Live News - A Survival Guide - International Federation of Journalists

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CHAPTER 4Abductions, hostage taking and targeting journalistsJournalists are often targeted because they are seen as being on the ‘wrong’ side.Here a protester smashes the windshield of a television station vehicle duringriots at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada, April 20 2001.Photo: AP/CP, Paul Chiasson62Dangers in individual countries change with the political andsocial climate. At some times the distinction between a battlefieldand civil unrest is marginal; as has been the case on the West Bankand Gaza (see Chapter 2).AlgeriaAlgeria was especially dangerous between 1993 and 1996, when 108reporters or editors were killed. ‘Black lists’ were circulated withthe names of journalists whose killing had been ordered by theArmed Islamic Group (GIA). This group saw the media as closelyallied with the Government, which had refused to accept theresults of an Islamic election victory. The GIA issued a statementsaying: “Those who fight by the pen shall die by the sword.”
Live News — A Survival Guide for JournalistsHowever the state is suspected of complicity in some killings. Therehave been few arrests and the Government resisted an independentinquiry. Some journalists said they were offered false witnesses tointerview after assassinations, while others were harassed whenthey tried to report on massacres. During the era of the killings,hundreds of journalists and their families lived for several years inhotels under the protection of armed guards, living and working inconstant fear.ColombiaIn Colombia, journalism is at risk from domestic armed conflict,and 84 journalists have been murdered over the last decade. ÁlvaroUribe Vélez was elected in August 2002 on a platform of gettingtough with the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia (FARC) andother guerrilla groups. Journalists have been put at risk throughthe various guerrilla groups, ‘self-defence groups’, and corruptpoliticians. Right-wing forces have acknowledged murdering severaljournalists and have accused the press of having ‘poisonous spirits’.On the other hand guerrilla groups have stated that the ‘mediaare our target’. Journalists are murdered with impunity — in just5% of cases have those who carried out or ordered the killings beenconvicted. The President has said: “It is uncomfortable to knowthat journalists can reach places where terrorists hide out, whenthe Government cannot reach those places. It is uncomfortable toknow that a journalist has advance knowledge of a terrorist act,which takes the Government by surprise.” However, in January2003, he promised that his Government would not impose restrictionson press freedom.Sierra, a deputy editor and columnist for La Patria newspaper inManizales, a town in Colombia's coffee-growing region, was shotwhile walking to work on January 30 2002 and died two days later.In his column for the 80-year-old newspaper, Sierra frequentlyhighlighted political corruption and human rights abuses by leftistguerrillas, a rival right-wing paramilitary army and state securityagents. Police told the Committee to Protect Journalists inDecember 2002 that they were working on the theory that one ofthe local politicians Sierra had denounced in his columns hired anassassin to kill the journalist. Sierra had accused local Liberal andConservative politicians of nepotism, vote buying, looting publiccoffers and ‘running the department like a feudal colony’. Theboss of a gang of hit men has been charged with his murder.63
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A SURVIVAL GUIDEFOR JOURNALISTSLIVE
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LIVENEWSA SURVIVAL GUIDEFOR JOURNAL
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ContentsPreface . . . . . . . . . .
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IntroductionOver the past 12 years
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Live News — A Survival Guide for
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Chapter 1Preparing to work inhostil
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Page 77 and 78: Chapter 5Emergencymedical aidJourna
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Appendix 2Statistics on deaths of j
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Live News - A Survival Guide - International Federation of Journalists

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