Media Freedom in the Commonwealth
Posted by AlexT - 30/07/09 at 02:07 pmThe writer and journalist Kaye Whiteman has asked some provocative questions of the Commonwealth Conversation and how it will address the issue of media freedom. He is a former Director of Information at the Commonwealth Secretariat, so knows a thing or two about the issue:
It is with a certain heavy pen, not to say a heavy heart, that I find myself sitting down to write about one of the old chestnuts of international affairs. Yes, it is time to ask once more, how relevant, in this our 21st century, is the Commonwealth…
It will be interesting to see if the Conversation will address one issue that has been of concern to some of us for a long time, the problem of media freedom in Commonwealth countries.
Although since the 1990s, the Commonwealth has tried to be on the cutting edge of human rights/democracy issues through the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), the Fourth Estate has hardly come under scrutiny. The Coolum Declaration of 2002 included, for the first time in any Commonwealth declaration, freedom of expression as a human right, but there are rarely any official allusions to the problems that journalists in particular experience in a number of Commonwealth countries (for example, Sri Lanka and the Gambia).
We certainly will be inviting discussions about media freedom, starting now.
Does much more need to be done to press for true media freedom across the Commonwealth? Or is the status-quo adequate? Does the Commonwealth have any right to interfere in how individual members deal with their press? And what is your country like on the issue of press freedom?
Category : Human Rights, My Commonwealth
Tags: gambia, Human Rights, press freedom, Sri Lanka
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July 30th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
The Commonwealth Journalists Association documents the plight of journalists throughout the Commonwealth… so this link might be interesting for finding out information for particular countries.
http://www.cjaweb.com/index.pl/article?id=213717
July 31st, 2009 at 12:55 am
Alex
The given website is not updated. Commonwealth problem?
Kaye
Thank you for bringing up this.
Media freedom, human rights, corruption, oppression and democracy are very much related to each other.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090726/issues.HTM
Sri Lanka: 34 journalists and media workers killed during present government rule, 26 July 2009: 34 journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the present government was formed. Out of 34 killed three were Sinhala journalists, one Muslim and 30 were from the Tamil community.
Many journalists have been fleeing the country and many are self-censured. All because they have been criticising the government for corruption, impunity and oppression of ethnic minorities.
In January 2009 the murdered journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga had his self-obituary titled, ”And then they came for me”, which says:
”…. it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror …. Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. Violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship …. What is more, a military occupation of the country?s north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self-respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering ?development? and ?reconstruction? on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever ….??
Many newspapers arond the world reproduced Lasantha’s self-obituary to mark his brave journalism. He was posthumously awarded UNESCO prize for journalism.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:35 am
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cmN5TzZ2SDUybzRJbGFyeFN1YVBONWc6MA
Accidental Censorship: A project looking at media and democracy
Global Integrity is looking for specific examples (or counter-examples) of pressures on journalists leading to a reduction in the diversity of voices represented in media. In particular we?re looking at the effect of media organizations shutting down on the news available to citizens. This project is about storytelling more than comprehensive analysis: tell us a story and feel free to cite your personal concerns or experiences.
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Sri Lanka – camps, media?genocide? Opendemocracy, Martin Shaw(Professor of Political Science, Sussex University), 30 June 2009:
”The interned Tamils don’t have the mobile-phone access that (in the early post-election stages at least) so embarrassed the Iranian regime.”
Sri Lanka: Free Civilians From Detention Camps, Human Rights Group, 28 July 2009:
.Humanitarian organizations with access to the camps have been forced to sign a statement that they will not disclose information about the conditions in the camps without government permission.
ii.Inside the camps, humanitarian workers are prohibited, on threat of being barred from the camps, from discussing with residents the fighting in the final months of the conflict or possible human rights abuses.
AP writer leaves Sri Lanka after visa not renewed, 21 July 2009:
??The Associated Press bureau chief in Sri Lanka, who broke news of private U.N. reports outlining civilian death tolls, has been denied permission to remain in the country.??
August 5th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Sri Lanka throws out three Channel 4 journalists, The Guardian, 10 May 2009:
”ITN News, which produces Channel 4 News, said the report, broadcast on 5 May, contained the first independently filmed video from one of the displacement camps. It claimed dead bodies were left where they fell, there were shortages of food and water and instances of sexual abuse ? all claims that the Sri Lankan government has denied.”
August 5th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items09/070309-7.html
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha of the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat challenged David Loyn of BBC when the latter reported(4 March) what the ICRC recently warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in north-eastern Sri Lanka. When David stood his ground, Rajiva invited David to meet him in Geneva. But David replied: ”If the situation there is as you say it is now, then assist me in obtaining access to the field. I have nothing to say in Geneva. Access on the ground is the only thing that matters to a reporter” .
August 6th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Media freedom seems to be a difficult thing for a government to establish, given the way in which it is often so much more dependent upon a broader culture of industry, entrepreneurship, law and attitude than other matters like foreign policy or discrimination law.
Where the lack of media freedom is rooted in a culture rather than in policymaking it’s much easier for governments to make token genstures rather than set to work on the complex task of improving the situation.
It seems difficult for the Commonwealth to bring much positive influence to bear until there is a broader acceptance of media freedom as a priority.
August 13th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Asia Media Report 2009(released on 4 August 2009): Sri Lanka is the third worst country for journalists to live in, next to Irag and Afghanistan.
Press freedom is obviously all about politics.