Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009asia: afghanistanThere is another approach to dealing with the problem. The militaries involvedin the conflicts—and there are at least 44 if you include the ISAF’s 42constituent forces, along with Afghan and Pakistani forces—can begin by includingin their preparations specific rules on how troops should conduct themselveswhen they encounter journalists in the field.Such training does make a difference. As an example, revised rules for U.S.troops staffing checkpoints in Iraq reduced the number of cases in which innocentpeople were fired on. U.S. commanders, who wield great influence within theISAF, should consult with local journalists’ organizations to develop guidelinesfor new rules of conduct for the interaction between troops and journalists. Thoserules should be included in the next edition of the U.S. military’s CounterinsurgencyField Manual and put into practice by all ISAF forces.Pakistani authorities should ease the restrictions placed on reporters embeddedwith the military. Suppressing footage or reporting, even if they put themilitary in a negative light, is counterproductive. Clear, written rules of reporting,agreed upon by both sides, can both protect military security and ensure fairand thorough news coverage. The Pakistani military, while making some stridestoward better media relations, has remained less accessible than it should be. InPeshawar, non-embedded journalists told CPJ they had little or no access to militarycommanders. Taliban militants, on the other hand, maintained an aroundthe-clocknetwork of spokesmen.From the guerrilla wars of past decades to the fighting in Afghanistan andPakistan, counterinsurgency conflict has become the most common form of warfare.The mistakes made in the past—particularly in Iraq, where so many journalistsdied or were jailed without basis—do not have to be repeated in Afghanistanand Pakistan. Violence is escalating throughout the theater, but there are stepsthat can be taken to minimize the threat to the men and women reporting fromthis deadly arena.AFGHANISTANDeepening violence, flawed elections, rampant corruption,and faltering development provided plenty of news to cover, but the deterioratingnational conditions also raised dangers for local and foreign journalists workingin Afghanistan. Roadside bombs claimed the life of a Canadian reporter and injuredseveral other international journalists. A series of kidnappings mainly targetedinternational reporters, butt o p developments»»Government tries to curb reportingon Election Day violence.»»Abductions target foreign reporters,endangering local journalists, too.20key statisticYears that ParwezKambakhsh would havespent in jail on an unjust charge. Hewas freed in August.one captive Afghan journalist waskilled during a British militarymission that succeeded in rescuinghis British-Irish colleague.Insurgent groups soughtto disrupt the August 20 presidentialelections with an arrayof bombings and other attacks,prompting the government to issuea directive urging news medianot to report on Election Day violence.Officials followed up withphone calls seeking to discouragesuch reporting, saying the coveragewould deter turnout. Some Afghan news media toned down coverage in response,journalists told CPJ, but most reported events as they ordinarily would.“Our local members in all 34 provinces all rejected the government’s request,and we issued a statement and told members to continue reporting all day thesame way they have in the past,” Rahimullah Samander, head of the Afghan IndependentJournalists Association, told CPJ. International journalists reportedobstruction by police seeking to enforce the directive. P.J. Tobia, a correspondentfor The Christian Science Monitor, reported that police were “ripping videoand still cameras off the shoulders of photographers and television reporters”seeking to cover the aftermath of a Kabul firefight. At least three internationaljournalists and several local journalists were briefly detained in various parts ofthe country on Election Day.Reports of fraud emerged as quickly as tallies showing President HamidBob Dietz is CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. He reported from Peshawar,Islamabad, and Kabul during 2009.Country summaries in this chapter were researched and written by CPJ AsiaProgram Coordinator Bob Dietz, Research Associate Madeline Earp, andSenior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn W. Crispin.114115