Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

A fatal job. How many journalists have to die?

By Judy Cannon - posted Tuesday, 5 May 2009


In March 2009 all 39 IPDC council members requested the UNESCO’s director-general to provide updated information on the responses received from member states in which assassinations of journalists had occurred, and to make this report widely available.

According to its website, UNESCO uses lobbying and monitoring activities to highlight media independence and pluralism as fundamental to the process of democracy. It provides advisory services on media legislation and by making governments, parliamentarians and other decision-makers aware of the need to guarantee free expression.

It seems some governments and decision-makers do not choose to listen.

Advertisement

In Fiji currently, it has been reported that government minders have moved into media offices to make sure journalists only write what “the government” wants published. It is preferable to being shot but under such suppression, journalists cannot do their job.

These few examples serve to show that in a disquieting number of countries, freedom of speech and independent reporting are in serious trouble. Reporters there work in peril of their lives.

Media organisations and journalists need to hammer home to the public that some of the news they read or receive in the safety of their sitting rooms may well have cost someone their life. The great, noisy public needs to be roused into action to prod leaders around the world to get these executions stopped.

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in the RWB 2008 annual report wrote angrily: “The spinelessness of some Western countries and major international bodies is harming press freedom. The lack of determination by democratic countries in defending the values they supposedly stand for is alarming.”

So, how many more journalists have to die?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. Page 4
  6. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Judy Cannon is a journalist and writer, and occasional contributor to On Line Opinion. Her family biography, The Tytherleigh Tribe 1150-2014 and Its Remarkable In-Laws, was published in 2014 by Ryelands Publishing, Somerset, UK. Recently her first e-book, Time Traveller Woldy’s Diary 1200-2000, went up on Amazon Books website. Woldy, a time traveller, returns to the West Country in England from the 12th century to catch up with Tytherleigh descendants over the centuries, and searches for relatives in Australia, Canada, America and Africa.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Judy Cannon
Related Links
Statement by President Obama in honor of World Press Freedom Day

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Judy Cannon
Article Tools
Comment Comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy