CJA E-letter   

from the Commonwealth Journalists Association  www.cjaweb.com

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

President: Hassan Shahriar (Bangladesh)      shahriar@bangla.net

Vice-presidents: Doyin Mahmoud (Nigeria)  doyinmahmoud@yahoo.co.uk

  Martin Mulligan (UK)           emsquared2002@yahoo.ie

Executive director: Josanne Leonard             jleonard@cjaweb.com; 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 17                                                        October 2006

Quote of the month

The whole world can go to hell. If I want to ban any newspaper, I will, with good reason

The Gambia’s re-elected president Yahya Jammeh

A plea for help to the newsletter

Hi,

I am a Cameroonian journalist based in Buea. I pray you to help me look for where I can contribute news from Africa. I am at present contributing to one Korean online service but the payment is quite low.

                                            Yemti Harry Ndienla     mcyemtih@yahoo.com

Contents

Page 2  Cardiff course renewed my passion for journalism

Page 4  Three more journalists killed/Murdered reporter’s brother murdered

Page 6  How Mugabe’s Zimbabwe regime survives

Page 8  How Singapore keeps media on-side

Page 9  Commercial radio in Africa/ CJA Kenyan speaks about piracy

Page 10 The press – the tiger who always eats last

Page 11 News around the world

Page 14 Books Be a good listener

Cardiff renewed my passion for journalism

Obert Matahwa of The Daily News (Zimbabwe) writes about the summer course at the Thomson Foundation for which the CJA nominated him

I have had the opportunity to be in other training courses in Zimbabwe and South Africa but none of them compares to the International Print Journalism course at the Thomson Foundation in the value it has for the exercise of my work. It is like realising for the first time that there is a compass that marks the path I must take in my career.

In Cardiff, I have acquired new tools to be able to work in Zimbabwe and I have great hopes of promoting the use of these tools among colleagues grappling with the country’s strict media regime. The task of passing them on will not be easy but neither will it be impossible armed with a laptop computer to escape the system. And I have a great desire to share what I have learned during the fellowship.

I have been impressed by the level of debate among journalists from different environments, a debate which is international and heightens awareness and appreciation of the simple yet complex world of journalism The course has exposed me to the practical nature of writing specifically for the readership.

During the course, I particularly enjoyed defence and security reporting, feature writing, investigative journalism and a critical review of newspapers in the UK. The techniques taught in these areas are useful and practical though they could apply best in a country where there is press freedom. I liked a new style of writing for the course newspaper, with the use of quotes, and development from one paragraph to another.

The course was provocative and challenging, pushing me to try things which do not come easily such as spot reporting on developments in Cardiff. I had my views and thinking on the Lebanese crisis questioned and came out with more enlightenment and intelligent analysis because of the different perspectives on the Middle East conveyed during a group discussion.

I have noticed how a relaxed learning environment opens the mind, unlocks ideas, encourages me to speak out and, more importantly, changes how I see issues that are subject to discussion. We have different value systems and approaches but a common ground in journalism.

In addition, what the trainers delivered was excellent, exceptional and of great value. I have learned new techniques that have sharpened my understanding of the world of journalism – how the media should cover issues professionally, putting them into context. I am seeing myself capable of working in a challenging environment or organisation.

More important, I have been interfacing with the tradition of a free press in the UK and that will contribute to nurturing a similar tradition in Zimbabwe when the situation improves. Given the challenges and limitations under which I have been working, I will leave quite able to work as an independent journalist. I will pass on the knowledge gained from intensive mentoring - on writing stories, features and opinion within a short time. I am grateful to the trainers for inspiring me to bring out the best that I can.

I have been reporting on real-life issues in Cardiff, quite differently from other courses where you had to write imagining you were in Rwanda or somewhere else in Africa without local knowledge to tackle the assignment. In Cardiff I have had to interface with the people, interviewing them, bringing a human touch to reporting. I have approached issues with an open mind so that I can empathise with their situation, rather than fitting issues into my own frame of understanding.

Armed with this expertise from the Thomson Foundation, I will make a real difference after the scholarship. The course has given me enriching and satisfying experiences, challenging and re-energising my passion for journalism that was damaged following the closure of The Daily News where I had been working.

I have gained some international perspectives on journalism which will encourage me to try hard to find employment in the Southern African region where the media environment is challenging. I have a personal commitment to launch a career in journalism in developing countries such as Swaziland, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Jamaica, the Emirates and Tanzania.

John Ryan, who attended the CJA conference in Dhaka and arranged for three CJA nominees to attend Thomson summer courses, has retired from the Thomson Foundation. His successor is Anna Roberts

Three more journalists killed

Three more Commonwealth journalists have been murdered since September 1.

Thirty-eight-year-old Bellal Hossain Dafadar, who wrote for a daily paper in the dangerous Khulna area of Bangladesh, was fatally stabbed on the 14^th as he cycled home. A local politician was arrested. Shops and businesses at Kalaroa shut down in a half-day hartal in protest at Dafadar’s murder.

Maqbool Hussain Siyal of the Online news agency in Pakistan was murdered by two gunmen on a motorcycle in Dera Ismael Khan, North-West Frontier Province, on September 15. He was on his way to see a local politician. Siyal was a Shi-ite in a mainly Sunni community.

Omololu Falobi, formerly features editor of Nigeria’s most popular newspaper, The Punch, was shot in his car on October 5, probably by a thief. Falobi was executive director of Journalists Against AIDS.

Brother of murdered reporter murdered

Bashir, six-year-old brother of murdered journalist Hayatullah Khan, was murdered in September. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists sees this as a warning to Hayatullah’s family as they campaign to expose his killers.

In August, the 16-year-old brother of a BBC correspondent, Dilawar Khan, was killed, apparently because of Dilawar’s reporting.

Journalists meeting in Peshawar on September 12 demanded publication of a judge’s report on the murder of Hayatullah Khan who was kidnapped in December and found dead in June. He was handcuffed and had received several shots in the head. He had had a brief moment of fame when his photographs showed that an Al-Qaeda leader in Waziristan was killed by an American missile, not an accidental explosion.

Hayatullah’s death led to protests by journalists in several Pakistani cities. Judge Mohammed Raza Khan, who was appointed to inquire into the death, heard evidence in secret and gave the government his report on August 18. The governor of North-West Frontier Province also set up an inquiry, with unpublished results. Hayatullah has been selected by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for an award which his family will receive.

Two other journalists, Munir Mengal of the TV station Baloch Voice and Mehruddin Marri of a Sindhi daily, Kawish, have also been kidnapped, allegedly by intelligence agents. They are still missing.

A third journalist, Saeed Sarbazi, senior sub-editor at the Business Recorder, was held from September 20 to 22. According to the PFUJ, he was seized in Karachi by intelligence agents who beat and kicked him unconscious, called him a terrorist and kept him blindfold for 50 hours.

C.R.Shamsi, deputy editor of the daily Ausaf, was attacked by ministry staff in Islamabad when he tried to talk to the minister of labour about a journalists’ demonstration. The demonstrators wanted the Seventh Wage Award for journalists, decided on in 2001, to be implemented.

Three TV journalists were beaten, two of them unconscious, by police in Lahore on September 17. One of them had seen police beating a reporter from another channel and asked his cameraman to film the scene. The police then turned on him and on a photographer. A journalist in Swat was beaten unconscious by unknown attackers on September 23. In all, 15 incidents of violence against media staff were recorded in September.

The licence of a radio station at Balakot has not been renewed, allegedly because it criticised government policy in this earthquake-affected area.

Gambian journalists held without charge

Since the Gambian authorities started on a spate of arrests in April, over 60 people including military, security men, lawyers, the parliamentary Speaker and journalists have been detained, reports the Media Foundation for West Africa.

Malick Mboob, who worked for the Daily Observer, has been held without charge by the National Intelligence Agency since May and his colleague Chief Ebrima B.Manneh since July.

Dodou Sanneh, who was covering opposition presidential candidates for Gambia Radio and Television Services, was detained by the NIA on September 8 and accused of biased reporting. On September 13 he was released and fired from his job. But, according to the Daily Observer, he has been reinstated.

How Mugabe’s Zimbabwe regime survives

Zimbabwean journalists long to see the back of their tormentor, Robert Mugabe. But, despite stratospheric inflation, the Zimbabwean economy fails to collapse and his regime survives. Former Financial Times journalist Arnold Kransdorff explains how

The University of London must be wondering why one of its alumni seems to be ignoring one of economics’ most sacred theories on inflation. Print money willy nilly to pay for expenditure beyond a country's ability to earn the extra wealth - and the economy will implode. That is the theory.

Printing money is the policy in Zimbabwe, whose ruler since 1980 was awarded the university’s MA degree in economics, albeit by correspondence. Inflation is the result. The latest “official” rate for the pound is 470 Zimbabwe dollars, with the black market figure $1,150. This compares with an exchange rate of $2 to £1 in 1980, the year he assumed office. With a current inflation rate of almost 4% a day – 1200% a year – the octogenarian nationalist leader, who has cheated his way into power in at least two elections, has vowed to keep the money presses rolling.

This won’t help the inflation rate; only the volume of paper currency that individuals need to carry around. Ahead of his wheeze of trimming off three zeroes, money was mostly handled in elastic-banded ‘bricks’ of $20,000 and $50,000 notes (the $11m version was about three-inches thick). At the banks, people deposited and withdrew their requirements in metal trunks, with the handovers invariably attended by several robust guards, often with bulging armpits. Counterfeiting is a lost art as photocopying costs more than the highest denomination note.

Life expectancy is now 34, with the mega-price of coffins the subject of widespread media debate. Parking meters stand lamely on the pavements. Yet whilst everyone complains, no one begs, people are generally well dressed and smoke-spewing cars crowd the urban streets when petrol is available. It’s more than puzzling. It’s undemocratic.

How, then, are people surviving? And why is conventional economic theory not working?

Firstly, around five million of Mr Mugabe’s ‘comrades’ – a quarter of Zimbabwe’s population - have fled his administration’s loose grip, with around 3m in South Africa, a million in the UK and many in the US.

Of the Zimbabweans who stay, the unemployed (80%) and those infected with Aids/HIV (at least 35%) have become almost invisible, most having deserted the towns and cities to return to their tribal homes to live and die inexpensively. Along with the peasant rural population, they have virtually removed themselves from the cash economy. So, inflation is not a problem to them so long as they can grow their own food.

The relatively small political, professional and entrepreneurial classes subsist well, many of the former on huge government salaries, perks and corruption. Most professionals charge fees at South African rates while the businessmen trade, trade and trade again. So long as they can buy and sell quickly, they can keep ahead of inflation.

For the rest – the employee middle class – life is hard, with inflation constantly eating away at earnings and savings. Into this group fall the military and the police, to whom Mr Mugabe has given regular, inflation-linked increases to buy their loyalty.

Meanwhile, a combination of unrelated factors keep the economy afloat. First and foremost is the support of Zimbabwe’s neighbour, South Africa, whose leader, Thabo Mbeki, can’t bring himself to disapprove of a fellow nationalist revolutionary, whatever Mr Mugabe’s despotic behaviour.

Second, Mr Mugabe’s five million disaffected citizens working abroad send money back to their unemployed and starving relatives and friends. There is also talk of income from crime carried out in South Africa by Zimbabwe’s military.

Thirdly, shopkeepers, who have to do without a previously lively manufacturing base, keep going through a system of ‘runners’, who travel with mostly black market foreign currency to neighbouring Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique to buy both necessities and luxuries. Fourthly, Zimbabwe is not finding it too difficult to sell its deposits of chrome, gold, silver, platinum, copper and asbestos.

Finally, while tourism is dead on its feet, game shooting is thriving. For almost every flight from abroad several 4x4’s are waiting, with padlocked lockers containing high-powered guns and ammunition. In attendance are several bronzed and khaki-shorted ex-farmers, and the statutory pretty girl holding up name cards of wealthy Americans, Britons, Russians and Germans who have paid big bucks to shoot elephant, lion, leopard, kudu, crocodile and rhinoceros.

How much longer then must Zimbabweans wait for any relief? If South Africa doesn’t pull the plug – as White South Africa did to Ian Smith’s Rhodesia in the 1970s - they may have to wait until the army and police realise how poor are their mathematical skills. Or, hopefully and more compassionately, that their feathered nests are disadvantaging their fellow citizens.

Arnold Kransdorff left Ian Smith’s Rhodesiain 1968. He is the author of several books on corporate amnesia: what happens when organisations lose their memory as a result of the flexible labour market

Nkosi Ndlela, a Zimbabwean professor in Norway, says the internet is still allowing independent news to circulate in Zimbabwe. Websites based outside the country get information from local reporters who write under pseudonyms and use international e-mail outside government control.

How Singapore keeps the media on-side

A conference on Internationalising Media Studies attracted people from all over the world to the University of Westminster. Here are a few Commonwealth contributions

Cherian George of Nanyang Technological University explained how the Singapore government keeps tight control of the media without using its powers to ban newspapers and imprison journalists. Using these powers could provoke opposition. Instead Singapore uses ‘calibrated coercion’.

Calibrated coercion is based on the Newspaper Act of 1974, passed after the last occasion on which a newspaper was closed down. This Act operates out of the public gaze. It gives ownership to businessmen who are unwilling to lose money by allowing their papers to criticise the government.

The businessmen can have only 2 per cent of a newspaper’s shares each. The government does not want a media mogul who might forgo profit and defy it. To make assurance double sure, there are also high-voting management shares held by government nominees.

It is more difficult to regulate websites non-coercively. The government acts against internet communicators about twice a year.

Commercial radios spread across Africa

In the last five years, sub-Saharan Africa has seen huge growth of regional commercial radio and, in some countries, community media. The biggest growth of all is in mobile phones. Meanwhile, Africans see as priorities professional development, improved media legislation, more production of local, editorially independent content for broadcasting and an upgrade of technology (which could be shared rather than owned outright).

These are among the early findings of the African Media Development Initiative, launched by the BBC World Service Trust with the help of Rhodes University in South Africa and Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. The study covers 17 countries.

Gerry Power of the trust said that there is a dearth of information about African journalists and their training. He also singled out the Media Institute of Southern Africa as an organisation that is highly thought of.

Sima Kaur Knowles from Birmingham University explained in another session how commercial radios in Uganda have filled the gaps left by state broadcasting and put on air the sort of popular discussions which take place outside corner shops. Although they are commercial, people feel these are their radios. The radios have brought about a resurgence of local community (as opposed to national) feeling.

CJA Kenyan speaks about Somali piracy

Andrew Mwangura of CJA Kenya works for the Seafarers Assistance Programme in Mombasa. He has been to the International Maritime Bureau’s 25^th anniversary in Britain to speak about piracy off Somali, which has had no national government for a long time.

He says that 647 oceangoing ships have been attacked by Somali pirates in the last 14 years, most of them fishing boats operating illegally in the rich Somali fishing grounds. The pirates use seized vessels as mother ships, enabling them to strike over 400 miles from the coast. Some seamen have been killed or seriously injured.

An international marine patrol based in Djibouti deters pirates. The Islamic Courts Council, now in power in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, has sent 275 militiamen to quell piracy. It also struck a deal in August with the main pirate group, the Somali Marines, to bring piracy to an end. But some ICC groups have been involved in piracy, which is made lucrative by ransoms.

Last year, £400,000 was paid for a Maltese oil tanker and its crew of 22. This year £400,000 was paid for a Panamanian vessel and £500,000 for a Korean fishing boat. Andrew Mwangura also believes that some Kenyans are complicit in what goes on.

The press – the tiger who always eats last

Caribbean columnist Tony Deyal records what they say about journalists

The Rev Everton Jackson has challenged Jamaica to “counter the negative values emanating from the local media, area dons and musical icons”. In his hall of ill-fame, the media head the list, opening the batting for the dreads. Because some of my media colleagues - slaving away in what is essentially a buyer’s market for labour – may feel unfairly treated or hard done by, I undertook a short review of learned opinions about the media, to see if they backed the good reverend’s contention.

Perhaps what Frank Sinatra said of Hollywood reporters might also apply to the Caribbean: “All day long the Hollywood reporters lie in the sun and, when the sun goes down, they lie some more.”

Some people believe in the adage: “Never trust a smiling reporter.” A colleague from Guyana told me this story. When a visitor to another Caribbean country saw a pitbull terrier attacking a boy, he grabbed  the dog and throttled it. A local reporter congratulated him and said the headline next day would read: Valiant local man saves innocent child by killing vicious pitbull. The hero told the journalist that he was not from that city. “Well then,” said the scribe, “the headline will probably say Barbados (or wherever) man saves child by killing pitbull.”

The hero then explained: “Actually, I’m not from your country at all. I’m from Guyana. ”In that case,” the reporter replied, “ the headline should read: Guyanese kills family pet.”

Even Mother Teresa had her problems with the media. She said wrily: “Facing the press is more difficult than bathing a leper.” James Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, remarked: “The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times. One sometimes forgets which.”

My friend Patrick Hoyos, a Barbadian journalist, had a poster on his wall which read: “Freedom of the press belongs to those who owns it.” According to novelist John O’Hara “Hot lead can be just as effective from a Linotype as a firearm.” And playwright Tom Stoppard: “I’m all for a free press. It’s the newspapers I can’t stand.”

It pays to be wary. Bill Clinton advised: “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.” As for trying to get the media on your side, one writer pointed out: “Wooing the press is roughly akin to picnicking with a tiger. You might enjoy the meal but the tiger always eats last.”

News from round the world

AUSTRALIA

The Australian Press Council has published a report State of the News Print Media in Australia, which is important because what happens in Australia often mirrors what is happening in other Commonwealth countries. The APC has pointed out five trends:

1 Newspaper companies are rapidly becoming multimedia companies.

2    The role and expectations of journalists are changing.

3    The distinction between fact and opinion is getting blurred.

4    Laws on media ownership are being changed but this will not establish or

      preserve diversity of ownership of Australian newspapers.

4 The capacity of the press to inform the public is being eroded by administrative and legal curbs.

The full text of the report is on the Australian Press Council website www.presscouncil.org.au. It also gives e-mail and postal addresses to get a hard copy.

Pieter Wessels

BANGLADESH

Salah Uddin Shoaib Chaudhury, who faces sedition charges over a planned visit to Israel and over his reporting on Islamic militants, was attacked by 30 men on October 5 at the office of his newspaper Blitz. They also stole money and mobile phones.

BOTSWANA

An official warned government media in September that controversial reports on government endeavours to move the San people (Bushmen) out of the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve should be balanced by government statements.

CANADA

Reporter Fabrice de Pierrebourg, who showed it was possible to enter prohibited areas at Montreal Airport, has been told by Transport Canada that he is being investigated over the breach of security. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression have protested.

GHANA

The Ghana Journalists Association in September threatened legal action against people who physically attack journalists. There have been at least eight attacks in eight months, some by associates of drug criminals. A reporter for The Enquirer was attacked in September by five people, including a minister’s wife. Last year The Enquirer accused the minister of receiving kickbacks. On September 26, a radio reporter was assaulted by police when he inquired about the arrest of a thief.

INDIA

The International Federation of Journalists has asked the government to be more active in regulating the rapidly expanding media. It says that working conditions are worsening.

A photographer lost both eyes and another was left fighting for his life after a police demonstration last month of mines used by Maoist terrorists in West Bengal went wrong. Two policemen were killed.

KENYA

The Freedom of Expression Institute in South Africa has taken up the case of Kenyan journalist Clifford Derrick Otieno who fled there after receiving death threats. These followed his attempt to prosecute the President’s wife, Lucy Kibaki, for assault. She slapped him and damaged his camera when she visited The Nation in May last year to protest against media coverage.

THE MALDIVES

Writer and opposition politician Mohammed Nasheed was freed from house arrest in September. He was charged with sedition and terrorism because of a speech in July 2005

NAMIBIA

Ex-president Sam Nujoma is suing The Namibian for damages, over an article based on a court affidavit. The Namibian published Sam Nujoma’s reply.

NIGERIA

The government in October withdrew charges of sedition against African Independent Television and one of its managers, saying they had shown remorse. But it continued to prosecute the Daily Independent and Rotimi Durojaiye, its aviation correspondent. Durojaiye wrote an article about the age and cost of President Obasanjo’s aircraft, and this was mentioned on an AIT programme. Meanwhile the Court of Appeal is deciding whether the sedition law is valid under the constitution.

SEYCHELLES

Roger Mancienne, editor of the weekly Regar, was detained for a day in what he called “a dirty, stinking cell” after being arrested along with Regar’s publisher for unlawful assembly on October 3. They took part in a demonstration, broken up by the police, against the state monopoly of broadcasting. Mancienne is secretary-general of the opposition Seychelles National Party.

SINGAPORE

The government banned the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review last month, because it did not obey an order to foreign media to appoint a local representative (who could be sued) and post a security deposit. The FEER is being sued by the prime minister and his father for libel in an article about fiery opposition leader Chee Soon Juan. FEER is to defend itself in court, the first foreign publication to do so for a decade

Jaya Gibson, who was reporting the trial of two Falun Gong members for raising a protest banner outside the Chinese embassy, was prevented from re-entering Singapore on September 24. He writes for The Epoch Times, which was founded by Chinese journalists and reports on China’s human rights abuses particularly against the Falun Gong religious movement.

SOUTH AFRICA

The Johannesburg High Court in September refused to grant an interdict to prevent the Mail and Guardian publishing an article about possible fraud in the South African Post Office. The interdict was sought by Sapo’s former chief executive.

The Constitutional Court refused to lift a ban on broadcasting hearings in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Media organisations have welcomed a government decision to postpone the Films and Publication Amendment Bill till next year. The Bill, mainly aimed at protecting children, provided for pre-publication censorship by the Film and Publication Board.

SRI LANKA

The Ministry of Defence in September asked journalists to submit their reports on the renewed violence to the Media Centre for National Security, for checking.

A court judgment means that journalists cannot rely on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to protect them against charges of criminal defamation.

Journalists organisations have called on journalists not to report the renewed fighting sensationally but to ensure accuracy and balance.

UNITED KINGDOM

Well-known TV reporter Terry Lloyd was unlawfully killed by an American bullet in Iraq in 2003, an inquest found in October. Lloyd was hit by Iraqi fire during a desert skirmish. He was put with other wounded in a minibus which was shot up by US troops.

ZAMBIA

Supporters of headline-hitting presidential candidate Michael Sata demonstrated on September 30 outside the offices of The Post. It had published a report correctly predicting victory for President Mwanawasa, though many believed that Sata would win.

ZIMBABWE

The authorities moved for the first time on October 3 against The Zimbabwean, the independent weekly paper set up by former Daily News chief executive Wilf Mbanga and published in London and South Africa. Detectives confiscated documents from The Zimbabwean’s distribution office in Harare. The previous issue had reported tension between the army and the police over the arrest of a former colonel accused of corruption at the Grain Marketing Board.

A Harare magistrate refused a bid by the government to postpone for a third time the trial of directors of Voice of the People radio, who are accused of broadcasting without a licence.

Mike Saburi, a freelance, was assaulted by police and jailed after he filmed police beating people involved in a banned trade union march on September 13. The secretary-general of the trade union congress was taken to hospital with head injuries.

BOOKS

Be an active listener

How will you become a great interviewer? By becoming a great listener. There is no greater compliment to give a person than to listen to what he or she is telling you. Listen with enthusiasm and interest. This is called active listening. You can check your notes later.

This sound advice comes from On Camera, in which Nancy Reardon of New York University describes how to succeed on TV. She offers another piece of wisdom. If you want people to say something more revealing than they really wanted to say, keep quiet – don’t ask the next question. Uneasy with the silence, they may blurt out what you hoped they would.

A feature of the book is its cartoon illustrations. Here are two of them:

Be polite, no matter what                       Watch the body language

On Camera, by Nancy Reardon (Focal Press sheri.deanallen@elsevier.com) The book includes a CD-rom with instructional videos.

Our thanks

We once again thank our contributors and sources including the Rural Media Network of Pakistan and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange and its affiliates: Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Freedom of Expression Institute, the Free Media Movement, the International Federation of Journalists,  International PEN, the Media Foundation for West Africa, the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Media Rights Agenda, Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.,