
anti-Tutsi propaganda despite multiple death
threats and arrests of the staff.
In addition to his work as a journalist and a
priest, Sibomana served for several years as the
chairman of both the Association of Rwandan
Journalists and the Association for the Defense
of Human Rights and Public Freedoms, where he
worked endlessly to encourage investigation into
reports of human rights violations committed by
state authorities and armed opposition groups.
His pursuits acted as matters of the ethical
preservation of human rights, rather than for the
purpose of maintaining loyalty to strict political
or ethnic allegiances. Sibomana’s unwillingness
to adhere to the Hutu portrayal of the genocide
as a resolute battle between good and evil
showed him to be a man who had fought for the
rights of all Rwandan citizens, regardless of their
gender, background, ethnic group or profession.
In October 1997, Sibomana resigned as editor
of Kinyamateka. He died on 9 March 1998 in the
Rwandan city of Kabgayi, after the government
refused to let him travel to Europe for medical
treatment. In a letter dated 4 March, which
reached Europe only after his death, he issued a
final denunciation of the violence and human
rights violations in his country, promising that if
he survived, he would “call to account those who
have refused to respect fundamental human
rights.”
Although André Sibomana can never be replaced, the memory of this extraordinary man
functions to inspire people from inside and outside Rwanda who are committed to rebuilding
respect for inalienable rights within the country.
TEPTOWARDSUNDERSTANDINGAMONGPEOPLESISTOBRINGABOUTUNDERSTANDINGAMONGTHEJ
WARDSTHEFOLLOWINGOBJECTIVES:¶•THEFURTHERANCEANDSAFEGUARDINGOFFREEDOMOFTHE
ERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS. ¶ • THE ACHIEVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING AMONGST JOURNALIST
NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE PRACTICES OF JOURNALISM.¶WORLD PEACE DEPENDS ON UND
THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMATION. THEREFORE, A FUNDAMENTAL STEP TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING AM
THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTI
NEWS, FREE TRANSMISSION OF NEWS, FREE PUBLICATION OF NEWSPAPERS, FREE EXPRESSION OF VIEWS
F THE FREE EXCHANGE OF ACCURATE AND BALANCED NEWS AMONG NATIONS.¶ • THE IMPROVEMEN
S. IF PEOPLES ARE TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THEY HAVE GOOD INFORMAT
DING AMONG THE JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTA
DING OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, BY WHICH IS MEANT: FREE ACCESS TO THE NEWS, FREE TRANSMISS
DING AMONGST JOURNALISTS AND SO AMONG PEOPLES.¶ • THE PROMOTION OF THE FREE EXCHANGE
ORLDPEACEDEPENDSONUNDERSTANDINGBETWEENPEOPLESANDPEOPLES.IFPEOPLESARETOUNDE
WARDS UNDERSTANDING AMONG PEOPLES IS TO BRING ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AMONG THE JOUR
RDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM OF THE P
André Sibomana was
editor of Rwanda’s oldest newspaper, Kinyamateka, and was widley
respected as a principal
human rights activist
before, during and after
the 1994 genocide.
ANT:FREEACCESS U
AND SO AMONG PE thaung
E DEPENDS ON UND
AL STEP TOWARDS
ORGANISATION TO
RANSMISSION OF N
OMOTION OF THE F
BETWEEN PEOPLE
INGAMONGPEOPL
RDS THE FOLLOWIN
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BURMA
1926–2008
B
urmese monarchs of the past once
lauded the enriching powers they believed that writing possessed, considering it powerful and important to the country’s
rich culture. Newspaper editors were often entertained at the palace of the last monarch, King
Mindon. Yet now the country is one of the
world’s most secretive.
“Throughout the Burmese struggles against
British rule, all the political issues, movements,
meetings, demonstrations, riots, rebellions and
even the revolutions were instigated, inspired,
influenced and led by newspapers,” U Thaung
gently recalled.
Born on 4 October 1926, the childhoodnamed Tin Maung blossomed into the heroic
writer and crusader Kyemon U Thaung. He
began his journalism career as a reporter for
The Burma Times in Rangoon a year before
Burma freed itself from British rule in 1948.
He committed to reporting what was true
and credible, a stance which saw U Thaung
promoted to chief editor by 1951 at the tender
age of 25.
The Burmese media aligned with the groups
opposed to the Anti-Facist People’s Freedom
League, which dominated the new parliament.
Through Kyemon (The Mirror), the paper he
founded in 1957, U Thaung was actively critical
of the socialist government but remained aware
of the risks he took in his battle to maintain
press freedom: “When General Ne Win took
power in 1958, the first thing he did was build a
concentration camp on a far-away island in the
ocean to tyrannise the Communists and dissidents ... More than 40 per cent of the victims
were writers and journalists.”
In 1960, best-selling Kyemon, regarded as an
‘enemy of the people,’ was first confiscated; in
1964 it was nationalised following the general
election in which Prime Minister U Nu secured
an overwhelming majority. At the same time, U
Thaung and three of his editorial staff were imprisoned for three years without trial. “Political
prisoners were kept incommunicado,” U Thaung
said. “Spouses did not know when their husbands would come back, and faced great hardship outside the jails ... About half of the prisoners’ marriages were destroyed. Mine was one of
them.” While only temporarily thwarting U
Thaung’s crusade, General Ne Win had destroyed
his marriage.
After toppling the civilian government, run by
U Nu, in a bloodless coup, General Ne Win opted
to keep his enemies close: he pardoned U
Thaung in 1967 and employed him at the Ministry for Information. As deputy director of the
ministry, U Thaung often had words dictated to
him and manipulated. U Thaung remembered
the minister of finance’s answer when he commented on the “devaluation” of the kyat: “No!
No! You must not use that word. Use the word
‘re-valued,’ ” U Thaung was told.
U Thaung’s continued condemnation of the
revolutionary government meant his writing licence was soon revoked, but he was ‘permitted’
to travel to the United States as a writer for a
small newspaper, The Missourian, in Washington,
Missouri, in 1977.
Away from the junta government and liberated in the land where freedom of speech is a
constitutional right, he wrote a damning, revealing article in The Reader’s Digest exposing the
conditions he had endured during his three
years in prison. As a result, the Burmese authorities revoked his passport. Essentially exiled, U
Thaung was granted political asylum by the
United States’ government.
Writing as Aung Bala, his war of words continued – composing copious articles and essays,
taking part in pro-democracy meetings around
the world and publishing 30 books, including the
best-sellers “General Ne Win and His Executioner” (1990) and “A Journalist, a General and
an Army in Burma (1995).”
In support of his homeland, renamed Myanmar in 1989, U Thaung was chief editor at New
Era Journal, which was U.S.-produced, Thailandprinted, and clandestinely disseminated in
Myanmar. Involved also with Radio Free Asia
and as an honorary member of the Burma Media
Association (BMA), U Thaung considered the
preparations for Burma’s future press freedom:
“Today that is not possible under the military
regime, but there will come a day when a new
government takes power. We must prepare ourselves to demand that freedom of speech be respected and develop our skills as journalists.
BMA is an organization that will accomplish
these goals.”
In an interview with the BBC World Service in
2004, U Thaung was asked how press freedom
could return to Burmese soil. “First of all, release
all the political prisoners; allow press freedom;
let privately-owned newspapers operate freely
and independently – only then can the country
transform into a democratic one,” he said. “Otherwise there won’t be any hope as long as the
Burmese generals meddle and control the media,
and political prisoners are still behind bars.”
When he died at age 82 on 3 April 2008 in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, U Thaung left behind an inspired generation of Burmese fighting for the
right to a voice, all harbouring the hope that one
day the art of credible writing will once again be
free.
123
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Jacobo Timerman,
above and right,
founded La Opinión
newspaper.
ARGENTINA
1923–1999
uring Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’ that
stretched from 1976 to 1983, tens of thousands of political dissidents, known as desaparecidos (“the disappeared”), vanished from
the streets, victims of a military regime that routinely kidnapped, falsely imprisoned and killed
those who campaigned against the widespread
human rights abuses in the country. Unlike the
vast majority of desaparecidos who were never
heard from again, Jacobo Timerman, a journalist
and author, lived to tell his story, his harrowing
stint in Argentine secret prisons serving as the
subject of his seminal work, “Prisoner Without a
Name, Cell Without a Number.”
Timerman’s tale of electric shock torture, beatings and solitary confinement sparked international outrage and intensified pressure on the
Argentine government to bring an end to the
war. The book, along with his work for La
Opinión, the now-defunct liberal daily he
founded in 1971, spotlighted the plight of the
persecuted in Argentina and demanded justice
for those whose voices had been silenced.
Born on 6 January 1923 in Bar, Ukraine,
Timerman immigrated to Argentina with his
family five years later to escape the pogroms.
Though he was fond of saying, “I did not become
a journalist, I was born one,” Timerman actually
began his studies in engineering before the political turmoil in Argentina prompted him to
switch his focus to journalism in the 1940s. He
founded several publications before finding success in 1962 with the newsmagazine Primera
Plana, which he modelled on Newsweek and
Time.
Timerman’s inspiration for La Opinión was
Paris’ Le Monde. The paper took a strong stance
against human rights abuses committed by
those on both the right and the left. The paper’s
investigative reporting targeted government corruption, state-sponsored anti-Semitism and repression. In addition to Argentina, Timerman’s
editorials condemned similar abuse in Cuba, the
Soviet Union, Chile and Israel.
He published the names of the desaparecidos
in the paper, using its pages to criticise the
regime of Isabel Peron, who assumed power after
her husband’s death in 1974. Timerman, who
supported Juan Peron, advocated for the overthrowing of Isabel’s government by the military
in 1976. The paper’s campaign against the government’s violence and economic policies drew
the ire of the regime. La Opinión’s offices were
bombed as was Timerman’s home. The paper
was closed down several times between 1973
and 1976 and was eventually shut down by the
Argentine government in 1977.
In April of that year, armed military agents
surrounded Timerman’s home and arrested him.
He was held for two and a half years – first in secret prisons in which he was interrogated, tortured and held in solitary confinement – and
later under house arrest. Timerman was held despite ever being formally charged. As the result
of mounting international pressure on the government, Timerman was released in 1980. He
was stripped of his Argentine citizenship and his
property and forced into exile. That same year,
Timerman was awarded the Golden PEN of Freedom by the World Association of Newspapers for
his courage in defending press freedom. In 1981,
he received both the Letelier-Moffitt Human
Rights Award from the Institute for Policy Studies and the Conscience-in-Media Award from the
American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Timerman also helped found the Asociacion
para la Defensa del Periodismo, an independent
press freedom group.
Timerman and his family settled in Israel,
where he continued to provoke the establishment with his 1982 book “The Longest War,” a
blistering criticism of Israel’s occupation of
Lebanon. Despite being a fervent Zionist, Timerman decried the invasion and what he viewed as
the unjust treatment of Palestinians.
In 1984, with democracy restored in Argentina, Timerman returned. He sued the government for his stolen property, including the
paper which had been sold in his absence for $5
million (USD). He won damages from the government in an equal amount. Two years later, he
testified at the trial of the former military leaders
responsible for his imprisonment, including
General Ramon Camps, whom Timerman described as a “lunatic, paranoid assassin.” Camps
was convicted on 73 counts of torture and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Timerman eventually took over as editor of
the daily La Razon, running into trouble with the
establishment yet again when he was sued for
libel and defamation in 1988 by Carlos Saul
Menem, then governor of Rioja province and a
presidential candidate. Timerman was acquitted
in two separate trials, prompting Menem, who
was by then president, to have the Supreme
Court of Argentina reopen the case. Timerman
fled to Uruguay and the charges were eventually
dropped.
Timerman wrote another book, “Chile: Death
in the South,” in 1988 along with a host of newspaper and magazine articles. He had begun work
on his memoirs, writing out passages longhand,
but he never finished. Timerman died of a heart
attack in his Buenos Aires home on 11 November 1999. He was 76.
125
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Below right: Ricardo
Uceda, also above
and right, at the
Award Ceremony for
best Investigative
Journalism in Latin
America.
rICardo I
uCeda
PERU
1953–
n July 1992, a group of nine students from La
Cantuta UniverSíty and their professor went
missing. A year later, in what would become a
career-long pattern of ground-breaking investigative journalism, Ricardo Uceda, editor of the
newsweekly Sí, uncovered the existence of a secret mass grave and linked the killings to a military death squad.
As he had done the year before when his reporting implicated military officers in the 1991
massacre of 15 people in the Barrios Altos district of Lima, Uceda refused the demands of the
Peru government to reveal his sources. Uceda’s
stance resulted in several legal and physical
threats from the government as well as attempts
to censor his work, but he persisted on his mission to uncover corruption at its highest levels.
His dogged determination to spotlight government wrongdoing made his name synonymous
with investigative reporting in Latin America
and established Uceda as a renowned defender
of press freedom.
Born 24 July 1953 in Chiclayo, Peru, Uceda
studied journalism at the Mayor de San Marcos
National University. Upon graduation, he joined
El Mundo magazine in 1974. He held a host of reporting jobs for several daily newspapers and
worked as an investigative reporter for TV station Canal 2 and, briefly, as editor in chief of La
Razon newspaper before he was appointed
deputy editor of Sí in 1988.
While at Sí, Uceda revolutionised investigative
reporting in Peru, reporting on government corruption and human rights abuses with unparalleled bravery and tenacity. Together with his
team of investigative reporters, Uceda conducted
numerous investigations into all corners of the
Peruvian establishment, from the connections
between government officials and drug traffickers to the misappropriation of state funds. He did
so amidst a hostile climate in the country that
sought to suffocate independent voices with
threats, intimidation and harassment. It was not
uncommon in this environment for a reporter to
be ‘disappeared’ for writing a story that offended
the government.
In 1992, President Alberto Fujimori suspended the constitution and dissolved Congress,
creating a dictatorship that violated virtually
every imaginable constitutional and human
right as well as freedom of expression. At the behest of the president, the military routinely
jailed, detained and surveyed journalists who reported on the government’s corrupt activities
and many were forced into exile.
But Uceda was not a runner, he was a fighter.
When Uceda’s Barrios Altos massacre story
ran in 1992, Minister of Defence, Victor Malca
Villanueva, sought criminal charges against
Uceda alleging that he lied about the military’s
involvement in the massacre. Uceda fought the
charge, as well as pressure from the government
to reveal the source he based his story on. The
case was eventually closed when a provincial
criminal prosecutor determined that Sí had exercised its right of free expression in publishing
the article and was without fault. Uceda again refused to name his sources for his story on the
military death squad execution of the group
from La Cantuta University. When he was accused of obstruction of justice and threatened,
he again fought back, winning over the Peruvian
Congress, which voted to protect him and to
order that his safety be guaranteed by government officials. An inquiry into the episode led to
the arrest of several high-ranking officers.
In 1994, Uceda left Sí to create and lead the investigations unit of El Comercio, Peru’s largest
and most influential daily newspaper. Between
1994 and 2000, he spearheaded some of the most
important investigative journalism in the country, including the revelation of Peru’s military
death squad unit in the 1990s and the forging of
more than one million signatures on petitions in
the 2000 elections.
In 2004, Uceda published the best-selling
book, “Death in the Little Pentagon: The Secret
Killing Fields of the Peruvian Army,” an investigation into military crimes committed in the
country between1983 and 1993.
Uceda is currently the director of the Instituto
Prensa y Sociedad (Institute for Press and Society), where he works to support investigative
journalism and press freedom throughout Latin
America.
In a 2008 article in Focus Point magazine entitled, “Fighting Corruption in Latin America:
Media Challenges,” Uceda wrote about the indispensable role investigative journalism plays in
reining in rouge governments. “Without the
‘good press,’ unscrupulous rulers would have no
limits, especially given the weakness of democratic institutions in the region,” he wrote. “If
anyone has fought Latin American corruption
with any effectiveness, it is the independent
journalists, especially the investigative ones.”
127
elenI
vlaChou
GREECE
1911–1995
I
n the event I was stopped to express myself
freely ...,” Greece’s shining light, Eleni Vlachou,
wrote in an open letter to the world’s press in
September 1967. Addressing the envelope to the
International Press Institute, she sealed and sent
her plea. Her impending arrest would see only a
pause in her crusade to resist “the regime of the
colonel’s” press censorship.
Knowing the tyrants’ egos, she implored the
international press to keep writing about Greece
and the junta government’s abhorrent removal
of civil rights, institution of censorship and refusal to restore freedom of the press. As publisher of the daily Kathimerini, she urged:
“Don’t believe for a moment that what the foreign press writes leaves the colonels cool and
undisturbed, that they don’t care. They care desperately. They publish with delight the smallest
crumb of flattery ... by now people with sense
the world over know what has happened in
Greece. And I ask them to worry about it. It may
prove contagious.”
Vlachou was a determined anti-Communist
and respected conservative, yet also among
those the new government most wanted to ingratiate. When the right-wing junta assumed
rule in April 1967, Vlachou, beautiful in her defiance and very much against her personal interests, protected her father’s daily, Athens’
Kathimerini and her own afternoon imprint Messimvrini. In characteristic good humour and
light-heartedness, she refused to kowtow to military censorship, immediately stopping the
presses and playing with the government for
three months in a ‘will-she-won’t-she’ battle to
start printing again. Instead she marched onwards, denouncing the colonels in interviews
given to foreign reporters to keep Greece’s plight
at the fore.
128
When she branded Brigadier Stylianos Pattakos “a clown” in Turin’s La Stampa, she was arrested. Charged with breaking martial law and
insulting the authorities, she endured days of
none-too-gentle questioning before being moved
under house arrest on 4 October to await a military trial. Her open letter reached Zurich and her
predicament made front-page headlines throughout the world. Regardless of her incarceration,
she continued to defy the junta principals.
Shining the light constantly on Greece’s situation, Vlachou’s assertions prompted fact-finding
missions on behalf of the International Press Institute and Amnesty International, amongst others, that confirmed extreme press submission
and evidence of horrendous detainee torture.
Her international education had taught her
that her crusade would find more fertile ground
abroad. In December 1967 Vlachou dyed her hair
with shoe polish to match her false passport and
kissed goodbye her husband – who was tapping
around their home in her high-heels in order to
trick the guards – and fled to England. There
Helen Vlachos, as she came to be known, burst
onto the London scene fighting to return freedom and civil rights to her countrymen and
women in a flurry of anti-junta publicity.
Stripped of her citizenship, the one-womanwarrior’s exile in London was soon made less
lonely when Greek actress Melina Mercouri and
Sir Alexander Fleming’s widow, Amalia Fleming,
joined her crusade, shoulder-to-shoulder speaking out against the self-important tyrants.
Turning once again to her mighty pen, Vlachou released the graphic account of her months
under house arrest; she also published the Hellenic Review magazine, but was blackmailed into
stopping. “They sent a man from Athens” she
wrote, “who told me that if I wanted my husband
to receive medical attention and to be released
from solitary confinement, I would have to stop
publication. Well, I couldn’t play heroine in London at his expense. I had to kill the magazine.”
Nonetheless, her single-minded commitment
eventually saw the fall of the junta in 1974,
when she hurtled back home to celebrate with
her loved ones and revel in starting the presses
again. Her election to parliament as a member
of the conservative New Democracy party was
testament to the love felt for her by her compatriots.
Born into a wealthy publishing family on 18
December 1911, Vlachou’s popularity burgeoned
through her pithy, pointed political column in
her father’s respected and widely-read daily. The
powerful father-daughter team entertained and
informed until Georgios Vlachos died in 1951.
Eleni took her father’s success and ran with it;
she was the driving force behind Greece’s first
mass-circulation illustrated magazine, Eikones.
In 1987, she sold her newspaper empire and
returned to her first love – writing – penning the
typically witty, gloriously verbose multi-volume
memoir “Dimosiographika Khronia: peninda kai
kati ...” (“Journalistic Years. Fifty and more ...”),
which she saw published in the early 1990s before her death in Athens on 14 October 1995.
Such was her country’s adoration of their last
Greek heroine, that Eleni Vlachou was buried
with full state honours and lauded by Prime
Minister Andreas Papandreou as a “truly great
figure in Greek journalism ... She was unwavering in her principles and her beliefs,” the prime
minister said. “Her immediate reaction to the
coup of April 21, 1967, with the cessation of publication of Kathimerini and her other publications, is a crowning moment of resistance in the
field of journalism.”
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Above: Eleni Vlachou.
Below: Vlachou,
fourth from left, at
a meeting of Greek
and Turkish editors
in Rhodes, March
1961.
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Clockwise from left: Lasantha
Wickrematunge around the age
of 4; Wickrematunge pictured
with his first wife Raine and
eldest son Avinash when
Avinash was a year old; from
left, daughter Ahimsa, Raine
holding youngest son Aadesh,
and Wickrematunge with his
arm around Avinash; a commemorative vigil to honour
Wickrematunge who was killed
on 8 January 2009.
Lasantha
WICKrematunge
SRI LANKA
1958–2009
l
asantha Wickrematunge was the youngest
child born on 5 April 1958 to Harris and
Chandra Wickrematunge of Kotahena, a
multi-ethnic town situated in the north of
Colombo, the then-capital of Sri Lanka. Being the
youngest of six siblings, Lasantha grew up with
the confidence that comes with having five elder
brothers and sisters around to show the way forward. Lasantha’s father Harris was a member of
the local borough and a one-time deputy mayor
of Colombo City; politics became second nature
in the Wickrematunge family home.
Lasantha had his primary education at St.
Benedict’s College, a Catholic missionary school
just a stone’s throw from his family home. Here
he learnt values imparted by the De La Salle
brothers, who were part of the teaching staff. His
impish sense of humour and penchant
for schoolboy pranks masked his scholarly abilities, which blossomed later when he completed
his legal studies in the United Kingdom. He also
loved sports. Cricket was his forté but he never
pursued it with commitment other than at junior level, where he showed promise as a left arm
leg spinner. Had he stuck to cricket, destiny
would have written a different epitaph.
Lasantha’s father was a hard task master and
a stern disciplinarian of his children. Lasantha,
however, was able to work his way around the
strict regiment set by his father by using to his
advantage the argument that the youngest be
given more room to bend the rules that were set
for the elder siblings. He questioned authority
when others silently obeyed. He fought for the
underdog though the cause was not his. These
traits were visible at a very early stage of his life.
Born a Buddhist, Lasantha questioned the priests
in school on certain aspects of the Holy Bible. On
one occasion, a reverend brother admonished
Lasantha by saying that he would go straight to
hell. Lasantha was quick to reply in front of a full
classroom: “I would most certainly prefer to go to
hell than heaven as Brother Director will be
there and so would you. But look at who I would
be keeping company in hell – Marilyn Monroe,
Jayne Mansfield!” His response was met with six
of the best on his buttocks.
Armed with a degree in law, Lasantha quickly
returned to Sri Lanka, the land he loved. He
practiced law in the chambers of a senior and respected president’s counsel and showed the potential of a good legal brain. This was to be shortlived as he quickly shelved his lucrative legal career to take up a position at the soon-to-be
launched Sunday Leader, of which I was the
managing director. He first joined the now defunct Sun Newspaper Group as a cub reporter,
then the Upali Newspapers Group and finally
The Sunday Times as the political correspondent
where he set a new style in motion for political
commentary.
The Sunday Leader was started in June 1994 and
Lasantha made me promise that he would have
total freedom over editorial content, which he
jealously guarded to the very end. Often he flew
close to the wind. He pushed the limits. He exposed corruption and bad governance. There was
no one that escaped his probing pen. He set an ‘inyour-face’ style, which was a new phenomenon in
editorial style and content within a very mild, and
often seen as subservient, press at that time.
It took less than a year into publication before
Lasantha was physically attacked. His vehicle was
waylaid on his journey home from office, set upon
by masked goons who clubbed him and his wife. Investigating and exposing the highest in the
land for being economical with the truth as he
did, more attacks were to follow. His home was
sprayed with automatic fire, the printing presses
were burnt down twice, the newspaper was shut
down under a draconian piece of legislation and
an attempt was made to arrest and detain him
under Emergency Regulations – all of which he
faced with the courage and strength to prevail.
None of this diminished his zeal or vigour to go
after the truth.
There was another person hidden within Lasantha, totally at odds with the public perception
of who he was. He loved children. He loved to
watch movies. Lasantha never drank alcohol or
smoked a cigarette in his life. He read as much as
he could. He would give the shirt off his back to
anyone in need. He was soft at heart and was
moved to tears when confronted with others’
misfortunes.
He did sense that his life was in danger – writing an editorial that would become his own obituary – but he simply pushed that thought away
and concentrated on what he was good at. Many
a friend and colleague warned him of the dangers
of fighting the state. He was referred to as the
“Leader of the Opposition” by the people.
On that fateful day, 8 January 2009, Lasantha
was on his way to the office when he noticed that
four motorcyclists were following him. He did
call a few friends and politicians but continued
on his way. Perhaps he expected another physical
attack at best. But this was the final straw.
The lone voice for upholding the right to information, the watchdog of the nation was silenced.
Written by Lal Wickrematunge, brother of
Lasantha Wickrematunge, and managing director
of The Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka.
131
C.e.l.
WICKremesInghe
SRI LANKA
1920–1985
C
yril Esmond Lucien (C.E.L.) Wickremesinghe passionately believed that
freedom of opinion and expression are as
fundamental to human progress as economic
growth and social advancement. Twenty-five
years after his death on 29 September 1985, his
message lives on.
Born into two prominent families on 29 May
1920, Wickremesinghe was destined for greatness.
While he trained as an attorney, his true passion
was political science, a subject in which he dabbled during his short stint as a journalist in his
youth.
Regarded as the maker and breaker of governments, as the director of Associated Newspapers
of Ceylon, the largest and most influential newspaper group in Sri Lanka, he was the catalyst and
leader in defending press freedom and in laying
the foundation for a robust, privately-owned
media in Sri Lanka.
Established by his father-in-law during Sri
Lanka’s struggle for colonial independence, the
Lake House newspaper group, consisting of five
dailies and three Sunday papers, was the powerhouse of the nation’s journalism. Esmond was
groomed from a young age by press magnate, D.R.
Wijewardene, to marry both his daughter and his
paper; the latter Esmond wed in 1948 when he
took up the Lake House Group torch as managing
director of editorial operations. He guided the
company, gently streamlining and modernising it
as he nurtured journalistic excellence and editorial independence. A motto he insisted on was:
“News is sacred; comment is free.” He worked
hard to develop strong links both at home and
abroad – links that would prove incredibly valuable in the darkness of the years to come.
When, on 12 August 1960, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s government announced
132
that its intention was “to take over the newspapers controlled by the Associated Newspapers of
Ceylon,” Wickremesinghe, famous for ‘fixing a tomorrow with his newspaper,’ moved tactically.
Knowing that a battle of words focusing on the
negative would kill both motivation and interest
in his crusade, he ran campaigns to grow more
food, to improve national heritage and to follow
the green revolution, all of which encouraged a
positive national rallying and served his beloved
country.
His compassion for the ‘small’ man, often the
less literate among his readers, resulted in his cartoonists poking fun at the bigger issues of the day,
bringing the lofty issues down to scale for readers.
Having aroused the country and many politicians, Wickremesinghe was placed firmly as the
figurehead of the press-freedom fight against the
state-owned Commission of Inquiry that four
times called for press control.
During his outspoken opposition of press censorship and manipulation, he was attacked
metaphorically and literally, publically and personally, but these attacks merely strengthened his
resolve. Calling for national and international
support, Wickremesinghe and his editors continued to resist the regime and defend freedom of
expression and of the press. He united rival newspapers to join the common cause of survival.
Supported by international bodies, his nationwide campaign created a climate of public opinion that gave local politicians the courage to defend society against attacks on press freedom. The
campaign ardently supported Bandaranaike’s opposition to the coalition, the United National
Party (UNP) and Federal Party pact that Wickremesinghe himself moderated. It ended the fourand-a-half-year battle for press freedom when, on
3 December 1964, the government’s second-rank-
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ing member, defected, wanting to “ensure that
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among free men.”
As chairman of the International Press Institute
from 1966 to 1968, Wickremesinghe’s outstanding
contributions to press freedom earned him worldwide recognition. In March 1967, Lake House
hosted the first local IPI-organised Asian Newspapers Conference, which called for the newspaper
industry to provide affordable reporting for everyone – not just the academic elite – thus building
nationwide support from loyal readers if the government tried to clamp down and remove the
right to a free press. Along with other Asian freedom press fighters, Wickremesinghe founded the
Press Foundation of Asia.
In 1973, three years after Bandaranaike returned to power, the prime minister succeeded in
nationalising the Lake House Group. But the joke
was on her, when she learned that the dismissed
journalists had already formed a trust. With Wickremesinghe as chairman, they started publishing
three new papers in English, Tamil and Sinhala.
Wickremesinghe told the 24th General Assembly
of the IPI in Zurich, Switzerland in 1975, “They are
run on a very simple formula: publishing all the
news the government wants to hide.”
Although long involved in fighting government interference, Wickremesinghe’s natural flair
for diplomacy also led him to play an important
role in negotiating his country’s admission to the
United Nations, and he also headed Sri Lanka’s
delegation to UNESCO for many years.
Wickremesinghe died of natural causes, a heart
attack, in 1985. His legacy lives on with his son,
who, as a high-ranking Sri Lankan politician and
one-time Prime Minister, continues to call for
protection of media freedom.
HED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: ¶ • THE FURTHERANCE AND SAFEGUARDING OF FREEDOM
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TS OF THE WORLD. ¶ IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS BELIEF THERE IS ESTABLISHED AN ORGANISATION TO WORK TOWARDS THE FOLLOW
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José Rubén Zamora,
shown in these shots,
founded three of the
most influential newspapers in Guatemala.
Below right: Zamora,
pictured second from
right.
GUATEMALA
1956–
s founder of three of the most influential
newspapers in Guatemala, José Rubén
Zamora Marroquín, president of El Periódico, helped revolutionise journalism in the
country, ushering in an era of unprecedented investigative reporting that challenged
Guatemala’s government at its highest levels.
Throughout his near quarter century in journalism, Zamora has faced down countless death
threats and efforts to persecute him and censor
his publications. He has also endured numerous
physical attacks. But throughout it all, Zamora
has remained committed to press freedom and to
keeping Guatemalans informed.
Born 19 August 1956, Zamora began in journalism at age 17, working for his family’s newspaper, La Hora, first as a reporter and then as editor of national news. He also did sport and international news reporting. Zamora later took a 12year hiatus from journalism to study industrial
engineering before returning to journalism in
1986.
That year, he founded ANC, a news and documentary production company. He later expanded the company to include an independent
print publication, a risky endeavor in a country
in which the print media was systematically repressed by the authoritarian military regime.
Dozens of journalists had been killed for exercising free expression. But Zamora was undeterred.
In 1990, he founded Siglo Veintiuno, or 21st
Century, waging war against repression and taking on the fight for press freedom. The pages of
Siglo Veintiuno were filled with stories about government corruption, military-sponsored assassinations, drug trafficking, kidnappings and other
crimes that the Guatemalan media had typically
shied away from. The paper became an outlet for
the progressive right, the guerrilla movement
and human rights organizations that hadn’t before had a voice in the media.
Siglo Veintiuno advocated for a fairer tax system and a more equitable distribution of the
country’s resources. Zamora’s campaign against
the corrupt legal system led to the resignation of
116 military police officers and nine members of
the Supreme Court of Justice. He also took on
the military, accusing high ranking officials of a
number of major crimes. Siglo Veintiuno’s journalistic daring vexed an establishment fearful of
having its power eroded, and it soon retaliated.
Zamora received a number of death threats
and was shot at on more than one occasion. In
1993, President Jorge Serrano Elias suspended
the Constitution, dissolved Congress and the
Supreme Court and imposed a system of comprehensive censorship of the media. National police units surrounded Siglo Veintiuno’s offices
hurling threats and demanding that censors be
allowed in the office. In a clever response,
Zamora altered the masthead to read Siglo
Catorce, or 14th Century, likening Serrano’s acts
to those of the Dark Ages. The paper ran solid
blocks of ink in place of censored stories. And as
army troops seized copies of the paper and
burned them in the streets, Zamora faxed the
uncensored versions of the paper around the
world.
The paper’s coverage of Serrano’s actions
sparked international outrage, which forced the
president into exile. Following Serrano’s departure, threats to Zamora and Siglo Veintiuno continued. Zamora was once run off the road and received anonymous death threats.
In 1995, Zamora received both the Maria
Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University
and the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award.
In 1996, Zamora resigned as editor of Siglo
Veintiuno over a conflict with the board of directors. Two days later, he was the victim of a
grenade attack that was designed to prevent him
from starting another paper. He was uninjured in
the attack and went on to found the daily El Periódico that same year with the help of donations
from 125 citizens.
El Periódico was purchased in 1997, though
Zamora stayed on as editor. In 1998, Zamora
founded Nuestro Diario paper, which he later
sold.
In June 2003, armed men entered Zamora’s
home and held him and his family hostage for
several hours. Zamora was stripped, blindfolded,
held at gunpoint and told to stop publishing stories that the government deemed negative. His
children were beaten. The hostage episode
prompted Zamora to send his family into exile in
the U.S. until the presidential election was over.
He himself stayed in Guatemala to report on the
elections. That same year, Zamora won the
Knight International Press Prize from the International Center for Journalists.
“I have no other choice but to continue working to inform the Guatemalan people of what is
going on,” Zamora said in a BBC News interview
shortly after the attack. “Yes, I fear for the safety
of my family and I have personally suffered aggression in the past, but we are all vulnerable to
delinquency in this country and I have a duty to
carry on.”
In 2008, Zamora was kidnapped outside a
restaurant and severely beaten for more than 10
hours before he was found, nearly naked and
unconscious, on the outskirts of Guatemala City.
In an interview earlier this year with El Faro
newspaper, Zamora spoke of the toll his unwavering commitment to independent journalism
has taken on himself and his family. At age 52,
he estimated that he was physically 114 years
old. In five years’ time Zamora plans to retire to
live out his remaining days enjoying the company of the family he has spent much time away
from. “I have the obligation to spend time with
my children and my wife, who has been exceptional and has always behaved firmly with me,”
Zamora said. “After many attacks, kidnappings…
I hope to die at home, in my bed and surrounded
by the love of my children. That is all I aspire to
now.”
135
NERAL ¶ 1. THE ORGANISATION DEFENDS EVERYONE’S PERSON
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AL LANGUAGES OF THE INSTITUTE SHALL BE ENGLISH, FRENCH
URSUANT TO SECTION 60 ET SEQ. OF THE SWISS CIVIL CODE. TH
TV SYSTEMS FOUNDATIONS, OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND BUSIN
INGS,IFANY,OFTHEINSTITUTESHALLENURETOTHEBENEFITO
S, SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES, TRA
CTRONIC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE SENDING OF DELEG
E PURPOSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROMOTE A FAIR BALANC
OMMITTEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE, FO
E.¶ARTICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEMBERSHIPOFTHEINS
WSAGENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCASTINGSYSTEMSORO
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ETHEPOWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWHETHERORNOTTOE
HEINSTITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWE
RITY OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. ¶ 3. MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE ON
JOURNAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BROADCASTING SYST
MAY BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ONE FULL MEMBER UP
OFTHEPRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERATINGINTHEINSTITU
RNALISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVISORS.¶·ASAFFILIA
/SECTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, BROADCASTING O
ROGRAMMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERSONSHOLDINGSIMI
ROM ANY ONE NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, RADIO, TV ORGANISA
E APPLICANTS PROCURE WRITTEN APPROVAL FROM THEIR ED
MMITTEES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE TO THE NATIONAL
WHERETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLICATIONS
NOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROLMENTSA
CTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHALL HAVE NO VOTIN
HALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP.¶IPICO
MUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGE
DS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPATEINALLTHEIN
EEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRDELEGATESISNOT
ARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVENOVOTINGRIGHT
BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WITH THE AGREEME
CONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHEPRESENTCONS
ULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON THE APPROVAL O
THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SHALL BE GIVEN TO
RANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERSHALLSODESIRE
SEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE OF MEMBERS PRES
edItor’s
Note
There are so many people to thank and to whom
we are grateful for their assistance in putting this
project together. First of all, we would like to
thank those heroes who gave their time for interviews and the families and colleagues of those
who are no longer with us who helped with
photos, research and answering questions and
who, in some cases, wrote the entry themselves.
A special thanks to my assistant editor and budding journalist, Louise Hallman, who is not only
thorough, but a tiger when it comes to organisation! And to IPI conference manager Michael
Kudlak, who did a great deal of the ground work
on the biographies of 50 of the Heroes back in
2000. I would like to personally thank Lucy
Cripps, Kayce Ataiyero and Mý Huê McGowran
for their infectious enthusiasm about the project.
Thanks also to the AFP, Associated Press, Reuters
and Getty Images for donating the use of their
pictures.
During the preparation of this book, we received
shocking news of the tragic death of one of our
heroes, Pius Njawé. His death, just like his life,
reminds us all of the impact that just one person
can have on freedom and democracy.
Last, but not least, without the kind and generous
contribution of Bank Austria/UniCredit Group,
this project would not have been possible. Thank
you!
Alison Bethel McKenzie
137
IC MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET, THE SENDING OF DELEGATION
POSES, THE INSTITUTE SHALL PROMOTE A FAIR BALANCE OF W
TEE ASSUMES ANY LIABILITY, LEGAL OR OTHERWISE, FOR THE
TICLEII¶MEMBERSHIP¶1.FULLMEMBERSHIPOFTHEINSTITUT
ENCIESORTVANDRADIOBROADCASTINGSYSTEMSORONTHE
DWHO,INSEEKINGMEMBERSHIP,DECLAREFORMALLYANDB
ULLMEMBERSHIPCANBEACQUIREDASFOLLOWS:INCOUNTRIE
POWERTOINITIALLYDETERMINEWHETHERORNOTTOENROLT
TITUTE’SDIRECTOR,WHOALONESHALLHAVETHEPOWERTOIN
F THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. ¶ 3. MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE ON AN IN
NAL, NEWS AGENCY, TV OR RADIO BROADCASTING SYSTEM OR
BE REPRESENTED BY MORE THAN ONE FULL MEMBER UP TO A L
PRESSANDDESIROUSOFCO-OPERATINGINTHEINSTITUTE’SO
ISMFACULTIES,LAWYERSANDADVISORS.¶·ASAFFILIATEME
IONS OF NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, BROADCASTING OR NEW
MMEEDITORSORPRESENTERS,PERSONSHOLDINGSIMILARED
NY ONE NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL, RADIO, TV ORGANISATION O
ICANTS PROCURE WRITTEN APPROVAL FROM THEIR EDITOR-I
EES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE TO THE NATIONAL COMM
ETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLICATIONSFORM
OENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROLMENTSARESU
TIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHALL HAVE NO VOTING RIG
BEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP.¶IPICONSTIT
ATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, SCH
STITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPATEINALLTHEINSTITU
CUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRDELEGATESISNOTLIMIT
NSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVENOVOTINGRIGHTS.¶9.
D SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WITH THE AGREEMENT OF
RARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHEPRESENTCONSTITUT
N SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON THE APPROVAL OF TWO
TATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE M
EDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERSHALLSODESIRE.ANYM
LY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE OF MEMBERS PRESENT S
NOTICEOFSUCHACTIONSHALLBEGIVENEITHERTOTHENATIO
INSTITUTE,UPTOTHETIMETHATMEMBER’SRESIGNATIONOR
ISFUNDAMENTALCHANGEINTHECONDITIONSUNDERWHICH
NSTITUTION.¶ARTICLEIII¶NATIONALCOMMITTEES¶1A)SUBJ
TTEEMAYBEFORMEDPROVISIONALLYINACOUNTRYWHERET
ON BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL NOT NECESSARILY IMPLY
OFTHEPRESS.¶2.NATIONALCOMMITTEESSHALLACTIVELYP
ECTINGTHEPRESS,PARTICULARLYONTHREATSTOFREEDOM
The Authors
Lucy Cripps
Born and educated as an English teacher in England, Lucy Cripps lives, for now, in
Salzburg, Austria with her young family. Lucy works as a hired pen, proofreader and
copy-editor. She runs her own online writing services company helping corporates in
need and teaches English at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.
She will start working towards a master’s degree in professional writing in January 2011.
Kayce Ataiyero
Kayce Ataiyero is a freelance journalist and former columnist with The Chicago Tribune
who's also written for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Originally from Washington, D.C., she currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Additional Contributors:
Yurdanur Atadan, Owais Aslam Ali, Fadi Baaklini, Alison Bethel McKenzie, Elizabeth
Garrett, José Luis Gutiérrez, Louise Hallman, Naomi Hunt, Nayana Jayarajan, Ronald
Koven, Michael Kudlak, Raymond Louw, Sam Mujuda, Paweł Smoleński, Barbara Trionfi,
Oliver Vujovic and Lal Wickrematunge.
139
SATION OR NEWS AGENCY IS NOT LIMITED. AFFILIATE MEMBE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. ¶ 6. ASSOCIATE AND AFFILIATE MEMBERSHI
AL COMMITTEE, WHICH ALONE SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO INI
NSFORMEMBERSHIPSHALLBEMADETOTHEINSTITUTE’SDIRE
SARESUBJECTTOTHEULTIMATEAUTHORITYOFTHEEXECUTI
TING RIGHTS. THE DUES FOR ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP SHALL B
CONSTITUTIONPAGE3¶8.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSHIPSHAL
GES, SCHOOLS AND CENTRES OF JOURNALISM, PRESS INSTITU
INSTITUTE’SACTIVITIES.THEDIRECTORSHALLHAVEPOWERT
NOTLIMITED.DUESFORINSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLBEFIX
HTS.¶9.INSOFARASASSOCIATEMEMBERSARECONCERNED,
MENT OF THE BOARD. ¶ 10. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL HAVE
NSTITUTION.SUSPENSIONOFAMEMBERMAYBEORDEREDBYA
L OF TWO-THIRDS OF THE MEMBERS PRESENT OF THE BOARD.
TO THE MEMBER CONCERNED SIXTY (60) DAYS PREVIOUS TO T
RE.ANYMEMBERSOORDEREDSUSPENDEDOREXPELLEDBYTH
ESENT SHALL BE RECOGNISED AS THE FINAL DECISION OF THE
HENATIONALCOMMITTEEORTOTHEDIRECTOR.¶13.ANYMEM
ATIONOREXPULSIONBECOMESEFFECTIVE.¶14.MEMBERSHIPS
RWHICHMEMBERSHIPHASBEENGRANTEDANDWHERETHES
1A)SUBJECTTORECOGNITIONBYTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDAND
WHERETHEREAREATLEASTFIVEFULLMEMBERSFORMALLYC
LY IMPLY THAT THE EXECUTIVE BOARD ALSO RECOGNISES THA
TIVELYPURSUETHEAIMSOFTHEINSTITUTEINTHEIRCOUNTR
REEDOMOFTHEPRESSORTOTHEFREEFLOWOFNEWS.ATTHE
ENTRUSTEDWITHADMINISTRATIVETASKSSUCHASTHECOLLE
CRETARIAT. FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE COORDIN
EBOARDSHALLHAVEPOWERTODECLAREANATIONALCOMMIT
PARAGRAPH2OR3ABOVEHAVENOTBEENFULFILLEDORTHERE
DECLARATIONOFANATIONALCOMMITTEE’SINACTIVITYORSU
CETHATSUCHACTIONWILLBECONSIDEREDBYTHEEXECUTIV
TY (60) DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
ERSONALAPPEARANCEOFAMEMBERORMEMBERSOFTHENA
LCOMMITTEEFROMWHICHRECOGNITIONHASBEENORDERED
PEALTOTHENEXTGENERALASSEMBLY,INWHICHCASEAMAJO
AY AT ANY TIME RESTORE RECOGNITION TO A NATIONAL COM
HE EXECUTIVE BOARD TO CONSIDER A NATIONAL COMMITTEE
MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE AND TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN ITS
CTIVE,THETASKSFORMERLYEXECUTEDBYTHISCOMMITTEEW
ONFERENCES, SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS, ETC, TO DISCUSS MED
TY. THEY ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO COLLABORATE WITH OR
Words of Freedom
Editor:
Alison Bethel McKenzie
Sales & Marketing:
Grace Pardy
Assistant Editor:
Louise Hallman
Sub-Editor:
Mý Huê McGowran
Layout & Design Editor:
Fuhrer visuelle Gestaltung, Stefan Fuhrer
Photo Editor:
Brigitt Roveti
IPI Press Freedom & Publications Manager:
Anthony Mills
141
NAL COMMITTEES, APPLICATIONS SHALL BE MADE TO THE NAT
NTRIESWHERETHEREARENONATIONALCOMMITTEES,APPLIC
HERORNOTTOENROLTHEAPPLICANTS.INALLCASES,ENROLM
L THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTE, BUT THEY SHALL HAVE N
RSHIPSHALLBEHALFTHEDUESFORASSOCIATEMEMBERSHIP.
O COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND C
NGFIELDS.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSMAYPARTICIPATEINAL
YOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD.THENUMBEROFTHEIRDELEGATE
TIVEBOARD.INSTITUTIONALMEMBERSSHALLHAVENOVOTIN
CUTIVE BOARD SHALL BE FIXED BY THE DIRECTOR WITH THE AG
LLACTCONTRARYTOTHEPRINCIPLESSETOUTINTHEPRESEN
UT EXPULSION SHALL NOT BE ORDERED EXCEPT ON THE APPR
R WITH THE STATEMENT OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES, SHALL BE G
ALLBEGRANTEDTOSUCHMEMBER,IFTHATMEMBERSHALLSO
RAL ASSEMBLY IN WHICH CASE A MAJORITY VOTE OF MEMBER
HEINSTITUTE;NOTICEOFSUCHACTIONSHALLBEGIVENEITHER
ATIONSTOTHEINSTITUTE,UPTOTHETIMETHATMEMBER’SRES
STHATTHEREISFUNDAMENTALCHANGEINTHECONDITIONSU
EPRESENTCONSTITUTION.¶ARTICLEIII¶NATIONALCOMMITT
ONALCOMMITTEEMAYBEFORMEDPROVISIONALLYINACOUN
H RECOGNITION BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL NOT NECESS
ULLFREEDOMOFTHEPRESS.¶2.NATIONALCOMMITTEESSHA
OPMENTSAFFECTINGTHEPRESS,PARTICULARLYONTHREATS
ETHEEIGHTYEARTERMLIMIT.¶3.NATIONALCOMMITTEESMAY
R THE PURPOSES OF THE INSTITUTE, WITH THE APPROVAL OF TH
EDTOTHEDIRECTOR.¶IPICONSTITUTIONPAGE4¶4.THEEXECU
ESWHERETHEEXECUTIVEBOARDCONSIDERSTHEOBJECTIVE
ACCREDITATIONOFANATIONALCOMMITTEEHASBEENGRANTE
EOFMEMBERSOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDPRESENT.WRITTENN
N, SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE CONCERNED
ATIONSTOTHEEXECUTIVEBOARD,EITHERINWRITINGORBYT
VEBOARDSHALLCONSIDERSUCHREPRESENTATIONS.¶ANAT
EEXECUTIVEBOARDTOBEINACTIVESHALLHAVETHERIGHTTO
SION OF THE INSTITUTE, PROVIDED THAT THE EXECUTIVE BOA
SUSPENSIONS OF A NATIONAL COMMITTEE OR THE DECISION
AND INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS IN THAT COUNTRY TO CONTINU
NATIONALCOMMITTEEORDECLARESANATIONALCOMMITTEE
OURAGED TO HOLD THEIR OWN "MEDIA EVENTS" IN THE FORM
SS-ORIENTED ISSUE WHICH HAS A BEARING ON EDITORIAL AC
VEFREEDOMOFEXPRESSIONAND/ORFREEDOMOFTHEMEDIA
E MEDIA. ¶ 2. THEIR TASK SHALL BE TO: ¶ · ADVISE THE EXECUT
Photo material was researched by the International Press Institute. Every effort has been made
to identify copyright holders, in case of oversight, and upon notification to the publisher,
corrections will be made in subsequent printings.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos are from the
IPI’s collection.
© AFP [2010]: p 41, top left and middle left; p 58,
bottom.
Agencja Gazeta/ Krzysztof Miller: p 89, top right.
Agencja Gazeta/Piotr Wójcik: p 88.
AP Photo: p 18, top, middle; p 19, top right; p 53,
middle right; p 56; p 61, lower right; p 62, right
and top left; p 64; p 92; p 124, top.
AP Photo/Alexander Andjic: p 86, lower left.
AP Photo/Aris Saris: p 129, top.
AP Photo/Collin Reid: p 69, right.
AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic: p 86, right.
AP Photo/David Pickoff: p 63.
AP Photo/Eduardo di Baia: p 125.
AP Photo/Eric Risberg: p 62, bottom.
AP Photo/Francisco Rivas: p 38, lower left.
AP Photo/Heribert Proepper: p 19, lower right.
AP Photo/HO: p 18, bottom.
AP Photo/Hussein Malla: p 41, top right.
AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta: p 117.
AP Photo/Jacques Brinon: p 60.
AP Photo/Javier Galeano: p 113, top right and
bottom right.
AP Photo/Joel Merino: p 33.
AP Photo/Milliyet: page 73, top right.
AP Photo/Misha Japaridze: p 102, right.
AP Photo/Murad Sezer: p 49, bottom.
AP Photo/Raoul Fornezza: p 93.
AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd: p 135.
AP Photo/Rosario Esposito: p 65.
AP Photo/Sasa Kralj: p 90, top right.
AP Photo/Schaber: p 53, left.
AP Photo/Str: p 19, top left.
AP Photo/Themba Hadebe: p 99.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi: p 59.
Archiwum Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (University of Warsaw’s Archive): p 89, lower right.
Aubrey Makilan/Bulatlat: p 31, top.
Avusa Media Library: p 57.
Bony Mbouwe: p 20, bottom; p 98.
B92: p 87.
Daoud Kuttab: p 77.
David T. Hill: p 81, left and right.
Didien Malifa: p 84.
Dogan Özgüden Archive: p 73, bottom.
El Espectador/Cano Family Archive: p 34.
El Periódico: p 134.
Eugenio Fontán: pp 54-55.
Flor Ruiz: p 126, top right and lower right.
Fred M’membe: p 90, top left and lower left.
Freedom Neruda: pp 96-97.
Galina Salova-Lyubarskaya: pp 82-83.
Getty Images: p 53, top right and lower right; p
69, left; p 78, bottom; p 89, left.
Gwen Lister: p 78, top, middle right and middle left.
Hayer Family Archive: pp 70-71.
IAPA: p 101.
Kemal Kurspahic Private Archive: p 72, bottom; p 75.
K.L. Kamat: p 119.
Lydia Cacho: p 32.
Michelene Baaklini: p 41, bottom.
Nizar Nayouf: pp 94-95.
Owais Aslam Ali: p 16, left and lower right.
Pap Saine: p 110, right and top left.
Prime Time Crime/ Tomislav Peternik: p 74, top.
REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk: p 102, top left.
REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin: p 102, lower left.
REUTERS/Bobby Yip: p 61, top.
REUTERS/Carlos Linares: p 27.
REUTERS/Claudia Daut: p 106, bottom; p 107.
REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov: p 103.
REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa: p 113, top left,
lower left and middle left.
REUTERS/Louafi Larbi: p 21.
REUTERS/Michael Dalder: p 47, top.
REUTERS/Michael Urban: p 19, lower left.
REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir: p 40.
REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl: p 58, top right.
REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic: p 86, top left.
REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe: p 118, bottom.
REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi: p 58, top left.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko: p 110, lower left.
REUTERS/STR New: p 20, top; p 26; p 50; p 61,
lower left; p 76.
REUTERS/STR Old: p 124, bottom.
REUTERS/Stringer: p 49, top.
REUTERS/Stringer Turkey: p 48.
REUTERS/Vijay Mathur: p 118, top left.
Siv Dolmen: p 68.
The Post: p 90, lower right; p 91.
Thokozile Qoboza: p 105.
Ulysses Award/Sergio Uday: p 126, left.
Wickrematunge Family Archive: pp 130-131.
Yomiuri Shimbun: pp 66-67.
143
OFHERORHISDEPUTIES.INGENERAL,COMMITTEEMEMBERSH
ESTABLISHEDTOOVERSEETHEACTIVITIESOFTHEIPIPRESSFREE
ECUTIVESANDACADEMICSINTHEFIELDOFCOMMUNICATION,W
F THE INSTITUTE. THIS PERMANENT COMMITTEE MAY ALSO DE
AL ASSEMBLIES ¶ 1. GENERAL ASSEMBLIES OF THE ENTIRE MEM
PURPOSE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES IS TO PROVIDE A MEET
BOTHORGANISEDANDINFORMALDISCUSSIONOFNEWSPAPE
E PROBLEMS OF THE COUNTRY OR THE REGION IN WHICH THE C
IONALISSUESOFTHEDAY.ASSEMBLYARRANGEMENTSMAYV
ENERAL PROGRAMME AND POLICY, ELECT THE EXECUTIVE BOA
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION PROVIDED THAT PROPO
DATE.UNDERTHESAMECONDITIONSTHEYSHALLHAVEPOWE
, IN SO FAR AS POSSIBLE. THE SITE AND DATE OF EACH GENERA
L ASSEMBLY. ¶ 3. THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE EXECUTIVE BOAR
FULL MEMBER PRESENT HAVING ONE VOTE. BALLOTING TO EL
AND SECONDED. ¶ 5. NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTION TO THE EXEC
NADVANCEOFTHEGENERALASSEMBLYTHEDIRECTORMUSTS
MEMBERSOFTHEEXECUTIVEBOARDWHOSETERMSAREEXPIR
¶ 1. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL HAVE FULL SUPERVISION OF T
VITIES TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IT SHALL MEET AS OFTEN A
ALL SELECT THE PLACE FOR EACH OF ITS MEETINGS. NOTICE OF
OARD SHALL CONSIST OF 24 MEMBERS WHO SHALL BE ELECTED
SIBLE,TOGEOGRAPHICALDISTRIBUTION,MEDIASKILLSANDG
RM BOARD MEMBERS MAY OFFER THEMSELVES FOR RE-ELECTI
MAY,AFTERFOURYEARSOUTOFOFFICE,BEELECTEDAGAIN.¶T
HEORHEWASENGAGEDIN–I.E.RELATEDTOPRESSOREDITORI
S PRESENT HAVE SO VOTED. WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE CONSID
VEBOARDANDAHEARINGBYTHEBOARDSHALLBEGRANTED
GENERALASSEMBLY.¶3.THEDUTIESOFTHENEWEXECUTIVEB
D THREE VICE-CHAIRPERSONS REPRESENTING SO FAR AS PRAC
FINED AS AFRICA, THE AMERICAS, ASIA AND THE PACIFIC AND
CUTIVEBOARD,WHOWOULDNOTBEELIGIBLEFORSERVICEON
S SHALL CONSTITUTE THE WORKING COMMITTEE OF THE EXEC
ONS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. TWO ADDITIONAL MEMBERS M
LLONLYBEELIGIBLEFORRE-ELECTIONFORAFURTHERSUCCES
TE TO ANY MEETING ANY PERSON WHO HAS PARTICULAR COM
BOARDBEPREVENTEDFROMTAKINGPARTATMEETINGOFTHE
HORITY. ¶ 5. THE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD SHALL H
HEEXECUTIVEBOARDSHALLHAVEPOWERTOACCREDITNATI
NSTITUTION.¶7.TOIMPROVECOMMUNICATIONANDTHEFLOW
O SET UP AN IPI FORUM, THAT IS, A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BO
INdeX
Deceased
124 Jacobo Timerman
44 Júlio de Mesquita Neto
122 U Thaung
98 Pius Njawé
68 Tara Singh Hayer
34 Guillermo Cano
100 Germán Ornes
24 Hubert Beuve-Méry
18 Rudolf Augstein
128 Eleni Vlachou
80 Mochtar Lubis
62 Veronica Guerin
92 Indro Montanelli
64 Shiro Hara
42 Suk-Chae Choi
26 J. Jesús Blancornelas
38 Pedro Joaquín Chamorro
16 Aslam Ali
30 José Burgos, Jr.
102 Anna Politkovskaya
82 Kronid Lyubarsky
120 André Sibomana
54 Laurence Gandar*
104 Percy Qoboza
52 Antonio Fontán
132 C.E.L. Wickremesinghe
130 Lasantha Wickrematunge*
72 Abdi İpekçi
48 Hrant Dink*
60 Katharine Graham
Argentina
Brazil
Burma
Cameroon
Canada
Colombia
Dominican Republic
France
Germany
Greece
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Nicaragua
Pakistan
Philippines
Russia
Russia
Rwanda
South Africa
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Turkey
Turkey
United States of America
Living
20 Omar Belhouchet
74 Kemal Kurspahić
36 Juan Pablo Cárdenas
58 Gao Yu
96 Freedom Neruda
106 Raúl Rivero
112 Yoani Sánchez*
46 Jiří Dienstbier
110 Pap Saine*
134 José Rubén Zamora
118 Arun Shourie
56 Akbar Ganji*
114 Faraj Sarkohi
66 Amira Hass
40 May Chidiac*
22 Kenneth Best
32 Lydia Cacho*
78 Gwen Lister
28 Grémah Boukar Koura
76 Daoud Kuttab
126 Ricardo Uceda
88 Adam Michnik
108 Nuno Rocha
84 Savea Sano Malifa
86 Veran Matić
94 Nizar Nayouf
116 Nedim Şener*
50 Harold Evans
70 Đoàn Viˆ
et
 Hoa∙t
90 Fred M’membe
Algeria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chile
China
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba
Cuba
Czech Republic
The Gambia
Guatemala
India
Iran
Iran
Israel
Lebanon
Liberia
Mexico
Namibia
Niger
Palestine
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Samoa
Serbia
Syria
Turkey
United Kingdom
Vietnam
Zambia
* These journalists were named IPI World Press Freedom Heroes in 2006, 2007 and 2010. The 50 remaining Heroes were selected in 2000.
145
147

A Tribute to 60 IPI World Press Freedom Heroes

Transcription

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