| by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne
( September 22, 2012, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian) An
international report confirms that at least 70 journalists and support staff
were killed while on assignment in the first half of this year, making it one
of the bloodiest periods of recent times.
The worst offenders are identified as Syria, Somalia and Pakistan.
One of the most important features of virtuous journalism
is objectivity which is frequently held to be essential to proper
journalism. A credible journalist of
integrity will always be objective and present facts as they stand - a quality which has had disastrous
consequences.
Journalists are often affected by the vagaries of
political action and the evil action of zealots. On 12 December 2005, Gebran Tuweni, a
columnist and newspaper executive was killed
in in a car bomb explosion in Lebanon.
Criminologists have attributed Tuweni’s death to his demand 5 years
earlier for the withdrawal of Syrian Troops from Lebanon. A murder of a similar nature was that of
Dimitri Kholodov, killed in 1994 at the age of 27 while he was investigating corruption in the
Russian armed forces. A suitcase
bomb blew off both Kholodov’s legs. No one was convicted of his death. Ten years later, journalist Magomedzagid
Varisov died from machine gun fire aimed
at his car while he was driving.
Earlier, Varizov had criticized government officials in his columns and
commentated on organized crime and terrorism in Russia.
In March 2012 under its International Programme for the
Development of Communication the
Director General of the United Nations Educational Social and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) released a Report
entitled The Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity which said: “The
primary aim of guaranteeing the safety of journalists, and striving to combat
impunity of the perpetrators of crimes committed against journalists, are both
essential to preserving the fundamental right to freedom of expression, ensured
by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (which states that
everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers), as
well to promote democracy. During times of both peace and conflict, journalists
are central to ensuring that the space for freedom of expression is kept open
in order to build democratic societies which are just and participatory.
Journalists play a vital role in this process.
Perhaps of even greater concern is the fact that most of
these abuses remain unpunished. States must therefore ensure that the
perpetrators of crimes and acts of violence against media professionals and
associated personnel are brought to justice, while also taking preventative
measures to ensure that such crimes are not committed in the first place.
Achieving this goal requires the active involvement of the media industry and a
number of other parties, including professional associations and unions, NGOs specializing
in this issue, as well as the United Nations system, and in particular UNESCO,
which is the sole UN agency with the mandate to defend and promote freedom of
expression and its corollary press freedom”.
A safe working environment for journalists should be
guaranteed. Attempts by State and non-State actors to silence or restrict
journalists not only deny journalists their rights but also jeopardize the
fundamental right of society at large to be kept informed. Effective journalism
is a driver of social consciousness in any society and attacks against it are a calculated attempt
at eradicating social values. It is
indeed a pity that journalists are targeted for elimination by elements seeking
to protect their devious interests.
Journalism is an established
discipline of collecting, verifying, analyzing and presenting
information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and
people. Unlike many other professions, journalism has the most stringent of
ethics and standards which include a
professional “code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism." The
basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements drafted by both
professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast and online news
organizations.
While various existing codes have some differences, most
share common elements including the principles of truthfulness, accuracy,
objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability as these apply to
the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent reportage to the
public.
Although it is
objectivity that is most critical to a journalist, objectivity and the
journalist’s own perception of it may determine his fate at the hands of the
assassin or intimidator. While
sociologist Michael Schudson argues that "the belief in objectivity is a
faith in 'facts,' a distrust in 'values,' and a commitment to their
segregation.”, an objective story is typically considered to be one that steers
a middle path between two poles of political rhetoric. The tenets of
objectivity are violated to the degree to which the story appears to favor one
pole over the other.
According to some, it refers to the prevailing ideology
of newsgathering and reporting that emphasizes eyewitness accounts of events,
corroboration of facts with multiple sources and "balance". It also
implies an institutional role for journalists as a fourth estate, a body that
exists apart from government and large interest groups.
Others hold it should mean reporting things without bias,
as if one just came to Earth from another planet and had no preconceived
opinions about our behavior or ways. This form of journalism is rarely
practiced, although some argue it would lead to radical changes in reporting.
Still others hold it to mean that journalists should have
something like a neutral point of view, not taking a stand on any issues on
which there is some disagreement. Instead, journalists are simply to report
what "both sides" of an issue tell them. Some even extend this standard
to the journalist's personal life, prohibiting them from getting involved in
political activities, which necessarily require taking a stand. This last
approach, while giving a balanced view of a set of facts, detracts from
investigative journalism which often assists the journalist in proving a fact
to his readership. However, journalism in any form is a sine qua non for a
discerning society. In such a
context, any attempt at eliminating
journalists who threaten the ill-founded beliefs and interests of others is a crime against humanity.
The importance of both the safety of journalists and the
fight against impunity were addressed in 1997 by the adoption of Resolution 29
by UNESCO’s General Conference, which condemns violence against journalists and
calls on its Member States to uphold their obligations to prevent, investigate,
and punish crimes against journalists.
The Resolution called upon member States to ensure that governments adopt the principle that there
should be no statute of limitations for crimes against persons when these are
perpetrated to prevent the exercise of freedom of information and expression or
when their purpose is the obstruction of justice; that governments refine legislation to make
it possible to prosecute and sentence those who instigate the assassination of
persons exercising the right to freedom of expression; and that legislation
provide that the persons responsible for offenses against journalists
discharging their professional duties or the media must be judged by civil and/or
ordinary courts. The overarching thrust
of this Resolution was that the assassination or intimidation of journalists
goes beyond depriving people of their lives as it involves a curtailment of
freedom of expression, bringing about a limitation on the freedoms and rights
of society as a whole.
 An international report confirms that at least 70...){kind=link}