Nigeria Content Online

The Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that global and regional
institutions saddled with the responsibility to guard press freedom are
largely failing to fulfil their mandate as journalists worldwide
continue to face threats, imprisonment, intimidation, and killings.

According to the
annual survey of Attacks on the Press, the New York based organisation
yesterday stated that for 2010, institutions like the United Nations,
the African Union, the Organisation of American States, and the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, among others are
inconsistent in their approach to defending press freedom. The report
surveyed the media conditions in more than 100 countries and revealed
that 44 journalists were killed and 145 imprisoned in the year in
review.

“The recent
unprecedented repression and persecution of journalists in Egypt, for
example, provides an important opportunity for global and regional
institutions to speak and act forcefully in defence of a free press”
said the survey.

The group further
noted that while international laws, which these institutions are all
signatory to, guarantees the right to free expression “journalists
cannot count on a robust defence of those rights,” said CPJ executive
director Joel Simon. He explained that “while valiant special
rapporteurs at various institutions battle anti-media violence, their
effort are stymied by a halting political will to guarantee press
freedom.” “ A breakdown of assault on journalists on regional trends as
identified by CPJ revealed that a rise in investigative journalism in
Sub-Sahara Africa has led governments in the region to crack down on
journalists, particularly those reporting on the provision of basic
services and the use of public money. “From Cameroon to South Africa,
authorities are moving aggressively to unmask confidential news
sources, criminalise possession of government documents, and retaliate
against probing journalists despite their pledges of transparency and
accountability due to the pressure from donor countries.”

CPJ also noted that
a rise in censorship is prevalent throughout Latin America, due to
government’s repression, judicial interference, and intimidation from
criminal groups. Adding that in some countries, a climate of impunity
perpetuates a cycle of violence and self-censorship. The group stated
that censorship in Asia takes many forms with a mixture of violence and
official repression. Democratic nations such as Thailand, the
Philippines, and Indonesia are reported to be incapable of reversing
the impunity with which journalists are being killed. The report
declared Pakistan as the world’s “deadliest country for journalists in
2010.” Despite Europe’s development, CPJ alleged that “newer and
subtler forms of censorship are taking hold across the region to
counter the rise of electronic journalism, particularly in Russia and
the former Soviet republics.” These include the targeted use of
technological attacks and the untraceable disabling of independent
media websites.

For the Middle East
and North Africa, CPJ stated that governments are conflating critical
coverage of counterterrorism with terrorism itself, claiming national
security grounds to suppress news and views considered unfavourable.

CPJ also noted that the physical violence employed in these
countries to harass and intimidate journalists working in traditional
media is now being extended to bloggers. It called on the institutions
to stand by their word and ensure the safety of members of the fourth
estate of the realm.