CJA E-letter

from the Commonwealth Journalists Association www.cjaweb.com

Headquarters: 305 Goodwood Heights, Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago

Executive director: Josanne Leonard miribai@tstt.net.tt

Newsletter editor: David Spark david@dspark.fsnet.co.uk, who would like to hear from you. Views expressed in this newsletter are those of contributors, not the CJA

The CJA thanks the Commonwealth Foundation for its financial support

Issue No 13 (contents list page 2) December 2005

A happy Christmas and a happy New Year to all

Jailed editor Paul Kamara freed

Other prisoners wept as they said goodbye to For Di People’s managing editor, Paul Kamara, freed in November after a year in prison in Sierra Leone. The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction on a charge of seditious libel. This arose from articles recalling an inquiry which criticised President Kabbah when he was a civil servant. One article was headed Kabbah is a True Convict.

Paul Kamara’s counsel argued that the trial judge, who sat without a jury, had considered only the offending passages quoted in the indictment, not the articles as a whole. He also argued that the judge had not specifically found that the articles were seditious and published with seditious intent.

The presiding appeal judge warned that, notwithstanding the court’s decision, seditious libel remained in the statute book.

Page 3 Publisher’s passport seized/Deaths, bombing. kidnap in Pakistan

Page 4 Politicians, hands off the Caribbean media!

Page 5 How to report a disaster

Page 6 Award for New Zealand student newspaper

Page 8 News in brief: Campaign to free photographer in Maldives

40 journalists get death threats

About 40 journalists in Chittagong and three other Bangladeshi towns were threatened with death in December by a banned Islamic group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh. The JMB was blamed for suicide bombings in Chittagong and elsewhere which killed 19 people between November 29 and December 9. Two journalists were among the injured.

The JMB has also threatened to blow up Chittagong Press Club. Samaresh Baidya, a senior reporter at Chittagong for the opposition daily Bhorer Kagoj, said he believed he was on the target list because he has reported on Islamic groups. He takes care where he goes. “I know they can do anything any time,” he told the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Bangladesh is the scene of a struggle between Islamists and nationalists. The government, which includes an Islamic party, has long sought to play down Islamic violence, but the suicide bombings have forced its hand.

Police stop protest at murder site

Police stopped Gambian journalists gathering on December 16 at the site where prominent editor Deyde Hydara was shot dead in his car a year earlier. A woman photographer from the Daily Observer was attacked by police, lost consciousness and was taken to hospital.

The Gambia Press Union marked the anniversary with a two-day international conference on press freedom. Press Union co-ordinator and CJA executive member Demba Jawo read a statement from Reporters Sans Frontieres calling on the Gambian government to bring in foreign police to solve the murder. Deyde Hydara was a correspondent for RSF.

The RSF statement said: “We just want justice to be done. The [Gambian] investigation is going nowhere. Those who have something to say refuse to speak to the investigators because they do not trust them.”

Zimbabwean publisher’s passport seized

The Association of Zimbabwe Journalists in the UK has protested against the seizure in Zimbabwe of the passport of Trevor Ncube, publisher of the Standard and Independent and of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian. The association sees this as a further crack-down on Zimbabwe’s remaining independent newspapers. In August, the government amended the constitution to allow the withdrawal of passports from those deemed to infringe the national interest.

The Standard and Independent are Zimbabwe’s two remaining independent newspapers. Ncube is based in Johannesburg but flies frequently to Zimbabwe. He was shown a list of 17 people whose passports are now ‘invalid’. They include the owner of the banned Daily News and its last editor, Nqobile Nyathi, who spoke at the CJA conference in Trinidad last year.

John Masuku, director of Voice of the People, whose broadcasts, transmitted from abroad, are jammed in Zimbabwe, was arrested in Harare on December 19. Three VOP staff member were released after three days in jail. Police who raided their Harare office confiscated computers and files.

Deaths, bombing and kidnap in Pakistan

Muhammed Shahbaz Chohan, chief editor of the Daily Chenab Times, Pakistan, was found dead in his office on December 10. His left ear had been cut off. Naseer Afridi, an officer of the Tribal Union of Journalists, was killed on December 4. On his way to a meeting, he was caught in a shoot-out between rival tribesmen.

Also in the North, Hayatullah Khan, who worked for an Islamabad paper, was kidnapped on December 5. He had investigated the death of an Al Qaeda leader in his area and found it was caused by an American missile. Early on December 16, a bomb exploded in the home of a journalist working for the leading daily Dawn and the BBC. No one was hurt.

The printing of seven newspapers in Karachi was interrupted on December 15 when police raided a press they thought printed a banned weekly. The press owner said it stopped printing the weekly a year ago.

Politicians, hands off the media!

Political pressure and public perceptions of political bias are leading issues for Caribbean journalists, according to a new survey for the Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers. Only Jamaica differs. The chief complaint there is against sloppy and unprofessional journalism.

Caribbean journalists also want higher pay, more training and more jobs (except in Trinidad and Tobago where the growth in jobs is held to have compromised standards).

In Grenada, the government has largely succeeded in preventing local coverage of allegations, reported in Miami and by the BBC, that the prime minister took money in exchange for a government appointment. A website whose contributors discussed the matter was closed down. A government minister decides on radio licences, which reduces newscasts to government PR, reports Michael Bascombe for the survey.

Thaha Remy reports that in Dominica, the media are under religious as well as government pressure. In Guyana, on which Julia Johnson and Denis Chabrol report, radio remains a government monopoly, and state media are used for government propaganda. Privately-owned media find it difficult to get answers from the government to their queries.

St Kitts’s media suffer from self-censorship, partisanship and heavily politicised information, says Clive Bacchus. In St Lucia, reported by Ernie Seon, the prime minister referred to journalists as terrorists, and the media are harassed with libel actions. In the Cayman Islands, Mike Hennessy finds that news is seen as profit-making: profits come before courageous reporting.

Leaders of the new Antigua and Barbuda Media Congress report that the government there controls the main national broadcaster. Most private media belong to a major company or political party. The work of the media is not respected, and journalism is not seen as a viable career. Observer Radio has challenged the government but faces draconian defamation laws. The station’s manager, Lennox Linton, is being prosecuted for allegedly demeaning the director of public prosecutions.

On the bright side, the new Media Congress has drawn up a code of ethics. And, in September, it held a workshop for 30 young journalists run by trainers from Carimac and the BBC.

How to report a Caribbean disaster

Eyes down for a full house: (l to r) Ainsley Sahai, Patricia Julian, Rickey Singh, Anika Kentish, Brenda Lee Browne and Roxanne Gibbs at the Antigua workshop

Some 18 journalists from print and broadcasting took part in a workshop in Antigua on November 22/23, organised by the Eastern Caribbean Press Council and supported by Unesco. There was an unexpected visitor, Antigua’s Solicitor-General, keeping an eye on proceedings.

This workshop included the coverage of natural disasters. The ECPC felt that, since hurricanes are becoming more intense and there have been two earthquakes (albeit mild) in the Southern Caribbean, journalists need to know what to do should natural disaster strike. Apart from their locality, it could strike their office.

Antigua’s National Office of Disaster Service agreed to take part, its director, Patricia Julian, chairing one of the sessions. She introduced noted Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh, Roxanne Gibbs, executive editor of the Nation newspaper (Barbados) and Ainsley Sahai, acting general manager of the Caribbean News Agency.

Sherrod James, educator with NODS. gave a Powerpoint presentation, suggesting how to prepare for and cover a disaster and what to do afterwards.

In the evening, Colin James, president of the Antigua and Barbuda Media Congress, led a discussion. It covered the need for journalists to observe high ethical standards and also the handling of complaints about the media. Copies of the booklet How to Complain, which contains the Code of Practice for Caribbean Journalists, were distributed.

Next day, Ainsley Sahai encouraged Antiguan media houses to entertain and deal with complaints. He told the participants about seminars on self-regulation of the media, held by the Commonwealth Press Union in five regions including the Caribbean. This, he said, was the genesis of the Caribbean’s Code of Practice. It was drawn up by journalists from various countries meeting in Barbados.

Ainsley Sahai pointed out that the East Caribbean Press Council’s membership represents the community. Chaired by a retired judge, it includes a noted attorney at law, an educator, a priest, a representative from the secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, a journalists’ representative and a publishers’ representative.

Rickey Singh said that, if the media do not regulate themselves, then somebody else, often the government, would do it. Self-regulation should not be confused with self-censorship. There needed to be trust between reporter and editor.

Roxanne Gibbs spoke about The Nation’s appointment of a Public Editor to correct errors and promote credibility, because “credibility is our life.”

The paper had noticed it was printing too many errors. The public editor holds office for a month, after which another senior journalist takes over. Every Monday, the public editor writes a column in the newspaper, listing errors and corrections. Explanations are given and apologies made where warranted. It enhances the public’s trust.

Anika Kentish, vice president of the Antigua and Barbuda Media Congress, thanked Unesco for making the workshop possible. She also thanked the speakers, NODS, and CANA for allowing Ainsley Sahai to organise the workshop.

wins Ossie Award

Production team, l to r, David Robie, Emma Page, Suenje Paasch-Colberg, Nicholas Moody, Sarah Kaci, Michelle Whiteford, Ducan Grieve, Catherine Westwood, Fiona Peat, Tammy Buckley, John Aspden, Paul Halton, Allan Lee. In front, Britton Broun, Zoe Walker

Te Waha Nui, New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology journalism newspaper, has won this year’s Ossie Award for best student publication in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. It is the paper’s second prize in a month. The two-year-old publication won against four finalists from Australia and Fiji.

The judge Wendy Page, producer of ABC TV’s Australian Story, said "It’s clearly a huge commitment for student journalists to produce work of this calibre for a fortnightly publication. I think the standard is equal to, if not better than, many commercial newspapers’. Te Waha Nui is not as glossy as some of the other publications, but the substance of the content won the day for me."

Last month Te Waha Nui won the New Zealand Electoral Commission’s Wallace Award <http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0511/S00018.htm> for political reporting during the general election.

The newspaper was edited this semester by Nicholas Moody and the course is led by AUT’s David Robie and Allan Lee. Robie co-ordinated two previous publications that have won Ossie Awards Uni Tavur (University of Papua New Guinea) and Wansolwara (University of the South Pacific).

The Ossie Awards, organised by the Journalism Education Association, are named after the late Australian foreign correspondent Osmar White.

Te Waha Nui is online at http://www.tewahanui.info

News in brief

AUSTRALIA

Radio current affairs staff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation held a 24-hour strike on December 12 against cuts in jobs, particularly of studio producers.

FIJI

Ken Clark, chief executive of Fiji TV, was elected president of the Pacific Islands News Association in November. He replaces CJA executive member Lance Polu. He is expected to drag PINA out of its current problems, including the incomplete amalgamation with the Pacific Islands Broadcasting Association.

CJA Fiji joined PINA in expressing sympathy to the families of 68 Iranian journalists killed in an air crash at Tehran in December. Vasiti Ritova pointed out that Pacific journalists, too, sometimes cram themselves into unsafe transport to get a story.

MALAWI

President Bingu wa Mutharika accused five journalists in December of accepting money from a former cabinet minister to attack him. Earlier, the president’s party, the DPP, alleged that former president Bakili Muluzi had also paid journalists, while opponents of the president alleged that some journalists were in the pay of the DPP. In November, the state broadcaster failed to broadcast an opposition press conference, despite accepting a fee for doing so and despite a presidential promise that the opposition would have access to state broadcasting.

MALDIVE ISLANDS

Reporters Sans Frontieres and another organisation Friends of Maldives are engaged in an international campaign for the release of photographer Jennifer Lateef, jailed for ten years in appalling conditions for a “terrorist act”. She is alleged to have thrown a stone at police during a protest. The authorities have been preventing an appeal by withholding from her family the document certifying her conviction.

NAMIBIA

A spokesman for the Swapo Party Youth League called in December for regulation of “cancerous, racist and parasitic” media operators. He was commenting on a controversy after the discovery of war graves in Northern Namibia, the result of fighting that cost several lives in 1989 when the United Nations had negotiated peace.

NIGERIA

Owei Kobina Sikpi, publisher of the Weekly Star, Port Harcourt, has been in prison two months, longer than any journalist since President Obasanjo was elected in 1999. The Committee to Protect Journalists has appealed to the President to release him. He is accused of publishing false information about separatists in the Niger Delta and about an allegation of money-laundering by a state governor. The CPJ complained about the use of the State Security Service as censor in this and other cases.

PAKISTAN

To mollify protesters, three policemen were suspended after a news-agency journalist in Islamabad was beaten up during a parking dispute in December. Traffic police had put a barrier outside his office where he parks his car.

SEYCHELLES

Arson on the night of December 8 put out of action the printing press of the pro-opposition weekly Regar. A presidential election takes place in the new year..

SOUTH AFRICA

The editors’ forum is concerned that reporters were barred from a hearing concerning a rape charge against former deputy president Jacob Zuma. He denies the charge.

SRI LANKA

Tamil journalists have suffered because of an upsurge of violence after the presidential election. Three were beaten at Jaffna in December when baton-wielding soldiers attacked a student demonstration against army harassment. Also in Jaffna, soldiers searched the office of the newspaper Namathu Eelanaadu, checking identity cards. In Colombo, a senior reporter for Thinakkurat was held for 24 hours during police checks on Tamils.

The law is an ass

In Chester, near England’s Welsh border, you can shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow only inside the city walls and after midnight

In Canada, it is illegal to frighten a sick person to death

In Australia, it is illegal to roam the streets wearing black clothes and felt shoes, with black polish on your face. These are the marks of a cat burglar

Source: Just Right, a human rights magazine published by Jubilee Action

Our thanks

We once again thank our correspondents and other news sources including the International Freedom of Expression Exchange www.ifex.org, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Free Media Movement (Sri Lanka), the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (Australia), the Media Institute of Southern Africa, the Pakistan Press Foundation and Reporters Sans Frontieres