Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009americas: united statesCabezas argued.In September, Nicaraguan authorities organized a forum for FSLN-affiliatedjournalists that, among other things, proclaimed mainstream media—including television channels 2, 8, 10, and 12, as well as the dailies La Prensa,and El Nuevo Diario—to be “enemies” of the Ortega government. A bill beforeCongress would require all journalists to have authorization from a Sandinistajournalist group, the Nicaraguan Journalists Association, to work in any media.The bill sparked immediate opposition from independent journalists who saidit was an obvious attempt to regulate the profession. The bill was pending inlate year.In October, the Supreme Court overturned constitutional prohibitions onconsecutive presidential re-election and service of more than two terms, clearingthe way for Ortega to run again in 2011. The opposition and the private pressharshly criticized the ruling. El Nuevo Diario described the decision as a “legalobscenity” and said it was “an assault against the social peace” in Nicaragua. In aneditorial, La Prensa said that the Supreme Court’s decision was an “absurd andgrotesque” attack against the constitution.UNITED STATESThe administration made encouraging statements in supportof press freedom—including remarks by President Barack Obama on WorldPress Freedom Day—but the U.S. military continued to jail one overseas journalistwithout charge or due process. U.S. forces in Iraq were holding IbrahimJassam, a freelance photojournalist working for Reuters, despite a local courtorder that he be released. The military asserted that Jassam posed a threat, butit disclosed no evidence. InSeptember, on the anniversaryof Jassam’s 2008 detention,CPJ called on U.S. militaryforces to either chargeor release the journalist.U.S. immigration authoritiesdetained for 10days in August a Pakistanijournalist who was on hisway to the Washingtonheadquarters of the U.S.government-funded Voice oft o p developments»»Authorities hold Iraqi journalist withoutcharge or due process.»»Obama, Congress send encouragingmessages on press freedom.key statistic10Days that U.S. immigrationofficials detained a VOA reporterduring a visa dispute.America. Rahman Bunairee, a reporter for VOA’s Deewa service and a local TVstation, had fled Pakistan after Taliban militants blew up his family’s home. TheVOA had made arrangements for the journalist to live and work in the UnitedStates for one year, but a visa dispute led immigration officials to detain him atDulles International Airport. Bunairee was released after CPJ and VOA publicizedthe case.Pentagon officials in Virginia questioned field commanders in Afghanistanover reports that U.S. forces were profiling and ranking reporters. InAugust, Stars and Stripes obtained confidential documents that The RendonGroup, a private contractor, had prepared for U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan.The documents assessed “the expected sentiment” of several reportersbased on a comprehensive profile of their previous coverage, and includedsuggestions to commanders on how to persuade reporters to provide “morefavorable coverage.”New information shed light on two previous U.S. cases. An oversight reportfaulted St. Paul, Minn., police for its handling of protests at the 2008 RepublicanNational Convention. An independent review led by former U.S. Attorney TomHeffelfinger and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Luger concluded in Januarythat more than 40 journalists had been arrested, including two AssociatedPress photographers and three journalists for the nationally syndicated radio andtelevision program “Democracy Now!” The report, submitted to the St. Paul CityCouncil, criticized the police department for ignoring the media’s pre-conventionrequests to develop a protocol for dealing with reporters covering protests.In April, new indictments were handed down in connection with the August2007 murder of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey in California. AlamedaCounty authorities indicted two men in April: Yusef Bey IV and Antoine Mackey.Bey was the proprietor and Mackey an associate with Your Black Muslim Bakery,a local business whose finances Bailey was investigating when he was shot. Authoritieshad previously charged only Devaughndre Broussard, a former bakeryhandyman, in the murder. The additional arrests came after the Chauncey BaileyProject, a consortium of Bailey’s colleagues, uncovered a host of irregularities inthe Oakland police investigation.In Washington, some lawmakers pushed for examination of internationalpress freedom conditions, while Obama issued a strong statement in supportof World Press Freedom Day. “It is a day in which we celebrate the indispensablerole played by journalists in exposing abuses of power, while we sound thealarm about the growing number of journalists silenced by death or jail as theyattempt to bring daily news,” Obama said in a statement. Citing CPJ researchon journalists killed on duty, his statement said, “Only a third of those deathswere linked to the dangers of covering war; the majority of victims were local9 49 5