WUNRN
Reporters Without Borders
Concern
About Increasing Violence Against Women Journalists
“More
and more women journalists are the victims of murder, arrest, threats or
intimidation,” the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said.
“This increase is due to the fact that more and more women are working as
journalists, holding riskier jobs in the media and doing investigative
reporting likely to upset someone.”
Of
the 82 journalists killed worldwide in 2006, nine (11 per cent) were women.
Nearly 13 per cent of the journalists killed in the course of their work in
2005 were women. The proportion of women journalists killed was never so high.
In 2004, 7.5 per cent of the media workers killed were women.
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Mexico
- 9 April 2008 - http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=26511
Two young women journalists working for indigenous
community radio station in Oaxaca ambushed and shot
Reporters Without Borders is deeply shocked by the
fatal shooting on 7 April in Putla de Guerrero, in the southern state of
Oaxaca, of Teresa Bautista Flores, 24, and Felicitas Martínez, 20, two women
journalists working for La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (“The Voice that Breaks
the Silence”), a community radio station serving the Trique indigenous
community.
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World Press Freedom Day
3 May
Throughout the world, 3 May serves as an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression and as a reminder that many journalists brave death or jail to bring people their daily news. ______________________________________________________________________ |
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2008
Freedom of Expression is a fundamental human right as stated in Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. This is especially worth recalling as we mark the 60th anniversary of that declaration.
At this year’s World Press Freedom Day
celebration, UNESCO would like to explore how media freedom and access to
information feed into the wider development objective of empowering people.
Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social and political process that helps
people gain control over their own lives. This can only be achieved through
access to accurate, fair and unbiased information, representing a plurality of
opinions, and the means to actively communicate vertically and horizontally,
thereby participating in the active life of the community.
However, in order to make freedom of expression (FEX) a reality, a legal and
regulatory environment must exist that allows for an open and pluralistic media
sector to emerge; political will to support the sector and rule of law to
protect it must also exist, and there must be law ensuring access to
information, especially information in the public domain. Finally, news
consumers must have the necessary media literacy skills to critically analyze
and synthesize the information they receive to use it in their daily lives and
to hold the media accountable for its actions.
These elements, along with media professionals adhering to the highest ethical
and professional standards designed by practitioners, serve as the fundamental
infrastructure on which freedom of expression can prevail. On this basis media
serves as a watchdog, civil society engages with authorities and
decision-makers, information flows through and between communities.
The fuel that drives this engine is information and therefore access to
information is critical. Freedom of information laws, which permit access to
public information are essential, but so are the means by which information is
made available, be it through ICTs or the simple sharing of documents.
Open and pluralistic media are, perhaps, most precious when they simply provide
the mirror for society to see itself. These moments of reflection are
instrumental in defining community objectives, making course corrections when
society or its leaders have lost touch with each other or gone astray.
Increasingly, this role has fallen to the smaller community media sector as
financial imperatives drive corporate media away from these core principles and
into profit centers that do not cater to smaller or marginalized populations.
This concept paper aims to set a framework for WPFD 2008 by examining some of
the mechanisms through which community empowerment can be achieved.
IIn order for citizens to engage in public debate and to hold their governments and others accountable, key elements of living in a participatory democracy, citizens must have access to free, pluralistic, independent and professional media. The idea that communication and dialogue between different members of society will occur naturally cannot be taken for granted, and the media provide a means of access to information and igniting dialogue.
Even though many media outlets have made provisions for audience participation and have therein become more accessible to the people they serve, nowhere is accessibility and specificity of purpose so well defined as with community media. Currently radio is the most widespread form of community media in the developing world because it is cheap to produce and to access, can cover large areas, and overcomes illiteracy.
Information can change the way we see the world around us, our place in it, and how to adjust our lives in order to maximize the benefits available through our local resources. Fact driven decision-making can significantly alter our political, social and economic perspectives. The right to access information can be interpreted within the legal frameworks that support Freedom of Information as it applies to information held by public bodies, or in a wider sense to encompass both access and circulation of information held by other actors, where it becomes intrinsically linked to Freedom of Expression. Freedom of Information and the transparency it promotes, has a direct consequence on fighting corruption, which in turn has a tangible impact on development. Former World Bank president James Wolfensohn often identified government corruption as the primary hindrance to development and an independent media sector as the number one tool to fight public corruption.
Ensuring freedom for the media around the world is a priority. Independent,
free and pluralistic media are central to good governance in democracies that
are young and old. Free media can ensure transparency, accountability and the
rule of law; they promote participation in public and political discourse, and
contribute to the fight against poverty. An independent media sector draws its
power from the community it serves and in return empowers that community to be
full a partner in the democratic process.
Freedom of Information and Freedom of Expression are the founding principles
for open and informed debate. New technology will continue to evolve and allow
citizens to further shape their media environments as well as access a
plurality of sources. The combination of access to information and citizen
participation in media can only contribute to an increased sense of ownership
and empowerment.
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