0 TheUnitedNationsEducational,ScientificandCulturalOrganization- 2003

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Contents
Koji Annan,Mary Robinsan and Kodxko Matsuura
AbdulWaheedKhan
S.T. Kwame Bodo and J j h e Coudrg

Conference on Media and Terrorism 15

Chapter 1 Journalism and the War on Terrorism 17

Chris W m
Chapter 2 Media in Danger 39
MogensSchmidt
Chapter 3 Terrorist Attacks of 11 September:
Consequences for Freedom of Expression 43
To& Mendel
Chapter 4 11 September: Consequences for Press Freedom 51
Marthoq
Jean-Paul
Chapter 5 Brother with no Arms 59
Phi@peLatour
Chapter 6 General Overview 65
I. General Remarks on Terrorism and Media 65
OLMr Chrke
11. Fairness is the Best Defence 67
Ronala&Men

Media and Terrorism: Case Studies 69

Chapter 7 Africa and Arab States 71

CaseStuajI 11 September: Consequences for Freedom of Information

in South Africa
Rqmond Lnuw 71
CaseStuajII Terrorism and Media in Zimbabwe 73
GeofT Nyatvta
CaseStuajIII Aftermath of 11 September: An Arab Perspective 74
NedalMansour

Chapter 8 Asia and the Pacific 77

CaseStuajI Terrorism and Journalists in Afghanistan 77

Faheem Dashg

Case StuajII Is the Safe of Journalists in Timor Leste Guaranteed? 78

sy
Hugo Fernan es

Case Stuaj 111 The Safety of Journalists in the Pacific 80

]
.s
t. firjg
;
Case StuajIV Media and Terrorism in the Philippines 81
MeLndaQuintOs dejesus

Case Stu4 V Media in Danger :South East Asia at a Glance 84

Chauamng Lhpattaamqbanee
 Chapter 9 Europe 87

Case Stu4I T o Die for Being a Journalist in the Basque Region 87

Camen Gumchaga Basurto

Case Stu4 11 War, Terrorism and Journalists:The Chechen Experience 89

Anna Pohkoccrkqa

Media and Terrorism: Status of Research 91

Chapter 10 Media,Violence and Terrorism in Afiica 93

AhL
A n 4 0.

Chapter 11 Media,.Violence and Terrorism in the Arab World 101

BaJyouniI.Hamada

Chapter 12 Media, Violence and Terrorism in Europe 107

Annabeh Srebmy and Prasum Sonzulhr

Chapter 13 Media, Violence and Terrorism in Latin America 115

Jorge Bonilh V
ilq and Camib Tamqo Gdmq
Chapter 14 Media,Violence and Terrorism in North America U9
Dat id L Palet;.and JzU Rzikershauser

1. Resolution on Terrorism and Media Adopted by Participants

in the Conference on Terrorism and Media, Manila, the Philippines 127
2. Official Ceremony and Awarding of the UNESCO/Guillermo
World Press Freedom Prize, 3 M a y 2002,Manila, The Philippines: 128
I.Remar..&Mrs A n a M a n a Busquets de Cano.
President of the Guilhmo Can0 Foundation 128
II.Remarks &Mr Kotchiro Matsuura.
Dimtor-Generalof UNESCO 129
&
ID.
Pmz Y eed Her Exelhni Mrr. GbnaMaqbagal-ArTo,
x!
ent ofthe &pubhe Oft e Pbiiippines 131
 Foreword
World Press Freedom Day,
3 May 2002

Joint Message

This year,World Press Freedom Day is devoted to the question of terrorism and media freedom.Above all,
dedicated to those courageous journalistswho put themselves at serious risk, and sometimes pay the highest
it is
penalty,by exercising their profession.

In each of the past two years, more than 50 journalists have been killed while covering violent conflicts. VI I
Increasingly,such deaths are not the result ofwar’saccidentsbut the outcome of a deliberate targetmgof journalists
by those seehg to prevent media exposureof their criminal,corruptor terroristactivities.The cruel fate of Daniel
Pearl,to cite just one tragic case,illustrateshow dangerous the profession of journalism can be.

The threat of terrorism to the freedom and independence of the media can be both direct and indirect.
Terrorism all too often includes violent attacks on reporters and publishers,including assassmations,abductions,
torture and bombings of media offices.W e abhor such violence.Journalistshave human rights like everyone else,
rights which have not been forfeited because of their choice of profession.

The indirect threat of terrorism has two main aspects.First,it seeks to intimidate,to instdl fearand suspicion
and to silence any voices with which it disagrees-a climate inimical to the exerciseof rights and freedoms.Second,
terrorismmay provoke governmentalresponses that lead to laws,regulationsand forms of surveillancethat under-
mine the very rights and freedomsthat an anti-terrorismcampaign is supposed to defend. Indeed,in the name of
anti-terrorism,principles and values thatwere decades,even centuries,in the rnaktng may be put at risk.

Basic freedoms,human rights and democratic practices are the best guarantors of freedom.This protection
must extend to press freedom and free speechas positive goods in themselves and as means throughwhich the fight
a p s t terrorism may be waged.The greatest service that the media can perform in the fighta p s t terrorism is to
act freely,independently and responsibly.This means thatthey must neither be cowed by threats nor become a mere
mouthpiece of patriotic sentiment or inflammatory opmion.Rather,the media must search for and publicize the
truth;present informationand views impartlally;consider their words and imagescarefully;and uphold high stand-
ards of professional conduct.A responsiblepress, moreover,is a self-regulatedpress.The temptation to impose
drastic state regulation upon the media must be resisted.

On World Press Freedom Day,we reaffirm that press freedom is an indispensable dunension of that wider
freedom of expression that is each person’sbirthright and one of the foundations for human progress.

Kofi A.Annan
Secretary-Generalof the United Nations

Koichiro Matsuura Mary Robinson

Director-Generalof UNESCO UN High Commissioner for Human fights
 Preface

When adopmg the Constitution in November 1945, UNESCO’s founders set the agenda for the Orgarmation’s
action m the field of commcation for decades to come by mandaung it to ‘promotethe free flow of ideas by
word and m a g ” . UNESCO’s Constitution stresses the need for mformation and communication within and
between nations.It links the free flow of ideas to the broader objectiveof prevenung wars and “constructing the
defences of peace” by “advancing the mutual knowledgeand understanding of peoples”so that “ignorance of each
other’sways and lives ... suspicionand mistrust between the peoples of the world”wdl no longer be a direct cause
of conflict.

The terroristattacks on the United States of America on 11 September2001 caused the mtemationalcommunity to IX
focus on the issue of terrorism with renewed mtensity.Withu~the span of a few weeks, the Semty Council
unmously passed resolutions 1368 (2001)on 12 September 2001;1373 (2001)on 28 September 2001;and 1377
(2001)on 12 November 2001.The GeneralAssembly adopted resoluaons 56/1 on 12 September2001 and 56/88
on 12 December 2001 and a Policy Worlung Group on the United Nations and Terrorism was established at the
requestof the Secretary-Generalin October 2001.

Within this context,UNESCO,as the lead agency of the UN system in communicationdevelopment,has endeav-
oured to contribute to the international anti-terrorismefforts by reviewing the complex issue of media and terror-
ism.As nations engage m conventionaland new types of warfare to battle terrorism and resolve conflicts,accurate
information and analysis are needed For antagonists and protagonists alike, media are important because they
generate mformation,symbols,mpressions and ideas that are cntical in the battle for the minds and hearts of
nations and people.Smce 11 September2001,the mternationalpress freedom landscapehas become very complex.
Journalismitself has become a battleground as governments on all sides seek to influence media coverage to suit
their own political and strategy interests.At the same time, journalistsand media workers have taken tragtc risks to
report and to disseminate news and mformafion about terrorism m d the vmous efforts to deal with it.

In lus address to the international conference on media and terrorism organised by UNESCO in Manila, Phdip-
pines, on 2-3May 2002,the Director-Generalof UNESCO noted:‘bneof the most worrying results of terrorism
is that it may cause some countries to mpose forms of control and regulationwhich constrain democracy,freedom
of expression,and free,independent,and pluralistic media.W e must remember that security is not an end in itself
but the means to an end,namely the peaceful enjoyment of our rights and liberties.Caremust thereforebe taken to
ensure that,in pursuinggreater security,governmentalauthorities do not imposeunjustified restilctions on freedom
of expression and press freedom”.The struggle agamst terrorism should never undermine the protection and
promotion of human rights.As the UN Secretary-Generalstated when he addressed the Security Council on 18
January2002: ‘Whilewe certainly need vigilance to prevent acts of terrorism,and fLtmness in condemning and
punishing them,it w il be self-defeatingif we sacrifice other key priorities -such as human rights-in the process”.
l

T h ~ spublication attempts to reveal some of the profound changes in the way that fundamentalliberties such as
freedom of expression and press freedom have been affected by terrorism and the efforts by the international
community to deal with terrorists threats.

Abdul Waheed Khan

Assistant Director-General
for Communication and Information
UNESCO,Paris
 Introduction

The trag~cevent of 11 September 2001 set in motion an intensified global discussion on terronsm and @obal
secunty.Some of the measures adopted to enhance global security have had profound repercussions on civil
liberties,especially freedom of expression.As UNESCO is the UN lead agency for freedom of expression,Ah
decided to commemorateWorld Press FreedomDay on 3May 2003with
IbichiroMatsuura,the Director-General,
an international conference focusingon the theme of media and terrorism

The principal purpose of the Conference,which was organized in collaborationwith the National Commission for XI
UNESCO in Manila,the Philippines,on 2-3May 2002,was to provide a platform to exchange ideas and experien-
ces on various issues related to media and terrorism,includinghow media spotlight terrorismas a political,ideologi-
cal, religious and military weapon a p s t civilians and how terrorism affects media and the safety of media pro-
fessionals.

The 150media professionals and representativesof non-governmentalorganizations from different regions of the
world who pmcipated in the Manila Conference resolved that any strategyto address the threat of terrorism must,
first and foremost,promote greater respect for freedom of expression and of the media, rather than impose
restrictions on these fundamental rights.They stressed that the media have the right to report on terrorism in the
interest of the public’sright to know and to promote open and informed debate on the issue and called on govern-
ments,institutions,public bodies and media organisationsto do all in their power to ensure the safety of journalists
at all times and under all circumstances.The brutal Wing of Daniel Pearlin Palustan in 2002was a grim reminder
of the dangers facing media professionals in the wake of 11 September 2001. The deaths of Marc Brunereau,
Johanne Sutton,Pierre Billaud,Volker Handlolk,Azizullah Haidari,H arry Burton,Julio Fuentes,Mana Grazia
Cutuli and Ulf Stromberg all of them lulled in Afghanistan,add to the sad litany of those journalistswho have lost
their lives while carrying out their mission.

This publication contams edited texts of papers and case studies presented at the Manila Conference as well as
regionalreports on statusof research studies dealingwith media,violence and terrorism.The publication is organ-
ized in three parts.Part I presents the views of leading members of media professional bodes and organisations
concerned with freedom of the press on the issue of media and terrorism as well as the aftermath of the 11
September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States,especially regarding freedom of expression and press free-
dom.

In Chapter 1,Chris Warren reviews the consequencesof the 11 September2001 terronstattacks forpress freedom
and civil rights in 36 countries and discusses the extentto which the rightof journalistsas well as basic human rights
such as freedom of expression have been altered m the aftermath of the attacks.H e concludes that, although in
most countries the right of free and independentmedia has been preserved,vital changes have nevertheless oc-
curred.In Chapter 2,Mogens Schmidtunderlines the importanceof a strongand critical media as a cornerstone for
every democratic society.H e focuses on the Basque region in Span and Colombia,where the media and the life of
journalistsare in great dangerdue to threats,includingterroristacts,m g to counter press freedom.He descnbes
the capacity-buildingprogrammes which the World Association of Newspapers OIVAN),together with the World
Editors Forum,have introduced to assist media professionals.
 In Chapter3,Toby Mendel discusses the introductionof new anti-terroristlaws by &verse governments around the
world,followingthe 11 September terroristattacks in the US.H e argues that some of the laws have adverse effect
on basic human rights as they often curtad the free flow of information and hence restrict the right of the public
to access official government information.Jew-Paul
Marthoz focuses in Chapter 4on restrictions on the work of
journalists and the media in general in the post-11September world with special attention on the US-ledwar in
Afghmstan and outlines several factors that hmder journalists from reporting objectively Chapter 5 by Phillppe
Latour deals with the dangers that war correspondents face when reporting crisis situations.H e explores the best
ways to improve their circumstances and minimise fatalities,noting that increased awareness and prior experience
are critical factors.In Chapter 6,Oliver Clarke briefly discusses the importanceof securingfree and criticalmedia to
guarantee democracy and security,especially in the aftermath of 11 September,2001.In the same Chapter,Ronald
XII I(0ven argues that,in the face of terrorism -whether from non-stateactors or from governments-fairness is the
best defence of press freedom.

PartI1 contams 10case studies of media and terrorism from Africa,the Arab States,Asia,the Pacific,and Europe
which were presented at the Manda conference The case studies represent a diversity of situattons and the effects
of terrorism on the working conditions of professional journalists and editors

Three case studies from Africa and the Arab States are presented in Chapter 7.Raymond Louw discusses the effects
of 11 September2001 on freedom of informationin SouthAfrica,includingthe adoption of severalanti-terrorism
bills which impinge on press freedom.Geoffrey Nyarota provides an insight on the suppression of the Zimba-
bwean media by the government and Nedal Mansour notes that,after the 11 September attacks,the media in the
Arab States have focused on factors in that regon that triger terrorism.

Chapter 8presents fivecase studies from Asia and the Pacific.Faheem Dashty discusses the effects of terrorism on
the work of journalists in Afghanistan and Hugo Fernandes describes the threats to the safety of journalists in
Tmor Leste both during the conflict in the region and in the post-conflictera.JustinIGli followswith a report on
the safety of journalists in the Pacific with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea.Melinda Quintos de Jesus
presents the situation in the Philippines,noting that a full understanding of the relationship between the media and
terrorism in the country requiresbackground training in the development of terrorism and its use by marginalized
and aggrieved communities.Finally,Chavarong Limpattaamapanee describes various threats to press freedom in
five South East Asian countries and remarks that threats are not only physical in nature,but also come in the form
of advertisingpressure and closure of newspapers by the government.

Two case studies from Europe are presented in Chapter 9 Carmen Gurruchaga Basurto reviews the dramatic
development of the Basque terroristgroup,ETA,and the threats facing journalists who cover its activities h a
Politkovskaya describes the difficult situation for journalists reportingfrom Chechnya in the face of severe restric-
tions imposed by the government and threats from the military.

Part 111,consisting of five chapters,deals with the status of research studies on mediq violence and terrorism ca-
rried out in Africa,the Arab States,Europe,Latin America and North America.The main purpose of the desktype
research reportswas to identifyand assess the focus and contentof researchwork and scholarlypublications carried
out on media,violence and political terrorism during the four-yearperiod ofJanuary1998to December 2001.Each
regional report presents an overview and critical assessment of the research studies and scholarly publications
examined,the main trends identified and makes suggestions for further investigation in the subject area.
In Chapter 10,Andy 0.
Alali analyses the patterns of violence and terrorism in Africa and media framingof such
acts.H e notes that,despitethe high incidenceof different h d s of violence and terrorism in Africa,there is a dearth
in scholarly literature on the subject.Basyouti Ibrahim Hamada reports on the situation in the Arab region in
Chapter 11 and observes that,although the Arab regon has been portrayed in the Western media “as an environ-
ment which produces violence and terrorism” Arab communication scholars have not carried out much research
work on the communication implications of violence and terrorism.Annabelle Sreberny and Prasun Sonwalker
also stress in Chapter 12 that the relationship between media and terrorism has not received much attention from
communicationresearchersin Europe and that,except in relation to the Balkans and the Kosovo crisis,the specific
considerationof the role of the media in political conflict and violence has not generated much sustained research
attention in the region.
Xlll
In Chapter 13JorgeBonillaVel& and C d o Tamayo G6mez report on the situation in Latin America and remark
that terrorism does not seem to be a paaicular subject for research in the regon and that studies do not focus on
analysing terrorism or the role of media with respect to terrorism and its agents.In the final reportin Chapter 14,
David PaletzandJill Rtckershauser compare and analyse a number of studies carried out in North America on the
relationship between media,political violence and terrorism.They point out the relativepaucity of research on the
topic during the period of study and suggest that future research on media,political violence and terrorism should
be empirical,cummulative,generateoriginal data,build on existmgtheones and use concepts frompolitical commu-
nication.

This publicahon is designed to contribute to on-gomgdiscussions and reflections on terronsm,media,freedom of

expression,global secuilty and human nghts Hopefully, such discussions and reflechons will stimulate further
acbons in the subject-areaamong the community of media professionals,freedom of expression advocates,re-
searchers and policy-makers.

S.T.K w a m e Boafo and Sylvie Coudray

Communication and Information Sector
UNESCO,Paris,France
 PART I
Conference on Media and Terrorism
 Introduction
Journalism
In the year since the 11 September attacks on the United States,the world has
and become a more uncertain and fearful place.The IFJ surveyed the media landscape
in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks and our first report,published
on 23 October 2001,revealed a fast-developingcrisis for journalism and civil liber-
the War ties.
/
on Almost a year on,these fears have been confirmed.The declaration of a “war on
terrorism”by the United States and its international coalition has created a danger-
Terrorism ous situation in which journalists have become victuns as w ell as key actors in re-
porting events.This is “war”of a very differentkind.There is no set piece military
confrontation;there is no clearlydefined enemy,no hard-and-fastobjectwe,and no
17
obvious point of conclusion.Inevitably,it has created a pervasive atmosphere of
paranoia in which press freedom and pluralism have suffered.

It has also led to casualties among media staff The brutal kdlingof Daniel Pearl in
Pakistan at the start of 2002 -chlllmgly filmed by lus media-wisemurderers -has
come to symbolisethe appallingconsequencesof 11 Septemberforjournalism and
for freedom of expression.Pearl’s murder, together with the deaths of Marc
Brunereau,JohanneSutton,PierreBillaud,Volker Handoik,Azdah H aidari,H arry
Burton,Julio Fuentes,Maria Grazia Cutuli and Ulf Strombergin Afghanistan,is a
gmn indicatorof the dangers facing journalists.

In a world hungry for news,people need to understand the context and complexi-
ties of this new confrontation.They rely on journalists to provide them with reli-
able and timely information.During the war in Afghanistan around 3,500 foreign
correspondents were roaming the region covering the story.

But war is rarely good news for journalism.While journalists and media staff take
terrible risks to get their story,governments on all sides seek to influence media
coverage to suit their own political and strategic interests.The post-11September
media crisis is seen everywhere.From Australia to Zimbabwe,via Colombia,Rus-
sia, the United States and Uganda,politicians have rushed to raise the standard of
“anti-terrorism”agamst their political opponents,and have tried to stifle free jour-
nalism along the way.

But media need to resist the pressure of politicians who are willing to sacrifice civil
liberties and press freedom to win their propaganda battles.The priority must al-
ways be the right to publish words and images -however unpalatable - that help
people better understand the roots of conflict.

This report covers developments in some 40 countries up to the begmnmg of

September2002.W e draw extensively upon information from IFJmember unions,
press freedom groups and human rightsbodies at regionaland international level.It
is not an exhaustive document and is, inevitably,abbreviated but it reveals pro-
Chris Warren
found changes in political attitudes and their impact on journalism.It should
set alarm bells ringmg in newsrooms around the world.
President
of the International
Federation of Journalists(IFJ)
 Australia withdrawing the bill.A second security bill has also been
introduced.This would enable the government to pro-
Media coverage of 11 September has been comprehen- scribe organisationswhch threaten the security of Aus-
sive and all pervading and,generally,professional.Jour- tralia or of other countries.It also increased the power
nalists in the &stream media at both the tabloid and of security orgarusations to detain suspects, suppress
broadsheet ends of the market have been responsible in informationand intercept emails and other information.
handing issues of tolerance. This bill has been criticised by a Senate committee and
after attacks from its own back bench, the government
-
However, among some non-journalists such as radio has agreed to redraft the bill to meet civd liberty con-
cerns.
commentators-there has been a serious increase in,at
best,lack of care in handing issues of race and,at worst,
open racism against people from Muslim backgrounds. In a related development,an ABC journalistwas arrested
18 This is partly because the attacks occurred against a pre- outside a refugee detention centre in South Australia on
existing background of racial tension within Australia 26Januaryand charged with trespass on Commonwealth
generated by the debate over asylum seekers,particu- land.After extensive protests,the government agreed to
larly asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iraq.By world drop the charges.
standards, only a small number of asylum seekers at-
tempt to enter Australia, some 4,500 a year, arriving by These experiences illustrate two things: First, that the
boat, usually through Indonesia.But the conservative government is prepared to use the war on terrorism to
government of John H o d has sought to make its expand its scope of investigation and to restrict press
refusal to allow asylum seekers to enter Australian terri- freedom and other civd rights.Second, that concerted
torial waters or to land on Australian territory a major campaigns in support of civd liberties std attract bipar-
political issue and, in doing so,has fed uncertainty and tisan political support and can be successful.
fear within the population at large.Polls indicate that
more than 70 per cent of people agree with the govern- In Australia,coverage of the war has become inextrica-
ment’s stance. bly linked with the debate over asylum seekers,many of
whom are Afghan or Iraqi refugees.Generally, profes-
At the same time,the government has sought to deliber- sional journalists have handed these issues with com-
ately llnk asylum seekerswith terrorism,claiming that 11 passion and sensitivity.
September has justified their approach because there
could be “sleeper terrorists” attempting to enter Aus- However, among other areas of the media, there has
tralia by posing as asylum seekers.This caused tension been a rising intolerance which, it has to be said,attracts
between much of the media and the Australian commu- some public support.This often puts the mainstream
nity, with supporters of the government -and the,gov- media in conflict with majority views.For a perspective
ernment itself -criticisingmedia forbeing “out of touch’’ on hs,see the article by hhke Steketee in the most re-
with the majority views of Austda. cent issue of The Wuklg~magazine2.

Since the generation of the asylum seekers “crisis” and Canada

the 11 September attach, the government called a gen-
eral election, and successfully campaigned on the basis
of providing leadershp against asylum seekers and ter-
rorist amcks.Relying on the war on terrorism,the Fed-
eral Government has introduced two legislative pack-
ws.
The first package sought to amend the Commonwealth
&mes Act so as to restate the official secrets legslation
and to extend it so as to make it an offence for a person
to receive leaked information.In other words,a journal-
ist who was leaked information could be charged and
face jail of up to two years. In January and February
2002,the Media,Entertainment and Arts Alliance,me-
dia employers and press fteedom supporters ran a ma-
jor campaign a p s t this legislation and, after the non-
government parties in the Australian senate agreed to
block the legslation,the government announced it was
As in all western countries,Canadian coverage of the 11
September eventswas extensive and largely professional,
but fkedorn of expression groups responded angrdy
when the federal government announced the prepara-
tion of a package of anti-terrorismlegislation for intro-
duction in Parliament.Canadian journalists called on the
government to reject curbs on free expression or pro-
posals for increased surveillance that would trample ba-
sic citizens’rights and obstruct the work of reporters.
‘Webelieve an effective counter-terrorism campaign
demands not only the preservation of findmentallib-
erties but also the vigorous assertion of their impor-
tance,” said Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
(CJFE) president Arnold Amber.Amber is also director
of The Newspaper Guild Canada and a member of the
IFJ Executive Committee.’
The introduction of Bill C-36,the Anti-terrorismAct, concerns over Bill C-42,saymg it contarns provisions
aroused an unprecedented debate about its impact on du-ectedat suppressingpolitical dissent,particularlypro-
civil liberties and freedom of expression.Under public test activity It says universities and colleges,as “centres
pressure the government made a number of positive of dissenting opmon” (fromstudentsin particular), and
amendments to the onpal bill which the Senatepassed often located close to internationalgatherings,are likely
on 18 December 2001 However,accordingto CJFE, it targets
stdl contarns language thatcould lead to serious assaults
on freedom of expression. Colombiu
The group says the bill provides for greater l m t s on Accorrling to human rights’ groups,Colombia’swors-
access to information and rases the prospect of pros- enmg internalarmed conflictaffects virtually every part
ecution foranyone who publishes mformation the gov-
of the country and has taken the lives of more than
ernment is “takmg measures to safeguard,” even if un-
60,000people since 1985 - currently around 20 people 19
classified It also increases the surveillance powers of every day.Journalistsare among the victims,with more
the state and encroaches on the private communications than 80 lulled in the past 10years.
of individuals Another concernis thatthosewho peace-
fully exercise their right to free expressionm the service
Thousands of civilians live in fear of being kidnapped,
of a cause or in defence of the rights of the accused
could be prosecuted under the act because of provi- killed or “disappeared”;thousandsare forced to flee their
sions concerning the facilitation of terrorism homes,their lands,their livelihood,as warring factions
refuse to guarantee their safety and their right not to be
drawn into the conflict.Around 80 per cent of victims
Meanwhile,unbeknownst to most Canadians,two other
are civilians,N e d outside combat.IGllings,threats and
proposed bills w e d at curbingpolitical dissent at inter-
intimidation of members ofhuman rights orpations,
national meetings are proceeding quickly through Par-
trade unionists and other vulnerable sectors of civil so-
liament.
ciety form part of a campaignby sectors of the Colom-
Bd C-35,currentlybefore the Senate,introducesamend- bian securityforces and theirparamilitaryallies to weaken
ments to the Foreign Missions and International Or- the work of human rights defenders.
ganisations Act.Civil liberty groups sayBill C-35widens
the definition of “internationally protected persons,” The civilian population,caught in the crossfire between
those foreign dignitaries who are granted diplomatic ditaty and theirparamilimyallies on one sideand armed
immunity when they visit Canada.The new definition oppositiongroups on the other,is not receiving the hu-
now includes “representatives of a foreign state that is a man fights and humamtatran protection it urgentlyneeds
member of or participates in an international organisa- Each month, thousands of people are being displaced
tion.’’Cross-referencedwith Bill C-36,which defines as they flee from areas of armed conflictand huge num-
“interference with protected persons” or the threat of bers are vicms of human rights violations committed
interferenceas acts of terrorism,the legislationgives the by the Colombian security forces and their parditary
government wide-rangjngpowers to clamp down on allies, as well as by armed opposition groups.Impunity
those who wish to exercise their legitimate right to pro- persists,as the vast majority of perpetrators of human
test at internationalgatherings,groups say.Indeed,some fights violations continueto evade accountabdityin Co-
critics believe passage of the bill is timed to quell pro- lombia Followingthe events of 11 Septemberthe Umted
tests before the convening of an upcommg summit of States ahistration strengthened its contribution to
G-8leaders in Alberta. the “anti-terrorist”effort of the authorities and there
are fears that the internal conflictwdl,as a result,deepen
Bill C-35also gives the police wide discretlon in “con-
trolling lmtingor prohibiting access to any area to the The deterioration of the human rights situationcontin-
extent and in a manner that is reasonable in the cir- ues to intensify and spread throughout the country and
cumstances”However,the C,anadianCivil LibertiesAs- has reached an even greater level of urgency since the
sociation(CCLA)says the bill does not provide any clear breakdown of the peace process between the Colom-
definition of what “reasonable in the circumstances” bian government and the FuqasAmadas Reduaonanas
might mean.CCLA counsel Alan Borovoy argues that de Cohmbza (F’ARC),Revolutionary Armed Forces of
police shouldnot be given powers to determme citizens’ Colombia,in February 2002
rights to free expression ‘Theusual role of the police
m a democracy is to enforce the judgments made by The UN Commtssion on HumanRights has condemned
others,not to make such judgments themselves” The the persistence of impunity in Colombiawith regard to
Canadian Association of University Teachershas voiced violations and abuses of human rights and international
 humanitarian law,has expressed its concerns regardtng the press have been introduced,but controversy did ac-
alleged links between the Colombia’sarmed and secu- company the national process for ratifying the Euro-
nty forcesand parditary groups;and has also deplored pean Union regulationscovering the establishmentof a
attacks againsthuman rights defenders The Colombian European-widearrest warrant.
government should undertake full and prompt imple-
mentation of UN recommendations as a step towards European Union
tackling impunity and addressing the human rights cn-
sis Alvaro Uribe,who has been elected the new Presi- In the weeks and months after 11 September,European
dent of Colombia,is under pressure to make human Union states quickly formed a joint approach on coun-
rights concerns the centerpiece of his agenda ter-terrorismactions with the United States. Many of
these undermine traditional standards of civil liberties.
Cyprus
20 Cooperation was demonstrated most dramatically one
mile media coverage has been generally extensive and day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
well informed,there has been no problem of intoler- Pentagon when NATO activated its never-before-in-
ance in reportmg.Although the Attorney General an- voked Article 5,whtch declares an attack on one to be
nounced the preparationof anew anti-terronsmbill that an attack on all. European combat forces,aircraft and
may create some dangers for free speech and civil liber- shps were comtted to supportthe U S strike on Af-
ties, the only relevant law introduced was one ratifying ghanistan With in three months, the European Union
the InternationalConvention of the United Nations on had a common legal definition of terrorism,a list of
the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism.The au- suspectsclosely in linewith Washgton’sand more than
thorities say they wil not impose anything that endan-
l 100dlion dollars in assets frozen.They also adopted a
gers press freedom,but the Union of Cyprus Journal- common arrestwarrant to prevent suspected terrorists
ists has said it w
il
l follow the situation closely. from evading arrest by crossing the EU’slargely un-
checked internal borders
Denmark
Jointmeetings in December 2001 and June 2002 be-
As in many countries,11 September turned the media tween European and US.officials soughtto co-orhate
world upside down.Paperswhtch forcenturies had been policy and a list of terrorists groups was agreed.US.
steadfastly domestic in thelr front-pagenews coverage targets left off Europe’s terrorist list in December,in-
opened themselves to extensivecoverageof international cludmg the PI(I.= Kurdish rebels in Turkey,the Shing
news for severd weeks.The reporting in general was Path group inPeruand the RevolutionaryArmed Forces
balanced. of Colombia,were included on an expanded list inJune.
The Juneupdate also added five Palesthan groups,in-
Attempts to blame all Muslims forwhat happened have cluding the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and De-
been few and Muslim representativesin D e m k have velopment,a US.-basedcharity that has been accused
been asked their views frequently in the media.There of channeling money to Hamas, which has carned out
have been,however,in the fmtdays after 11 September dozens of deadly attacks i
n Israel.However,the EU dif-
episodes where people from different ethnic back- ferentiates between the political and ditary wings of
grounds were attacked or had their shops damaged. Hamas.And the Iran-backedHezbollah,which targets
Israel from Lebanon,is considered a terroristorpsa-
In the media the question of how to define a terrorist tion by Washington but not by the EU.
has been much discussed.This has also focused on local
connections.For example,the current vice-charrmanof The European Council,representmg 15 nations,put
the large Danish liberal party in the early 1980s volun- forward controversialproposals on 9 October 2002 for
teered to take part in the strugglein Afghanistan follow- a package of measures to “improve the European Un-
ing the intervention by the Soviet Union, supporting ion’s response to terrorism ” The proposals included
Taliban.Photographsof him and three Taliban-support- more cross-borderco-operationbetween police forces
ers, all four in typical Afghani-clothesand with guns, and the establishment of a European-widearrest war-
have been pmted over and over again as a constant ref- rant.Civilliberty groupshave been pari~cularlyconcerned
erence point for this debate. over the adoption of the EU-widedefinition of “terror-
ism”which they say threatens to include people takmg
Although the governmentsaysi twi
ll“do what is needed” part in recent violent protest demonstrations over
to stop terronsm, no national legslatwe initiatives ;hat globalisation The changes broaden the scope of what
could be seen to influence the working conditions of constitutes a terrorist offence by mcludmg actions that
“seriously affect” (rather than “seriously alter”) the po- and US investigative agencies as part of the process in
litical,economc or social structures of a country or “an which European leaders have worked together,and in
international organisation.”This brings international coordination with the United States,to craft a rmlitary,
organisationssuch as the World Trade Organisation,or Judicialand financial crackdown on terrorism.A US-
the World Bank,into the picture.4 EU working group is now looking for guidelines to al-
low protected personal data to be exchanged among
“The actions by the European Union are a deliberate American and Europeanlaw enforcementagencieson a
attempt to broaden the concept of terrorism to cover general basis,rather than under emergency exemption
protests such as those in Gothenburg and Gena+." says
Tony Bunyan,the Editor of Statewatch, a civil liberties France
watchdog.‘Draconianmeasures to controlpolitical dis-
sent only serve to undermine the very freedoms and The tone of the French media coverage says the SNJ-
democracies legislators say they are protecting” CGT,can be summed up by the 12 September 2001 21
edtorial of h Monde: ‘ W eai-eall AmericansNow”.Whtle
O n 30May 2002,the IFJ among others protested when one cannot talk of intolerance,much of the coverage E
Y
the European Parliament agreed to amend the 1997 was lackinginanalysis of Americanpolicy.Unfortunately,
European Directive on the Protection of Telecommu- many journalistscommitted errors of ignorance by con-
t
f
mcations Data and Informationto allow Member States fusing the terms, Arab, Muslim and Islamic and they s
to pass laws that wi
ll gwe the authorities regular access strengthened the view of many in France that “Mus-
to people’stelephoneand Internetcommmcations Thts lim”equals “terrorist”.The SNJ-CGT published apress
wdl,said the IFJ,“open the door to the snooping society releasecriticisingthis approach.Itwas not reported.The
e
a
f
D
in which people’sprivate commmcations w ill become union reports that many media organisationshave taken t
D
subject to officialm~nitomg”~ advantage of the uncertain times to announce cutbacks E
Y”
(joblosses,salary cuts) in the days immediately after the .
0
Givingthe police,customs,immigration and intelligence terror attacks. E3
0
services access to people’selectronic communications 7

goes far beyond emsting rules whereby data can only be The government announced new anti-terroristlegsla-
retmed for a shortperiod for ‘.billing”purposes (i.e.:to tion,including surveillance and trackmg of Internet
help the customerconfmusagedetails)and then it must messages Many journalists fear that,under the pretext
be erased.‘Thisamendmentto policy would have been of the urgency of the situation and the trackingof terro-
unthinkable before September 11.Politicians are using rist networks,the government is prepmg to adopt,
public uncertainty and security concerns to undermine without much debate or dialogue,measureswhch could
people’srights and liberties,”said the IFJ. have serious implicationsforpress freedom &d civillib-
erties.‘
While Brussels bureaucrats argue that it w ill be up to
each government to decide how to respond to the Unions and press freedom groups condemned these
amended law,the IFJ has been informed that EU gov- moves and are demanding thatthere is full public debate
ernments are planning to adopt a Framework Decision and examination of proposed legdative measures that
that wi
ll bind all Member States to introduce the reten- have been announced concerning Internet controls,
tion of data Thts situation was confLt-medin August encryption and the retentionof data.But there are fears
2002when details of abinding frameworkdecisionwere that, under the cover of the “emergency of post-Sep-
revealed that wil mean personal data trafftc wdl be kept tember 1l”, measures already included in the Informa-
l
throughoutthe EU for up to two years. tion Society Bill @qet de “hisur h sod& de L’inforation’’,
U I )w ill be added to the “Dady Security Bill”@vet de
The IFJ says that p u m g telephone calls,e-mads,faxes %i sur b simnti quotidienne’j.
and Internetusage under official surveillancew ilunder-
l
mine data protection as w il
l the capacity of journalists Examtned at the b e p i n g of Summer 2002 by the
to monitor the apparatus of state and to store informa- National Assembly,and currently being reviewed in the
tion. ‘Thecitizen’s right to private space and for the Senate,this text will,therefore,be amended to incjude
press to investigate and scrutinise the authorities with- the anti-terroristmeasures presented by the PrimeMin-
out intuzlidation are freedomsthat distinguish democra- ister in his 3 October speech to the Assembly These
cies fromauthoritmanregmes,” says the IFJ, ‘Theymust measures may also be included in a distinct ‘postSep-
not be gwen up lightly.”However,the waiving of Eu- tember 11” bill,but w i
ll in any event be adopted “in a
rope’sstrtct data protection laws has also been done to form responding to the immediate urgency,”according
allow completesharingof informationbetween Europol to Jospin’sremarks The measures m e d at regulating
the use of encryption technologes l mtInternetusers’
abdity to send their messages securely on the network
Despite the many promises to “completely liberalise”
encryption technologies,the ownership and use of ap-
propnate soharew illcontmueto be lmted by the rep-
lations included in the LSI Bill (,4rtcles41,42and fol-
lowing) In the context of legal proceedings,the text
calls forrecourseto the defence servicesin orderto break
encryption keys
The measures that concern the retention of Internet
users’data,that is to say,the traces of the use of differ-
ent public networks (mobile,land,etc), are auned at in-
troducmgthepmciple of “preventive retention”of data
into French law A decree is likely to determine what
types of data are targeted by &us measure,which is sched-
uled to be applied for a 12-monthpenod.In the context
of the LSI,these measures would probably not have
been adopted untd S p m g 2002,afterbeing reviewed by
the CNIL.
The LSIwas,in fact,expected to serveas alegal frame-
work for all Internet-basedactivities in France Po-
tentially repressivemeasures mcluded in the firstdraft
of the bill, such as the criminal responsibility of
Internet service providers, or the CSAs control of
Internet content,were dropped from the final ver-
sion.However,the bill announced the creation of an
Internet“co-regulatory”body,the “Forum of Internet
Rights” (“Foram des drotts de f‘hternet’l), which is to in-
clude pnvate and public sector representatives,as well
as regular Internet users This new regulatory body’s
rights are poorly defined.
O n 28 May 2001,RSF,which campaigns for com-
plete freedom regarding Internet controls and con-
tent, denounced the creation of such a surveillance
body. In early April,the government submitted a
nearly final draft version of the bill to four consulta-
tive groups representingcitizens’interests.However,
these institutionswere expected to submit comments
prior to presentation before the Council of Ministers
and the vote in the National Assembly The lastminute
inclusion of the LSI Bill’scontroversial measures in
the legislative plan on fighting terrorism renders the
four independent authorities’exercise of their con-
sultative role more difficult
Finland The public service broadcaster,ARD,had the largest
audience followed by pnvate RTL network and then
Althou@ it is difficult to be precise,coveragewas exten- ZDF,the second public broadcaster,although there was
sive and detarled The very firstmedia assumptionswere little between them all in terms of content.As in many
thatthe attackwaslinked directly to the conflictbetween
Israel and the Palestinians.Thesewere supportedby pic-
tures showing triumphant Palestinians on television
However,accusations agarnst Palestinians ceased after
the news about Osama bin Laden’srole became clearer.
Nevertheless,certain media still identify the root cause
as the long-lastingconflictbetween Israel and the Pales-
tmians,as well as the support given to Israel by the US.
The media follow-uphas been to the point and profes-
sionalwith extensive media coverage of Islam and how
widely it is spread around the world.There have been
illuminating discussions on television and radio with Is-
lamicpeople livingin Finland,people representmgother
religions,as well as researchers and specialistsinpolitics.
The Finnish audience has been provided with a fairly
comprehensive information package on Islam within a
shortperiod of tune.
At the same time,coverage has been tempered with nu-
merous newspaper mcles and at least one television
documentary about the distressing situationof the civd
population of Afghanistan and the military situation
there There are no reports of limitations on the work
of journalists ’
This is the moment to strengthenthe work of the Inter-
national Media Working Group Against Racism and
Xenophobia ( I mwhich was launched some years
ago by the IFJ. The only way in which journalists can
effectively influencematters is by raising awareness and
reducing suspicion and racist attitudes.The Union of
Joumalistsin Finland has suggested that the IFJshould
reach out to journalists from all cultures and traditions
to promote professional solidarityand organise a global
conference or regonal events on these issues.
Germany
The coverage in Germany of 11 September was uni-
form and,llke most countries,provided continual rep-
etition of the incidents with pictures from CNN used
by German pnvate channels.According to some news-
papers,the mcidents brought journalism and the public
closer because the very surpnse and shock of the terror
attacks did not requlre additional “sensational”report-
ing Itwas one of those fewevents that speaks for itself
Pictures and information about the attacks have been
distributed and exchanged between media without the
usualfiercecompetition and dealingbetween news out-
lets.
other countries,advertisements were taboo in the first
hours.In the mediate aftermath,the “power of im-
ages”was felt m the suddengulf of understanding that
appeared between Western perspectives and those of
the f m b world as media showed people celebrating the though not specifically targeted at freedom of expres-
attacks: as one commentator put it, “years of efforts sion.Measures mtroduced by the government include
toward mutual comprehension have been destroyed in speedingup extradition,tighteningresttlctionson grant-
one day”. mg asylum,removingthe rightto pry halm some cases
(though this was being done anyway), steps against
So far there have been no official anti-terroristmeasures money-laundering-the clandestinemovement of money
that affect media Laws are very general “safety laws” by people suspected of “terrorism” - and acceptance
fingerprints for foreigners,analysis of bank-accounts, of the Euro-warrant.A new crime of incitement to re-
restixtion on freedom of association for religious be- ligious hatred is to be mtroduced
liefs,more possibilities for German justice to investigate
in foreign countries It is an offence already for a journalist@keanyone else)
to fail to tell police of any activity by organisations
The Presidentof the German Federatlonof Journalists deemed to be terrorist.There is a list of such organisa-
(DJV),speakingm 20Ols,sad that therewasnot enough tions,although some are not terrorist groups (for in-
background informationand analysis in themedia (about stance,liberation organisations of Kurds,Tds,etc).
fundamentalismand terrorism hyht-e the attacks) H e also Though nobody questions steps to prevent terrorism,
criticised the use of pictures from Palestmeof “celebra- there is concern about the application of anti-terrorist
tion;”this was emotional and very local and did not re- laws,which do affect journalists.This anxiety is vividly
flect the entire Arab world in general H e said the fact illustrated by the protest and criticism of civil liberty
that some channels had exad4 the same programme groups thatgreeted the U.K. government’sAnti-Terror-
shows how the private sector is concentrated ism, Crime and Security Act 2001,which passed into
lawin December 2001.Itwent through Parliamentvery
Great Britain quickly,as such measures,introduced in a panic induced
by governmentpropaganda,usually do.
As in many other countries,the coverage of the 11 Sep-
tember events was saturation.In terms of intolerance For the firsttime m peacetime,thegovernmenthas taken
coveringethnic/religousdifferences,the U.Kpress has power to imprison people without trial The power ap-
not performed badly There have been riots in some plies to foreign citizens seekingasylum or otherwisetry-
British cities in recent times between white racist youth ing to stay in the U I<, againstwhom there is a suspicion
and paaicularly Asian Muslim youth,and there is a real of “terrorist”activities or sympathy It suspends the tra-
fear of ethnic conflict that has forced government and ditional fight of habeas corpus.
press to pull back from racist coverage.
To be able to enact this law the government had to de-
The National Unions of Journalist (NUJ)reports that clare a “state of national emergency”in order to dero-
U.I<media followthe governmentslavishlyin suchtunes gate from Article 5 of the European Human Rights
Television,especially the BBC,is even more loyal than Convention.The convention had only been incorpo-
the papers ‘The BBC goes straight mto ‘hhistryof rated into British law a year earlier in the 1999 Human
Information’mode”,says the NUJ, “imapmg at some Rights Act.For some people this process demonstrated
level of its collectiveconsciousnessthat it is holding the the hollowness of the U.K.’s hysterical reaction to the
nation together in the face of a Nazi invasion imagined threat of terrorism.There has been no critical
media coverage at all of the declaration of the “state of
The government has been assiduous in cultivatmg eth- emergency,”even though itwaspatentlyabsurd and there
nic and religous minorities, especially Muslims.The was and is no national emergency.There has been no
Prime Mnister has held meeting with Muslim leaders terrorist activity m the U.K. since 11 September,despite
and the message - “we are at war with terrorism not anumber ofwell-publicisedofficialannouncementsthat
Islam” - has been widely covered.There have not,says attacks were imminent.
the NUJ,been anything like the level of assaults and
harassment of Asians m the U.K. that there has been in But the Act is not entirely novel,being merely an exten-
the US.- but perhaps it is just not being reported.But sion of a process that U.K.governments (there is no
there is another kmd of intolerance - that of dissent. difference between the mam parties) have been follow-
The media hardly cover the anti-warmovement (which ing for a long time.The Terrorism Act 2000,enacted
might be smallbut is at least of interest)and are full of before the New York atrocity,contamedrepressivemeas-
unpleasant articles attacking anyone who questions the ures that could specifically be used a p s t journalists.It
US., often in violently abusive terms. established a list of “terrorist” organisations and an of-
fenceof fdmgto notify police of any of their activities.
The NUJreports a general clampdownon civilliberties, So any journalistin contactwith one of these organisa-
 tionswho does not tellpolice everythingheor sheknows posals haveyetbeen made.Theunion has issued a strong
could be imprisoned.There are about 25 of these or- appealto journaliststo ensure that their reportingis pro-
ganisations.Some have been defunct for years but oth- fessionaland has encouraged the IFJto lead an interna-
ers are quite well known liberationgroups in the U.K.,tional campagn for tolerance and quality in journalism.
with whom journalists work regularly.W e must point
out that these powers have not yet been used against Hong Kong, China
any journalists.Perhaps the main intention is deter-
rent. The Hong KongJournalistsAssociation reportsthat the
government published a bill targetingterrorist organisa-
As everywhere,the media tend to follow the general tions and financingon 12Apnl2002 The Hong Kong
politicaldirection of government,and bothwere already government says it is adopting a d i s t approach to
very pro-American.After 11 September this tendency the issue,and has refratnedfrom increasingsurveillance
24 overrode everything else. Reporting of the war aims of and detention powers.O n preliminary reading,the bill
the coalition was uncritical and for a month or two dis- does not appear to be as draconian as feared by many
senting voices were bitterly attacked The problem has observers.
been the lack of questioningof the consensus,and not
so much regardingreactions to events in the US as re- Meanwhile,the Chinese authorities in Beijinghave used
garding Britain’sown military role The BBC in particu- the “waron terrorism”to seek international backing for
lar has given completely uncritical coverage their campagnagainstrV1uslu-ngroups seekingindepend-
ence in the North west of the country The record of
the d a n d government in c o n m m g to apply pres-
However,it must be stated that there has been some
sure on press freedom advocates,Internetusers and its
excellent coverage,and not justin the obviouspaper,the
Guadim,the leadingliberalpaper.Inparticular the Daib denial of meanin@ freedom of expression remain,ir-
respective of 11 September,of great concern to jour-
Mit-ro~the second highest circulating national paper,
nalists’and human rights groups in the region
which had been totally “Blairite”,converted itself to a
critical position in hkch 2002and has run some critical
coverage,which has been widely welcomed among jour- Hungary
nalists.The Nation Unions ofJournalistsadopted a se-
ries six of resolutions in a special debate on the ‘W ar Hungary,a new NATO member, supported President
agamst Terror”at its Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) Bush‘scall for steps to be taken in order to avoid terror-
in March 2002.
ist attacks lLke those againstWTC and the Pentagon.No
special regulationswere enforced concerningthe activi-
ties of the Press, but Parliament adopted a complex
Greece
motion,which amended statutory provisions to make
money launderingdifficult.
The Journalists’Union of Athens Dady Newspapers,
the largestjournalists’group in Greece,reportsthat some From 1January2002 anonymous accountswere banned,
media have tried to cash in on the heightened atmos- cash flow was limited,banks were compelled to report
phere of uncertmty and deep public concern ‘%en to the Hungarianauthorities all transfers of monies over
the ditary campaign started and reports of fear and and above HUF 2 million (8,000Euros approx), and
panic came from the United States,some newspapers accountholders are being asked seemingly inappropri-
and television channelsattempted to increase their audi- ate questions if they have accounts with unclear orips
ence share and advertisingprofitsat the expense of pro- Those questions are so personal (levelof education,
fessional standards,”according to a statement from the possession of real estate etc) that they tend to cross the
Union’s executive board.” borders of civil libertiesbut,on the whole,policies and
regulations regarding civil liberties as such or freedom
An extreme example of this was the action of the televi- of the press remained unchanged
sion channel Tempo,which has been investigated by the
board for allegedlyfabricatinga reportsaid to have come W ithm Hungary there has been an extensive debate on
dtrectly from Afghanistan and which the channel claimed the events and their roots The catastrophe was very
as a “world exclusive”.The board also condemned the widely reported,includinga continuous commentary in
bias of the reporting. the public radio Bitter arguments developed over who
was responsible Istvin Csurka,aformerplaywright ten-
Although there have been concerns over self-censor- der of Hungary’sextreme right-wmgparty M E P (the
ship and the counter-terrorismcampaign that may lead party lostall its parliamentarypositionsin the first round
to measures limitingindividual freedom,no precise pro- of the elections on 7 Apd), said that what happened
 was sad but when it comes to responsibility,Amertca sion unequivocally condemned POTO.N o w enacted,
comes in not only as a victim but,indirectly,motivated the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA)sets forth a
the attacks itself Lively polemics followed,with valuable broad definition of terrorism that includes acts of vio-
conmbutionsin the daily N$sxabads&, the widest circu- lenceor disruption of essential services carried outwith
lationHungman ddy,and twoweeklies,-Eh isIrodahm “intent to threaten the unity and integrity of India or to
(Life and Literature), and 168 Ora At the same time stake terror in any part of the people.”
Hungmans took to the web to ax their views,openinga
new chapter for quality e-journalism. Since it was first introduced,the government has added
some additional safeguardsto protectdue process rights,
India but POTA’scritics stress that the safeguards do not go
far enough and that exlstmg laws are sufficient to deal
Since India has a long history of facing terrorist threats ith the threat of terrorism.Shortly after POTA was
w
and acts, as they are perceived,in Kashmu and other approved by parliament,Richard Boucher,speakmg for
parts of the country,there is ageneral clmte of under- the United States,declared that the bdl was ‘ivithincon-
standingover the need forcounter terrorism in the coun- stitutionalbounds” and Indiahad strengthened its legal
try, but journalists have joined a wide-rangngcoalition systemto combatterrorismin amanner“consistentwith
of groups that have protested strongly over recent democratic principles ”
changes to law that threaten civil liberties
However,critics say that sentencing a journalist to im-
The National Union of Journalists(India)and the In- prisonment because he is suspected ofnot transmitting
dian JournalistsUnion report that,by and large,media informationabout a “terrorist” to the authorities is con-
coverage of attacks on New York and Washgton was trary to India’s commitment to press freedom.Indian
professional and unbiased although a section of the journalistswarn that the law may lead to more self-cen-
media did try to focus attention on Islamic fundamen- sorship in the coverage of separatistmovements.Some
talism presumably with a view to equate the terrorist “sensitive” issues may, therefore,completely disappear
attacks on the US.with terrorism in India.However,to from the media.
many the “global campaign” has begun to appear as a
selective and brutal military campaign to secure the glo- In some Indian states, such as Kashmir, Assam or
bal strategc interests of the West, particularly the U.S. Manipur,the new lawwill likely make journalists’inves-
and Britain.Media can play a major role in trying to en- tigativework impossible.Reporters w i
ll be caught in the
sure that the focus of the campaign remains on terror- crossfire between separatists,designated as “terrorists”
ismand diplomaticways to resolvethe problems respon- by the authorities,and the security forces.The Indian
- sible for the growth of terrorism. JournalistsUnion says the community of journalistsw il
l
remain vigilant and w il campaign vigorously to protect
l
In response to heightened national security concerns, journalists’interests and are confident of getting wide
and as relations with Palustan deteriorate and violence support from the democratic forcesin the county against
in Iiashmir and elsewhere escalates,the Indian govern- measures directed agamst reporters.
ment introduced the Preventionof Terrorism Ordtnance
(POTO), a modified version of the now-lapsedTerror- Ireland
ists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention)Act (TADA)
of 1985,which facilitated the torture and arbitrary de- The national mood of sympathy and support for the
tention of minority groups and political opponents. victims of the 11 September attacks reflects the strong
POTOwas signed into law by the president on 24 Oc- ties between the United States and the Republic of Ire-
tober 2001 to remain in effect for six weeks.It w a s in- land.O n e incident that underlined this relationshp and
troduced as abill during India’swinter session of parlia- led to a media controversy was the decision of the Irish
ment and was passed on 27 bfarch 2002. Government to declare a National Day of Mourning.

Under TADA,tens of thousands of politically moti- TheInsh Times,one of the country’sleadingnewspapers,

vated detentions,torture,and other human rights viola-
tionswere committed againstMuslims,Sikhs,D alits, trade
union activists,and political opponents in the late 1980s
and early 1990s.In the face of mounting opposition to
the act,India’sgovernment acknowledged these abuses
and consequently let TADA lapse in 1995.Civil rights
groups,journalists, opposition parties, minority rights
groups,and India’s National Human E ghts Commis-
decided not to publish on the Naclonal Day of Mourn-
ing describingnon-publicationas being in keepingwith
the national mourning.However,this caused outrage
wth in the paper’seditorial comrmttee and was opposed
by the National Union ofJournalistsoffice branch.Jour-
nalists complamed that the decision was taken only for
commercial and operational reasons - few newspaper
shops were open Journalists (includingsenior editorial
personnel) felt it would have been better to give the pa- raeli response to Palestinianattacks during2002has been
per out free There has been saturationcoverage,much to continually make the link with the “waron terror”
of it repetitive,with a strong reliance on Sky News and with its actions a p s t the PalesmanIntijnda.Therehave
CNN,especially in the early stages Outstandingcover- been accusations that the Palestinians have been
age wasprovided by Conor 0Clery,TheInsh Tzmes,who harboring terroristgroups such as Osama bin Laden in
provided on-sitecommentary from the Twin Towers in Afghanistan, bz&@iH and others in Synan controlled
New York Many sections of media gave coverage to Lebanon,and sundry other terror organizations based
the reaction of the Muslim community,and to explm- in such capitals as Damascus,Baghdad,and Khartoum.
ing Islamtc culture Israel alleges that these states and terror organlzations
together constitute a terror network whose constituent

=,
It must be sad that The Insh Tzmesand the State broad- parts support each other operationally as well as politi-
casting service, along with independentcommer- cally.
cial station Todq FM have provided a platform for some
critical voices,notably Robert Fisk,(The Innsh Independ- Although Palestinians sought to distance themselves
ent/RTE). IndependentNews and Media Group’sSun- from militants by lmtingpress freedom -in one case
d q Indpendent stands out as the only newspaper which television stations were warned by the Palesman Au-
has been intolerant -not of ethnic or religious m o n - thority in the days after 11 September not to broadcast
ties -but of media commentatorswho have challenged film of Palesimians apparently celebratmg the attacks
or questioned the Amencan response or,indeed,Irish on the US -persistent comment from the Israeli lead-
government policy Outside commentators included ership has been to link Yasser M a t with Osama bin
former US Diplomat George Dempsey who claimed Laden and the Palesmian cause with AlQaeda. Former
that the Insh media’s anti-Americanstance meant that Prime Admister Ehud Barak told CNN on 12 Septem-
Irish media should share blame for the events of 11 ber 2001 that the terror attacks on the US were the
September H e was especially criticalof FintanO’Toole, result of “continuous incitement by Chairman Arafat
who was targeted by the Szcndq Independentas a hate fig- and his media”” The response of Israeli media, once
ure alongside Fisk known for their cntical edge,has been to marpalize
opposition to the officialline,broadcasting almost solely
An issueof concernis the decisionof IndependentNews those views conformingto the government’sposition
and Media,the largest media group in the country,not
to send journalists abroad,relying instead on U.K.and Japan
U.Smedia outlets The anti-unionstation,TV3 also de-
cided not to send reportersabroad N o specificnational In Japan,the 11 September events led to co-ordinated
measures have been considered which would limit me- and extensive coverage by all networks and,as a result,
dia freedom msing from this attack public opinionwas supportiveof American d i t a r y ac-
tion in retaliation.There was little public debate about
The issue of terronsm and media was brought home to the consequencesof ditary retaliation Opposingviews
all lournalists in Irelandwith the assassinationof inves- were difficult to express For instance,a JapaneseDiet
tigative journalist Martin O’Hagan on 28 September by member who belonged to an Opposition party stated
Protestant terrorists.H is krlling was the first targeted controversially on her website that she thoughtAmeri-
death of a journalistin 30years of conflict in the region. ca’smstaken foreignpolicies were to blame for the as-
Media outlets need to be specific in informmg readers/ sault,which would explain why some countries would
viewers of limitations placed on coverage Journalists welcome the news She had to apologse Gathemg in-
need to be warned a p s treliance on Governmatagen- formationaboutUS ditary baseswas strictly restricted
cies and vested interests and it was almost two weeks after the initial attack be-
foreJapanesetelevision and press began coveringoblec-
Israel tions to America’s ditary action^.'^

Israel responded immediately to the attacks of 11 Sep-
tember by declamgits fullsupport for the ‘ W aron Ter-
ror” launched by the United States and by linking the
attacks to the conflict in Palestine Speaking before the
United States Congress on 20 September,formerPrime
hhister Benlamin Netanyahu sad the international ter-
roristnetworkis based in Iraq,Iran,and Syria,on Taliban
Afghanistan,Yasser Arafats Palestinian authonty, and
several other Arab regimes such as the Sudan The Is-
Because the Constitution of Japan,framed after World
W
ar Two,prohibits sending the army abroad,tempo-
rary legslationis necessary to cooperate with America’s
mditary action However,in the atmosphere of uncon-
ditional support for the U S,opinions of those oppos-
ingthe Self-DefenseForce abroad were cnticised or ndi-
culed by right leaning press Journalistshad to be very
courageous to write reports that questioned America’s
retaliattonby armed forces There wasno backlasha p s t
Islamic civilians.Some editors and journalists say it was dom,there is evidence that theJordmangovernment is
not easy to express theiropinions,particularlythosewho takmg advantage of the instability and anti-terrorism
do not agree with sending the Japanese Self-Defense campaign to adoptrestrictivemeasures againstthe press.
Force abroad and Amenca’s retaliatorymeasures.
In October 2001 Jordan amended by decree its penal
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s cabinet submitted code and press law in order,said PmneM m s t e r Ali Abul
to the Diet a set of three bills to governJapan’sresponse Ragheb,“to cover all the needs that we are confronmg
to a foreign military attack on 17 Apnl 2002. O n e of now”The amendments allowed the governmentto close
them,covering self-defence,w i
ll apply to the case that down any publicationsdeemed to have published “false
Japanis attackedorlikely to be attackedby foreigncorn- orlibelousinformationthatcanunderminenatiord unity
tries. or the country’sreputation,”and prescribedpnson terms
for publicizing m the media or on the Internetpictures
Under the bill, the Self-DefenseForces can build mili- “that undermme the king’s dipty” or information tar-
tary bases and they can use arms The government has nishing the reputation of the royal f d y 27
authorization to request cituens to cooperate with the
government,and to restram their nghts As for the me- The new amendments apparently provided the basis for
dia,NHK,the public broadcasting,is assigned to coop- the 13 January arrest of Fahd al-Rmawi,editor of Al-
erate with the government.The bill offers basic policies Majd weekly, for articles criticizing Abul w e b ’ s gov-
only.Specificitems,such as resttrctions on nghts of citi- ernment and predicting,accurately as it turned out,that
zens,NHKs role,and countermeasures to terrorism, the I h g intended to replace his cabinet.h w i was
will be laid before the Diet in two years. releasedon bad on 16JanuaryIf convictedRunawi could
face jad terms of up to three years as well as sizeable
The bill was presented in answer to the trend or public fines.According to information collected by press free-
opinion that needed emergency legslation on protect- dom groupst4, restrictivemeasures were adopted against
ingthe country.Japanesehave become conscious of the the press, “as part of the anti-terroristcampaign,”on 9
importanceof crisis management afterthe attack on the October 2001.“Our penal code does not cover all the
United States and aggravation of relations between Ja- current needs and amendments w i
ll be introduced in
pan and the DemocraticPeople’sRepublic of Korea. order to deal with these issues,meaning how to deal
with terrorist acts and punish them,” said Prime Mints-
The Constitution stipulates that Japan renounces war ter Ali Abou Ragheb.
and the use of force,so,in case of being attacked by
foreign countries,Japan wdl need a law to handle the The measures provide for the “temporary or perma-
situation.Countermeasures had been discussed,but no nent” closure of newspapers in case they publish news
bill had been presented because many people had ob- that is “defamatory, false,harmful to national unity or
jected to them.Though presented,the bill w il
l not pass the state’sreputation,or incitement to strike,hold illegal
the Diet easily,because deep antipathy still exists among public meetings or disturb public order.”At the same
the citizens.They claim that laws that allow the use of time,sentences for “insultmg the royal couple”and “the
the forceareundesirablebecause theyw il
l threaten Asian crown pmce” are being reinforced These offences are
countries,and the government’srequest for coopera- now puntshable by sentences ranpg from one to three
tion will lay an embargo upon free speech of the press. years in jail Previously,the penalty waslmted to a fine
The 1999 amendments to the penal code put an end to
In another development,bills have been put before the the penalty of closing newspapers in Jordan.
Diet on the ‘Trotectionofhuman rights” and ‘Trotec-
tion of privacy”.They could limit the ability of the press Mexico
to investigate and publish material about corrupt politi-
cians and bureaucrats.The three journalists’unions af- The Mexican press depends increasingly on informa-
filiated to the IFJhave declared their opposition to these tion suppliedby North Amencan media,especiallywhen
bills.Inaddition,another draftbill is being prepared that speaking of international events,so the coverage of the
protects young people from ‘%ad” influences of the events of 11 Septemberwas dominated by reportsfrom
media.Public sympathy for media opposition to these Mexican correspondents in the US and the news re-
laws is limited. ceived from the international,and m d y North Amen-
can,networks The information was untform,impartial
Jordan arid straightforwardwith little analysis.

Although in recent years Jordanhas been considered to It is useful to note that the main national television net-
be one of the Arab counmes with the most press free- works did not broadcast either the images of the im-
pacts of the planes agamst the towers or Bin Laden’s surance for journalists going on dangerous missions.In
famous videotaped press statement.However,some in- addition,the NVJ is very concerned about the control
tolerance vis-&vis Muslim people was evident and the of information at official level that makes journalists’
authorities took action to protect their interests.At least work difficult.The importance of access to informa-
18 Mexican citizensdied duringthe attacks and the Mexi- tion in tunes of uncertainty is critically important.The
can government has not reacted with any new laws to actions of the European Union to restrict free access to
counter terrorism.However, in the coming months, information,highlighted by the intervention of the
President Fox w il
l send to the Congress a proposal on Council of Mmisters last year - the infamous “Solana
the right to information,which does not exist for the summertime coup” -when rules on access to official
moment in Mexico.It is not yet clear whether this new informationwere virtually changed overnight on secu-
law wil
l contain elements that may curtad the freedom rity grounds and were later endorsed by the Parliament,
of journalists. indicate just how important this matter is at tunes of
heightened international tension.
The Netherlands
Nigeria
Dutch media maintained a central focus on the attack
for days with news about the attack,extra bulletins and The events of 11 September *andthe subsequent mili-
specials on radio and television.The work of print me- tary action have heightened on-goingtensions between
dia,radio,and televisionwas complementary Moreover, Muslim and Christian communities and precipitated an
both Internetsites of the NVJhave sincethe attack been urgent response on the part of journalists and media
visited daily in abnormally high numbers.15Villamedia people.
had on 11 September,within two hours,a separatepage
and links with information for journalists on the attack. The country is already grappling with a wave of ethnic
There have been a high number of attacks on biuslims, and religiousbloodshed in which well over 2,000 people
reports the DutchJournalistsAssociation,which has pro- have died following the introduction of strict Islamic
voked a great deal of open debate.The NVJitself has sharia law in parts of predominantly Muslim northern
orgafllsedwith the assistance of some of the ministries Nigeria,despiteoppositionfromnon-Muslims.This cri-
some very well attended debates through its working sis appears to have only compounded the historic ethnic
group on MIgrants and the Media.The core discussion and regional rivalries,which are blamed for the devastat-
concerns the attitude of the media on the 11 September ing civilwar in the late 1960s in which more than a mi-
attacks and the relationship with migrant communities. lion people died.Major confrontationshave centred on
I<ano, the biggest city in northern Nigeria where, ac-
Journalistshave stressed the need to maintain profes- cording to communityleaders,more than 200 died after
sionalism and have warned that journalism dedicated to a weekend of violence on 13 and 14 October during
only good intentions can resultin bad practice.NVJrep- Muslim protests against US.air strikes on Afghmistan.
resentatives,editors-inchief and editors maintain the
line that all news needs to be reported even when diffi-
Inthe immediate aftermath of the 11 Septemberevents,
cult for minority groups or ethnic groups.Each news- a major meeting was held between journalists,editors
paper or broadcaster adopts a degree of extra careful- and media experts on Media and Terronsm-Lssons of the
ness or sensitivity according to their perspective, butAmenmn Aftack organised by the International Press
everyone maintains the view that news is the priority Center (IPC),Lagos,on 25 September 2001 The meet-
and sensitivity concerning conflicting emotions in soci-
ing,supported by the InternationalFederation of Jour-
ety comes second. nalists,analysed media coverage of the recent terromt
attack in the United States in Nigena and worldwide
The NVJnotes that the presence of the workmg group The meeting considered the media had been fair, bal-
on Migrants and the Media (establishedin 1984 follow- anced and objective in their post-attack reports
ing the example of the NUJ, U.K.&Ireland)now fulfils
a special role.The working group,with an annual tumo- However, there is widespread concern over reports
ver in projects of 120,000 Euros,is also recognised by tainted with religious and race bias thus violatmg the
the authorities as an independent organisation dealing principles of ethics.andprofessionalism.There was a
with the problems associated with the media and the strong feeling that the Nigerian media had devoted too
changmg multi-cultural society.In cooperation with the much attention to the American incident to the deb-
Ministry of Defence,the NVJorganised an extra infor- ment of conflicts at home,for example the Jos,Plateau
mation/training day for journalists going to Afghani- State,Mings,a major national incident that was equally
stanand neighbouring countries.The NVJ, togetherwith deservingof attention.At the end of the exhaustivepres-
the Dutch public broadcasterNOS,has a good risk in- entations and discussions,it was agreed that:
 < The media in their furtherreportsmust be sensitive affected by the fall-outof 11 September.It became a
to the diversity - social,religous,political,cultural, crucialally of the United States and its war on theTaliban
language - of different peoples in different parts in Afghanistan and meanwhde has maintained a form
of the world;and of military rule that has challenged its comtment to
democratic legitmacy
< The media should condemn terrorism but must re-
frain from portraying or labelling any particular re- The United States regards the Musharraf r e p e as a
ligionas terrorist.They should also hghlightidenti- vital player in its campaign against terrorism and is re-
fied likely causes of terrorism with a view to re- luctant to challenge the government’sdemocratic fd-
moving them. ings because the Musharraf has proved effective in cap-
turing Taliban and aLQaeda fighterswho fled to Pakistan
The meeting also agreed that in reportmg the attack or from Afghanistan.
any other major cnsis,journalists should abide by their
ethics and code of conduct through: This position has given Musharraf the confidence to
announce,in August 2002,changes to the constitution
4 Eschewing propaganda; allowinghim to dissolve the elected parliament and ap-
4 Not embellishingfacts; point ditary leadersand Supreme Courtjusticesand to
< Presenmgdifferent sides to the issues to enable the neutralise the impact of elections proposed for Octo-
reader or audience to arrive at a balanced conclu- ber 2002.H e extended his stay m office by another five
sion; years.
< Avoid being manipulated by politicians and policy-
makers. Musharraf,a ditary general, seized power in 1999
through a bloodless coup.The United States initiallyre-
These principles can only be meanin& if journalists garded him as a pariah,but this was turned around after
contmuously remind themselves of the fundamentals 11 September. The country’smedia are largely caught
of the profession. up in the fierce rivalrywith Indiaover the disputed Ikh-
m i r region with media on both sides being accused of
Norway providing propaganda to suit their own political claims.
Journalistsdo not have access to high profile courthear-
ings (the case of those accused over the killing of Wal
Media coverage of the 11 September attacks was exten-
Street journalistDaniel Pearl is one example).
sive and,although no specific problems of intolerant
journalismare reported,a debate has taken place among
authors,politicians, journalists and intellectuals on the Few believe that the latest amendments to the constitu-
use of symbolsand words like “Christianworld”,“Mus- tion wdl assist the development of a more open and
lim world”,‘‘Islamic”and other term in media cover- pluralist media system within the country Indeed,
age and political debates.Some politicians now say that Musharraf’s constitutional changes hand more power
there should be more flexibilityand toleranceoverwhen to the military and they have further united the general’s
and where the police may tap phones and tape conver- opponentswho say Musharraf‘s position wdl be stronger
sations.There is also a debate in Norway taking place in after the October 10general elections and still give h m
the context of an old system of anetwork between gov- wide-rangingpowers under a supposedly more demo-
ernment authorities and military leadershipand centrally cratic set-up
placed editors and journalistsin Norwegian media.This
network of contacts,which has existed since the Cold Musharraf‘s leeway to carry out changes in the Consti-
W ar,is now being openly questioned.The Norwegian tution,however,has been upheld by the Supreme Court,
Union has asked the press ethics complaints committee which had also given h m three years to rule after the
to give a statement on whether or not such a network is coup and required him to call elections in 2002
.
acceptable as part of the conditions for an independent Musharraf‘s “reforms” allow him to dismiss an elected
and free press.There have been complaints by military parliament and government,and to appoint and sack
authorities on lack of competence and quality in the heads of importantconstitutional offices,powers previ-
media coverage of issues related to defence,the army ously exercised onlyby the prune mmster Ineffect,crit~cs
and strategic policy.In this way they,wantto continue say, the amendments wdl grant the military, whch has
the sort of network descnbed above. r u n Pakistan’saffam for more than half of its life as an
independentnation,a permanent roleover the function-
Pakistan ing of a popularly elected government

Pakistan is one of those counmes that has been most Although Musharraf says the package has been agreed
afterconsultation,sincepublic consultationswere opened
inJune,Musharraf has dismssed protests by an assem-
bly of politicd partles,lawyers' groups,fights-basedor-
ganizations and the intellectualsincludmgjournalists,all
of whom declared the changesan attack on the freew ill
of the people as exercised by their elected representa-
tives.
Palestine
The difficulties facing journalists in the Middle East in-
tensified in the period after 11 September.In the weeks
and months that followed the crisis developed into a
profound confrontation as bitter and as tragic as any in
the period smce the six-daywar in 1967.
On 8 October,in Gaza,police prevented journalistsfrom
coveringan anti-Americandemonstration."T h ~ w sas the
latest in a number of press freedom violations in the
Territories under Palestinian authority since the b e p -
ning of the international crisis caused by the terrorist
attacks on the United States.
While there is a fear that the Palestiman Authority is
taking advantage of the international media's focus on
the American response to increasinglyrepress the right
to information,these issues have been dwarfed by the
confrontationin the firstmonths of 2002inwhich hun-
dreds of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed.Local
and international media have been prevented from cov-
ering the reactions of the Palestinianpeople to 11 Sep-
tember.That same day,a cameramanwith the French
television channel TF1 was arrested for three hours and
at least four journalists were beaten.h g this dem-
onstration,which was declared illegal by the police,two
Palestinians were lulled.The Palestinian Authority de-
cided to ban,in the territories under its control,inter-
views of Palestinians on the subject of the attack
launched by the United States in Afghanistan.Since 9
October,access to Gaza is forbidden to foreigners,in-
cluding foreign journalists.The Palestinian Authority
justifiedh s measure by explaining that it was not able
to secure the safety of foreigners agamst possible at-
tacks.
On 14 September,the Palestinian police detamed five
journalists.They were covering a demonstration in the
Nusseirat refugee camp in memory of the perpetrator
of the 9 September suicide-bombattack in Nahariya,
Israel.A photographer and an editor from Reuters,an
Associated Press TV cameraman,the correspondentfor
the Abu Dhabisatellitetelevision channeland an Agence
France-Pressephotographerwere released one and a half
hours after the police had seized their tapes and films.
On 18 September,in Bethlehem,Palestmian police an-
nounced the implementation of new regulations con-
cerning Palestinian television and radio stations.They
were instructednot to broadcast news items concerning
calls for a general strike, nationalist activities,demon-
strations or secufity news without permssion from the
police or national security services l7
During 2002 the confrontation deepened with new Is-
raeli actions to counter suicide bombings.Actions were
taken to derecognise the professional status of Palestm-
ianjournalistsand widespread allegationswere made that
Palestinian media were promoting terrorism.The IFJ
carried a detadedmission to the regioninJune2002which
called foranew Israeli/Palestinian initiativeto issuepress
cards to journalists."
Poland
Media coverage was generally fair, quick and accurate.
There were a few incidents of anti-Muslimbehaviour
and physical attacks were widely reported and con-
demned.The general tone of media coverage focused
on the "war"on terrorism -not agamst the Muslim or
Arab world.The Presidentvisited a mosque in Gdansk
to apologise to the Muslm community.
The voices of journalistswere heard effectively during
the weeks after 11 September.Ryszard Kapusciuskr,the
distinguished reporterand author,launched a debate on
the implicationsforglobalisation,North-southrelations
and appealed for solutionsto third world underdevelop-
ment and the need to confrontwidespread problems of
social exclusion,fear and poor health care.On another
level, Oriana Fallaci's controversial essay on Christian
and Muslim values published in Gaqeta Wyborqa caused
a stir.Some described her remarks about Islam as racist
and hysterical while others said she was right to point
out the problem of discriminationa p s t Ch~stiansin
the Muslim world.The Media Ethics Council of jour-
nalists,establishedwith the support of the PolishJour-
nalists Association,criticised her views as well as some
racistand xenophobicopinionfrom a rmnorityof Polish
media.
Apart from some anti-warprotests,there have been no
other significant events nor any attempts to draft new
counter terrorism laws that might compromise civil lib-
erties or press freedom.
Qatar
A factor for change in Arab media has been the estab-
lishment of Qatar's aLJaqeera Satellite Channel,which
has been putting across the views of O s m Bin Laden
and his aLQaeda network. As the only broadcaster per-
mitted by the Taliban to operate in Kabul,aLJavera has
captured worldwide fame with exclusive pictures of
bombing raids and air defences,as well as -more con- ton,reports the Russian Union of Journalists,as well as
troversially -its transmission of taped messages from the Russian and international reaction to them.The ba-
the leaders of aL-Qaeda. sic theme has been the hostde methods of terrorism
and an understanding for the need of an international
Born five years ago out of the ruins of a faded co-ven- response.
ture between the BBC and Saudi investors,aL-JaTeer-ain-
herited many BBC-trainedjournalists left jobless when However,since the 11 September attacks,international
repeated Saudi attempts to Lnhibit reportingof regional concern for human rights abuses in Chechnyaappeared
issues forced the BBC to withdraw The Emir of Qatar to wane,althoughRussian forcesi n Chechnyahave con-
has mvested $150million in re-starbngthe project.The tinued to engage in extrajudcialexecutions,arrests,and
station has earned a steady flow of protests from fellow extortionof civilians.Since 11 September alone,at least
heads of state who are unused to seeing Arab stations one person per week has “disappeared”after beingtaken
interviewingIsraelicabmetministers,and treatingopenly into custody by Russian forces.Western governments
issues not normally exposed to the viewing masses. It did little to challengeperceptions that it had softened its 31
has also become Bin Laden’s favourite way of getting criticism of Russian actions in Chechnya to gam Rus-
his point of view across to the Arab and Muslim people, sian supportfor the war on terrorism.When he visited
over the heads of the sheikhsand presidents whose rule Russia last November, NATO secretary-generalLord
he detests. Robertson told his Russian host,who had justsidedwith
the United States in the fighta p s t terrorism,‘%e cer-
Al-Jayeem has been used by Western leaders,notably by tady see the plague of terrorism in Chechnya with Qf-
British Prime Mmster Tony Blair to put their point of ferent eyes now’’
view The channel,which carried a pre-recorded video
of Bin Laden giving a response to the opening of the The Russian Union warns that a campaign against ter-
rmlitary action a p s t Afghanistan,has also come un- rorism can be used as an excuse for inappropriate re-
der pressure from outside the region particularly in the strtctions on civil liberties and human rights -particu-
United States. lady in the Northern Caucasuswhere suchinfringements
are taking place on a daily basis. However,media are
Press freedom groups report that Qatar‘s emir, Sheikh coveringthese issues farless often than before.Although
Hamid bin Iaalifaal-Thaniof,said he was asked by the there is no direct increase in violations to press freedom
U.S. State Department,during a recentvisit to Washing- or civil rights beyond Chechnyq statements made by a
ton,to use hts government’sinfluence to soften the re- growing number of officials in the govement as well
porting stanceof aLJaTeerawhich,said the State Depart- as in the parliament show that attempts are underway to
ment, has provided air time for experts hostile to the take advantage of the situation in order to toughen con-
U.S. Denying the criticism, aLJaTerastated it gave both trols over the media.20
the U.S. and Afghanistan positions equal airtime. ‘ W e
give equal coverage to both sides and that is OUTrole.W e Saudi Arabia
present both sides”, said Mohammed Jassem al-Ali,di-
rector general of the television station. A ReutersreportfromRiyadhon 10October2002points
out that,while tradition still rules in Saudi Arabia,birth-
The channel’sunique access to Bin Laden has,accord- place of Islam,in themonth since 11 Septemberits news-
ing to media commentators,exposed a paradoxical as- papers have shown just how far press freedom has ad-
pect of the cultural divide,converted by 11 September vanced since the last big crisis 11 years ago.When Iraq
into a chasm.”It is now Western broadcasters who are invaded Kuwaitin August 1990,it took several days be-
under pressure from their governments to restrict ac- foresomeof the kmgdom’sdailies mentioned the event.
cess to their airwaves for people deemed enemies of the By contrast,US.attacks on Afghanistan - a sensitive
-
state.The Bush admirustrationand the Blairgovernment subject made instant front-pagenews.
have pressed their national networks to “exercise cau-
tion” over use of aL-JaTeera material, claiming pictures Newspaper editors say the government’s handling of
may contain “coded messages”. The network’s Kabul the media began to alter in the mid-l99Os,and they now
office w a s destroyed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in have an unprecedented degree of freedom.‘ W eare en-
October. joying a sort of freedom that we didn’t have before,’’
Mohammed al-Tunise ?d,itorof the Arabic busmess daily
Russia aL-E@adzah, told Reuters.Wobody tells us anymore
‘don’tpublish this’. They feel we are responsiblefor re-
The Russian mass media as awhole have covered widely flectmgthe interests of our country.”Saudinewspapers
and objectively the events in New York and Washing- are printmg stories about previously taboo issues like
 child abuse,mistreatment of domestic servants,and ris-
ing unemployment.
“Things have really opened up here -nowadays you
can’thide anything,’’Arab News editor-in-chiefmaled
A-Maeenatold Reuters.“As a journalistI feelmuch more
comfortable.” There has been extensive coverage of
the 11 September attacks and of military smkes against
Af&anistan. At the same time, journalists had become
more responsibleand the authoritieswould toleratecriti-
cism provided it was accurate.‘‘There is an acceptance
of criticism by government bodies on lots of issues -
they might get angry but they take it seriously,”al-Tunisi
32 said.
The main drivers of change in SaudiArabia -and else-
where in the region -have been satellite television and
the Internet.InSaudiArabia itself,editors believe Crown
Prince Abdullah has been instrumental in easing pres-
sure on the media since he took over the bulk of re-
sponsibility from an ailing IGng Fahd severalyears ago.
Interior Minister Prince Naif,another key figure,heads
an informationcouncil and holds regular off-the-record
briefings with media editors.The doors are opening,but
ministers and the country’sruling elite sdl guide cau-
tious moves towards full press freedom.
South Africa
The South Africa Union ofJournalists(SAUJ)
has criti-
cised the “growing harassment of journalists covering
the conflict in Afghanistan”and says scores of media
workers from around theworld had been arrested,physi-
cally attacked and sometimes barred from performing
theirprofessional duties in covering thewar.” SAUJgen-
eral secretary, Motsomi Mokhine, said the union was
horrified by the implications of the US.State Depart-
ment’sdemand that the media exercise caution in using
material from the aL-JuyeeraTV station,which has been
airing the views of Osama Bin Laden:‘ W ebelieve this
demand is an attackon freedomof expressionand might
lead to s d a r demands being made on journalists by
other sides in the conflict for or againsttheir own inter-
ests.’’
Spain
One countrywhere journalistsand media staffwere tar-
gets of terrorismprior to 11 Septemberwas Spainwhere
the activities of the terrorist separatist group ETA in
the Basque regionhad been roundly condemned by the
IFJ Congress,meeting in Seoul on 11 to 15 June,2001.
In the months prior to the Congress,three media work-
ers had been assassinated, several injured persons and
many more had been threatened.The IFJcalled on the
political authorities in the Basque region,Spain and the
European Union to take urgent measures to grant the
free exercise of journalism in the Basque region.
The events of 11 Septemberled to fresh national initia-
tives to counter the threat of terrorism,but indisce-
nate attacks on civil society continued during 2002 lead-
ing in August 2002 to new legslation from the govern-
ment seeking to ban the political party,Butmanu, that is
close to the terrorist organisation ETA.Although
Butmanu denies any links w ith ETA,the government al-
leges that the party is a key part of the armed group’s
shadowy network of commandos,hd-raisingactivi-
ties and recruitment operations.Authorities also accuse
Butmanu of fomenting street violence by radical Basque
youthgroupsthroupjh its stronganti-Spanishstances and
its refusal to condemn ETA’S attacks. The opposition
Socialists also backed the bill.However,legislatorsfrom
parties inthe Basque,Catalonian,Galicianand othersmall
regions either abstained or voted against the motion.
These non-violentparties,some of which are in favour
of Basque self-determination,fear they may also be
banned.A judge has ordered that ButaanuS activitiesbe
suspendedfor three years.The party is barred from call-
ingpublic demonstrations or political rallies or receiving
a share of electoral funds.But elected representativesof
the party w i
ll be allowed to serve out their terms in the
75-memberBasque regionalparliament.The party won
10 percent of the vote in the last Basque regional elec-
tion in May 2001.The authorities claim ETA has killed
836 people sinceits first attack in 1968 and injured 2,367
over the course of 3,391 attacks, and also sponsored
3,761 acts of so-calledlow-levelstreet violence since
1991.One group that has been particularly targeted has
been media.
Sweden
The Swedish Union of Journalistsreports some exam-
ples of intolerance in reporttng,but says this has been
offset by many more examples of serious attempts to
analyse the situation and present a balanced view of
events.Swedishmedia in general seem to be very aware
of the dangers and as awhole,the coverage can be said
to be professional and objective.Partof the debate tale
ing place also concerns the role of Swedish media and
its quality given the importance of the events after 11
September.There has been no open political discussion
about measures that might compromtse press freedom,
althoughcivillibertieshave been putunderpressure.The
governmenthas made it clear that Sweden is on Ameri-
ca’s side in the war on terrorism.So far,the media have
been left alone.
Reporting has been balanced,with sometimes very bi-
ased reportmg “counter-attacked”by more debate about
quality in journalism and the role of media and journal-
ists than is usually seenin Swedishmedia.(Inthis “new” when he highlighted the differences between fightmg
debate and quesboning of sources etc. has developed for freedom and terrorism and promsed to “firmly deal
fresh discussion about quality of reporting about, for with those elements that plan to destabdise Uganda”
instance,the situation in the Mtddle East.) The Suppressionof TerrorismBill,2001,which imposes
a mandatory death sentence for terrorists and any per-
However,when it comes to civilliberties and the judicial son who aids,abets,finances or supports terrorism was
system,it is a different story.Three Swedish citizens are tabled before Parliament at the same time 22 The law is
on the US.list of “terrorists”and in practice out-lawed intended to suppressacts of terrorismby imposmgtough
since severalmonths (all their financialassets have been sentences for terrorists,their sponsors and supporters
“frozen”,includinga housing allowance paid to one of It gives the High Court “extra-territorialjurisdiction”to
the famdies). They are “accused”of helping a/-Qaedafi- try any offence relating to terrorism comtted within
nancially @y sending money to their relatives in Soma- or outside Uganda It also seeks to give extra-ordinary
lia) but no evidence has been presented.For a long pe- powers to officers engaged in anti-terrorism mvestiga-
riod of time the governmentwas very quiet about this tions to carry out surveillance agmst suspects These
situation,but apparentlythe case has been discussed for powers include accessing suspects’bank accounts and
some time with American authoritiesand the three men interceptmg their phone calls, faxes, e-mailand other
involved seem to get some help in proving thelr mno- communicafion
cence.Meanwhile,they survive on money that is illegally
collectedamongpeople and the Swedishauthoritieshave when the Ugandan Parliamentfindy adopted the bill in
chosen to turn a blind eye to this.The compliance to- April 2002,it additionally threatened the death penalty
wards the US.has been very much criticized and de- to ’anyjournalist publishing materials deemed to sup-
bated by the media.Another Swedish citizenwith m-port terrorism The bill has raised malor concerns with
grant background is among those prisoners of war be- the UgandanJournalistsUnion and otherpress freedom
ingheld at Guantanamo.Again,thegovernmenthas been groups in the region
very passive.
Ukraine
Swifzerlcrnd
The Parliamentin Kiev has adopted a law “On the Fight
The Swiss affiliate of the IFJ,Comedia,reports that as Against Terrorism”which contains provisions that go
far as Switzerland is concerned,while no new lawshave beyond what is necessary to combat terrorism and
been introduced surroundmg the ‘<waon r terrorism” amount to a severe restriction on freedom of expres-
the quality of journalism has been affected Coverage sion.The law gives State authorities power “in the area
of the war was - for the most of it - very close to the of the conduct of a counter-terrorismoperation”to use
American point of view (withthe exception of the Pal- for official purposes means of communicationbelong-
estinian conflict,where more balanced and critical jour- ing to citizens,state agenciesand “organisations regard-
nalism has been evident) There has been precious little less of their form of ownership”.It also permits the
“real” investigationof the war on terrorism and events head of the counter-terrorismoperation to regulate the
around it activities of media representatives “in the area of con-
duct of the counter-terrorismoperation.”Both provi-
This may be due to the difficult worlmg conditions for sions confer an open-endedpower on State authorities
journalists covering the war directly from Afghanistan, to assume control over media,the only qualifyingprovi-
but the union says that there is also a widespread lack of sion being that the power can only be used during a
‘;Yantingto tell the true story”.A real problem for jour- ‘L counter-terrorismoperation”.

nalists working here in Switzerland - and a theme we as

a union treated and discussed several times over the last
few months concerns the working conditions of our
members. Due to the exceptional circumstances (war
on terrorism,Swissair grounding,attack on the parlia-
ment of Zug etc.), journalistshave worked exceptional
times beyond agreed limits and there is little chance to
recoup this extra time worked.
Uganda
Second,the powers granted to authorities under these
provisions are extremely broad and hence potenbally
subject to abuse Internabonallaw does recognise that
certatn obligations may be imposed on public service
broadcasters to,for example,broadcast public warnings
in times of nabonal emergency However, the powers
conferred by this Law go far beyond this and are, m-
deed,unprecedented in their scope,allowing the State in
effect to assume full control over the media

President Yoweri Museveni set the tone for Uganda’s The broad nature of these powers is exacerbated by the
anti-terroristactions after11 September in October 2001 loose definitionin Article 3 of “terroristactivity”,which
 would include political demonstrationswhere someacts celebrity-orientednews, combined with reductions in
of violence occur.The powers conferred under Article staff and news space,had exacerbated reader dissatis-
13,therefore,constitute a seriousrestriction on the right faction.
to freedomof expression,whtchcarmotbe justified,even
in the context of counter-terrorismoperations.The IFJ However,when military actionbegan on 7October 2001
says they should be removed.In addition,Article 15 of and media sought more access and information than
the law resttrcts circulation of information if it “dis- the Pentagon and the White House were wdling to pro-
closes special methods or tactics used in conductingthe vide,problems emerged.O n 10 October the Bush ad-
counter-terrorismoperation”,or that Yserves as propa- ministration called on all news networks to “exercise
ganda for or justification of terrorism”,or that “con- judgement” in broadcasting statements by Bin Laden
tains information about”staff involved in anti-terrorist and his associates,warning that they may include coded
actions. T h ~ law
s dubits legitimate,and indeed crucial, incitements to violence.
public debate and is open to abuse on political grounds,
34 potentially being used by the authoritiesto silencepoliti-
The Newspaper Guild-CWAestablished a web site to
cal opponents.23 publicise attacks on the media.% It has also issued nu-
merous advice and pdance on dealing with the threat
United States of America of anthrax following the targeting of media organisa-
tions and the death of aFlorida-basedjournalist.Awide-
The US.news media,battered for 25 years by declining spread debate on the role of media has emerged with
credibility,appear to have regamed respect among read- numerous cases of individualjournalists and news staff
ers and viewers -at least temporanly-after the 11 Sep- victimtsed for expressingviews thatdo not agree with
tember terroristattacks.Butwithm days journalistscame the conventional wisdom of the political and ditary
under pressure, says the Newspaper Guild-CWA,the administration.Journalistshave found themselves striv-
IFJaffiliate representing journalists and newspaper in- ing to maintain professionalismin an atmospherewhere
dustry staff.Some found themselvesexpected to become popular opinion suggests that in the aftermath of the
“patriots first, and journalists second”.Z4At the same attacks on New York and Washingtonpeople are all too
time the Congress has moved rapidly to adopt repres- willing to give up their essential liberty.A poll was con-
sive new immigration and wiretapping laws and other ducted by AJ3C News and the WmbingtonPoston 13 Sep-
anti-terroristmeasures raising serious concerns about tember in which 92 per cent of respondents said they
civil liberties. would support ‘hewlaws that would make it easier for
the FBI and other authorities to investigate people they
Linda Foley,President of the Newspaper Gudd-CWA, suspectof involvementin terrorism.”Supportdropped
reports that journalists and media staff -both at the only slightly, to 71 per cent,when people were asked
top and bottom of the media -have on the whole whether theywere prepared “to gwe up”someof Ameri-
acted responsibly.The unprecedented atrocities of 11 cans’personal liberties and privacy.
Septemberand the events in the followingdays,in whtch
journalists themselves were the targeted victims of at- In this atmosphere of widespread public anxiety,Arab-
tacks, has tested the professionalism of media to the Americans have been harassed and attacked hfusic has
full,she said The response of media has been meas- been censored InTexas,the FBIshutdown Arabic Web
ured with widespread support for the tough measures sites prompting,according to Reuters,charges of con-
enacted by the government,though the civil liberty im- ducting an “anti-Muslimwitch hunt ” In Baltimore,the
plications of changes in law raise some understandable Sun reported that anchors and even aweather forecaster
questions at one TV stationwere required “to read messages con-
veying fdlsupport for the Bush abistration’sefforts
‘Despite some early backlash against Arab-Americans against terrorism.”When staffersobjected,the message
and Islam,much of it an emotional and fearful reflec- was changed to indicate that it came from “station ma-
tion of anxiety in the wake of 11 September,there has nagement ”
been a high level of professionalism and racist attitudes
have been largely sidelined,”says Linda Foley. The Bush Administration has several times tried to curb
or control the flow of news This anti-democraticten-
In the firstweek after the attacks,“an unprecedented 89 dency met resistance,which demonstrated the country’s
per cent of the public gave the meda a positive rating, solid democratic traditions But there are anxieties that
according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the process has encouraged a daft towards increasing
the Press,a Washington-basedindependentpolling firm. self-censorshipamongjournalists Media critics of Presi-
This is a welcome change for many newspapers in par- dent Bush like Tom G u m g , city editor for the TR?c~J-
ticular,where a shift toward scandal,sensationalism and Czq Sun, and Dan Guthrie,a columnist for the Grantr
Pa>- Dai3 Comer in Oregon were fired.In September ently verify Pentagon claims.z In addition,a dozen me-
2001,the US.Department of State asked the Voice of dia organisations covering the military operations were
America, a US.government-fundedradio network, to prevented several times from doing their work by US.
refrain from running an interview with Mullah Special Forces troops.
Mohammad Omar,leaderof Afghanistan’srulingTaliban
saying that airing the interview would be providing a The foreign media were not spared either.On 12 No-
means for terroriststo communicatetheir messages and vember,U.S. troopsbombed and seriously damaged the
that it was not “newsworthy”.After staffers protested, Kabul offices of TV stationAI-Jupra. In February this
the State Department relented and the interview was year,the Pentagon refused to open an enquiry into the
broadcast on 25 September. bombing sayingthe buildingwas suspectedof harbour-
ingALQaeda militants and was,therefore,a military tat-
In October 2001,National SecurityAdvisor Condoleeaa get.This matter was the subject of strong protests by
Rice contactedthe fivenetworks to cautionthem against the IFJ and otherpress freedom groups.Journalistsfrom
runninginterviews of Osama bin Laden out of fear that CNN,CBS,TheAmy Times and others were given per-
his televised addresses may containhidden messages for mission inJanuaryto photograph and film in Kabul the
his followers,inspire his followers and frighten Ameri- departure of about 20 prisoners being flown to the US.
cans.Inanothercase,syndmted radio hostPeterWerbe’s naval base at Guantanamo Bay,Cuba.After the prison-
talk-radioshowwas dropped by radio station KOhW- ers were flown out,the journalistswere told they could
AM in Santa Cruz,California,in early October 2001 af- not use their pictures.A Pentagon spokesman said they
ter questioning U.S. military actions in Af&anistan. On violated internationalagreementsbecause theywere “de-
5 October,2001,President Bush,citing national sea- grading” for the prisoners. Several media ignored the
rity needs, instructed senior members of his govern- order.
ment to stop sending certain confidentialmaterial to
members of Congress for fear it would be leaked to the Media were also targets and victims in the rush to legs-
media.A few days earlier, the IVusbington Post had run a late agamst terrorism,a process that has raised the most
story sayingmembers of Congress had been told a new serious concerns among those campaigningfor civillib-
terrorist attack on the United States was very likely The erties.The limitations on press freedom imposed by the
president soon withdrew in the face of strong protests government includeundermining the confidentiality of
by members of Congress. Internetmessages.Shortly afterthe attacks on the World
Trade Center in New York, FBI agents went to the of-
O n 19 February,the New York Times reported that the fices of Internet service providers AOL,Earthlink and
Defence Department’sOffice of Strategic Influence Hotmail to install their Carnivore programme on the
(OS9had proposed plantmg disinformationin the for- servers,to monitor the e-mailof all their customers,in
eign media. At that m e , the government feared for- the hope of finding traces of the attackers on the
eigners would see the war against terrorism as a war Internet.This Internet monitoring was formalised on
against Islam. The outcry set off by these revelations 24 October when the House of Representativespassed
led the Khite House to order the OS1 closed down be- the PatriotAct,allowing the FBI to install Carnivore on
cause,accordingto defence secretaryDonald Rumsfeld, any Internetservice provider,to monitor all e-mailmes-
“the Pentagon does not lie to the American people.” sages and keep track of the web-surfingof people sus-
pected of having contacts with a foreign power.To do
From the first day of the US.military’s Operutzon Endzlr- this, the only permission needed is from a special legal
zng Freedom in Afghanistan in October 2001,the Penta- entity whose activities are secret.The measures also in-
gon imed to exercise control over the media.The filming cluded easing the rules surrounding phone tapping.As
of the war was Lnhibited by an exclusive government well as the invasion of individual privacy, this blank
contract with the firm Space Imaging,preventing the cheque given to the FBI threatens the confidentiality of
company from “selling, distributmg,sharing or provid- journalists’sources.
ing”pictures taken by the Ikonos civilian satellite to the
media,which were thus deprived of pictures of the re- Encryption technology,which allows Internet users to
sults of the US.bombings taken by this satellite.Ikonos code their messages to keep them private,is under at-
is the most efficient of the civilian satellites.mile the tack from the FBI’sMagic Lantern programme,a virus
Pentagon says the agreement is meant to supplement that can be sent to targets by e-& without their knowl-
the government’sown satellite images,observers point edge and which records their keystrokes and thus the
out that the agreement means that the news media w il
l key to the encryption codes.After the press reported
no longerhave access to such images and,as aresult,are this, the FBI denied it had such a device,but admitted it
unable to report on basic aspects of military actions in was working on one.The American Civil Liberties Un-
Afghanistan.Journalistsw il not be able to independ-
l ion (ACLU)announced “bitter disappointment” with
 the passage of anti-terrorismlegslation,which mirrored
closely highly controversialonpal legdativeproposals
the Bush Ahistration submtted to the House of
Representames and the Senate ‘Thisbill has simply
missed the mark ofmaxming secuntyand,at the same
time, minimizing any adverse effects on America’s
freedoms,”saidLauraW Murphy,Directorof the ACLU
Washington Nakonal Office “Most Amencans do not
recognizethat Congress has justpassed a bill thatwould
give the governmentexpanded power to invade our pn-
vacy, imprison people without due process and punish
dissent”
36 Congress has recent expenence in how not to react to a
terronst attack A year after the Oklahoma City bomb-
ing of 1995, Congress passed the Anti-Terronsmand
Effective Death Penalty Act,a piece of legislation that
severely curtded the wnt of habeas corpus,making it
far more difficult for convicted c m a l s -even those
amtmg the death penalty -to present new evidence
that they had been wrongly convicted.It M e r allowed
the use of secret evidence in deportation cases agatnst
mgrants In recent years, a number of proposals to
c u d fundamental freedoms in the name of secunty
have lurked in back officesin Washington and elsewhere,
waiting for the nght time to be sprung upon an unsus-
pecting public
The new law adopted by Congress follows closely the
text subrmtted by Attorney General JohnAshcroft as
the so-calledAnti-TerronsmAct of 2001,or ATA.The
bill was the subject of wide-rangingopposition from a
broad coalition of interest groups ranging from the
Amencan Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF),and the Electronic Privacy
InformationCenter (EPIC)to conservativegroups such
as Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum and the Gun Owners
of Amenca.
“The new Senatelegislationgoes farbeyond any powers
conceivably necessary to fight terrorism in the United
States,” said Laura W Murphy,‘Thelong-termimpact
on basic freedomsin this legislationcannotbe justified.”
“For immigrants,”added Gregory T.Nojeim,Associate
Director of the ACLU’sWashington Office,“ h s bill is
a dramatic setback It is unconscionable to detain immi-
grants who prove in a court of law that they are not
terrorists and who win their deportation cases.”
Other threats lurk.Certam elements in Washington have
been trying foryears to ban the use of encryption tech-
nology unless the government could be guaranteed a
w a y to crack the code.There is no evidence the New
York and Washington terronsts used encryption,but
freedom fighters in otherparts of the world have used it
to safeguard their cornmumcations from tyrants such as
Slobodan Mdosevic.When encryption is outlawed,only
outlaws w
il
l use encryption.
Adany fear that in the desperate search for secunty,the
right to private speech, to engage in public discussion,
and to do so anonymously w il be drastically diminished
l
and the Bill of Rghts substantiallyweakened.
The ALCU says many of the provisions enhance the
power of the FBI to spy on Americans for “intelligence”
as opposed to criminal purposes. Other “information
sharing”provisions direct highly personal information
about Americans into the hands of the CIA and the
Departmentof Defense,without meanin@ restrichons
on how it is used orre-di~tributed.’~The historicalrecord
makes clear that unchecked trust in the government to
spy on its citizens responsibly is misplaced.The ACLU
points to the introduction of the FBI’s infamous and
secretCounter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO),
created out of fear of growing social dissidence by Di-
rector J. Edgar Hoover,which harassed and spied on a
vast number of peaceful socialprotest groups.The vast
majority of the organisations and individuals targeted
for surveillancewere actuallyavowedlynon-violent.O n e
of the most prominent public figures investigated was
the Rev hlartin Luther Ihg.
In light of the 11 September attacks, says Laura W
Murphy,the lessons of historical examples of inappro-
priate and unconstitutional domestic surveillance are all
the more relevant.‘The current ahistration would
do well to remember its predecessors’breaches of the
public trust,” she says.‘?f Congress reallywishes to earn
America’s trust,it should ensure that its anti-terrorism
legislation contain all the essenoal checks and balances
to preventthe political or ideologcalsurveillanceof law-
abidmg citizens.”
The threat posed to civil liberties aside,fears over press
freedom and the constitutional protection of the First
Amendment do not so much concern official censor-
ship -that is, bans enacted by the government -as
self-censorship,a phenomenon that is far more danger-
ous in an age of media conglomerates than it would
have been in an earlier time.
Zimbabwe
The campagnof the r e p e of Robert Mugabe against
independentmedia and professional journalistsreached
a rare peak of hystena and paranoia on 23 November
2001, when a government spokesman announced that
six journalistsworkmg for foreign-basedmedia,includ-
ingboth Zimbabweansand non-citizens, who wrote sto-
nes on attacks on whites and political violence in Zim-
babwe would be treated as terronsts.
“It is now zn open secret that these reporters are not
only distorwg the facts but are assisting terrorists who
stand accused in our courts of law of abduction,torture
and murder, by covering up and misrepresenting the
brutal deeds of terronsts”,said the presidenhal spokes-
man,adding that,‘Asfor the correspondents,w e would
lke them to knowthatwe agreewith US PresidentBush
that anyone who in any way finances,harbors or de-
fends terrorists is himself a terrorist We, too,w il
l not
make any difference between terronsts and their friends
and supporters”

Internal cntics of the Mugabe regme have increasingly

been subjected to intimidation,harassment,and arrest
Inhis remarks,the presidentd spokesmanalso criticized
Zimbabwe’s independent media for mtimidating state-
controlled media, stating that, “this land of media ter-
rorism wdl not be tolerated”

Ironically,the government has remained subdued as

unknown attackers have firebombed,threatened and at-
tacked the offices of the Da13Nejus,one of the newspa-
pers most critical of the regme.”
 m a y threatenexistmgstandardsof personal fkedornand References
press freedom.Journalistsshould be among the first
I For furtherdormation,see “Meha,Entertainmentand Arts All-
to question politicians who make quick-fmpromises ance”,see http://wvwallmice.org.au/
in the name of security,pamcularlywhen our ability h t t p : / /.alliance.org.au/
~
to collect and store information,to protect sources Full details from h t t p : / / v v w w
of information,to carry out legitimate inquiry,and Full details of the proposed new laws are avdable at
http:Ilwww.statevatch,cxg,hx
to be independentof the policing and securityserv- IFJPress Release,27May 2002. m
ices,are at risk. Thc IFJwill engage fully in this de- Detds avdablefrom Reporters Samfiontieresat http://wwwrsf . .fr/

bate. ’Furtherdormation from the Finnish Union ofJournahstsat

. ..
l l t t p ; / / e stllutto.fi/inenglish
The evidence of thts report alone shows that,‘among WEISCHENBERG,S. contact.through Deutscher Joumahsten
Verbandathttp://www.djvde/home.htmlsee
others,in Canada,the United States,Great Britam,Aus- Furtherdormatton fromTim Gopslll at
38 tral~~,
France,Russia and wittun the Ewopean Union, http://vwqnquq+/m eclalnuj.html
there is a worrying rush to legslate on new rules on lo Press release October 13,Athens.See W w . e s i e a . g r /
phone-tapping,police surveillance,encryption technol- IsraelNationalNews,12 September2001.
ogy,detentionof rmgrants,control of the Internetand NEVE G., Ben-GuionUniversitywriting for
Inthesetirnes.com
fceedom of movement.Many believe these new laws Further dormationfrom IFJTokyo Offlce.
arebeing &;ifteed and processed too quickly €oreffective E-mad: fi-okuda@&y.com
scrutiny by the public atlarge or by legislatorsThe Ln- l4 See InternationalFreedom of Expressionexchange (IFEX?at
pacton journalists and theirwork couldbe far-reaching. h p : /lvwwlfex.org
Ishtt.//mww.damedia.nl,L and htp://=In ternetjoumdkd
See InternationalFreedom of Expression exchange (IFEX?at
http:I IWWW.Ifex.org
-
l’ For fullreports on incidentsthat affected joumahstsinthis period
see .Ifi.org
See IFJReport Deadznes andDatzger,www.$ag
l9 See commentin 0pendemocracy.netby David Elstein andJames
Curran,15 October 2001.
2o Details can be obtained from the Moscow-basedGlasnost De-
fence Foundationat http://wwwdfmf . .

The SAUJGeneral Secretarycan be contacted at

e-mailm&hne@)sau! .co.za
22 New Vision,4 October 2001.
l3 Informationfrom Article 19,the Centre for Free Expression.
34 More dormationavailable from h t t o / s - d d . o r g L
25 2edged.php
26 New York E m s , 19 October 2002
27 The full text of thelegislatlonis avadableatht@d/-
2E For more dormation see mmv.kj.org
29 PARKINSON, R 2002.World Association of Newspapers,Presi-
dent,3June.

a have escaped murder attempts In a highly developed South American countrywith
In
Danger
Mogens Schmidt*
World Association of
Newspapers and Director,
World Editors Forum
* MI M.Schmidt is now Director,
Division br Freedom of Expression,
Demwaq and Peas UNESCO,Paris.
In a windy corner of a large,democratic European country,editors and journalists
are being physically assaulted,several journalists have been killed and many others
a long tradition for democracy and a flourishing cultural life, an atmosphere of
inmudation and fear is m a h g it impossible for editors and journalists to live a
normal life, privately and professionally I am talking about the Basque region in
Spatn and I a m talking about Colombia
m e n journalistshave to begin their day on their hands and knees lookingforbombs
under their cars telling their children that they are looking for the cat so as not to
scare them,when steel doors and refined arms and bomb detectors have to be
installed in newspaper offices and pmting plants,and when journalists cannotfetch
their childrenafter school or eat in the same restauranttwonights in a row,the media
are in danger.When journalists or their families are threatened because of what they
39
write,and when other editors and journalists are forced to pay so-calledprotection
money to stay out of the terrorists’sights, the media are in danger.When journalists
have to carry bullet proof vests and run m zigzag in order to escape attacks from
left-wingand right-wingguerdas,from extreme nationalistgroups,and from crimi-
nals,the media are in danger.
The World Association of Newspapers (WAN)and the World Editors Forum,the
editorialbranch of WAN, have decided to establish a series of press freedom activi-
ties in those countnes where meda are indeed in danger.This initiative has been
taken in order to create increased attention to the problem and to work out a new
three-step-strategy,which we at WAN believe w ill create the most efficient output.
The three-step strategy comprisesan initialphase with field and document research,
and missions;a second phase to create attention,includingthe organisingof one or,
more high profile conferences in the targeted region or country;and a third phase
with a capacity building programme that caters forboth the eminent press freedom
issues and for assisting the media in obtaining true fmancialindependence through
developing their business performance and edtorial quality.
Fighting for Press Freedom
There are many press freedom organisationsworkmg nationally and internationally
All of them are important and are contributingto every small progress that is actu-
ally made in the field.All of them,at the same time,are also workmg under dffidt
conditions,often under-fmanced,and sometlmes these orpsationsare threatened
and persecuted justllke critical,independentmedia.All of them need the collabora-
tion of s d a r organisationsin other countmes,they need the attention and support
from donor orpsations in the fieldand they need nationaland international expo-
sure of their work and the problems they are facing.It is one of the aims of Meda
in Dangeractivities to assist in meeting this objective.
It is a perversion of civil condttions for the media,when printing plants and news-
rooms have to be fortified and staff and visitors have to undergo security checks
agam and again.It is poisonmg the professional standards of journalism when fear
for your own life or that of your relatives is influencingyour reportingand editorial
decisions.Publishers,editors,press photographers and journalists,d media profes-
sionals,work under dangerous conditions in countrieswhere press freedom is not
an established reality. It does not matter whether the threat comes from local or
national authorities,from criminals or from guerlrllas and terrorists.What matters is
to assist these media professionals in the best practical way This is the other objec-
tive of M e d a in Danger activities.The fight for press freedom needs exposure,and
the media professionals fighting for the right to write and tell the full truth about
current issues need the active backing from colleagues from all over the world and
 from such organisations that have been created to sup- importance of supportingthe business development of
port the quest for freedom of expression.This is an- the media to secure a truly independent press.
other objective of Media in Danger activities.
A capacity-buildingprogramme will always be an in-
Business Development and tegrated part of Media in Danger activities.This pro-
Press Freedom gramme w i
ll always comprisepractical initiatives to help
protect media professionals,initiatives to enhance mo-
It is generally accepted that the exlstence of a free and nitoring of press freedom violations,initiatives to assist
independent press is fundamental,indeed a precondi- exiled journalists,initiativesto organisepublic campaigns
tion,to the establishmentofdurable democracy and an for press freedom and to support jailed journalists,ini-
effectivemarket economy Good government,a mature tiatives to fight impunity by providtng legal assistance.
system of political alternance and responsiblecivil soci- It w il
l also comprise training intended to improve the
ety rarely if ever develop in the absence of a strong, professional editorial and writing skills of reporters and
40 critical and free press Freedom of the press demands trainingto develop localprofessional standards.Further-
not only that journalistsbe able to exercise their profes- more,it wd also comprise such issues as increasing ad-
sion without restriction It also requires the existence of vertising revenues for newspapers,the establishmentof
well-managed,economically viable newspaper enter- intelligentCustomer Relation Management systems,as-
prises,operatmg within effective infrastructures sistance in creatmg Internet-basednews-services,and
newspaper management training for both the editorial
All over the developmg world,and m countless coun- and the commercialworkforce.
tries g& the transition to democracy and a market
economy,newspapers with excellent journalists have Media in Danger Events
faded to accomplishtheirmission because they have failed
as businesses. In many cases, they have not had a sec- Bilbao, the Basque Region of Spain
ond chance ,4brief window of opportunity fordemoc-
racy has closed behind them.When the socialist regimes WAN started its Media in Danger activities in 2001 O n
of the Sovietbloc collapsed at the end of the 1980s,the the encouragment of the Spanish newspaper publish-
need to help the rapid creation of an independentpress ers association AEDE,a number of WAN staff and
in these countries,if recognized at all, w a s barely a foot- representatives from the WAN Press Freedom Advi-
note in the master-plansdrawn up to reconstruct the sory Committee went in Mai-ch2001 on a fact finding
economies of the region A decade later,one could see mission to Spain,especially to the Basque region in the
that in Russia alone the vast majority of newspapers North A reportwas written,on the basis of more than
outside Moscow r e m m in the hands of provincial and 20 interviews with all the media in the region,politicians
localgovernmentadministrators,with the consequences representingall parties and other key persons
one can m g m e on their editorialmdependence,objec-
tivity and willingness or ability to expose corruption and
After writing the report,WAN organized in collahora-
bad management and,only recently,there are the first
tion with the Spanish publishers and the media in Bil-
signs of a new development for the press
bao in the Basque region a large conference in Septem-
ber 2001 More than 250 media professionals took part
If mere survivalwere ambitionenough,one might even in this conference Speakers included journalists and
consider the Russian press fortunate in finding politi-
editors who had been attacked by ETA,a panel of all
cians avid to retain press control and influencethrough
the Spanish newspaper publishers who at this Confer-
subsidies Most newspapers in Ukraine, Georgia,Ar-
ence for the first tune were on a public stage together,
menia,Albania,Belarus,Bulgaria or the former Soviet
Republics of Central Asia,live either a hand-to-mouth and national and internationalreporterswho talked about
existence or face imrmflent danger of bankruptcy,both how towork under s d a r dangerous conditionsin coun-
of whch effectively prevent their development as seri- tries such as Agena, Colombia,Indonesia,Israel and
ous counterweightsto the abuse of political power Northern Ireland The manifest outcome of the Con-
ferencewasastrongresolution,which is mcluded m this
In the new development programmes for Afghanistan, chapter,condemningterrorism against the media How-
the plans for ad and reconstruction of society do m- ever,the outcome was c e r d y also the strengthened
deed cornprise supportformedia infrastructureand tr;un- collaboration among Spanish and Basque media which
ingprogrammes to make media professionals better JOW- had not been working strongly together in the fightfor
nalists and better entrepreneurs.That is an encouraging press freedom before and the increased national and m-
sign.Another one is that the new annual report from ternahonalattention to the horrendous terror in a small,
the World Bank Institute dedicates a full chapter to the windy comer of Europe
Bogota, Colombia
The second Media in Danger Conferencetook place in
Bogoti, Colombia, in March 2002.The conference
brought back to Colombia six media professionalswho
had had to flee their country and live in exile.Their tes-
monies were a strong argument for the reason to con-
tinue to fightagatnst the violations of press freedom in
Colombia,whether these violations came fromparamili-
tary groups,guerrillas or drug gangsters.Speakers also
included leading Colombian and South American intel-
lectuals and,a p ,it was a clear objectiveof the event
to bring together all of the newspaper publishers to se-
cure a strong collaborationwithin the press to stand up
against terror.Also in Bogoti,the 300participants car-
fled a strong resolution. Press Release and Resolution from
the Bilbao Media in Danger Event
D u m g the second day’s Capacity Building Workshop, Bilbao, Spain, 14 September 2001
the pdcipatmgrepresentatives from the media and from
Colombian press freedom orpusations agreed upon a
concreteassistanceprogramme forenhancingpress free-
dom work and collaborationamong these organisations
and on providmg the Colombian press with stronger
tools for their business development to improve their
independence
The programme included eight different activities.The
first aimed at enforcing press freedom monitoring
through enhanced cooperation among the main Colom-
bian press freedom organisations.Through better-coor-
dinated activities,it w
il be ensured that press freedom
l petrated on quite another scale than the regular acts of
monitoring and assistance to threatened journalists and
their f d i e s w
il be improved and better coordinated.
l ing resolution of the Conference on Terrorism Agatnst
The second is atraining and work programme forexiled
Colombian journalists,which w ill be created with the
support of internationaldonor organisations.Third,a
UNESCO guide for journalists workmg in conflict ar-
eas will be adapted to Colombian conditions and dis-
tnbuted through the Fundacion Antonio Nannho.The
IFJ will open a “Solidai-ityCentre” in Bogoti to assist
Colombianjournalistswith practicaland legalassistance.
Fifth,the Interamerican Press Association (IAPA)has
committed to make alargernumber of training scholar-
ships adable for Colombian media professionals,no-
tably for those working in the most dangerous regions
and those already in exile.
Furthermore,the InternationalMedia Support@MS)w il
l oping democracy.
fund a WAN m m m g and consultingprogramme on Cus-
tomer Relations Management for the national press m
Colombiaand also aWAN trainingand consultancypro-
gramme on advertising sales and other commercial IS-
sues for Colombian regonal press Finally,sponsorshp
is at present sought for a comprehensive training pro-
gramme in newspaper management, comprising tech-
nological,commercial and editorial issues.
Future Media in Danger Events
There is unfortunatelyno doubt that there are std many
countries and regions where the media are in danger
One of the preconditions for the WAN Media in Dan-
ger Programme is the active involvementof a local,sig-
nificant press institution that wdl assure the active in-
volvement of all the media publishers in the country or
region This precondltion excludes somecountnes,where
othermeans for supportmust be found Thereare,how-
ever,still ample possibilities for three-stepstrategy Me-
dia in Danger events m the countriesof Central Asia,in
Bangladesh, in Nepal, in Namibia, in Venezuela, in
41
Moldova,in Ukraine and m Pakistan
More than 200publishers,journalists and free press ad-
vocates from 25 countries,meeting in Bilbao,Spain,on
Friday,condemned “without reservation” the “outra-
geous and cowardly”attacks on the media by Basque
terrorists.In a resolution,they stated that the murders
of press executives and the bombing of media enter-
prises in S p m were the work of terrorists pursuing the
same “fanatical logic”as the terroristswho wroughtmass
destruction in the United States on Tuesday.
“The catastrophe in the United States is evidently per-
terroristmurder and destructionin Spain,”said the clos-
the Media.“The roots of this violence and the motives
of the killers are,however,essentially the same and fol-
low a similar fanaticallogic:to pursue political ends not
by debate and the free flow of information and ideas,
but by terrorising and eliminamg the people, institu-
tions,and guarantorsof democratic society,”it cautioned.
In a message to the conference,the President of the
European Parliament,Nicole Fontaine,said:‘ThePar-
liament,and myself,consider the fightagainst terrorism
in Spain a priority of the European Union because ter-
rorism denies the fundamentalrightsand the democratic
principles on which our Union is founded.”She said
that attacking freedom of the press was a priority for
the terrorists because of its fundamental role in devel-
The conference had been planned before the fatal US
attacks to focus on terromm a p s t the media,pmcu-
lady in Spm’sBasque region,where the terroristorpu-
sation ETA has made media and their staff a priority
target for violent attacks.The resolution concluded:“In
these tragic days of new and unprecedented terroragainst
humanity,it is more urgent than ever to stand resolute
 agamst, and to condemn,every smgle violation of the UNESCO and the International Media Support Fund
fundamental,democratic principles which govern the have organised the conference Media m Danger taking
civilised world.” place in Bogota on 22-23 March 2002, gathemg more
han 200 media professionals from 15 countries.
In additionto focusingon the escalation of attacks agamst
the media III the Basque region,the conference also ex- The Conferencecondemnswithout reservation the out-
m e d violence againstthe media m Algeria,Colombia, rageous and cowardly attacks on the free press and calls
Indonesia,Israel and Northern Ireland The resolution on the authorities,police and security forces to do eve-
expressed “total solidmty with journalists and media m rything possible to apprehend the perpetrators The
the Basque country in their dangerous and courageous Conference underlmes the importanceof national and
work“ and called on all political parties to denounce all mternational attention to the plight of the Colombian
forms of violence agmst the media press m the face of murders and kidnappmgs The Con-
ference urges initiatives to advance efforts to protect
42 The conference was organised by the World Associa- media professionals,mcludmg the remforcementof the
tion of Newspapers,the World EditorsForum,the Span- Colombian press freedom organisations
ish Newspaper Publishers Association (AEDE),sup-
ported by the Federation of Spanish Press Associations On behalf of the world newspaper community,we the
(FAPE)It was hosted by Gmpo Correo.It follows a participants also express our total solidmty with jour-
WAN and World Editors Forum mssion to the Basque nalists and media III Colombia m their dangerous and
Country that found an alarming increase in threats,m- courageouswork and their refusal to be held hostage to
-dation, and attacks on meda staff made by the radi- threats and violence The participants of the Confer-
cal Basque nationalist terror organisation,ETA and its ence strongly encourage all democratic political parties
supporters The attacks have made it impossibleforjour- in Colombia to denounce without reserve all forms of
nalists there to live normal lives,both privately and pro- violence and mtirzlidation of the press and to refrain
fessionally from any speech or writmg that incites hatred or vio-
lence agam t media
Press Release and Resolution from
the Bogotu Media in Dunger Event In a penod of unprecedented terror agmst humanity,it
Bogota, 1 1 March 2002 is more urgent than ever to stand resolute apst,and
to condemn,every single violation of the fundamental,
More than 200 publishers,lournalistsand free press ad- democratic principles,which govern the civdised world.
vocates from 15 countries,meeting m Bogoti,Colom- That has been the a m of this conference.
bia on Friday,22 March 2002 condemnwithout reserva-
tion the outrageous and cowardly attacks on the media
by Colombian c m a l s and terrorists.

Freedom of expression and the right to be mformed are

basic conditions for any society to be defined as demo-
cratic Any threat to these fundamental rights senously
damages society and endangers democracy Media pro-
fessionalsworking to maintain these principles have the
right to carry out theit duties safely and freely without
the nsk of being threatened,harassed or attacked

InColombia,paramilitaryand criminalorganisationshave
made media and their staff a target for violent attacks.
Thus freedom of expression and of the press is seri-
ouslylmted by murder,terrorism,kidnappmgpressure,
inmdation,destruction of p m m g and broadcast fa-
cilities, and violence of any kind and m p m t y for per-
petrators

In order to confront this challenge,the World Associa-

tion of Newspapers,the World Editors Forum,the Co-
lombian Newspaper PublishersAssociation,Andiarios,
together with the Inter-AmericanPress Organisation,
 Introduction
Terrorist
Attacks of In the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September,anumber of governmentsaround
the world took steps to enact new legislationto enable them to take more effective
11 September: measures to combat terrorismworldwide.To a greater or lesser extent,these legisla-
tive efforts give the authorities legitimatenew powers to address the very real prob-
lem of terrorism,a problem which,in the past,appears to have attracted less official
Consequences attention,at least in some countries,than one would have expected.At the same
m e , however,governments have taken advantage of the climate of fear,in certain
for cases verging on hysteria,to give themselves some powers which trench on human
rights.The most obvious,and blatant,examples of this are in relation to the deten-
Freedom of tion,removal and/or mal of suspected terrorists without respect for due process
guarantees that have been establishedover centuries.However,in some cases,legs-
Expression lativemeasures have also eroded guarantees of freedom of expression and of infor-
mation.

More subtle,but no less important,is the impact of 11 September in terms of self-

censorship,both encouraged by the authorities and in response to public attitudes.
This self-censorshiphas made it difficultopenly and critically to discuss issues such
as the root causes of terrorism and how best to address this problem,including an
assessment of the effectiveness and legitimacy of the war in Afghanistan,the terri-
ble events now takingplace in Israel and Palestine,and the threatof further ditary
measures to fight terrorism.It has also made it much more difficult for human
rights advocates to promote what are now unpopular causes,such as the human
rights of those accused of terrorism.This undermines holistic,long-termattempts
to address the problem of terrorism.

A related problem is the enormous international attention currentlybeing devoted

by the internationalcommunity to the fighta p s t terrorism.While this is not a bad
thing in itself,it has two side effects which are most unfortunate for human rights
advocates.First,given capacity limits for international action,the overwhelming
focus on terrorism diverts attention from human rights issues.Second,some of the
main powers playing an active role in the fight a p s t terrorism,particularly the
United States,have been prepared to overlook human rights abuses to gain allies or
strategicadvantage.This makes it significantlymore difficultforhuman rights advo-
cates to effect change.

Freedom of Expression and Combating Terrorism

Internationalbodies and courts have made it very clear that freedom of expression
and informationis one of the most importanthuman rights In its very first session
in 1946 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 590 which
states.“Freedom of informationis a fimdamentalhuman rightand the touch-stone
of all the freedoms to whch the United Nations is consecrated”
Toby Mendel
As this resolutionnotes,freedom of expression is both fundamentally important in
its own right aqd also key to the fulfilmentof all other fights.It is only in societies
Head
where the free flow of informakon and ideas is pemtted that democracy can flour-
law Programme,
ish In addition,freedom ofexpression is essential ifviolations ofhuman rights are
ARTICLE 19
to be exposed and challenged The importance of freedom of expression has re-
peatedly been stressed by both international and national courts

Efforts to promote greater respect for freedom of expression are crucial to any
long-termstrategy to address the problem of terrorism.It is only in the context of
respect for freedom of expression that the root causes of terrorism can be ad-
 dressed The three special international mechanisms on has stated thatthis requirementw il
lbe fulfilledonlywhere
freedom of expression,the UN Special Rapporteur on the law is accessibleand “formulated with sufficientpre-
Freedom of Opinion and Expression,the OSCE Rep- cision to enable the citizen to regulatehis conduct.”Sec-
resentative on Freedom of the Media and the OAS Spe- ond,the interferencemust pursue one of the legitimate
cial Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression,adopted a aims listed in the treaty in question.These aims include
JointDeclaration on 20November,2001 stating,among public order and national security.Third,the restfiction
other things that “we are] of the view that the events must be necessary and proportionate to secure the le-
of 11 September,2001 and their aftermathhighlightthe gitimate aim.Addressing terrorism is clearly a legitimate
importance of open public debate based on the free aim, but where measures have an excessive impact on
exchangeof ideas,and should serveas a catalyst forStates freedom of expression,or could be drafted more nar-
all over the world to bolster guarantees of freedom of rowly and still achieve the am, they cannotbe justified.
expression”
In various countries around the world,such as Belarus,
44 Respect for freedom of expression is essential both in Canada, India, Nepal, the United Ibgdom and the
those countrieswhich are potential targets of terrorism United States,new legislation has been introduced in
and in those counmes which harbour or generate ter- the wake of the attacks of 11 September to address the
rorists.Although there canbe no question that the meth- threat of worldwide terrorism.These laws focus prima-
ods employed by terrorists on 11 September were to- rily on powers to detain and try suspected terrorists.Of
tally illegitjmate,it is equally clear that they were moti- some notoriety,for example,is the Executive Order is-
vated by concernswhich s d e a chord with many peo- sued by PresidentBush of the United Stateswhch pro-
ple,pa%cularly those living in the poorer regions of the vides for the trial of non-citizen“international terror-
world.These concerns may be described as ‘pull”fac- ists” by military commissions,originally envisaged as
tors for terrorism.It is short-sighted,indeed futile,to being held in secret.This provides authority for trials of
attempt to address the problem of terrorism without ul-k)aedasuspectsat the U.S. military base in Guantanamo
understanding pull factors and taking steps to address Bay,Cuba.
them.This can only be done through frank, open de-
bate,in a context of respect for freedom of expression
The new rules also have implications for freedom of
and the free flow of information and ideas. expression.An example of a measure restrictmg free-
dom of expression is a provision under the USA PA-
At the same time, terrorism thrives in repressive envi- TRIOTAct (Unitedand StrengtheningAmerica by Pro-
ronments,where peaceful,democraticmeans of express-
viding Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
ing dissent,and of having one’sviews heard, are not
ObstructTerrorism) allowingthe U.S. Secretaryof State
adable.It also thrives on rumours,distortion and bias;
in other words in places where reliable,accurate infor- to declare persons seeking entry into the US.to be “in-
mation is not freely adable.There is, therefore,a clear admissible” because they are deemed to have undertaken
associationbetween breedmggrounds forterrorismand advocacythatundermines U.S. anti-terroristefforts.The
lack of respect for human rights,and in particular the broad terms of this power mean that it can be used
right to freedom of expression, what we might call apnst practically anyone criticising the US.admmstra-
‘push”factors.A comprehensive strategy to address tion’sapproach to combatmg terror.This may deter le-
terrorism must,therefore,seek to eliminate push fac- gtimate criticism of U.S. policy and/or practice abroad,
tors,includmgby dancingprotection forhuman rights. fo r example where journalistsare concerned aboutjeop-
ardising their ability to enter the U.S. It could lead to the
Finally,there is a need for more,and better,contact be- exclusion from the US.,for example,of a British jour-
tweencommunitiesand societiesaround the world.Over nalistwho opposed Bush‘sproposed “ditary solution”
the longer term, contact,including open communica- for Iraq.
tion,is the onlyway to addressproblems such as racism,
which has unfortunately flourished since 11 September, The breadth of this power and the fact that it is wielded
and partisanship,includingboth anti-Arabsentimentand by a political actor,the Secretary of State,make it hard
demonising the West and the United States. to justify as a restriction on freedom of expression.It
may be contrastedwith the general constitutional stand-
OfficialMeasures Restricting Freedom ard in the US., whereby speech may be limited onlywhere
of Expression it constitu tes incitement to lawless action (mere advo-
cacy of such action is permitted) and where the threat
Under international law,freedom of expression may be of lawlessness is imminent.States obviously have the
restricted,but only where the measures taken meet a right to prevent terrorists from entering their borders,
strict three-parttest.First,the interferencemust be pro- but this is quite different from excluding everyone
vided forbylaw The European Courtof Human Rights deemed to undermine US.anti-terroristefforts.
The PATRIOT Act also grants the FBI broad powers self-censorship.In the past, courts have often struck
to investigate terrorism,includingby looking into read- down these powers as offensive to human rights and,
inghabits and the like of suspects The Act also prohih- although terrorism has to be addressed,there is little to
its libmes and bookstores from disclosmg the fact that suggestthat broader surveillance powers are needed for
they have been subjected to an investigation This effec- this task than to combat other kmds of crime.
tively shields from public view large areas of FBIopera-
tions The prohibition should at least be restricted to Authorities in some countries also attempted to rein in
caseswhere the disclosurewould be likely to causeharm independent reporting relating to Afghanistan,p m c u -
to the investigation lady during the first part of the military campaign,be-
forethe Talibanwere overthrown.This started with US.
Inother countries,evenmore draconian steps have been officialsusing their influenceto try and prevent the Voice
taken.An anti-terrorismlaw passed in December 2001 of America, an independent but State-fundedbroad-
in Belarus imposes a number of wide-rangingrestric- casterwhich remains susceptible to officialpressure,from
45
tions on the media includingby granting the authorities aring an interviewwith the Taliban leader,Mullah Mo-
the power to take over media outlets in the area of con- hammed O m . The station eventually decided to broad-
duct of an anti-terrorismoperation.There is no jus& cast just a few excerpts from the interview as part of a
cation for such an extreme measure,particularly gwen larger programme.
that the area in question is undefined and may well in-
clude the whole country.The law also imposes broad O n 10 October,national security advisor Condoleezza
content restrictions,forexample,on material that serves Rice held a conference call with major U.S. network
to justify terrorism or about staff involved in anti-ter- broadcasters,urging them not to broadcast pre-recorded
rorist activities.There is no requirement in either case statements by Osama bin Laden.This was justified by
that the material in question pose a risk of harm. White House spokespersonAri Heischer as follows:

In India, the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance
(POTO),passed on 1 April,2002 makes it a criminal
offence for journalists to refuse to hand over informa-
tion which the authorities consider to be “of material
assistance inpreventing aterroristattack”.This trenches
on the rightof journaliststo protectconfidentialsources
and clouds the line between investigative journalists and
the police.The European Court of Human hghts has
held thatmandatory sourcedisclosuremay be legtimate
only where justified by an “overriding requirement in
the public interest”.The POTOclearly fdsto meet this
standard.
Even more draconian is a new anti-terroristbill currently
before the Nepalese parliament which would mike it a
crmmal offence to distribute “information about any
individual or groupsmplicated in terroristor subversive
activities” If applied,this would make it practically im-
possible for the media to report on the on-goingcon-
flict inside Nepal and would seriously undermine the
public’sright to know
Inmany instances,lawenforcementauthoritieshave been
granted new, broader powers to undertake electronic
surveillance and monitomg,for example,of telephone
or Internet communications These are powers which
historically have been subjected to senous abuse by the
authorities,and which were subjected to formal l m t s
only after concerted public action,including exposure
of official abuse Although communications are most
directlyprotected as an aspect of the right to privacy,the
threat of excessive official surveillance may also lead to
At best, Osumu hn Laden5 messuges arepnpugumdu cabng on
pe@ to bllAmeticums.At worst, he LDUBbe issuing orders to
hisfollowem to initiate su~huttucks.
The networks insisted that they were treating the call
simply as friendly advice,and rejected the idea that it
amounted to censorship The idea that Osama bin Laden
would use American broadcasts to dissemate orders
verges on the r~diculous, gven the many other more re-
liable means at his disposal to achieve this end.Osama
bin Laden and his multi-billiondollarnetworksurelyhave
more effective ways of spreading their message than
through the U.S.networks.If they wanted to use abroad-
caster,which hardly seems the most reliable means of
issuing commands given other options such as the
Internet,ALJa?eera would be a more likely choice
Despite this,the networks agreed to review tapes before
airing them, suggesting the conference call did have an
impact on reporting.Britain followed suit a few days
later with Prime Minister Tony Blair‘sdirector of com-
munications,Alistair Campbell,“summoning’’broadcast-
ers in the U.K. for a meeting on the same issue.Again,
the broadcasters,including the BBC,insisted they had
not been censored.A joint statement issued afterwards
stated that the broadcasters believed “sensible dialogue
with the Government is important during the current
conflict.But we w il retain the right to exercise our own
l
independent,impartial editorial judgement.”However,
broadcasting practise in relation to the airing of direct
statements by ul-Qaedu did changerecognisably after the
meeting.
 Even more insidious were attempts by U.S. officials to indicatethat in practice it is now more difficult to access
censor the independent Qatar-based Al-Jayera satellite information.A recentarticle in the Cbnirtian SienceMoni-
channel.AlJayewa is one of the fewindependentbroad- tor, for example,decried the rise in secrecy at the white
casting voices in the Middle East and had,even before House,includingin responseto requestsunderthe Free-
11 September,establisheda good reputationforits open dom of InformationAct.It goes beyond the issue of
political reporting.Even before the US.attacks in Af- terrorism,however,and in February 2002 a federaljudge
ghanistan began,on 2 October 2001,the US.Embassy ordered the Energy Department to release thousands
in Qatar issued aformaldiplomatic complaintregarding of pages of information from Vice President Dick
AlJayeerds coverage of the Afghan issue.This was fol- Cheney’senergy task force,criticisingthe administration
lowed a day later by a meeting in Washington between for moving at a “glacial pace.”
U.S.Secretary of State Colin Powell and Qatari ruler
She& Hamad Ihalifa al-Thani,at which the Sheikh In November 2001, shortly after the begtnning of the
was requested to rein in AlJaqerds coverage.It would hostilities in Afghanistan,the United IGngdom put off
46 appear US.officials were irked by Al-JaTewds frequent implementation of its Freedom of Information Act,
c? airing of its exclusive December 1998 interview with adopted in November 2000, until at leastJanuary2005.
U
U Osama bin Laden,and its anti-Americanand anti-Israeli It had previously been scheduled to come into force in
c
a
4
position.The latter is a particularly sensitive issue,given
the summer of 2002.Around the same time,the Cana-
z US.attempts to securepeace in the region as part of its
coalition-buddingefforts.
dian authorities amended their Access to Information
Act by allowing the Mtnister of Justice to issue certifi-
cates exempting certain records from disclosure.%s
These blatant attempts by US.officials to censor Al- was done despite the factthat studieshave indicatedthat
Jaqeera were widely criticised,includingby several media the Act already provided adequate protection to national
freedom groups,such as the US.-basedCommittee to security interests.
ProtectJournalistsand Reporters sans Frontikres,based
in France.A New York Times editorial on 11 October, There is little doubt that secrecy has also increased in
2001 also decried the censorship and instead called on countries which have not amended their freedom of
US.officialsto addresswhat theyperceived asAlJayewds information laws,although the precise impact is some-
bias by providingthe stationwithmore informationfrom times hard to assess.A number of countries in Eastern
a US.perspective.AlJaqera had in the past complained and Central Europe,including Bulgaria and Romania,
that itwasunable to secure interviewswith U.S.’officials.are in the process of adopting secrecy laws as a condi-
tion for NATO membership.Although these laws are
Secrecy not a result of the events of 11 September,there are
concerns that advantage has been taken of the prevatl-
The past few years have witnessed a sipficantgrowth ing climate of secrecy in drafting these laws.This is ex-
in openness in countries around the world,and in offi- acerbated by the factthat campaigningforgreater open-
cial recognition that the public has a right to knowwhat ness is undermtned by moves towards greater secrecy in
govement is doing on their behalf.This is reflected in countries like the US.and Canada, traditionally strong
the fact that, over the past five years,numerous coun- proponents of openness.
mes from every region in the world have adopted free-
dom of information laws giving individual:,a right to The three special rapporteurs on freedom of expres-
access information held by public bodies sionexpressed concernaboutthese developmentsin their
JointDeclaration of 20 November 2001,as follows:
The attacks of 11 September have had an unfortunate
mpact on h s very positive trend.Opeilness is often Certain gozmments haw, zn the ajhrmatb of the eienents of Sep-
the first casualty of war,as governments justify secrecy tember I I , adopted measures or ta& steps to Lmitfreedom of
on the basis of military necessity and the public accepts expression and mfial thefree flw of information;this reacton
this excuse too readily,not being willing,or able,to ef- pLys into the bands of the t m n h .
fectively question it. There is something particularly in-
sidious about this form of secrecy,since it is extremely In most cases, responding to terrorism cannot justify
difficult to assess independently the need for secrecy in eroding established guarantees of openness Freedom
a conflict situation. of informationlaws normally provide for a comprehen-
sive,often excessive,regime of exceptionswhich already
Almost mediately afterthe 11 September attacks,US. takes into account every legitimate reason to refuse to
officialswere calling for better protection for confiden- disclose information,including national security Al-
tial documents,even though leaks of such documents though terronsm is a unique threat to national security,
had nothing whatsoever to do with the attacks.Reports it does not require special systemic forms of secrecy In
particular,there is no reason to abandon the rule that all authorities significant powers over the flowof informa-
exceptions to the fight to information must be justified tion.
on the basis of a threat of tangibleharm to a legitimate
interest and that even where a nsk of harm is proved, Problems of SelMensorship
the informatlon should still be disclosedwhere this is in and Media Bias
the overall public interest.
The impact of official restrictions on freedom of ex-
Legal measures find their parallel in the sometimes bla- pression is at least paralleled by the effect media self-
tantmanipulation of military information duringthe war censorship and bias has had on the flow of information
by both sides.An interesting example of this was infor- to the public in the aftermath of 11 September.Self-
mation about the failed US.raid of 19 October,2001 censorship in this context derives from a number of
on Afghan territory,which was successfully repulsed by factors,includingofficialpressure and underlying public
Taliban forces.For their part,the Taliban reported sig- fear and emotion.Officials and the public at large are
nificant numbers of US.fatalities,whereas in fact no focused on responding,not analysing,and this can cre-
Americans were kdled.The US.authorities,on the other ate a climate whereby the public simply do not want to
hand,claimed the next day that the raid had been a suc- hear anythmg which does not appear to fully support
cess.GeneralRichard Myers,Chairmanof the US.Joint the measures being taken.This seriously undermines
Chiefs of Staff,stated in a press briefingthat it had been public oversight of official action.
conducted “without significantinterferencefromTaliban
forces”and the authorities even released footage dem- h.some cases, officials have taken actlve steps to pro-
onstrakgh s ,later revealed to be showcased rather than mote self-censorship.An example of this was the suc-
the actual event.The US.authorities onlyacknowledged cessful attempt by US.PresidentBush and his officds
much later that the raid had led to a number of casual- to promote a climatein which anyonewho was not with
ties but continued to obscure the extent and effective- the US.was seen as supporting the terrorists.This bi-
ness of Taliban resistance. partisan attitude of “us and them”is palpably false in
fact and has the effect of eroding the middle ground,
The media had no independentmeans by which to verify making it very difficult to criticise the U.S. ahstra-
or assess eitherside’sclaims.Western media duly reported tion’s response to the attacks.Even the name of the
the US.claims of success while media in some coun- anti-terroristlegislation,the USA PATRIOT Act,was
tries,forexample,Pakistan,presented the Taliban claims cleverly designed to stifle dissent.
of fatalities as accurate.This led to the public either be-
ing misled, confused or kept totally in the dark.By the U.S. officials have also used the “us and them”tactic
time the truth did finally emerge,there was enough gen- drrectly to attempt to quell human rights voices.O n 7
eral confusion thatonly carefulreaderswould havebeen December 2001,appearing before the SenateJudiciary
set stratght.In any case,by that time the importanceand Committee,US.Attorney GeneralJohnAshcroft stated:
relevance of the informationhad significantlydeclined.
As this example clearly shows,official control over in- FJothose d o scare peace-hangpeoph mth phantoms of hst
formation places the media in a very difficult position. Lberg,my message is this:your tactics4.0 a
id temfists,forthy
They have to report on these events,which are of para- erode our nationalun& and diminish our resohe. Thy gita am-
mount public unportance,and yet they have vey little munihon to AmenLai enemies, andpause to Amenkai fnends.
capacity to independently assess ditary claims. Thy enmuragepeqh of g o o d d to remain szknt in theface 6
e d
A related problem is the need for the media to exercise
professional responsibdity in light of military claims of There is somethmgironic in this message,inasmuch as
a need for secrecy This is reflected in the BBC Editorial one of the key problems with the terrorists is that they
Policy Guidelines on reportingon the warwhich,to their do not respectliberty and the rule of law and yetAshcroft
credit,theymade public.The Guidelines recognisedboth is criticising those who defend liberty.There is further
the need to inform the public and the risk that dissen+ irony in Ashcroft‘s concern about silencing people of
natingmformationmight increasethe hazards facingthe goodwill,since that is exactly what he himself is trying
armed forces.As a result,the BBC signalled a willing- to do.
ness to withhold information for a while at the request
of the rmlitary authorities,as long as satisfactory rea- Public attitudes also have an impact on open discussion
sons are given.However,in most cases it wdl be almost and the free flow of information about the Afghan situ-
impossible for the BBC to assess whether or not rea- ation.No doubtpartly because of overwhelmingpublic
sonsp e n are satisfactory.As a result,ithas to take claims support for the admmistration’sresponse to the events
of a need for secrecy at face value,giving the military of 11 September,the US.media largelyabandoned their
role as ‘iYatchdog”of government,accepting admmis- proved to be false. The example of reporting on the
tration clams,fading to challenge assumptions and not US.raid of 19 October has already been noted.An-
questioning policies Thib is reflected,for example,in other example concerns Taliban claims in early Novem-
CNN coverage of the war in Afghanistan,which used ber to have shot down a B-52bomber.This attracted
the banner “Strike Apst Terror”,thereby effectively newspaper attention in Pakistan for several days,even
precluding any cnticism,or even senousanalysis,of the though the “evidence” behind the claim was very dubi-
ditary acDon. ous.In the event,the claim proved to be false.Thts gave
people in the country a very distorted view of whatwas
An dustrative example of public pressure on the media actually happening.
relates to a regular BBC show called “Question Time”,
hosted by David Dimbleby,aired two days afterthe ter- These instancesof self-censorshipdenve prunatlly from
rorist attacks.The show brings together a hand-picked underlying public fears and biases, rather than media
audience and a number of special guests and,on that manipulation.Conflictbrings out the worst in people,
day featured,among others,the former US.Ambassa- and a tendency to interpret events emottonally,rather
dor to the United I(ingdom,Philip Lader.Strong anti- than based on a sober assessment of the situation This
American sentiments were voiced by the audtence and almost naturally leads to a situation of self-censorship,
Mr.Lader was reportedly reduced to tears.Over 2,000 whereby it becomes difficult to voice unpopular views
viewers called in to complainaboutthe programme.The and in which the media avoid certain types of contro-
BBC oripally defended the programme but then re- versy for fear of a public backlash
versed itspositionand the Director General,GregDyke,
took the unprecedented step of issuinga personal apol- Unfortunately,the very topics which become taboo are
ogy,which included the following statement: oftenmatterswhich societymost needs to discussopenly.
It is, for example, of the greatest importance that the
Plepiitethe best eforts of D a d Dzmbhb and thepanel,there US.and Britain have an open,informed public debate
were times in thepmgrammeden the tone was not appmpna&, before any decisionregardingmilitary action a p s t Iraq
giien the temh’ee m t s of this 2zeek. is taken.In practice,however,the opposite seems to be
the case with the leadership taking decisions and irying
The apologywas unfortunate The Bush adrmnistration to prevent debate.
portrayed the attacks from the very beginntng as a war
agamst America, thereby paving the way for a mtlitary Promoting Human Rights
response Opposition to this, including that voiced on
BBC‘s“Question Time”, was effectivelybeing stifledout A serious implication of the attacks of 11 September
of respect for the dead.However: open and frank de- for human rights advocates is the general decline in pri-
bate about the attacks was essential,includingin the pe- ority of human rights concerns,includingthose relating
nod immediately after they occurred,since this was a to freedom of expression.Human rights advocates
key formativepenod forpeople’sviews,includingabout around the world are finding it more difficult to pro-
how to respond to the attacks mote their causes for a number of reasons.A key prob-
lem is thatthe attention of the international community
Although the above example took place just two days is focused on combating terrorism,to the detriment of
after the attacks,the enormity of the tragedy was used promoting human rights. Resources and attention are
to attempt to stifle criticism longafterwards.A televised limited,and the overwhelmingattention gven to terror-
debate in the U.K. inJanuary2002 concerned the rights ism naturally undermines efforts in other areas.
of prisoners accused of supporting al-Qmdaand being
held at Guantanamo Bay.An American lawyer,finding A related problem is that key internattonal players, in-
himselfgetttngthe worst of the debate,accused his chal- cluding the U S and the U E(,have shown that they are
lenger,a human rightsactivist,of demeaning the memory willing to overlook human nghts abuses as a trade-off
of the victims.Obviously the plight of the victims can- for support m the fightagamst terrorism A good exam-
not justify human rights abuse by US.authorities,but it ple of this is Pakistan,where the international commu-
plays on people’s emotions,causing them to lose sight nity had expressed serious concern about both the de-
of the real issue. velopment of nuclear military capacity and the military
takeover These concerns were, however, summarily
Self-censorshpand bias also played a role in reportmg brushed aside in exchange forPakistan’ssupport forthe
in countrieswhere there w as significant public opposi- war m Afghanistan.
tton to the war For example, in Paktstan even leadmg
dadies regularly reported on Taliban clams of success Finally,as noted above in relation to freedom of infor-
without much verification,although most ultunately mation,it is far more difficult for countrieswhich have
promoted human rights to continue to do sowhen they
themselves have been repudiatinglong-establishedrights
This clearly affects human rights advocates,since it is
difficult to convince governments to improve their hu-
man rights records when those governments are aware
that rights are being lmted in established democracies
As the three special rapporteurs on freedom of expres-
sion noted in their 20 November 3001 JointDeclara-
tion,‘ W e are particularly concerned that recent moves
by some governments to mtroduce legslation lmting
freedom of expression set a bad precedent”
 For journalists,the murder of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan at the start of 2002 was
11 September: certainly the most brutal instance of the consequences of 11 September for free-
dom of expression.That murder,togetherwith the earlier killing of no fewer than
Consequences eight journalistsin Afghanistan,gwes some indicationof the dangers that lie in wait
for journalism and threaten freedom of expression;threats posed directly by the
bands of lullers,but arising also,and more perniciously,from certam governments’
for Press notions of press freedom.Daniel Pearlwas not,as PresidentMusharaf of Pakistan
was to declare a few weeks later, ‘kingover-intrusive”, H e was doinghs job,and
Freedom doing it very well.Like Marc Brunereau,Johanne Sutton,Pierre Billaud, Volker
Handloik,Azizullah Haidari,H ary Burton,JulioFuentes,Maria Grmia Cutuliand
r
Ulf Stromberg,he waswhere he ought to have been,on the spot,to witness and to
explain.H is murder trial,which began in IGirach~on 5 Apd 2002,affords another
example of the restrictions imposed on journalists.The Pakistani authorities re-
fused“on security grounds”to let the press attend the proceedings. 51

These murders remind us that States,or at least their officialrepresentatives,are not

the only authors of attacks on press freedom,or even necessdy the worst culpnts.
Among thosewho “prey” on freedom,we increasinglyfind unofficialagencies,fun-
damentalistgroups,p d i t a i y gangs,freewheeling secret services and organized
crime.In this twilightwar a p s t terrorism,State repression occurs alongside indi-
vidual crime and on occasion the two mingle inextricably.In this, 11 Septemberwas
not a sharp divide.Jn the course of the last 10 years, the majority of murdered
journalists have been killed by “private” groups:the Basque separatists of ETA,
armed Islamic groups in Algeria,guerderos of the far Left and parditaies of
the far hghtin Colombia,and rebel raiders in Sierra Leone.

Shock Waves

War has never been good for freedom of expression.Before even truth,the first
casualty of war is, in fact,this freedom:the freedom to investigate and report,the
freedom to publish criticisms and revelations.Yetwar can also bring more freedom.
The press enjoysgreater freedom in Kabul today than under the Taliban,and is freer
now in Belgrade than before the fall of Mdosevic.The shockwaves of world events
do not all move the same way, nor do they have the same effects in all places.Hos-
tilitiescan gag the media,or remove a gag.In Saud Arabia,the shockof 11 Septem-
ber might even explain the faint stirrings nottced these last few months in a press
thathas always toed the regime’s lineuntilnow ‘Theeffects of 11 Septemberon the
world system”, notes Critique Internationale,“cannot be reduced to a log~caland
unambiguous summary;in fact they are opening up as many opportunities as they
are imposingconstraints.”

Even though the atrocity of 11 September shook the news-gatheringworld to the

core and made drastic changes to the circumstances surrounding the exercise of
journalism,it stdl does not really constitute a complete break in terms of freedom
of expression.Attacks on press independencein Zimbabwe,restrictions imposed
on press coverage of the violence in the Middle East,curtailmentof press freedom
Jean-Paul Marthoz in Morocco or Uzbekistan:none of these began only on 12 September,and some
of the laws and regulationsenacted after the terrorists flewinto the twin towers had
Director of Human Rights already been in the pipeline long before,such as the French Prevention of Terror-
Watch, Europe Office ism Act [the “Everyday Security Act’?], the bill for which was first brought before
the National Assembly on 14March 2001.

Nor should we deceive ourselves,in our assessment of the consequences of 11

September,over our apparent unanim~ty. True,we all protest a p s t the murder of
journalists,or their imprisonment,or the outrageous amounts they are fined.But
this doesnotmean we share the same definiaons of what it should or should not be
 permissible to say The balance of contendingnghtssuch muzzled as soon as, against the backdrop of the war
as freedom of expression,non-discmatorytreatment against terrorism,it did not confine itself to relaying the
and the secunty ofthe nation or the citzen is not only a American line,but gave air time to Bin Laden
thorny issue between the State and journalists It is also
a matter on whch journalists themselves are divided, The understanding extended by the United States to
and this debate began well before 11 September authontarian governments known for suppression of
free speechis anothernegative consequenceof the fight
The present war is also,consequently,a test of the uni- against terronsm, recalling the unholy alliances and se-
versality, the “globalization”of journalism,of the me- lectiveexpressions of indignationof Cold W ar days The
dia’scapacity not only to handle global information,but welcome Washington gave this March to President Is-
also to think about the principles and values underlying lam K m o v of Uzbekistan clearly demonstrated this
their mission to inform.The controversy over the “en- new indulgence towards allied dictators
counter between civilizations”,exacerbated by different
52 interpretations of the terrorist outrage,rases crucial This is a challengeforall the democratic countrieswhch
questions about freedom ofexpression,its responsibili- have in recentyears spoken in favour of press freedom
ties, its prospects and its limitations.What is blasphemy and supportedindependent journalistswho were being
in one place is freedom in another;what is racism here is harassed by authoritanan regimes.There is a danger that
free speech there. Censorshp may also be exercised in the fight against terrorism may relegate press freedom
the cause of morality and respect for others. to the background,when actually it is one of our best
bulwarks aganstviolence and hatred.‘Theinternational
O n the Defensive community”,observed Ann Cooper,Executive Direc-
tor of the Committee to ProtectJournalists,‘<mustcon-
These introductory remarks and caveats do not, how- tmue to make it costly for those countries that do im-
ever, drain our central theme of its content.Since 11 prison journalists.But there are signs that the political
September,press freedom has not been quite the same. costhas declined somewhatsince the war on terror was
m a t we need to know is whether the curtailments of declared;the crackdownsthat left 11 in prison in Eritrea
these liberties are going to be temporary or herald the and 17 in Nepal, for example,were carried out swiftly
end of a hstoric cyclewhch began with the upsurge of and with little internationd outcry.”
freedomas the Berlin W a l
lcrumbled,and was confirmed
on African soil in the Windhoek Declaration.As the Access to Information
Canadianwriter and thinker Midzael Ignatieffobserved
in a New York Times article; the atrocity has put the hu- In the United States itself,this change of attitude has led
man rights movement on the defensive,a victim of the to a questioning of traditional principles concerning in-
prionty now accorded to “national security”. formation,and in particular of the “right to know”?
Thus a number of individual American states,the De-
The harderungof Amencan attitudesis certajnlythe most partments of Transport and Energy,and federal agen-
symptomatic of the restrictions affectmg freedom of cies including the Environmental Protection Agency
expression after 11 September.Stepstakenby the Untted @PA) and the national archives admmistration,have
States,simply because of that country’spower,inevita- (sometimes tempody) withdrawn information from
bly have consequencesfor the rest of the world Policies their sites whch they judged too sensitive,such as the
adopted by the Pentagon for theatres of ditary opera- location of power stations or measures for the preven-
tions directly influence the specialcorrespondents of all tion of industrialaccidentsin chemicalfactories.Moreo-
countries.And the measures taken for surveillance of ver, in October,the United StatesAttorney General,John
the alleged activitiesby terroristgroups on the Internet, Ashcroft,senta circularto federalagencies requiringthem
thatglobalmedium par excellence,affectall Internetusers to exerciseextremecautionin theirhandling of requests
directly made under the Freedom of InformationAct6

The United States,which in the name of the First Nevertheless,it has been on the battlefieldsof Afghani-
Amendment to the Constitutlonhad made the defence stan that press restrictions have most got in the way of
of free expression one of the cornerstonesof its diplo- journalists’work.‘Therules forwar reportinglaid down
macy and a foundationofits policy ofassistingthe media by the Pentagon have never been so strict”, exclmed
in former Communistcountries,has done a bnsk about- the respected Columbia UntversityJozlmahsmRe~ew.~ On
turn.This change of mood and policy is dlustrated in its 28 September,on the eve of its Afghanistan campaign,
attitude to the Qatar TV station AlJe7eerah.That sta- the Pentagonset out the guidelines for coverage of d i -
tion,praised until then as a model of free expression in t a q operations before the bureau chiefs of the Wash-
the Arab world,suddenly became one that had to be ington press corps As dunng the Gulf W ar,the United
StatesDepartmentof Defense announced that it would Some United States corporations have taken measures
be taking it upon itself to organize pools of journalists on their own initiative which,in the name of security,
authonzed to accompany the operations,and that the effectivelylimitfreedomof expressionand the free flow
journalists’“copy”would be purged of any information of information.For instance,Anonymizer.comw i
ll not
regarded as sensitive.The Pentagon spokesperson also now take subscribers from countries suspected of har-
gave a warning that the kind of operationenvisaged for bouring terrorists.’The
2 Electronic Frontier Foundation
Afghmstan,the use of special forces,would necessady has been keeping a list of sites closed by ISPson United
complicate news gathering,not leastby making it harder States Government instructions (suchas iraradio.com),
for war correspondents to accompany United States and of sites that have been closed in part,or “cleansed”,
forces by their owners,either because they contamed informa-
tion regarded as sensitive (anexample is the website of
To %oilerplate” its arrangements,the Pentagon also the Project on Government Secrecy,run by the Federa-
bought the exclusive rights to images from the Ikonos ti on of American Scientists), or because they published
articles too hostile to the United States President at a
53
satellite turned on Afghanistan.One of the purposes
was to prevent the major media compames from ‘‘spy- time of appeals to nationalunity (forexample,the Barbra
ing’’on its military operations.The information made Streisand site and that of Planned Parenthood).”
public at Donald Rumsfeld’sbriefing at the Pentagon,
or An Fleischer’s at the White House,was likewise de-
There is also a real danger that technologies for
signed with a view to keepingeverything under control. encryption of electronic transmtssion of information
“Contradictions,obfuscatingformulations and correc-
may be outlawed.Such a ban mtght appear sensible as
tions made only under duresshave given the feeling that
part of the fightagainst terrorism,but the danger is that
it may be applied to the communications of perfectly
the information was strongly filtered when not down-
legitimate organizations (such as the press, or human
right distorted”,was Le Mondei comment.’As a result,
rights groups) which need confidentiality if they are to
the initial phases of the war in Afghanistan were con-
carry out their mtssion
ducted with next to no published pictures,except from
the territories controlled by the Northern Alliance.Kept
away by the United States army,the press was also gen- what 11 September in fact did was to accelerate devel-
erally shut out from the zones under Taliban control. opmentsalreadybegun by the repercussions in the United
Only a few journalists were authorized to cross the States of the crisis between Israel and the Palestmans.
Taliban’slines Peavily escorted) to observe the “collat-
As early as 5 September,before the atrocity,500 Internet
sites,many of them relatedto the Arab orMuslimwodds,
eral damage” (civilianlosses) attributed to the American
had become impossible to access after government in-
bombing.
tervention in a Texan company,Inf~Comp.~~ Many gov-
ernments,moreover,had been taking steps to curb the
The Internet Net before the atrocity.In China,more than 60 regula-
tionswere issued from 1995 onwardsto control Internet
Presented as a favourite instrument of terrorism,the content.In many Middle East countries,governments
Internet found itself a particular target of the anti-ter- insisted that servers must be capable of tracing surfers
rorist campaigners.The United States security services and establishing the identity of sites consulted.Under
were authorized to use Carnivore (a surveillance system pressure from some governments,certainserversrefuse
installed on the main computers of United States-based access to websites which “compromise state security or
ISPs) without requiring a warrant.’The LbLration re- national morale”.This includes sites of organizations
ported:‘TheFBIw il from now on be able to connect for the defence of human rights.InJune1999,at a par-
l
this snooping-machineto an ISP’snetwork and vacuum ticularly acute moment of the Kashmtr crisis, India
up all of an Internet user’s e-mads and every trace of banned access to the website of the Pakistanidaily Dam.
Web surfing.”l0In a report published in October 2001,
Reporters Sans Frontigres said the F B I had demanded, Windfall Effect
and got,from those in charge of Hotmd,every de&
of any accountwhose e-& address included the word The period following 11 September,and the campaign
“Allah”.“All the major ISPs”,RSF went on,“would ap- launched by the United States,have been marked, in a
pear to have followed Hotmail’sexample and be fully number of countries,by urgent reinforcement of anti-
collaboratmgwith the United States security services”.” terrorist laws,regulations and measures of mplementa-
RSF alsonoted (January2002)thatthe FBIhad gothold tion The reportpublished in March 2002 by the Coali-
of an application knownas Magic Lantern that could be tion Information Centrelistswith satisfactionthe meas-
remotely operated to communicateto the authoritiesthe ures taken by coalibon member countries,but it is hard
whole contents of a target computer. to see which of these initiatives truly and legitimately
contribute to the safety of citizens,and which are undue the definition of terrorism proposed by the European
limitations on free expression. Commission on 19 September,as throwing the doors
open to a dangerously vague interpretation that could
The nature of the regimes which have joined the coali- prejudice legitimate forms of freedom of opinion.”
tion (formallyor informally), p e s an initial clue.Some They have also had strong reservations about the draft
authoritariangovernments have indeed made good use treaty on computer crime which is currently before the
of the example set by the United States and reinforced Council of Europe.19In France,the Parliament‘senact-
their instruments of repression,not least for justifying ment (October2001)of the Everyday Security Bill was
and intensifying their harassment of ethnic,political or vigorously denounced by libertarian Internet-users. The
religousminorities that can be depicted as terrorists.This Act embodies the principle that ISPs must retain users’
is what the Frenchreview Cktiqm Internationahhas called connection data (theirdigital traces) forperiods ofup to
the “windfall effect”.15In particular, such opportunist a year,and restricts the use of encryption,which is re-
reactions have affected the Uighur minority in the garded as the only effective means of ensuring the con-
xlnjiang region of China and Muslim dissidents in fidentialityof Internet communications.20
Uabehstan.In India,the government pushed through
an anti-terroristbill at the end of March 2002 (the Pre- The Australian Governmenthad alreadyraised the hack-
vention of Terrorism Ordinance,POTO)which had les of associationsfor the defence of refugees’rights by
been described the previous October by the former using the terrorist menace to justify incarcerating Af-
Editor of The Ernes of Indiaas “an encroachmenton the ghan refugees.Journalists,too,have felttargeted by gov-
freedom of the press in an unprecedented manner”.“ ernment measures. The alarm was sounded by Fred
In Zimbabwe,the InformationMmster, seeking to jus- H h e r ,Chairinan of the major press group Fdax,in a
tify repression a w s t independent journalists,referred speech at Sydney University,accusing the Howard Gov-
directlyto the measures taken in the West. T f the most ernment of being “a growing threat to freedom of the
celebrated democracies in the world won’t allow their press” with its changes to legslation and its refusal to
nationalinterests to be tampered with,we w ill not allow allow access to the refugee detentioncamps?’ This sen-
it, too”,exclaimed JonathanMoyo.RSF was concerned ior media figure took particular issue with the amend-
to note (20March 2002) that the parliament of Uganda ment to the criminal law on espionage and s d a r of-
had adopted a new anti-terroristlaw punishing with up fences,which prescribes cLiminalpenalties for didg-
to 10years’imprisonmentthe publication of “informa- ing,or receiving,official information.“If it makes it a
tion liable to promote terrorism”.As for the regimes crime to reveal or receive any information without au-
which had alreadybeen wagmg a tough fight a m s t Is- thorization,”Fred H h e r observed,“then thls law,by
lamic extremist groups,involving curtarlment of free restricting coverage of the doings of government,di-
expression,these hastened to claimtheirvindication,with rectly hinders and prevents the public discussionof cur-
praise on occasion from leaders of democratic coun- rent issues,and sttrkes rightat the heart of the work of
tries,aswhen the formerItalianForeignMmister,Renato a free press in a democracy.”In Canada,the introduc-
Ruggiero,declared:“Tunisia’sexample inthe fighta p s t tion of a Prevention of Terrorism Bill (C-36)in the fed-
extremism and terrorism could be followed to advan- eral Parliamenthas aroused vigorous resentmentamong
tage within the framework of the international struggle journalists.Though its most dangerous provisions have
to deal with this s~ourge”.’~ been abandoned,CanadianJournalistsfor Free Expres-
sion pointed out (26 February, 2002) that it still con-
Democracies on Edge tained clauses that were death to c e r m freedoms,re-
strictmg access to information,aggravamg the expo-
Certam democracieshave not been slow to follow suit. sure to criminal charges of journalists who published
(evennon-confidential)informationwhich the Govern-
Many countries traditionally attached to the protection
ment regarded as damaging, and threatening to
of freedom of expression have also adopted measures
that threaten it or gnaw at its edges.In the United States, criminalize some forms of peaceful expression.22
hundreds of foreignershave been arrested and held in-
cognito without due process,and special ditary courts Some governments,however,have not thought it nec-
have been proposed under terms which nullify freedom essary to legslate or amend theirlegslationon the press,
of informationby denying or restrictingthe right of the either because they decided they should ‘%keep a sense
press to know the charges a g m s t those arrested or to of proporUon”or because they already had a sufficient
attend the proceedings. legslative arsenal to deal with the terrorist threat.The
Belgiangroup of the InterparliamentaryUnion declared
In the European Union,orgarmations for the defence (6February 2002) that no draftor Bill with any possible
of freedom of expression have also become concerned impact on the media (includingthe Internet) had been
at the measures envisaged,warning particularly against laid before,debated in or adopted by the Belgian Paha-
ment following11September,2001.Similarreportscame false) information favourable to United States interests
in from Cyprus,Albania,Ireland,Latvia,Malawi,Nor- in the internationalpress.Although th~sBureauwasabol-
way, Sweden,Sri Lanka,Thadand,Spai-~, Japan,United ished afterindignantprotests (fromthe media and from
Arab Emirates,Korea,SolomonIslands,Ecuador,Cape American Government officials), the affair shows that
Verde, Guinea,and Hungary. the work of journalistsin time of war crossessomedan-
gerous minefields.Such propagandapollutes journalism,
Bombardment and therefore constitutes a real restriction on freedom
of expression by malung it hard to get at the truth.It is
A bomb can be as effective in censorship as a decree or all the more pernicious in that it allows,rumours to start
a blue pencil.The war in Afghanistan has renewed seri- and to spread.The memory of how pastwarshave been
ous issues concerning combatants’right to target the manipulated (Kosovo or the Gulf)f, osters &us atmos-
media.Although the bombardment of Serbian Radio phere of doubt in which the daftest theories can thrive,
and Television during the Kosovowar had been strenu- such as the one denying that th ere had ever been an
ously condemnedby most orgarmations forthe defence attack on the Pentagon,or the one accusing CNN of
of free expression,the story was the same in Afghani- recyclingvideo footage from the Gulf W ar.
stan, with the destruction of the Kabul office of Al-
Jeqeeraaccused of being used by the terroristALQaeda Patriotism
network.Fernando Castello,23former Director of the
agency EFE and international President of FSF (Re- In periods of crisis and great insecurity,governments
porters Sans Frontikres), wrote ‘The United States has find in patriotism a weighty argument for demanding
made Afghan journalists into ditary targets, with their prudence,or even aconnivingsilence,on the part of the
selective bombing of radio and television facilities (in- media.This is a natural and widespread phenomenon.
cluding the premises of the Qatar television stationAl- A studymade at the end of 2001 on the way the French
Jeyeera and of press buildings in Kabul and other towns, press had handled terroristatrocities in France (the RER
just as NATO previously did in I<osovo”.The Israeli outrage,the assassination of Claude Erignac,Prifet of
army followed this example in December and January, Corsica)concluded:“it seems the media find it impossi-
when it bombarded the premises of Voice of Palestine ble to say anything about terrorism that is tidy inde-
and destroyed the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation pendent of the dominantpatterns of interpretation laid
budding.Ann Cooper of the CPJhas issued a timely down by the political authorities”.25 Tnts reaction is par-
reminderthat “international humanitman lawprohibits ticularly strong in the f
irs
t days following any outrage.
deliberateattackson civilianfacilitiesunless they areused At such times,the press takes on a rolegoingbeyond its
for military purposes”. mission to inform,providing psychological therapy for
public opinion in its state of shock.
There is a more general, and very disturbing,tendency
for the armed forces of countries which claim to be But the appeal to patriotism may be utterly perverted,as
concernedwith defending press freedom to target jour- inthe case of Zimbabwe,where the authorities used the
nalists without hesitation,as demonstrated by incidents fight against terrorism as a pretext for muzzling the in-
dependentpress.In the United states,the Government,
in Afghanistanz4and,aboveall, in the Palestinian territo-
ries occupied by the Israeli m y . approved by amajority of public opinion,required jour-
nalists to “choose their side” and not undermine the
effectivenessof the fight agajnst terrorism.Pointing to
Propaganda
the example of Zimbabwe,where a pro-government
journalisthad proclaimed ‘hegativityisnotnews”,Joseph
Propaganda is another form of censorship.Muddying Lelyveld,former CEO of TheNew E& Tzmes,mused:
information streams,putting obstaclesin the way of the ‘?find &us a particularly opportune example,at a time
long march towards the truth,has been in the thick of when the idea that ‘negativenews is no news’is gaining
every conflict,and the war agajnst terrorismcould be no ground in the United States.Our Governmenthas or-
exception.The United States set up a highly officialap- dered us not to print or publish Bin Laden’s crazy ha-
paratus for overall communication between Washing- rangues for fear his medieval vision justifyingthe massa-
ton,London and Islamabad so as to exercise the great- cre of innocent civiliansmay stir up new supporters.It
est possible control in a particularly multifaceted has promulgated a system of d itary tribunals which,
transnational media environment.The New E& Times according to the Vice-President,would have the power
revealed,however (19 February 2002),that after 11 Sep- to try and even to execute some of these people [for-
tember,the Pentagon had,much more secretly and with eigners under arrest - Ed.]without any provision for
the advice of a private PR agency,created a Bureau of recourse to the constitutionally established courts,stdl
Strategc Influence for the purpose of planting (true or less any access for journalists”.26
Selficensorship as the military courts or the incarceration of foreigners
without dueprocess,which involvedrestrictionson press
access to courts and hearings.Journalists’associations,
In most societies,whether democratic or authoritarian,
likewise,have been very quick to protestagatnstthe rules
self-censorshipis still the ruler’s most effectiveweapon.
imposed by the Pentagonfor the battlefields of Afghani-
The fear of displeasing majority opinion,of rubbing
stan. O n 13 October 2001 a score of professional or-
the public up the wrong way,has influencedmany in the
ganizations,includingthe well-respectedSocietyof Pro-
media where coverageof the fightagatnst terrorismand
fessional Journalists,published a joint communiqu6
the war in Afghanistan is concerned.The profit motive
maintaining that “increasing restrictions by the United
that dominates their world furtherintensifies the temp-
States Government that limit news gathering ... pose
tation to conform.
dangers to American democracy and prevent citizens
from obtaining the information they need”.
This self-censorshiphas taken two forms:the “privati-
zation of censorship”,where the management of an
The previous day,The New York Timeshad published an
organ has setlimits to the freedom of its journalists,and
editorial clearly setting out the rights and duties of the
the “internalizingof censorship”where journalists them-
press and criticizing the White House’s request to the
selves consciously or unconsciously restrict their own
television networks to censor Bin Laden’smessages.“All
free will,and stick as closely as possible to the official
Amencans understand that, in wartime,certain infor-
line or the feelings of public opinion.Some instances: mation must be protected . . The security of American
,

the Wabington Postimediacritic,Howard Kurtz,revealed troops and the confidentiality of the means of espio-
on 30October that Walter Isaacson,Presidentof CNN, nage must not be compromised by the sudden publica-
had circulated an internalmemo suggesting the editorial tion of sensitive and classified information ... much
staff should “balance” their coverage of American other information,however, which the government
bombing in Afghanistan by recalling the atrocity of 11 would prefer to suppress in order to avoid debate,be-
September and its civilian victuns.Two journalistswere longs in the public domain.T h ~ principle
s is at the heart
fired,one from the TurnCij,Sun and the other from of the American system of government.And it is in the
the D L UCou~tzer,for criticizingPresidentBush.Such di- interest of the Administration to respect it, for a de-
rect measures have,however,been exceptional.Another mocracy,if it is to b d d and sustain a consensusin war-
writer has even suffered for an excess of martial zeal. time,needs an informed citizenry”.
Ann Coulter had her column withdrawn from NaLonaL
Reciew Online after she had written that the United States A Test for lourna/km
oughtto “invade [the terrorists? countries,lulltheirbosses
and convert them to Christianity”.
This “wara p s t terrorism”is a test for journalism;a
test of its clam to guarantee free, accurate and plural
The fact that the second Int&dais going on at the same information-gatheringwhich allows citizens to choose
time,and the connections that have inevitably been es- and helps those who govern to avoid mistakes, and a
tablished between the troubles in the Mddle East and test,also,of its capacity to demonstrate thathuman nghts
the terronstattacks,have considerablyadded to the pres- in generaland freedom of the press in particular are the
sure on journalists,both in democracies where editors most effectiveweapons m the fight agamst terronsm
have been lobbied by pro-Israelisand pro-Palestinians, and for the protection of our societies
and in the authontarian countries of that regon,where
governments have taken every opportunity to exercise W e should always mistrust appearances;whatever the
tightercontrolof theirmedia,here requimg“activism”, revisionist historians of wartime journalism m a y assert
and there applying the muzzle to the contrary,freedom of the press and freedom of
expression are an advantage,not a handicap,in emer-
Nuances gencies.Lies and self-censorship,as the history of the
Vietnam and Algerian wars have eloquently proved,are
The extent of government restnctions and the amount most often poor counsellors,and contribute to the na-
of media self-censorshipai-e not things that should be tional disasters they claim to prevent.Indeed,as with a
exaggerated or caricatured Media professionals’cour- ship’s captain,a democracy’spress freedom ought not
age and sense of vocation have not in every mstance to be judged when the sea is calm, but right in the mid-
caved in before patnotic intimidation or police intru- dle of the storm,when the familiar guides to navigation
siveness In the country directly targeted by the atrocity, disappear and panic is setting in.
the senous press very quickly re-establishedthe neces-
sary distance for cntical apprasal of the steps taken by The responsibility of American journalists,particularly,
the Uruted States Government,in pmcular those,such is at stake.‘ W e know”,says the Committee to Protect
Jo~rnalists,2~“that we are going through periods of ex- “ KSF,“Entre tentation patnotique et autocensure : les mkdias amiricins

dam la tourmentde I’apres-I1septembre”vemptahonsof patriotism and

traordinary ped, and that there are responsiblepeople self-censorship: the American media in turmoil after 11 September],Octo-
who can find heavyweight arguments for the measures ber 2001,Paris.
that have been taken.But let us go back to the fimda- InternationalHerald Tribune,summary by the European Journalism
Centre,3 April 2002.
mental subject of the journalist‘sduty It is our duty to l3 See www.eff.orP/Pnvacv/&c veillaoce/Terrorism s ntl~tias/
try to fmd out what is really going on,and to take our v
” WHITAKER,B.“Muslimwebsites targeted by Justice”, The
publication and information decisions in complete in-
Guardian,No.568,September 20-26,2001.
dependence,assertingthat to publish and inform is our BAYART.J.F.;HIBOU,B.;KHIARI,S.,2002.“Effets d’aubaine,Les
raison d’he in a free society It is our duty to provide the regines autoritaires liberis des conditionnalitCs” [It‘s an ill wind ...:
means of revealingwhat has been mproperly held back authoritarian regimes freed from constraints],Critique Internafzonale,
Presses des Sciences Po,CERI,Paris,January,pp. 7-11.
in the name of national security.” ” Tehelka.com, Anh-terrorism ordinance:muT.;/ingfhe media, New Delhi,29
October 2001.
Quoted in Critique Internationale,op.cif., p I
References ’’Human RightsWatch,European Union: SenrriQ Proposals Tbreafen H u m a n 57
Ri&‘s, 6 November 2001.See also Brian Hayes, EL7 ani’-ferroesm action
’BAYART,J.F.;HIBOU,B.and IWIARI,S.2002.“Apresle 11 septembre, plan: legislative measures injmtice and home affairspolzy,Statewatch,London.
Effets d’aubaine” [After 11 September,Windfall Effects], Critiqne ’’See Index on Censorshp,“Bug them all and let Echelon sort them out”, f
T3
Intemationale,January,p,1 1. 8 November 2001. Q)
’ “Is the Human F&gnts Era Ending ?‘, The Near York Times,5 February ’O NOULHAT,L. 2002.L a T oile alternative en ordre de bataille [The 2
Y
2002. alternative Web in battle order],Libiration, 29 January. n
In
DIEHL,J. 2002.“US.again supports unsavourydictators”,The Washzng- ” CRABB,A.2002.“Media chief takes aim at Howard”,The Age, 28 !f
ton Pod,published in the IiifernadonalHerald Tihne, 20 March. February. n
E
See Atfa& on the Press in 2001, Introduchon,p.xii. ’’CJFE,N o t a BalannngAcf,S e a n 9 and Free Expression,a submission to 0
the draft NGO Human Rights Consultations,26 February 2002. rr
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, HomefrontC o n F n -
” CASTELLO, F. 2001. “Depredadores de la libertad de prensa” E
ha4 Hon.the War on TmorismAffecfs Access to Informahon and the Pubtic’sRight fo pobbers of Press Freedom],Elpais, 23 November.
Know,Washington,March 2002. 7
”“Un envoy6 specialdu Washzngfon Posten Afghanistan mis en loue par U
See nm.omba,ofch.org 0
des soldats americains” [A Washingfan Post special correspondent in n
’HICKEY,N.‘AccessDenied”,C o h ~ m h ] o u m l i mRenew,January 2002. Afghanistan targeted by American soldiers],RSF,12 February 2002. 5
0
TARREAU,P.“Relations entre le Pentagone et la presse se dkgradent” ’’ GARCIN-MARROU,I. 2001. Terrorzsme, Midzas et Dimocrafze ..
L
[Relationsworsen between the Pentagon and the press],Le Mode,10 No- [Terrorism,Media and Democracy], Presses Universitaires de Lyon, m
P
Collection Passerelles, p. 135.
vember 2001,p.6.
’GREVISSE,B. 2001,“Guerres et Fats” [wars and Facts], MeXahques, 26 CPJ, International Press Freedom Awards 2001,Joseph Ixlyveld’s E
+
a
Acceptance Remarks,6 December 2001 9)
Autumn,p.6. ul
LATRIVE,F.2001.“La Toile en Iiberti tres surveillCe”F e Web: tiee- ’’CPJ,as above. c
c
dom under very close surveillance],Libtion, 2 November.
 Ten Years of Living Dangerously
Brothers
Within a month in 2001, eight prominent reporterswere killed in Afghanistan.W ith
each conflict,the price paid by press correspondents is gettingheavier.After respect
has been paid to the victims for their courage,people are asking increasinglyurgent
questions.Have the countries,the international organisations,the media and the
editors themselves put in place all the possible means to limit the risks incurred by
war correspondents?Can reporters be efficiently prepared,and by whom, to face
the dangers?

In the past 10 years, 243 journalists have been killed in conflict zones.Forty-six
journalists died on the battlefield in the Balkan wars alone,14 in Sierra Leone,12 in
Chechnyq and 10 in Afghanistan.Lastyear, 10 journalists died in Colombia.70per
cent of these reporters were deliberately assaulted or gunned down after they had
been identified as media personnel.The rest of them fell victims of shelling mine
explosions or other acts of war.

To us,at RSF,this continuing and expandingbloodshed is simply unbearable Being

a war reporter involves a great deal of risk, includingthe one of not c o m g home.
W e are all aware of this and so are the journalists who accept such an assignment
But there may be ways to create better working conditions and a greater risk aware-
ness to lessen the sufferingof war correspondents and their families.

Let us have a look at some of the dangers reporters face in conflict zones and the
new threats to media personnel that have recently emerged.W e w ill then try to
identifyhow journalists themselves and editors might act to prevent,or at least sig-
nificantly reduce,the nsks of becomg part of the “collateral damage”figures

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

On the battlefield or in any trouble zone,let us remember that w e have neither

friends nor enemies,not even the right to be respected,ordinady the right of a
referee For most of the actors in a conflict,reporters,be they local journalists or
foreign correspondents,simply should not be there,let alone witness whatever vio-
lent actions they mght be willing to perpetrate This has been expressed relentlessly
by ditary officers,rarely on primetime Tv,but often during private conversations
on the field.

Most of us w ill agree it is not our duty to take sides or be judgemental.At least
general ethics says so O n the other hand,a lack of financial resourcesand means of
communication or transport,often lead journalists to use the logistics of the
belligerents,NGOs,internationalorgarusationsor other actors on the ground.This
increases the risk of being caught in the crossfire or not bemg able to leave a place
when danger is approaching.

Let me give you a very good example On 18 March 2002, my colleague Olivier
Philippe Latour Weber,a Special Envoy for Le Point and one of the best French speciallsts of Af-
ghanistan,decided to hit the road instead of flying from Kabul to Islamabad,be-
South East Asia cause the UN-charteredflightwasoutrageouslyexpensive,US $1,200 for a roundtrip.
Representative for Reporters Despite the factthat he had received recentthreats over a book he had justpublished
Sans Frontieres (RSF) about Afghanistan, he hired a Toyota taxi and left for Torkham, the border-town
with Pakistan,with three Afghan men also on board When travelling through the
I mulgorges,where four journalistswere killed back in November 2001,his carwas
attacked several times by Afghan gunmen.Thanks to his dtrver,who chose to speed
up and escape the attackers bangmg on his car with their AI<47s,Olivier is still alive
today More than 10 journalistswere attacked on this road during that period,many
 of them for the same reason.They could not afford to gunmen after he had received a death threat from a
pay for the flight. spokesmanof the Abu Sayyafguerda group But some
reports also suggest the army,unhappy about Cayona’s
Before going further,Iwish to emphasize that I a m not reports,mght have played a role in the killing.In Nepal,
only talkingaboutwestern journalists.Of course,much after a State of Emergencywas declared on 26 Novem-
publicity is concentrated around the misadventures of ber lastyear,secuntyforcesarrested more than 100jour-
western correspondents in areas of conflict.W e all have nalists to gather information about their contacts with
in mind the plight of three French TV journalistswho Maoist rebels At least 27 reportersand media contribu-
were kept hostages for weeks onJoloIsland by the Abu tors are still being detamed Worse still,at least three
Sayaf guerda group.But who knows about the two journalistshave been tortured by secunty forceswhile in
Philippine journalists who were kidnapped along with custody
them? Three out of four journalists killed in conflict
zonesare locals and more and more journalistsfrom the Impunity for those who attack journalists,whether they
60 developingworldare sentto conflictzones.For instance, are terrorists,rmlitias or rmlitary personnel, is a factor
Philippine and Thai journalists were sent to Mghani- which increases the threat to journalists at work.In Is-
stan last year and somewere attacked.So,when lookmg raeland Palestine,an Italianphotographerwas killed and
at solutionsto improve the safety of reportersworkmg nearly 40 journalists injured since September 2000.For
in trouble areas,w e must bear in mind these facts. some of them,it was not a mistake.They were shot by
Israelisoldiersalthough theywere fap from any Palesm-
In a war situation,overconfidence,a lack of experience, ian protesters.Investigations led by the Israeli govern-
and misplaced trust in assistants or intermediaries are ment on these incidentswere biased and superficialand
often the reasons thatlead a journalistto be in the wrong very few soldierswere actually sanctioned fortheir acts.
place at the wrong time.The attractiveidea of being the This leadsto a climateof qunity where asoldierknows
first to know and “scoop the pool” Sometimes induces that he has nothing to fear if he chooses to “shoot the
reckless behaviour.I remember myself going up to the messenger”.
frontline between government forces and the Khmer
Rouge in Cambodia in 1994,drwing alone on a motor- Unfortunately, preventmg terror attacks is almost im-
bike in poor condition,on a muddy path between two possible and,within the media,nothing but an increased
fields whch could well have been minefields,h e m g , awareness from those at risk can h i s h the casualty
with anundisguisedpleasure,shellingahead in themoun- figures.Journalistsand editors could accept to stoop to
tains. M y only thought was for the good story I could toning down and self-censoringthemselves, but this
send to Le Pointin Parison my fmtassignment for such unacceptable solutionwould mem that the enemies of
a prestigious magazine. Only months later did I realise press freedom would have won the battle.
how foolish I had been.In that case, I must acknowl-
edge that the editor in Parishad never asked me to risk Reporters: a Little Company for
my life. Nonetheless, it is our duty,it seems, to be as a Greater Safety
close as possible to the action and the limit between the
necessity to see for ourselves and the will to stay alive is D o you know the Y4fghan Explorer”?It is the media
always difficult to assess.This dilemma is a fact of eve- equivalentof adroneplane,arobot recently inventedby
ryday life for most journalistslivingdangerously and we the MIT’s Media Lab.This remote-controlleddevice on
should salutetheir courage.Competition and strictdead- wheels could go and shoot videos of a battle at close
lines imposed by desk editors only add to the pressure. range and even conduct interviews.It might be a solu-
tion for journalists eager to cover danger areas without
But battlefields or guerda zonesare no longer the only riskingtheirlives.But Ia m afraid the Xfghan Explorer”,
places where journalists might hectly or indirectlysuf- like satellite transmission devices a decade ago,w i
ll not
fer the consequences of an armed conflict. be avadable to the average journalist for a number of
years.In the meantime,how can reportersimprovetheir
Terrorists, by this I mean people who wish to inspire own safety?
terror,can strike anywhere.They can kidnapjournalists,
like DanielPearl in Pakistan,bomb media bddmgs lLke Inwar zonesor dangerareas,journalistsmust firstleam
a radio stationinMmdanao,southernPMippines,in 2000. to share information with their colleagues and editors
Terrorists can also directly targetjournalistswho do not By consulting each other,they canassess and reduce the
please them.In such a context,both the army and the risks of an unstable situation.Many young journalists,
terrorist group they are fightingcan both be a threat to often without a fmn assipment,choose to cover wars
journalists.In May last year,PMippine radio announcer or guerrilla zonesto make aname for themselves and be
Candelario Cayona w a s gunned down by unidentified noticed by editors More expenenced journalistshave a
duty to assist their younger colleagues and help them ers on the ground and refrain from exerting any kind of
out when they find themselves in a difficult situation. pressure on them to take additional risks.In short,we
Experience,it is often said,is the best shield againstrisks. believe that the human factor should prevad over hot
news.
Building pools,as I have experienced myself, does not
necessady lead to carbon-copyreports Each newspa- As I mentioned earlier, experience provides the best
per, radio or TV uses its own different formats,has a possible protection againstthe hazards of reportingin a
different audience and above all, each reporterhas a dif- hostile environment H o w do you tell the direction and
ferent perception of the situation and a different mind the distance of shelling or explosions,the kind of am-
Those who choose to go it alone should h k twice munition used and how could you know it is c o m g
about the dangers lying ahead and the advantages of closer to you if you have never experienced such a situ-
having a little company ation before?H o w farcan yougowhen askingan armed
patrol access to a prohibited area?
Talking about company,it is also essential for reporters
to take special care when hiring local “fug agents”, A sense of danger can only be acquired after a number
guides or interpreters,since journalists,especially if it is ofassignments and editors shouldbe aware of thiswhen
their first stay in the area, rely totally on their assistants sending a reporter to a conflict zone for the first m e .
for the knowledge of the country,its culture and cus- They should make sure that he or she will be accompa-
toms,and the hazards of the conflict at hand.Working nied by a more expetrenced colleague,from their own
with a local journalist or s m g e r is also a valuable op- staff or from another media organisation.A security
tion debnefing should be systematicwhen the reporters re-
turn.Access to psychologd counsellingshould also be
As for those journalistswho enjoy weamg camouflage available to those who feel the need for support after
clothes or other military outfits or find them fashion- returning from dangerous areas or having witnessed
able,I would like to repeat the words of Ronald Koven shocking events
of the World Press Freedom Committee,who recently
pmcipated in an RSF discussion about the safety of Experience can partly be acquired through trauwg ses-
journalists.Mr.Koven said:‘Tournalistsmust under no sions provided by the media themselves or national and
circumstances wear camouflage uniforms,in whole or international bodes.At the BBC and Reuters,for in-
in part,or wear a suit that could be construed as a m i - stance,reportersand local correspondentsmust undergo
form.This is first to avoid being a target It is also be- compulsory risk-awareness training.In France, such
cause,in case of capture,they could be considered as workshopswere created in collaborationwith the French
combatants or spies,and would not benefit from the army during the war in Bosnia.The aim was essentially
protection of the Geneva conventions.” to sensitisethe reportersto the specificaspectsof athea-
tre of military operations:the vaxious weapons used,
As far as securitygear is concerned,reportersshould be how to identify anti-personalmines and explosives,how
reininded that helmets could be painted in non-military to protect oneself and whch mistakes to avoid.Editors
colours and bullet-proofjackets also exist in different should inforin staff and freelancersof any special m-
colours. ing adable to them and make every possible effort to
finance their participation.W e encourage governments
Finally,journalists should not bow to any demand from and.international organisations to consider setting up
their editors,who,far from the realities on the ground, formaland permanent facilities and provide human re-
might sometmeshave unrealistic expectations.W ar re- sources for such training sessions.
porters should made their voices heard and claim the
right to say no and the right to withdraw if they can not Editors also have a responsibility to provide and ensure
stand the pressure or the fear anymore. the maintenance of the securitygear Ihave already men-
tioned,helmets and bullet-proofjackets among others.
T h s leads us to the issue of the editor‘sresponsibilities. Reliable communication equipment,includmg locator
beacons,although expensive,add avery importantlevel
Editors: To Protect and let live of security to the lives of journalists in danger zones.
First-aidhts and survival equipment including,for in-
A widely accepted if not always respected pmciple is stance,a filter to purify water,would complete the pack-
the free will of media workers Editors should respect age every reporter should carry on the ground.
the decision of a journalistwho refuses an assignment
to cover a war situation or expresses the w i
ll to with- Finally,editors and media owners must ensure that staff
draw They should favour a frank dialogue with report- dispatched to conflict areas have an appropriate insur-
 ance policy Ths avoids adding expensive medical care
or repatriation costs to the grief and pain of the f m -
lies It may seem obvious to you but unfortunately it is
not always the case even for the largest media compa-
nies Our colleague Mina Grazia Cutuli,a reporter for
the ‘Comeredeh Serra” who was lulled in Afghanistan
last year,was not insured Some may argue that such
Insurance policies are much too expensive.O u r insur-
ance experts suggest that a collective contract covemg
the whole editorialstaff offers the best formula,amount-
ing to less than half a per cent of journalists’salmes
The thorniest issue regards freelance reporters They
often work for a number of different media organisa-
62 tions for a flat rate income which does not include any
additional social benefits Some have suggested the es-
tablishmentof aprofessionalh d which would be dedi-
cated to providing assistance to those journalistswith a
particular status.As you w il probably agree, this could
l
only be worked out on a country-by-country basis.That
is why we are asking national media organisations to
engage in discussions in order to establish new protec-
tive mechmsms for independentjournalists.
Organisationswhich helped to draft the Charter include
the French Foreign and Defencemistries, the Interna-
bonal Committee of the Red Cross,the Council of Eu-
rope,the Organisation for Security and Cooperationin
Europe,UNESCO,the World Press Freedom C o m t -
tee and the IPS Bellini-Gutenberginsurance group
Although no war zone is absolutely safe, the Charter
makes a number of useful proposals in the form of
eight pmciples.These are a commitmentby the mediq
public authorities and journalists to systematically seek
ways to assess and reduce the risks involved,not forcing
journalists to cover wars a p s t their wdl,using only
experienced journalists,providmg adequatepreparation,
equipmentand insurance,offemgpost-missionpsycho-
logical counselling if requested,and giving journalists
international legal protection

A Charter for the better

All the principles I have justmentioned have been gath-

ered followinganumber of discussionsmtiated by RSF
between war correspondents,editors,media owners,
governmentofficialsand representatIvesof international
organtsations W e have put them together into a Charter
jir the Sdeg ofJoumahsfiWorhng zn WarZones orDangerous
Area.This Charter is amed at averting,or at least re-
ducing the risks that war reporters run in the course of
their work
63
 Definition of Terrorism
.I General
Remarks There is no universally accepted definition of terrorism or indeed of terrorist One
definition of terrorism comes from rhe US.Department of Defense “the calcu-
on lated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcatefear,mtended to coerce or to
intimidate governments or societies M pursuit of goals that are generally political,
Terrorism religious or ideological ” Other definitions of terrorism reque that the violence be
directed at innocentparties, the terrorist not be a nation state,and the act of terror-
and ism should be very public or symbolic so as to use media coverage to maximize fear

Media International organizatioiis seek to ensure that their definitions of terrorism ex-
clude authorised governmentalaction taken againstits citizens whether or not such
actions cause terror amongst the same group.Terrorists have generally concluded
that elections are an ineffectual technique for changing government policy and so
apply pressure through violence to achieve political change. If terrorists achieve
their ends then their description may become elevated to that of “freedom fighter”.

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon.The Russian Revolution,the French Revolu-

tion,the QlineseRevolution were all started by groups of citizensdecidingto change
government policy through the pressure of violence.The Boston Tea Party of 1773
could be described as a terrorist act, the slave rebellions of the 1800’sin the Carib-
bean mght then qualify as terrorism.But today these events would be looked at m
quite another light.

The Red Army Faction (the Baader-Memhofgang)killed 31 persons,carried out 25

bombings and generally terrorised Western Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.The
objectivesof this gang was to target “American imperialism”.The Red‘Brigadesof
Italywere inspired by communistideals and foughtto encourageaworkers’revolu-
tion.The 30-yearprolonged struggle in Northern Ireland has produced another
classic example of how religious differences fanned by border realignments,affect-
ing a relatively small number of people and in a minute geographicalarea,can con-
tinue to create a caldron of violent incidentsover an extended period.This situation
is replicated by the current violence of the Israel-Palestineconflicts that have pro-
duced HAMAS, the PLO,as well as the often-excessiveresponse of the Israelis.
From the days of the Crusades,it has been difficult to build rational solutions in
long-standingconflicts between adversarieswho both believe they are beneficiaries
of their God’s endorsement.

Terrorists Need the Media

Terrorist acts are designed to create fear amongst the many A terrorist act,which is
unreported,may be supremely violent but w i
ll cause no widespread fear and so be
regarded as a fdure by the terrorist group.So the terroristmust create an incident
that wil demand media coverage.Attacking Olympic athletes in 1972;blowing up
l
TWA Flight 800;kidnapping the American NATO Commando;blowing up the
Oliver F. Clarke World Trade Center;killingjournalists in Colombia,Mexico,or Spam (ETA); blow-
ing up American diplomatic missions; the activities of Abu Sayyaf;dspensing bio-
Managing Director, logicallylethal gaseson subway transportsystems are all actionswhch compelworld-
The Gleoner, Kingston,Jamaica, wide media coverage.
Chairperson,Jury for the 2002
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano So the terrorist needs the media. The media have to report incidents of public
World Press Freedom Prize interest and importanceespecially when the terroristact is unique,unexpected,and
politically effective The bombing of the World Trade Center was such an event
America had never been attacked by a foreign force on its domestic terntory since
the BrIhsh dunng the Amencan Independence.For Americans the concept of do-
mestic security was destroyed by the bombmg of the World Trade Center
 The act of terrorism then creates a path of its own The
attacked seeks to demonize and isolate the attacker in
the public m m d This allows the constituents of the
terroreeto rdy behind its leaders and support measures
that in normal umes would be regarded as severe and
unacceptably restrictive of civil rights.
One terrorist act may produce many months of media
coverage.The terrorist act is covered.Then the often
extended hostage negotiations.The public response to
these actions takes a long time to play out.The continu-
ous action of terrorists can lead to severe reductions of
civilliberties,libertiesthat have been built up over many
66 years.The media ai-e obliged to cover the ensuing de-
bate of the conflictbetween securitypriorities,personal
freedoms and privacy concerns.Frequently the media
get pressured not to report on such issues.The US.
media, for example, were asked not to run tapes of
Osama Bin Laden sitting in front of an Afghan cave.
Al-Jaxeerain Qatar was pressured not to run its exclusive
interviews with the terrorists.
Domestic terronsm is now thoughtto be foughtbest by
intelligence and surveillance The German response to
the Baader-Memhofgangwas to increase wire-tapping,
ban membership of predetermmed terrorist groups,
encourage plea-bargamingto facilitate terrorist inform-
ants,mobilise special anti-terroristpolice squads and
authorize anonymous court evidence.In Colombia,it
has been necessary to allow the anonymity of judges
hsing from the recent terrorist actions on domestic
United States soil, the US.fight against terrorism has
been extended beyond trying to ellminate the terrorists
themselves to s e e h g to punish those states that allow
terrorists residence.“The Axis of Evil”appears to in-
clude the seven states named by America as sponsoring
terrorism,Cuba,Iran,Iraq,Libya,North Korea,Sudan
and Syria.This “ h s ” is a new developmentin the fight
F i s t terrorism and is one that has caused concern
wih the US.coalition.
Terrorists need the media to spread the fear that the
terroristwishes to create But at the same u m e terrorists
generally stand forintoleranceand do not support open-
ness.Terrorists fear new ideas,new religions and “they
see the modern world as athreat,not an opportunity”It
is the role of the media to create a more open world
The terrorist who manipulates the media in the short
run will come to be fearful of the media as they seek to
better inform the public about the narrowness of ter-
rorist ambition.
 The upsurge of rebelorganizationsthat practice terrorism,meaning,in my view,the
11. Fairness violent inhdation of civilian populations,was probably inevitable after the Cold
War.The major powers who were the main actors of the Cold W ar had a great
mterest in keeping conflicts within manageable limits that would not escalate into
all-outinternational warfare.So they clientalized those involved in local conflicts,
and they worked hard to circumscribethe actions of those client states or groups so
that their violence would serve superpower interests, confmg regional wars or
uprisings to reasonable proportions.

The end of the superpower confrontationseemed at first to mean that there were
no longerthe same reasons for the greatpowers to work so hard to containregonal
conflicts.Clearly, this analysis was behind the Bush Admmistration’s initial reluc-
tance to involve itself in regonal disputes.11 September,2001 changed all that.
67
But the unleashing of local actors m conflicts below the threshold of world war
creates new challenges for press coverage and new dangers for the journalists in-
volved.W e have spoken here largely as if dangers come almost exclusively from
non-stateactors that are commonly considered to be terrorists.This neglects the
ugly fact that the greatest danger to journalists m recent years has come from gov-
ernments and that that is likely to continue to be the case.

Governments are quick to accuse journalists of irresponsibility But there is no

reasonable comparison between any conceivable journalistic irresponsibility and
the scale and effect of governmental irresponsibility.I refer not only to Nazi Ger-
many or StalinistRussia.Think of Serbia,of post-CommunistRussia in Chechnya,
of Iraq gassing Kurdish villages,of Syriawiping out virtually the whole population
of one of its own cities, of Pol Pot’smassacre m Cambodia,of the famines pro-
voked by the Ethiopian government,of the northern government’swar against the
southern Sudan,and so forth.

Those examples were all forms of terrorism.And they share a common character-
istic.Contrary to the assertions we have heard so often here that terrorism needs
publicity and seeks a kind of involuntaryobjective complicity from the press, each
of those examples was being publicly denied by its perpetrators.They tried very
hard to hide their terrorist acts,and the press had to dig very hard to uncover them.
So,the largest-scale,generally most murderous forms of terrorism thrive on se-
crecy, not on publicity.The distinction, of course,is between state sponsors of
terrorism and non-stateactors.But even guerdas who carry out what the late 19”
Century Anarchists called “propaganda by the deed,” generally meaning assassina-
tions,are often in fact secretly manipulated by state actors who seek to hide their
hand which the press must try to uncover.

In the future,as in the past,the dangerous job of journalistsw ill also include reveal-
ing things that states try to hide.The presence of free, independent journalists is
often a guarantee against state-sponsoredterrorism.That is one reason why states
jd so many journalists in countrieslike Turkey,China and Ethiopia.Those journal-
Ronald Koven ists were defying the classic philosophical notion that if a tree fell m the forest and
nobody heard it, it must have made no detectable noise.Journalistsgo into the
European Representative,
forestto see fallen trees,and they deduce that there was indeed noise.One form of
World Press Freedom Committee
noise we have trouble hearing is the demands of disaffected groups whose voices
are stifled by undemocratic governments.At least some of today’sterrorist groups
come from frustration over making their voices heard democratically.

And the too-oftensuccessful efforts of governments to stifle such voices may ex-
plain the very genuine astonishment of the American public after 11 September.
The question “Why do they hate us?’ was a very sincere one based on simply not
knowingthat there were radcdly disaffected groups out The trouble for the press generally comeswhen one of
there whose demands had been muffled by governments the p m e s to a conflict,and it is usually a government,
and to which a “responsible”press had not paid enough forces or cajoles us to lean too far in its own direction.
attention.Khat is going on in the southern Philippines The other party or p m e s then perceive the press as an
is hard for outsiders to understand.It is a special case. adversary,ripe for targemg. The best defense for the
But every violent situation in every country is a special press is for us to stick to our principles of fair coverage,
case that needs a lotof explaining.Discourapgthe press and not to let anyone %sip to us any other roles,mis-
from talking about it poses a real danger, to the press sions,or obligations,no matter how high-soundingthey
itself, to the national society,and to the international may be in the name of peace,harmony,conflict resolu-
community.W e should not make laws of “responsible” tion,developmentor the like.W e journalistsmust resist
behavior on the basis of special cases.Let us remember all attempts,both by our friends and adversaries,to en-
the legal dictum,“hard cases make bad lam” list us to their causes,either openly or covertly.O u r best
defense (in additionto common-sensesafetyprocedures)
Justconfining the press to factual reporting,as we have is to try tell it like it is.
heard suggested here as a solution,does notwork either.
In the United States,the Hutduns Commission on the
press back in 1947concluded that a major trouble with
the U.S. press of the day was that it did not “tell the
truth about the facts”. In other words,it did not give
enough analysis and context to its reporting The quality
press all over the world has improved a great deal since
then.Any governmentally-inspiredeffortto put the clock
back endangers everyone’sunderstanding and,therefore,
their security.Ultimately,the best security for the press
is general public recognition that we try to be as fair as
possible in our reporting.If publics and governments,
and,indeed,rebel groups,feel that, then w e can gener-
ally do our job.The actors,the parties to conflicts,might
not always like our reporting,but if they are forced to
respect it, our safety w
il
l be enhanced.
 PART PI
Media and Terrorism: Case Studies
 CASESTUDY I
Case Studies
1 1 September: Consequences for Freedom of Information
in Africa in South Africa
Raymond louw,
Editor and Publisher of Southern Africa Report
and
Mr Jean-Paulhlaahoz has already described how there has been a tightening up of
Arab the channels of officialcommunication in the United States,forexample,how there
are restrictions on the media covering the war in Afghanistan and so on,and the
misguided attempt by the Americans to introduce a mechanism for falsifying the
States news,providing disinformation,as a means of combating terrorism.W e in South
Africa are experiencing variations of such official conduct,in some cases not so
blatant,but with echoes,nevertheless,of the American scene.The high degree of
71
openness that characterised South African society after its accession to democratic
governance has been slowly eroding as the new rulers have realised how difficult it
is to govern,especially after the kind of autocratic government we had endured
before,and how embarrassing disclosures in the media of incompetence and mal-
adrmnistration can be.

But this increasingreticence has been acceleratedsince 11 September and with it, no
doubt inspired by the misguided American suggestion about managing and falsify-
ing information,has been a much more blatant disregard for the facts,a facile ap-
proach to truth by simplydenyingwhat had been said even when it was recorded on
TV or tape,or in certam instances lying.W e all know that politicians are frequently
economicalwith the truth but in South Africa some politicians have reduced it to
budget zero proportions.

However,let me briefly sketch one aspect of the scene in South Africa agamst
which one discusses the topic.That is crime and security.South Africa has a high
crime rate which is accentuated by its viciousness and the ease with which robbers
and others murder sometunes forno gam at all.And this is interlaced with low level
terror campaigns with bombs and sometimes drive-byshootings.For some years
the police appeared to be losing the battle but now appear to be stabilising the
situation.But this is the climate in which ahstrative repression breeds rapidly
Tlxs is reflected by proposals for legislation by the politicians,arbitrary actions fre-
quently with strong-armmethods by the security authorities and the police.

When people are living behind electric fences,setting electronic burglar alarms at
night and have dogs in their gardens and “armed response” security companies
patrolling their suburbs,it is very difficultto impress on them the values of freedom
of expression and freedom of the media.And it is even less so with a government
stillgrappling to shed its ‘%bush war”liberation struggle authoritarianismand heady
influenced by the concernsof the security forces.

So,in lis environment repressivelegislation such as a Terrorism Bill and an Inter-

ception and Monitoring Law have a ready genesis.It may seem strange that just
eight years after our present rulers were expressing outrage at the draconian laws
used by the previous apartheid government to controltheir insurgency,they should
now be intent on introducing sjmilar restrictive laws,all in the name,of course,of
defendingdemocracy.

The Terrorism Bill contains such dreadful mechanisms as detention without trial
which,of course,can be used to seriously inhibit people’sfreedom of expression.
There are other provisionswhich are restrictivebut letme leave it therebecause the
law is with our Law Commissioners,who review controversiallegislationbefore it is
 submitted to parliament and who have decreed that por-
tions of this legislation contravenes the Constitution.I
understand it is now inaredrafhngprocess and we should
wait to seewhat occurs.However,there is also the Inter-
ception and MonitoringBillwhich appears to have been
influencedby similar instruments being forged in coun-
tries such as Britain,for example.The aims of the Bill
are pretty explicit:
1. To regulate the interception and monitoring of
certain communications (mostly on the Internet,but
nowdays that can apply to almost anybodywho Writes).
72 2. To provide for the monitoringof communications
in the case of a serious offence or if securityor other
compelling national interests are threatened.
3. To provide for the interception of postal articles
and communications.
4. To prohibit the provision of certain telecommuni-
cation serviceswhch cannotbe monitored. There has been uproar over this but despite being told
that the American system,which I believe is s d a r to
5. To regulate authorised telecommunicationsmoni- that in other Western countries,does not involve any of
toring.
There is also a provision for “call-related information”
to be provided by the serviceprovider to the authorities.
That includes the name of the user,the destination and
duration of the communication.And the service pro-
vider has to spend the money required to buy the equip-
ment to provide this information.Phone buggng is
normally authorised by a judge but in certain citcum-
stances a police officer ofpolice assistant commissioner
rank or a major in the military can do this.
to go through.However,to give a practical example of
how security paranoia has pervaded government,or
should I say, the Presidency,let me tell you about the
attempts to set up a Presidential Press Corps, ostensibly
modelled on the American example.
In America, journalists apply to join the White House
Press corps,some 1,600 have,and they fill in a question-
naire whch is not too probing and then receive their
accreditation.Sometimes,it is suspected that the secu-
rity servicesinvestigatethe reporterbut they do not ques-
tion him further.In South h c a , however,it is differ-
ent.After the questionnaire,National Intelligenceagents
have questioned journalists about their sex lives,if mar-
ried whether theyhave indulged in extramarital sex,and
whether they have had homosexual relationships.Then
whether they have been treated by apsychtatrist,whether
they have been jailed.They must also provide copies of
their bank statements and be prepared to undergo a lie
detectors test,a polygraph test.
theseprocedures,the questioningdlcontinuebutwith-
out the sex questions and the polygraph test.
The government has been quite unabashed over being
caught lymgin saymg that it based its procedures on the
US.system.Italsolied over the sex questions,aminister
saytng that they were never part of the procedure and
ascribing it to over-zealousnessby an agent and then a
senior departmental official describing the questions as
an essentialpart of the procedure,whch illustrateswhat
I said earlier.

W
ell
,theselawsweremakmglaboriousprogress through But finally,despite 11 September,there w a s one victory.
the usual processing channels when 11 September oc- For some years the prosecuting authorities have been
curred. That hardened public opinion a p s t terrorism using every legal means,and some illegal, to try to get
and gave the ministries involved a huge boost and the journalistswho were present at the spectacularmurder
process was speeded up.It is indeed fortunate that we of a gang leader in 1996 in Cape Town to supply their
have an instrument to keep the government in line,the video tapes or pictures or to give evidence in the case
Constitution and the ConstitutionalCourt,but the other
against thealleged murderers,all members of Pqd (Peo-
ple Agamst Gangsterism and Drugs,a vicious vigdante
Bill appears not to have been caught in this safety net group which was suspected of tuming into gangsters
despite vigdance also being exercised by vociferous cid themselves). They had subpoenaed a photographer to
society orgarusations such as the Freedom of Expres- tell what he saw and he refused on grounds that his
sion Institute, and others. Constitutionalmedia freedomrightswere beingbreached
and because he had been threatenedwith death on more
Itappearsthatinvasionsof privacy do notevoke as pow- than one occasion.But at the lastminute the police with-
erful a deterrent as imprisonmentwithout trial.Maybe drew the summons.Fifty policemenwho witnessed the
the media’s insistence on privacy,particularly of political Mling refused to give evidence.W e regarded that as a
and other cid society leaders,not being sacrosanctmay victory for the media.
have something to do with this. There is certainly little
opposition to the Bill among the gened public.11 Sep- But let me leave you with another controversy that is
tember and the arrival of similar legislation overseas developing, the national interest versus the public in-
appear to be having an effect and the legislationis lkely terest.The government wants journalists to pursue the
national interest and forgets that many opposition pa-
pers during the apartheid era did exactly the opposite.If
they had pursued the national interest they would have
propagated apartheid;instead they pursued the public
interest by opposing the dreadful policy
CASE STUDY II
Terrorism and Media in Zimbabwe
Geofiey Nyarota#
Editor-in-Chiefof The Daily News,
Zimbabwe
courts on accusations that duringclasheswith support-
ers of the ruling party who mded his farm,JohnBibby,
the farmer,caused the death of two of the invaders.
Takmg up the cudgel on behalf of government, The
Chmmkh,a pro-governmentdady newspaper,stated in
an editonal comment that “the ongoing foreign-spon-
sored political thuggery that has raised its ugly head
should not be allowed to go unchecked.W e would llke
to urge the government to use the state secuty m a h -
ery to deal with these acts of terronsm before they get
out of hand.”

As the government of the United States and its allies As if in dmct response,President Mugabe soon after
intensified their crackdown on terrorism in the after- hs re-electionin March signed the controversial and
math of the 11 September attacks,the government of draconianAccess ta Informationand Protection of Pri-
Zimbabwe waged a war of its own on terrorism.The vacy BiU,which seeks to silence Zimbabweanjournalists
targets of this onslaught by the authorities in Harare through licensing,through the prosecution and handing
were, however,terrorists of a totally different nature. down of stiff penalties on those whose writings are
The terrorists referred to in rather incongruous terms deemed to be disruptive,the barring of foreign journal-
by the regime of Mr Robert Mugabe were the journal- ists fiom workmg in the country and the prevention of
ists workmg for the country’ssmall, but increasinglyvi- foreignersfromhaving a stake in any Zimbabwe media
brant and popular,privately owned,independentpress. organisation.
Also listed by government among the ranks of Zimba-
bwe’s special breed of terrorists were members, espe- ‘Thegovernmentwdluse the lawto bring to book MDC
cially the leadershp, of the major opposition political terrorists and their media supporterswithout fear or fa-
party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). vour,”enthused Mop in T heSmdq Mail another gov-
The party’s leader, Mr Morgan Tsvanp,lost an elec- ernment-owned newspaper.‘WOterrorist or terrorist
tion in March 2002 to President Mugabe in a poll that sponsorw ill find comfortin Zimbabwe.The use of the
was embroiled in controversyand allegedly fraughtwith medq whether local or international,wdl not suffice as
irregularities.Mr Mugabe has openly been accused of a cover for terrorism.”
winning through fraudulentmeans.
Despite the minister’sassertions that the government
More than 100 supporters of the MDC were N ed by wdl apply the new lawwithout fear or favour,evidence
ditants and agents of the ruling Zanu PF party and abounds to the contrary.Since it became law in March
government.Scores were arrested.The MDC was ac- 2002, Zimbabwe’sAccess to Information and Protec-
cused m the run-upto the presidential election 2002 and tion of Privacy Bill has been selectively used to haunt
its members were locked up by the government of Mr journalistsworkmg for the counws independentpress.
Mugabe on murder and terronsm charges follomgthe Theywere obviously the prime targetof the new legisla-
death of activlsts of the ruling Zanu PF patty Also to tion,anyway.
bear the brunt of the government’sso-calledonslaught
on terrorism were members of the small whte com- I now hold the dubious distinction of being the first
mercial farmingcommmty who,since 2000,have been Zimbabwean journalist ever to taste the wrath of gov-
the v i c m s ofa vicious land expropnationand redism- ernment under the provisions of this repressive and
bution programme which has left more than 12people obnoxiouslegslation,whch is aimed atgagpg the qual-
dead,with many more displaced or arrested on vanous ity of information reaching the public of Zimbabwe.I
spurious charges W e no journalist has pad the su- was arrested on 15 April,2002 and charged with violat-
preme sacrificeyet,death threats have been issued and ing the Access to InformationAct.My arrest followed
journalistson each of Zimbabwe’sthreeweekly and one the publicationin The Ouch Newswhvh stated that there
ddy privately owned newspapers have been arrested. was a discrepancy between the figures of election re-
sultsbroadcastliveby Zimbabwe’sRegstrarGeneraland
InformationW s t e r , JonathanMoyo,one of Mugabe’s the actual figures.
top aides,accused the counq‘ssmall population of 4000
white commercial farmes of colluding with journalists The basis of the story was a tape containing the live
to commitwhat he described as “economic terrorism”. recording.Also arrested were Iden Wtherell, the Editor
Moyo made hs accusationwhen an elderly farmerand of the privately-ownedweekly,T heZimbah Independent
20 of his workers were arrested and hauled before the and his chief reporter,h s a n i Muleya.The two were
 detained following publication in their paper of a story farminvaders,who became instantcelebrities,especially
linkingthe FirstLady of Zlmbabwe,Mrs. Grace Mugabe, in ruling party circles and among certatn landless peas-
to a labour dispute between a white-owned company ants in the rural areas,land invasions might not have
and an employee alleged to be her brother. become as prevalent as is the case now,with rather dev-
astating consequencesfor food security and the general
For journalists arrested by the government of Zimba- economy of Zimbabwe.
bwe what is usually more p m f d than the arrest itself is
the wholesale condemnation,normally unwarranted,by As the “warvets”, some of them too young to have
the state-ownedmedia. The Daib Nem story was de- made any meaningfulcontribution to Zimbabwe’swar
scribed as a “preposterous and deliberate falsehood con- of liberation from colonialism,marched onto the com-
sistentwith many previous claims made by the.. .British mercial farms to evict the farmers,invaded private sec-
sponsoredpaper.. .behindthe disinformationcampaign tor companies,some of which immediately closed and
on behalf of the MDC.”The Da$ Nem is not British stormed into the chambers of Supreme Court judges
74 sponsored. seeking to evict them,hordes of local and foreign jour-
nalists were in attendance.The perpetrators of these
The international media watchdog Reporters Sans outrages then watched themselves being paraded as he-
Frontiirres (RSF)was not spared the wrath or the sharp roes on state-sponsoredtelevision.They saw their pic-
tongue of the government of Zimbabwe on this occa- tures, A b held aloft,gracing the front pages of the
sion Information hhster Moyo launched a scathing newspapers. T h ~ sfawning adoration and adulation by
and vitriolic attack on RSF,which he accused of pro- the statemedia of youngmen who,with impunity tanta-
moting lawlessness in Zimbabwe.RSF had wntten to mount to state protection,went about codtttngacts
Moyo expressing concern over the arrest of the three of lawlessness and wrealmg general havoc,must have
journalists Moyo descnbed the appeal as ‘hothingbut a served as an incentiveto further acts of terrorism.But
shameless partisan voice for imperial Europe deserving then this concern must be addressed in the context of
of the greatest contempt” the need by Zimbabwe’s media, especially the private
press, to inform the public on all matters of interestand
If the stnct definition of terronsm is applied,it is obvi- relevance to them.
ous that the journalists of Zimbabwe are not, in any
way, engaged in terrorist activity as allegedbby the gov- CASE STUDY 111
ernment It would be nearer the truth to suggest that it Aftermath of 1 1 September:
is the independentjournalists of Zimbabwe,along w ith An Arab Perspective
the commercialfarming community and the leadershp Nedal Mansour
of the major opposition party, who have become the Editor-in-chietAI-Hadath,
victims of state-sponsoredacts of terronsmdumg Zim- President of the Center for Defending the Freedom of
babwe’s descent into the state of lawlessness and anar- Journalists,Amman,Jordan
chy which has prevded in the country since the run-up
to the parliamentary elections,held inJune2000 I would lLke to start by saying that I would have pre-
ferred that this event could have been held in an Arab
D u m g that period T heDaib NeuT experienced a bomb country so that you would be able to closely view how
attack on its offices in Apd 2000,a bomb attack on its the public there interprets the word terronsm after its
printmg press inJanuary2001which completely ruined repeateduse everywhereafter 11 September,2001 Ihope
the newspaper’sprintmg press,the arrest and other har- you wdl excuse m e for spealilng to you in Arabic It is
assment on numerous occasions of its journalists and the language that best expresses how deeply frustrated
newspaper vendors;two death-threatsa p s t me, the we are in the Arab world that our language and the color
semre and destruction of thousands of copies of the of our slims have become enough to draw suspicion
newspaper,and the banning of the paper in certatn ar- and accusations of terronsm I hope that the Arabic
eas,especially the rural areas,which are the stronghold language w ill be considered as an official lanpge in
of the rulingparty such Conferences as this in order to achieve ‘‘TheDia-
logue of Civdlzations”
Through their tireless effort to provide information 10
the public,the media of Zimbabwe could,in a way,be I am standing here as an Arab.The scarf around my
guilty of promoting acts of terronsm in the country, neck is the one which people defending themselves and
especially pertaining to the dlegal invasion of white- their land usuallywear and it is not the same one that so-
owned commercial farming land by the so-calledwar called terronsts wear.To speak frankly,let us stop beat-
veterans Cnt~cs, some of them withm the media,argue ing around the bush and stop ignoring the Amencan
that if the media had not provided wide publicity to the whip above our backs &ving us,and the entire world,
to its own destination and according to its sole vision. produces or have produced terrorism includingthe fol-
lowing occupation.Absence of economicdevelopment,
W e shouldb e p by askingthe followingquestions.What and the spread of poverty,unemployment and hunger.
is terrorism? and Who is a terrorist?Again,before at- Absence of standards of rights and justice.
tempting to answer those questions,let me remind you
that,as an Arab,I am againstbloodshed.I believe in life, But what happened was that no attention was paid to
not death and destruction.So,what is terrorism?Is re- those reminders,when the US.ahistration and its
sisting occupation terrorism? Is throwing a stone at allies announced thewar on terrorism.Thatconsequently
armed tank terrorism?Is asking and demanding safety, led to the killingof a large number of innocent people
independence and liberty terrorism?Is rejecting injus- which was justified as the search for terrorists.During
tice and tyranny terrorism? And, most importantly,is this campaign against terrorism,many countries in the
state terrorism also not terrorism? world seized it as an opportunity to restrict the media
and the press.%s setus back years afterit became clear
What we,in the Arab world,feel is goingwrong relates that the campaign against terrorism was also a war on
to the obscure blurring of concepts as well as double freedom of the press and expression,as well as on indi-
standards when dealingwith us.D o you thtnk that there vidual liberties.
wil be a day when Arab people w
l i
ll be willing to con-
demn martyrdom attacks?If you think thatthis w illhap- For instance,in m y countryJordan,the government saw
pen before the end of the Israeli occupation and the an opportunity in the campaip aganst terrorism to en-
withdrawal from Palestinian lands and the establishment act a new Penal Code legslation that severely punishes
of an mdependent Palestinian state,then it is unreal to the press.According to Article 150 of that Penal Code,
think so.Also,if you think that Arab media w ill refer to terrorism and the media were linked.Using thatlaw,the
those martyrdom attacks as terroristattacks,then that is government is now capable of ordering accused jour-
unreal too.It is importantto know that it is impossible nalists to appear before State Security Courts. For the
to call on Arab people and Arab media to take no sides first time those courtshave the legal rightto close down
in this conflict.It has become even more impossible newspapers tempody or even permanently.
after Sharon’smassacre in Jenin refugee camp on the
West Bank. W e should be aware that the billions of dollars that have
been spenton the war againstterrorism could have been
W e should carefully look at the scene and not become spent on sustamable development and eradicating the
selective.You should keep an eye on the Israeli media roots of violence and hatred This is a task that Cmse
and even someso-calledprestigous American media or- missiles are not able to do Khat’s more,w e should also
ganizationswhen they cover the conflict.They consider take care that the media and the press are not the first to
the assassinationof Palestinian leaders as being preven- pay the price for this warwith thelr liberty and freedom.
tive operations.They consider that throwinga stoneat a
tank is violence by both parties.And they justifymassive As for covering terrorism, the Afghani experience is
killings of Palestiniansas attempts to destroy terrorists. worth studying.While the US.admuustration was capa-
ble of rallying its own media, and,indeed the Western
Once agam,the real problem is of a conceptual nature, media in general,to its side throughout this campaign,
and as long as we do not agree,then debate and zgu- developments in the field of communicationsmeant that
ment w i
llgo on and on and w i
llbe in tum transrmtted to the U.S. was incapable of holding on to the advantage.
the media which remain the voice of the nature of con- This is where the AI-JaTeerasatellite channel made its
flict within society.In the same context,Arab govern- presence felt and even beat CNN.Itwas also interesting
ments as well as the media have condemned what hap- to see those accused of terrorism,ALQaeda, inventing
pened on 11 September,whde many think-tanksand new media tools thatenabled them to communicatetheir
political figures have publicly condemned the killing of views through the use of recorded video tapes of Bin
innocent civilians in the United States in those attacks. Laden whch were sent to Al-JaTeera.
But the public in the Arab world has always experienced
bitterness and frustration over US.policies and posi- It is also true that press coverage of hot spots m the
tions,and m away therewas somehope that thoseevents world puts thosewho work for media organlzationsm a
would possibly make the U.S.rethink its policies and use dangerous position.This has been the case regardmg
its powers to deeply search for the roots and causes of the atrocities and brutality Israeli troops and Israeli au-
terrorism. thorities carried out against journalists and cameramen
when preventing them access to the Jenmrefugee camp
Moreover,months after the 11 September attacks,the in the first days after the event so that they could not
media in the Arab world focused on many issues that cover the Israeli war crimes that took place there The
 media, in the overall process, should not only
examine the surface of the terrorism issue, but
they should also look more deeply into the issue.
The media should be looking into what this is
really all about and whether it belongs to a religion
or even a language The media should also think
twice before firing accusations,and it might also
take some time to answer why young men and
women prefer to die rather than to live It is
probably a message that the world should know
about. Could it be that death and life have the
same meaning when all windows of hope are
closed?
76 I
U There is a line for Ibrahim Nassai-allah
a,Jordanianpoet
a
C portraying feelings of a commando that has chosen to
G die.The line says:
J
C
4
7 I do not like Death ... But it is the stairs thatI a m going
I:
C to take up to LIFE.
E
.-
Y
b
4
r;
0
Y
ta
 CASE STUDIES I
Case Studies 1. Terrorism and Journalists in Afghanistan
Faheem Dashtx
in Asia Chief Editor,Kabul Weekly,
Kabul,Afghanistan

and Terrorism and journalismhave nothing in common,but journalists and the princi-
ples they stand for are often terrorism’s targets.Terrorism has always threatened
the Pacific defenders of freedom and opponents of tyranny in Afghanistan.In September
2001,Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud,the leader of the Afghan National Re
sistance, first a p s t the communists and then the architects of global terror,was
lulled by two Arab terrorists posing as journalists.

I spent nine days with these men in a house in Iaawaja Bahawodin in north-east 77
Afghanistan Yet right up to the moment that the suicide bombers detonated their
hdden explosives,killingCommander hhssoud and injuring me,neither I nor any-
one else unagined that they were anybody else other than who they said they were
None of us had any idea that they were using the freedoms of the journalist to
stde as terrorists

But w e must not forget that journalists have a decisive part to play in the future of
Afghanistan. This is the reason I have continued to work in journalism. I can
conmue to work towards Massoud’s objectives of national unity,democracy and
human rights for all, especially forwomen,to defy the terrorists’threats and defend
the integrity of the nation.I have done this despite my experiences and the psycho-
logical shock of witnessing the murder of my leader.And even though my injuries
from that day made it difficult form e to work,thls is why I began the process of re-
launching the long banned Kabzll Week4 newspaper last year with the cooperation
of friends from Paris.

The Kabzll Week&was fmt published between 1993 and 1996 during some terrible
years of war in and around the city,yet it was widely disttrbuted across the country
and often abroad It was eventually banned by the government in 1996 after it
published controversial articles about the Afghan embassy in New D e h The paper
finally returned to the streets in early January2002,produced by some of the staff
of the old weekly together with new journalistswith new visions LastThursdayw e
published the 13“issue of the new paper,printmg 4,000copies,carrying reports in
Afghanistan’stwo national languages and two international ones

The &bd Week4was the first independent newspaper to emerge after the fall of
the Taliban.Since thenw e have been joined by many more.According to the records
of the Ministry of Information and Culture,there are now 87independentpublica-
tions in the country.Without doubt,if we want to move forward as a people’s
government,we need freedom of the press. But in Afghanistan today the inde-
pendent press faces the following problems:a lack of professionally experienced
journalists,which is why there are no great publications in Afghanistan as yet;a lack
of equipment;and a lack of fundsand of guarantees of economic independence.

In normal situations an independent publication can pay its way through sales of
advertising and copies of its editions But 23 years of war has taken away much of
its readershp.Fewer people can read these days, and of those who can,few can
afford to buy a newspaper Papers have to be sold cheaply and produced on low
revenues One useful sourceof income for a paper in the developedworld is its Jobs
Vacantpages Yet though there are job vacancies in Afghanistan,thereare not enough
of them and most of them pay too little to justify the costof an advertisement.Still,
independent,professional,properly equipped and economicallyindependentmedia
 are strongly needed in Afghanistan.Terrorism’s roots yep-sof UN presence in TimorLeste,the safety of jour-
run deeper in Afghanistan than anywhere else. It has nalists is still under threat.Journalistshave been threat-
not been long since its gnp on our country has been ened and subjected to acts of violence.The Timor
loosened.Butwith all Ihave sad inmind,the possibility Larosa’eJournalistsAssociation (TLJA) has recorded a
always r e m s that it may yet return. number of attacks, beatings,forced removals,and the
destruction of journalists’officesand equipment over
W e need to open the windows in the people’smind.Ter- the past two years.
rorism came to Afghanistan disguised as religon,just as
I saw it once come in the disguise of journalism.Too For 24 years threats to the safety of journalists came
m y of our people still cannot tell the difference be- fromtheditary and the Indonesian government How-
tween the message of religon and the message of ter- ever, in independent Tmor Leste,the threats and vio-
rorism.W e need to separatethosemessages and remove lence that journalists are currently expenencing come
from civilians,ratherthan the military or the police.Sev-
78 II
the disguises.
eral cases recorded by the TLJAbetween January2001
and Apd 2002 mdicate who is threateningthe safety of
: All media organisations in Afghanistan,but especially
I the independent press, need support.This is why we journalists and carrying out violent acts
P
1
I
seek the assistance of the international community W e
I do not ask for a long-termfinancial comment.W e These include physical attacks and the forced removal
I of reporters and cameraman from TV Timor Lorosa’e
I
Q
believe that the independentpress can become self-sus-
taining in three years.In the meantime we wd r e m a when they were covering studentorientation. A case is
a;
0 front line defence a p s t terronsm and all it seeks to still at the judicial stage involvingthe forced removal of
journalists from the National Council room resultmgin
t achieve and destroy
the destruction of cameras and video cameras.Threats
? CASE STUDIES II came from the head of the mass organization CPD-
Is the Safety of Journalists in Timor RDTL that it would bum down the &an Matlbere Week4
news magazine because it reported that the CPD-RDTL
Leste Guaranteed?
was working in collaborationwith the Indonesiand i-
Hugo Fernandes,
tary Xanana Gusmao’sguard used the government of-
Deputy President of Tirnor Lorosa ’eJournalists Associa-
tion (TUA),Editor-in-Chiefof Talitakurn Weekly,
fice car for their own personal use.The CPD-RDTL
DiIi,East Tirnor group attacked and broke the doors and windows of
the Radio Timor hanek station.A Japanesejournal-
ist’s camera was destroyed by Serio Vieirra de Mello,a
The history of the Timor Leste independence move-
bodyguard of the Special Representative of Secretary
ment over 24years began with the death of fiveAustral-
General (SRSG) of the UN.Takhesiwon this case in a
ian journalistsand a new Zealand journaliston 16Octo-
ber,1975.Roger East,an Australian journalist,was N e d
Dilicourtagamstthe SRSG.The same journalist,Takhesi,
was put in jarl for11 days as a result of false accusations
on invasion day, 7 December, 1975.Kamal Bamadah,
from several of Xanana Gusmao’sstaff aboutattempts
an activist from new Zealandwas W e d on 12 Novem-
to murder h m .
ber, 1991.And a number of journalists were wounded
as a result of Indonesian military violence.
Other threats have come from Armando da Silva,the
When the referendumwasheld on 30August,1999,three presidentof the Liberal Party who is now in the Legsla-
journalists experienced the same fate.Bedinho Guetrre, tive Assembly Armando da Silva threatened that the
a Radio Matebian journalist,was shot by Indonesian masses from HTUN,a clandestineyouth orgarmation
policewhen he was coveringthe pro-independencecam- during the time of Indonesianoccupation,would attack
pAgp on 25 August, 1999.Sanders Thoenes,a Dutch the Talitakum weekly newsmagazinebecause this maga-
journalist,was murdered by the Indonesian military on zine was reportingabout the involvementof Armanda
21 September,1999.And Agus Maulyawan,an Indone- da Silva in a number of Indonesiand i t a r y operations
sian journalist who worked for the Japanese press, was which resulted in the death of many FALINTlL mem-
killed on 25 September,1999 in Lospalos by the SAKA bers in 1991
ditia.This does notincludethe journalistswho received
threats and ill-treatmentfrom the Indonesian military Talitakum investigations prove that HTUN itself had
apparatus. officially fired Armando da Silva from the board of this
organisationbecause he was workingin collaborationwith
The above information is the history of journalists’in- KOPASSUS,the Indonesian Special Forces.The latest
volvement and the beginning of threats to their safetyin acts of violence experienced by journalists occurred at
Tmor Leste.Despitevictory in the referendumand two the time ofthe Tmor Leste presidential candidates’de-
bate at the National University of Timor Leste on 12 Leste w ill not become victlms of violence in the near
April,2002.A student who did not have a place m the future.
debating room beat a Radio Untaet journalist and ru-
ined his tape recorder. The critical post-conflictmentality of themasses is fmd-
ing a new identity and there has indeed been a massive
The Reasons Behind the Threats and change. On the other hand,the majority of the masses
Attacks on Journalists still continue to revere past leaders of the masses.The
low level of education in Timor Leste has caused a low
The cases of violence and threats agamst journalists levelof understandmgaboutthe meaning of a freepress.
mentioned above can be categorized by the origin of
the threats,namely movement leaders and their follow- M e r lookingat these cases,how can the safetyof Timor
ers;bureaucratswithin the new government;party lead- Leste journalists be guaranteed? In the Timor Leste
ers;the leadersand members of mass organizations;and Constitution,there are two articles,h c l e 40and Arti-
students. cle 41,which guarantee freedom of expression,free-
dom of information and press freedom.Unfortunately
In the case of movement leader Xanana Gusmao,the these two articles are flawed.In Article 40,regarding
attacks carried out by hs bodyguards and followersap- freedom of expression and freedom to information,the
pear to be driven by the need to protect the reputation fmtpoint clearly states that %very person has the right
of a leader who was revered for 24 years.The acts car- to freedom of expression and the freedom to seek and
ried out by people close to Xanana Gusmao are gener- spread information”.The second point goes on to state
ally committed without his knowledge.Excessive pro- that “The exercise of these rights can’tbe restricted by
tection of hsreputationhas caused Xanana’sbodyguard forms of censorshp”.However,point three,states that,
and followers to act irrationally.As a result, Xanana ‘The exercise of these rights and freedoms are regu-
Gusmao’s reputation could falter in the eyes of local lated by law based on respect for the constitution and
journalists. individual values”.Point three of this article is the big-
gest threat to those who use the right to express,pro-
Threats and acts of violence from the leaders of various vide and fmd information.Tlus third point opens up
mass organizations or political parties attempt to cover the opportunity for the government to create a press
up the mistakes they made throughout the 24 years of lawwhich w il
l protect government policy and interests.
struggle.The known followers of these leaders are the
masses who fad to understand ideologcally,and these h c l e 41 specificallyaddresses press freedom and so-
are the people who are ready to reactwhen politlcal dis- cial communication in six points. Pomts l to 5 are ad-
course cannotbe reconciled.Journalistswho reveal the equate.Point 6,however,lunits the operations of radio
facts surroundmg these leaders often receive support and television stations.It states that radio and television
from the masses who want justice.Revelations in the stations can only operatewith a license and this is based
media of facts about a number of new bureaucrats is on the law Once agam this point does not clearly state
demanded by the masses who are dissatisfied with cer- what kind oflicense is needed.D o they need a license to,
tain people because of their political affiliationwith the start up or a license to get a frequency? In addition it
Indonesian era. does not mention whch institution they can get the li-
cense from.The biggest threat comes from the phrase
A number of the threats and acts of violence experi- ‘%based on the law”.
enced by journalistsare basically due to efforts to ensure
the successofbad policies,as developedby government So,what about the real conditions of the mass media
bureaucrats,party leaders,mass orgarmationleadersand and journalists in Timor Leste? All media organtzations
movement leaders.It is easy for these leaders to mobi- are still dependent on donor assistance. There is yet to
lize the masses to support them.These leaders are very be a mass media orgatmation,either print or broadcast,
clever at manipulating the mentality of the masses in a which is financiallyindependent”.Theseconditionsmean
post-conflictarea like Timor Leste.@ne aspect of the that the safety of journalistswhich should be addressed
mentality of the masses,which is easily manipulated by by publishing companies,cannot be addressed.Growth
politicians or leaders,is revenge.This is linked to the in the private sector in Timor Leste has not attracted
post-referendummassdestructlonof the socialand eco- entrepreneurs with large sums of capital to invest their
nomic landscape carried out by the mditias and the In- money in the media industry.W e can assess the charac-
donesia military. However,up until now there has not teristics of the futuregovernment m the light of the
been a single journalistin TimorLeste who has died as a above two Articles of the Constitution.In the past two
result of the violence,but journalists have been threat- years,various policies from the transitionalgovernment
ened.This does not guarantee that journalists m Timor have been criticizedby the n m s media.Still,Timor Leste
 bureaucrats say that the situationis stdl tolerable because
the UN and they believe that recentpolicies which have
been adopted are not their responsibility.As a result, if
the mass media criticize public policy,the government
responds that they w i
ll examine the situation after 20
Besides the weakness in the Constitution’sability to guar-
antee the safetyof journalists,anothermatterwhich could
become a threat to the safety of journalists is the bu-
reaucraticmentality of the IndonesiaNew Order,which
is still strongwithin the minds of Timor Leste bureau-
crats.Bureaucrats in Timor Leste are very protective of
80 theirpolicies.This means that they do notwant any poli-
cies to be criticised.
What can be done under these conditions and how can
the safety of journalists be guaranteed while they are
workmg?Over the past two years and possibly the next
fiveyears the only toolwhich can be used for protection
is Press ID.This is the only guarantee which has been
given to journalistsfrom publishmg companies.The jour-
nalists have to avoid reportingthe minority issueswhich
could lead them to become a majority community en-
emy (such as reporung on the returnees from Indone-
sia, reporting reconciliation issues,or even criticizingthe
government policy about Muslims). They also have to
avoid writing sensational stories which zre hard to un-
derstand by common people.
By looking at these conditionswhat can Timor Larosa’e
JournalistsAssociation do? It is hoped that journalists
will adhere to the code of ethics which has been mutu-
ally agreed upon.For specific events such as the elec-
tion,the TLJAis working togetherwith IECto produce
a code of conduct for covering the campaign and the
election day.The TLJAcan provide advocacy for jour-
nalists who are experiencing problems with other par-
ties. It can continue to campaign for freedom of press
in the framework of raising people’s awareness.It can
often implement self-censorshipeven though this is
sometimes in conflictwith the instinct of journalists.It
can establish cordial relations with both the ruling and
opposition leaders.And the TLJAcan provide more
training for journalists in terms of covering and pre-
senting the stories to the public.
CASE STUDY 111
The Safety of Journalists in the Pacific
Justin Eli
Pina Radio Group, Pacific Islands
Let m e begm my short presentation by just saying that
the word terrorism is not one that is readily included in
the vocabulary of ordinary Pacific Islanders as they tell
their stories round their camp-fires at night or at their
meetmg houses.Pacific Island States, in the hope of
encourapg tounsm after 11 September,2001,believed
and wanted to promote the South Pacific as the Safe
Pacific.But that does not necessarily mean that journal-
ists in the Pacific are safe and free from the mpacts of
terrorism and related risks to their lives.
There are strands of terrorism in the regon.Pacific
Islanders call them coups d’etat and mutinies.Such is
the case in Fiji.They are called ethnic uprisings in the
case of SolomonIslandsand BoupvjlleinPapua New
Guinea,or studentprotests,as in the Universityof PNG-
led bloody streetprotests ofJune2001 inPortMoresby.
The third strand of Pacific terrorism is corruption in
the corridorsof power,in the public service system and
in the high offices of business.All of these are danger-
ous for the working journalist.
South Pacific journalistshave had their share of harass-
ment and threats from the perpetrators of these dlegal
acts.My regional colleaguefrom the SamoaObserq Pub-
lisher Savea San0 Malifa, persevered and persisted in
printing the truth even though the very survival of his
newspaperand Sano’sownprofessionalcareeras anews-
man was stronglythreatenedby outsidepoliticalpreasure.
The Publisher of the Solomon Star and owner of PAOA
FM in Honiara,JohnLamani,also sufferedpolitical har-
assment.H is two media companieswere threatenedwith
imminentclosure unless he apologzed and paid a hefty
s u m of money as compensation to the leaderwho was
alledgedly defamed.This was because the Sohmon Star
printed what it believed to be the truth.Both of these
publishers have between them a number of Media Free-
dom Awards frommany news orgmzationsin theworld
including our own Pacific Islands News Association
(PIMA).
There are many stories about the safety,or rather the
lack of safety, of Pacific journalists.Journalists risked
theirlivesreportinglive frommtlitary zoneswithoutpro-
tective gear during the coups and mutiny in the Fiji Is-
lands.Honiarajournalistsdodged bullets as they tried to
report on the ethnic clashes that brought a government
down.
I would lke to concentrate on the Papua New Guinea
experience,the Bougainvdle Crisis,forexample Thiswas
alandownerprotest that successfully shutdown the sec-
ond largest open-cut copper mine in the world,
Bougmville Copper The perpetrators of this ethnic
uprismg called themselves the Boupvdle Revolution-
ary Army (BRA),who,at the height of the 10-yearup-
rising, did not recognise or respect journalists of the
local media accusing them of being pro-Government
spies and worhg with the government forces How-
ever,they had no problem with overseasmedia person-
ne1who entered Boupvdle from the Solomon Islands,
and interviewed them foroverseaspublications Also at
this tune, a turn of events furtherendangered the lives
of localjournalistsas someof them actuallywalked into
the junglesand up into the m o u n m s conducting exclu-
sive interviewswith rebel leaders and recording on film
rebels in their element,the jungle
Indus situation,youwdlunderstand,our journalistswere
like meat in a sandwich with the BRA on one side and
government forces on the other.Danger was always
present forthe journalists reporting from the jungles of
Boupvdle But as time wore on,the media found the
means to develop a unique relationship with the rebels,
on one hand,and government forces,on the other,while
reportingthe viewpoints of both sides.Needless to sa5
there were casualties and deaths on both sides.But we
did not lose a journalist.
There is also the meaningless but nevertheless danger-
by supporters of a rival candidate or party, merely for
being the one that reports the views of the other side
ThePNG Media Councilis very mindful of the number
of high-poweredweapons now in the hands of c e r m
candidates or their supporters These were allegedly
brought into the country or stolen from armones of the
army or the police specifically for the campagn trad
The dangerin the face of duty for our journalistsw
il be
l
very real in some parts of the country during the com-
ing national elections
Anotheruniquedanger thatPNG journalistsrisk is based
on culture and tradition.They can not write to expose
81
the wrongs and sins of a bantok’,a prominent citizen
and member of their tnbe.Tribal or traditional law de- V
5
crees that they must respect their elders and must never s
L
ever mise the& voices againstthem forfear of repercus- a
sionswhich could affect immediate famdy or relatives. f
71
C
I
0
So how are we addressing this problem? The Media .I

ous assaultand harassmentofreportersand the destruc- Council of PNG is workmg closely with the Pacific Is- 2
C
.I

tion of their tools during protest marches or political lands News Association to fmd answers.For example, t
rallies.This is becoming synonymouswith rent-a-crowd PINA and the Media Council of PNG are running a 7
stylemarches orgatheringswhich causegeneraldestruc- regonalworkshop in Madang on Training the Trainers d
tion to property under the guse of the dam that those
takmg part representthe silent majority. The danger to
in Cnsis Repomg,a program we began last year as a
result of identifying the many dangers Pacific Islands
a
U

reporters covenng the one week stand-offbetween the journalistsface these days.These includethe experiences
governmentand university studentsinJunelastyearwas of the three Fiji coups,the Solomons Ethnic Conflict
staringthem in the face everyday Therewere deaths and and coup,the Bougainville Secessionistwar,the PNG-
casualties as a result of this protest. Solomons border conflict,and the contmuing conflict
of the West Papuan people. W ith the support of
Another incidentof terrorismin the corridorsof power UNESCO, we are also developing a handbook on peace
happened during a prime ministerial press conference reporting. Thts gives examples of how the meda in these
when a politician singled out a TV cameraman and Pacific countrieshave promoted reconciliationand peace
shouted “there he is,get him”,while advancing towards in these conflictsand have moved another step closer to
our newsman.This was recorded and broadcast on na- make it a Safe Pacific for our journalists to carry out
tional television. The incidentwas apparently based on their work.
aTV report the previous day which criticized the rather
dubiousfinancialdealings of the government of the day CASE STUDY IV
and its leader did not agree with it. The politician who Media and Terrorism in the Philippines
openly threatened the TV newsman eventuallywas ap- Melinda Quintos de Jesus
pointed Police Minister. Executive Director of the Center for Media Freedom
and Responsibility (CMFR), the Philippines
W e in PNG fear that incidents of assault,harassment
and destructionof property could increaseforour jour- The constitutionalprotection of freedom of expression
nalists,especiallyafter the Media Council ofPapua New and press freedom adds to the complexity ofthe Philip-
Guinea declared an all-outW ar Agamst Corruption as pine experience of meda and terrorism.The contextof
the country braces itself for national elections in June. issuesalso mcludes the activitiesof insurgentrebelgroups
W e sought and got the support of all concerned citi- as well as the use by government,rrulitary, and police of
zens,church groups,NGOs,chambers of commerce, terror tactics a p s t the population.However,the brev-
and various councilsto carryforwardthe campaipwhich ity ofthis paper limits its focus on the analysis ofmedia
effectivelytook the focusaway from the media and their coverage of “terrorism” in the Philippines.
workers thereby mitimizing the risk of danger of what
we in PNG call payback.Journalistswho are covering General Background
the campaign t rds for candidates or individualpolitical
parties run the personal risk ofbeing attacked or abused The Philippine press has enjoyed a longtradition of au-
 tonomy from government control. Its newspapers are resorts,the Sipadan in Malaysia in 2000 and Dos Palmas
noted for a freewheelmg,“in-your-face’’ treatment of and Pearl Farm m the Philippines in 2001, taking Filipi-
news,an unrelenting criticism of government and poli- nos and foreigners as hostages.Past raids of the Abu
tics,and a flamboyant editorial style.The trend toward Sayaf had taken foreign and Filipino priests and nuns,
entertainment news highlights the commercialism of teachers and studentsin Basilan.One raid seized 42peo-
press enterprise whether in Tv,radio or print,all three ple from a ferry crossing the strait between Basilan and
of which are dominated by the private sector.At present, Zat-IlbOXIga.
the Philippine constitution provides that “no law shall
be passed thatw i
ll abridge the freedom of expression” A joint campaign called ‘BaLkatan2002”wasbilled by
and with it the freedom of the press. Libel laws do the Macapagal-Arroyogovernment as a response to the
provide recourse forthoseunfairly aggrievedby the press threat of domesticterrorism.It joined the AFP (Armed
but the courts have construed the law liberally to favor Forces of the Philippines) and US.Special Forces in
the press. training exercises.These efforts were focused only on
82 capacity-buildinga p s t the Abu Sayaf whose activities
The broad arena for press activities assures that the in- have been limited to the Phdippine South.
stitution has enduring power and influence.The press
generally enjoys public support. But the press mirrors Unfettered Coveruge
all the problems of society.Poverty,the culture of cor-
ruption,patronage politics and the decline of the educa-
In most cases, few restnctions have prevented journal-
tional systemhave all affected the conductand character
ists from covemg the Abu Sayaf or any other group,
of journalism.Media practice does not always assist
for that matter. Governmentdid call for a “news black-
democratic growth.Content analysis of news coverage
out”on the AS raids in 2001 but different orFations
reveals flaws of Philippine journalism:sensationalism,
decided their own coveragepolicy accordingly,with some
the surrenderto political and corporatepatrons,and the followmggovernment mstructions and others ignoring
lack of reportingand editorial skills.
them.In fact,the coverage of these incidentsyielded a
smallernumber of reportscompared to coveragem 2000
Terrorism Reviewed But the public did not complm that they did not know
what was going on
Global mapping of terronsmhas drawn the Philippines,
along with three other countries in Southeast Asia,as Of all the armed groups confronting government,the
part of a terrorist front operating in four regional capi- press has given the most coverage to the Abu Sayaf.
tals: Matlila, Jakarta,KualaLumpur and Singapore.The During then PresidentJoseph Estrada’sdttary offen-
network has been linked toAl-Qmdu.In 1993,investiga- sive a p s t the dissident Mor0 IndependentLiberation
tions in Manilaled to the captureof Ramzi Yousef who Front (MtLF‘)in 2000, the press gave extensive cover-
is now in jad in the U.S. for his involvementin the first age to AS‘ raid of the Sipadan resort in Malaysia and
bombing of the World TradeCenter.InNovember2001, their hostage-takingof 19 foreigners.The military be-
the arrest of two Palestinians and one Jordaniangave gan attachgMILF camps on 28April and claimed vic-
more credence to the Philippines’usefulness for Al- tory on 16 May. In the period surveyed for analysis
Qaeda5 plans.TimeMuguFne reported that the three are (March-June 2000),five major Manila dadies showed
part of anAlQmda cellwhich includesmembers of the 670 reports on the AS hostages/ludnappmg and 434
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.Even more recently in reports on the ditary/MILF,out of a total number
March 2002,an Indonesian terroristsuspectwas arrested 1633 articles on Mmdanao.
in i W awho,police reported,had adnutted his role in
the bombing of the city’s Light Rad Transit (LRT) in Closeranalysisshowedmedia stretchingthe hostage story
December 2000 inwhich 22 people were kdledand hun- beyond the story’sactual development,playing up pic-
dreds were wounded. tures and other related aspects of the victims and rela-
tives. The MILF has been a more sipficantpolitical
But this “terrorist front”is not as visible as the terronst reality,having sustamed its rebellion for longer than the
scourge of the Abu Sayaf (AS),a smallband of Muslim existence of Abu Sayaf But the press did not deepen
ditants who have taken to ludnappmg and hostage- war reportmg by examining the related issues of con-
taking for ransom m Southern Mmdanao The group’s flict.Defense correspondentsbasically reported military
connectionto Al-Qaeda r e m a m s sketchy and their ideal- statements about the war and did not explore the story
ogy is vague,but their activitieshave constituteda greater from behind “enemy” lines. On the Abu Sayaf front,
terror in the public mind.In the last two years,the Abu journalist excursions explored the group’sterritory and
Sayaf group,operating from bases m southern islands anumber of journalists themselves were taken hostage
of Jolo and Basilan,have raded three exclusive beach by their news sources.Interestingly,the arrests of for-
eip nationals suspected of having AlQmda llnks and
mtaining its SoutheastAsian fronthave received only
scant space in local media.
The greater news attention given to the Abu Sayaf fol-
lows traditional news values.The story had more drama
and more excitement than the largely invisible interna-
tional terrorist cells. The press exploited the victims’
plight,playing up the beheadingof victims or the possi-
bilities of more beheading.Inthe 2000raids,the media
gave the gang’s colorfulleader “Commander Robot”
prime space and time as he played up to the media,issu-
ing statements on radio and managing to hold media
attention even when the story 1-d. The competition
for scoops was so sharp that TV correspondents com- so well.
plamed of not being allowed to return to Manila for as
long as the competingnetwork‘steam remained inJolo. level ofAwareness
News Blackout
The coverage of the raids the followingyear were more
muted.In2001,Abu Sayaf raidsof PearlFarm in Davao
on 23 May and of Dos Palm in Palawan on 27 May
received 326 articles in all.
The public’s negative feedback on the sensationalistic
treatment and media over-exposuremay have been one
reason.The government also appealed to the press to
exercise restraint in the coverage and to treat tactical
military information with sensitivity,pointing out that
media exposure serves AS purposes;that certain infor-
mation could comprormse search and rescue operations,
and that media could be used for disinformation. But
the president unfortunately used “news blackout” dur-
ing the press conference and the term provoked pro-
tests from some media sectors.Radio Mindanao Net-
work‘s Zamboanga station continued to broadcast in-
terviews with AS spokespersonAbu Sabaya and to air
‘%ppeals” from hostages for the rmlitary to back off
Many media sourcesagreed thatcoveragewas motivated
primarily by the desire to scoop the competition.
In reality, the ‘hews blackout” was taken as no more
than a cautionary appeal for responsiblereporting,a re-
minder thatgroupslikethe AS actuallyuse medtaas pact
of the array of weapons in fighting their war.After the
experience of 2000,some journalistsalso feltthat it was
just too dangerous to get too close to the AS.The pro-
tection of journalists is a societal question.W e r e gov-
ernment cannotassure protection for ordinary citizens,
it is unrealisticto ask for special treatmentof journalists.
There have been efforts in the past to legislate attacks
against journalist as a ‘%heinous” crime and a way of de-
terringjournalistkilling, but the press community feltit
improper to be set aside as a specialcommunity among
their fellowcitizens.
Sources
In covering“terrorist”incidents,the press relies on gov-
ernment sources,the military or police,local officials
and Makzcatzazg.In the same CMFR study on Mindanao
coverage,the military dominated all other sources,in-
cluding the coverage of the military offensive against
the MLF.But the coverage gave the Abu Sayaf group
ample space with which to reveal their real nature to the
public.Nationwide,the AS has lostany public sympathy
they may have had. But people fear the AS and this has
been cited as a reason for the decline of tourism in
Mmdanao.However,community support (orfear) in the 83
groups’island base is still cited as a reason they can hide
Extensive as the reportkg on AS has been, coverage
does not indicate a high level of journalistic awareness
of terrorism as a movement or as a tactic of war. Re-
ports did not use the term “terrorist” or “terrorism” in
describingAS and its activities.W e n the word appears,
it is in a quote from a military source or in an opinion
piece.The word is notused inreportson dissidentgroups
employing tactics such as bombing and kidnapping,or
when military uses terrorism against civilians.In cover-
ing“terrorist”incidents,the press reports as they do any
other crime story.
After the 11 September attacks on the World Trade
Center,the press covered the course of the war in Af-
ghanistan but it has shown little interest in international
developmentsafter the fall of the Taliban.The re-align-
ment of global interests to fight terrorism has not be-
come a major thematic concern in the news or in com-
mentary.President Gloria hlacapagal Arroyo was not
timid.Her critics say she was too eager to give all-out
support for the US.campaign to fight terrorism.But
the press has not examined the global change that oth-
ers claim is re-castinggeopolitical realities.
 35 Philippine journalists have been lulled since the res-
toration of democracy in 1986. Many Philippine jour-
nalists,especially in the provinces,face threats and har-
assment in the course of their work.Former President
JosephEstrada tried to muzzle the press by forcingthe
closure of a criticalnewspaperand initiatingan advertis-
ing boycott of an influential ddy that ran critical re-
ports about his presidency. H e also used
CASE STUDY V “envelopmental”journalism,distributing money to en-
Media in Danger: sure that he got good coverage.
South East Asia at a Glance
Chavarong Lirnpaltaarnapanee, Malaysia
84 Acting Chairperson, South East Asian Press Alliance
The media in Malaysia are under the tight control of the
South East Asia is one of the most dynamic regtons in rulingparty in differentways,includingstrongpress rep-
the world,in terms of social,economic and political lations and ownership control.On 3 May, 2000,an ex-
development. The fall of Suharto in Indonesia, the traordinary movement developed when some 1,000
ouster of Estrada in the Philippines and political reform Malaysian journalists,regardless of race and religion,
in Thdand are all events whch have had an impact on signed a petition to the Home Minister demanding a
demands for free expression in Malaysia and the devel- change in the press law This coincided with the advent
opment of the press in Cambodia.There is also the of alternative media in Malaysia with Malaysialuni.com
emergmg press in the new state of East Timor.How- as their pioneer.Since then,vxious group of journalists
ever,the media in the South East Asian regton are not in the mainstream and in the alternativemedia have been
completely secure,especially in more open societiessuch trying to work their way towards a freer media environ-
as Indonesia,the Philippines and Thdand,due to the ment. However,there is still no sign from the govern-
fact thatmedia organizations are still the target of accu- ment that the journalists’demandsw i
ll be met. Because
sations whenever there is political,economic and social most of the media in Malaysia are owned by companies
turmoil.The threats to media freedom in South East lmked to the ruling coalition,the Malaysian government
Asia are not only physical in nature.They also take the has exercised media control through ownership.Earlier
form of advertising pressure,closue of newspapers, this year,key journalists and editors of the San newspa-
control through ownership and the corruption of jour- per were fired,after the newspaper ran a story that dis-
nalists.The threats come not just from governments pleased PrimeMinister Mahathir Mohammad.
but from big business,and,in Indonesia,there is the
threat of mob violence. Cambodia
Threats to the Media in the Region The me&a in Cambodia are considered freer than their
neighbors in Laos and Vietnam But Cambodia’spress
Indonesia law still has a loophole allowingthe government to issue
a restmted subdecree to control the press Political in-
After the fallof Suharto in 1998,the media in Indonesia terference is still rampant and it is one of the problems
became free overnight.Since then,over 200 new news- that makes the Cambodian press vulnerable to threats
papers and magazines have opened. A new press law
was introduced in 1999 It statesthat the media in Indo- Thailand
nesia are completely free from legal constraints But
Indonesia is facing a new threat from social pressure Thaimedia are considered completely free,accordingto
groups Mobs composed of Islamic ditants have at- a rating by Freedom House in 2002.But since Prime
tacked the offices of newspapers and TV stations be- Minister Tnaksin Sinnawattra took power in early 2001
cause they were angry about their reporting Journalists with a landslide election victory,the media have been
face threats not only from the governmentbut also from under pressure. After only a few months in power,the
unruly mobs new government started to put tight controls on the
broadcast media whch are still in government hands.
The Philippines Several radio and television programs that aired differ-
entviews to the government’shad been withdrawn.The
The Philippines has one of the freest presses in Asia, new government is also accused of using advertising
but it also has one of the highest casualty counts. Some power to put pressure on the print media,which are all
privately owned,to be friendly to the government.The
situationbecame worse when the Anti-MoneyLaunder-
ingAgency launched an investigationinto the bank trans-
actions of media people,especially those from newspa-
pers that heavily criticized the government.This was
condemned by academics,civil society and media asso-
ciations because it was clearly against the human rights
principles enshrined in the constitution.So far, the
Thaksin governmenthas not listened to the demand of
the media profession to issue a policy guaranteeing that
no radio or television programs would be banned with-
out proper reason and without going through a certain
process of investigation.
85
 CASE STUDY I
Case To Die for Being a Journalist in the Basque Region
Carmen Gurruchaga Basurto,
Journalist, El M undo,
Spain

in In the Basque region at present,simply being a journalist can cost you your life,
particularly if you defend freedom of expression.To explain how this situation has
Europe come about,I shall briefly review the history of ETA in terms of its relationship
with the media.In this regon of Spain,this terrorist organization has existed for 40
years and,in the last 15to 20years,it has graduallybecome a totalimanmovement.
Anyonewho does not think exactly like the leadersof this armed group immediately
becomes its enemy and therefore a target for attack.

Journalistshave not alwaysbeen the targets of ETA attacks dumg the 40or so years
of its existence.This was because,among other reasons,much of the Basque and
Spanish media regarded that armed orgaruzation for many years as a revolutionary
group that had fought agamst Franco’sdictatorshp.In that context,the ‘%ad guys”
were GeneralFrancisco Franco and his dictatorshp and the “good guys”were ETA
and its campa~gnagamst Spain’sdictatonal system of government.

The problem arose when Franco died in 1975 and Spain became a parliamentary
democracy with a constitutional monarch.ETA did not accept this and carried on
killing,kidnappingand blackmailing but with a new excuse.It acknowledged that
Franco had gone and that all prisoners belongmg to its orgamation had been am-
nestied,but it considered that it made no difference to the Basque people (ETA
claims the word ‘l3asque”for itself) what type of government there was in Spain
sinceno government,either democratic or fascist,would acknowledgethatthe Basque
people had historic rights on accountof whch they should be anation independent
from Spain.In other words,the terrorist orgaruzation said that it was struggling,
now in a democratic context,to win independence for the Basque counq.Some of
its long-standingactivists did not support the new strategy and left.Others took the
opposite view and,on the strengthof h s new justification,a new ETA,much more
radical than before,emerged in 1977.However,practicallyno one was aware of thts
situation at the time and several years elapsed before it came to be regarded as a
terrorist organtzation by some of the sectorsof society that had supported it during
the dictatorship:the left, part of society,the Church,France and the media.

However,justin case any journalist intended to treat it as a terrorist organization,in

June1978an ETA unit murdered Bilbao journalistJoskMaria Portell and,two years
later,tried to kill the edtor of the most importantnewspaper in Navarra,JoskJavier
Uranga,who was shot 10 times, but survived.In both cases, the terrorist group
issued a press release in whch it justified the attacks so as to legtimtze its action to
society,something which it would attempt to do throughout its existence.Legti-
macy is vital to a terrorist or&ation that pursues politick goals and bases its
existence on the support of society.At that time, whenever an attack occurred,a
large part of the population believed that the victim had done s o m e h g to deserve
being a target of the terrorist organization.Those two selective sttlkes meant that
many journalistsbecame subconsciously afraid of being murdered by ETA.That is
the reason why during the many years in which ETA did not target the media,
journalists lived in a state of respect bordering on fear of the terrorists.

Furthermore,during those early years of democracy,Spanish society,Basque soci-

ety and journalists as members of those societies could not quite believe that Spain
was just another Western democracy.They were therefore unable to call a spade a
spade and used euphemisms to write or speak about anything relating to the terror-
1st organization.Thus,instead of using the word do not apply self-censorshipand who dare to break these
“mur-
der”they spokeof “death”.Nor did theycallETA mem- established rules.They conduct investigative journalism
bers “terrorists”, but referred to them as “militants”. and publish what they have found out about the clan-
The organization itselfwas described as an “armed” or- destine terroristorganization or about the other organi-
ganization rather than a terronst organization.Black- zations that make up the network.At fxst,the terrorists
mad to obtain money from busmessmen was called a used inmudation agamst them as described above,but
“revolutionary tax”, and so on.Under those circum- when they found that it was unsuccessful,they decided
stances,ETA felt that the media were servingits propa- upon a complete change of direction.ETA had already
ganda purposes.If anyone strayed from the path and radicalized its strategy in 1995 when it initiated what it
euphemistically described as the “socialization of suf-
openly criticized terrorists activities,a leader of its po-
litical wing ( H e m Batasuna) would call the journalist in
.fering”,which consisted in extending violent action to
question and make him see that,in his opinton,he had wider and wider sectors of society.Thus,political repre-
gone too far on this or that news item.Or they would sentatives of non-nationalistparties,university profes-
use Egzz,the publication owned by the political arm but sors,judges and so on became ETA targets.The terror-
sold as a commercialnewspaper,to criticize the journal- ists believe that the greater the number of people who
istwho had dared to speakout frankly.A campaignwould feel targeted by the terroristgroup,the greater the pres-
be launched immediately against the journalist m ques- sureexerted on the government,whichwould ultimately
tion,who would be accused of being in the pay of the have to agree to negotiatewith the organization on the
Spanish Ministry of the Interior,of being a “centralist” latter’sterms.In accordance with such a strategy,it was
(a supporter of the Spanish state and an enemy of the vital to keep a tightrein on the media.It was against this
Basque country) and,furthermore,of lacking objectiv- background that evidence emerged in the mid-1990sof
ity,which IS the worst thing that could be said about a the existence of a document on the expediency of at-
journalist.Itwas all lies,but that did not matter becausetacking the media and journalists.In 1996,when the
the desired goalwas achieved.Its supporters,E&;.read- content of that document became known,ETA% sup-
ers, believed what was said about the reporter.Those port network asserted that it was merely a contribution
journalistswho did not dare to disagree were described to the strategcdebate.Whether journalistsreallybelieved
as objective and good professionals as compared with it or merely wished to believe it, the fact is that, from
the one criticizedwho,inmany cases,keptquiet because that tune on,terrorist acts of aggression and coercion
he or she felt isolated.For one reason or another self- against the media and its representatives rose sharply
censorship had been imposed. ETA has a youth group that practises street violence,
which is known in Basque as kah bomka. That group
The 1980s passed in this way and some journalists be- w a s the first one to begin to take action against journal-
gan to lose their fear of ETA because in none of the ists and newspaperbuilbgs by throwmgMolotov cock-
documents that the security forces seized from the ter- mls, breakmg windows,and other s d a r action.
rorists were journalists listed among the orgatmation’s
targets.But there was a reason for that.The media were Ihad the dubioushonour of being the firstwoman jour-
beingused to letpeople knowabouttheir activities,which nalist to undergo an attack for which they subsequently
is the aim of terrorism.According to the most generally claimed responsibility,justifyingthemselvesby saymgthat
accepted definitions,terrorism is the use of violence to “she wrote for a Spanish newspaper”.That happened
spread fear and to disseminate terror beyond the actual on 22December,1997 and since then I have been pro-
victim to the sections of the community to which the tected by two bodyguards.The year before that,young
vicum belongs or even to the whole of society.There- “apprentice” terronstshad thrown Molotov cocktads at
fore,for a long m e , ETA used the media to spread its my San Sebastian office and had punctured the tyres of
message of terror,although most of the information my car;the 21 members of the Herri Batasuna leader-
was couched in terms that were hosde to the terrorists. ship had gathered in front of my home and that same
According to S c h d and de Graaf,“what matters to party had organized several m c h e s against m e from
terrorists is not whether the information is positive or the centre of San Sebastian to the newspaper building.I
negative,but just the amount of information.To them, a m relating thls to gve an idea of the pressure that can
a lot of information is good,and a little is bad”.The be put on journalistswho try to practise their profession
other message,the political one,which is the one that freely in the Basque regon and who are considered to
theywant to reach their own audience in exactly the way be non-nahonalistsby that group.Josk Luis Lbpez de la
in which it is published,is disseminated by their own Calle,a colleagueon m y newspaper,suffered s d a r ex-
media,minor publications,the Internet,and othermeans. periences before he was kdled in May 2000 in front of
his home.Josk Luis had waged a lifelong battle against
Despite this division,which suits ETA and its entire totalitafianism.H e had been imprisoned under Franco
politico-socialnetwork,there are some journalists who and 40years later ETA kdled hun.At present,m Spain,
more than 100media professionals carry on their work
accompanied by bodyguards to protect them,while oth-
ers look under their cars each day to check for bombs,
they change their routes and their timetable,and rarely
say where they are going.
It is clear that ETA now needs more than ever to legiti-
mize its activities to that part of Basque society that still
supportsit today That accounts for somewhatless than
10per centof Basque society Some 150,000people vote
for the political arm of the organization.The Basque
terrorist organization, therefore,legitimizes its action
against the media by claiming that they are part of the
“media arm of the State,directly linked to the centres
of Spain’s economic and political power”.It compares
journalists with army spokespersonswhen it says, “no
one would say that that kind of work is the expression
stream parties in Spain,w i
ll find it difficult to fill their
electorallists in the Basque region for the municipal elec-
tions in 2003.There are town councils in the Basque
regon in which practically half of the members have
resigned out of fear of being assassinated.The situation
is really very difficult,and,as we have just seen,not only
forjournalists.ETA is trying to undermine the very foun-
dations of the rule of law by attacking the legslative,
executive and the judicial powers and what is known as
the fourth estate,namely the media.ETA is acting just
likethe Nazis when it murders journalists,but alsowhen
it bums bookshops,as it did recently in San Sebastian
because some books that were not to its likingwere dis-
played in the shop windows or because the shop owners 89
had taken part in a demonstration agamst terrorism and Q)
P
in support of democracy and peace. 21
Y
K
.I

of the right to information or that they must remain on CASE STUDY II d

.Q-
the sidelines of the conflict”.Inpursuit of this policy,it War, Terrorism and Journalists: ”U
7
uses its own media, its newspaper, its radio stations, the Chechen Experience ;i
P,
Internetpages,its magazines,book publishers,in which
the organization’stargets have been described as “en-
Anna Politkovskaya, :
U
Journalist,Novaya Gazeta,
emies of the Basque people and of the nationalistcause, Russian Federation
and collaboratorsof the Spanish Mrnistry of the Inte-
rior”.ETA,therefore,usurps the term ‘l3asque”as if At the time of writing the second Chechen war had
the people who have been targets of its attacks are less already been underway fortwo and ahalf years,May 2002
Basque than its supportersbecause they do not shareits w
il be its
l 31st month.It is officially known as an “anti-
ideas and,above all, because they are agatnst the means terrorist operation”,just lke the American war in Af-
it uses (murder,blackmail and coercion) to achieve its ghanistan. What is it like to work as a journalist in
political ends.In any event,the audience for whom this Chechnya?In a situation in which all illusionshave long
crude message is intended believes it, and that is all that since been lost,it has become clear thatwhat we have is
matters to ETA.For,paradoxical though it may be, the in no way a “fight agatnst terrorism”.Instead,on the
other message, that of terror,continues to be dissemi- one hand,we have complete military anarchy.This has
nated by the media that are the targets of its actions the blessings of the highest authoritiesin Russia.It takes
because,independently of the terrorist campaip, or the form of such absolutely unacceptable methods as
precisely because of it, journalists and the media con- endless maraudmg in towns and vdlages,the murder of
tinue to feel obliged to defend freedom of expression civilians,punishmentwithout trial,a slave trade and even
and to provide information to satisfy the people’sright, a trade in corpses on the part of federal troops.On the
and their own right,to be informed. other hand,we have a growing number of people seek-
ing to avenge the death or disappearance of relatives,in
I should lke to stress that,despite the difficult condi- other words the defaclo recruitment of resistance fight-
tions underwhich journalistswrite aboutpolitics and,in ers, and hence the reproduction of terronsm.
that context,aboutBasque nationalism and violence,we
feel obliged to carry on our profession and w e have a From the very beginning of the second Chechen war,
formal commitment to defend,in whatever circum- the administration of PresidentPutm issued instructions
stances,freedom in the Basque regon and,more spe- regulatmgthe work of all the news media.Initially,these
cifically, freedom of expression.I suppose that you all instructions were contrary to the Russian legslation.
know that in the Basque region there is a considerable However,the President’s administration did not make
lack of freedom at present.Many of those who make any concessions.To begin with,each journalist had to
up civil society,business people, university staff and have accreditation from the office of President Putin’s
judges,for example,live under police protection,as do top aide,Serge1Yastrzhembsky,who was made respon-
members of thenon-nationalistparties (the PopularP ~ ~ T sYible for the so-called“ideological component”of the
and the SocialistParty)that form the opposition to the “antiterrorist operation”.
regionalBasquegovernment.Inthelastfewyears,about
20 elected officials belonging to these two parties have Then,after obtaining accreditation,each journalist had
been assassinated and the two parties,which are mam- to report to the main federalditary base in Chechnya,
 known as Iihankala,on the outskirts of Grozny,and be around Chechen towns and villages,in order to gather
registered once again with the Army’spress service and full informationon the events takmgplace in Chechnya,
stay put at the military base.In otherwords,they had to have had a very difficulttime.
‘placethemselvesat the completedisposal of the Army’s
press service.Journaliststhus found themselvesin a trap. One such publication is Nozfqa Ga?eh.Throughout the
The conditions of work were dictated by military per- entire war,we have pursued a line of active support for
sonnel.It was forbidden,on penalty of losing one’s ac- the group that has suffered most from the war,the civil-
creditation,to meet civilians,to visit towns and villages ianpopulation.Forthis position,o w newspaperhas been
independently,or even simply to leave the military base under constant attack from the President’s administra-
unaccompanied by military personnel,who were also tion.Indeed,it has become a tradition for the military to
unwilling to leave it and,as they put it, risk their lives in make regular, public threats a p s t the lives of those
orderto enable journaliststo do theirwork.Consequently, who continue to investigateand write aboutwar crimes
the onlyinformationthatjournalistsworkmgin Chechnya in Chechnya and protest in the newspapers agamst the
90 could get was from ditary press releases.They con- way the war is being conducted and the Army’sarbitrary
a tained more ideology than information,and too much methods.These threats became particularlyharsh in the
e
C
f blatantly false information.It was forbidden to check it autumn of 2001,following the events of 11 September
1 against other sources. in New York,when PresidentPutm received a kmd of
0 papal indulgence from Western leaders for hs opera-
U
eL Most Russian publications and journalists,not wishing tions in Chechnya.
a to takerisks (thePresident‘sadministrationwas constantly
I
U tryingto frightenrecalcitrantmedia), accepted suchwork- It has now become all but mpossible for an independ-
ing conditions.Both newspaper columns and the ent journalist,even with all the necessary authorization,
airwaves carried a flood of bare-facedlies about the war to get past a ditary checkpoint in Chechnya.There are
in Chechnya.The Army’sfatlures,and the incapacityand soldiers’taunts,threats to shoot,imitations of shootmg,
unwdingness of the secret services,to ferret out and and constantarrests and detentions,with the result that
take custodyof the real terroristswere presented as d i - the journalist’swork has become that of a spy in enemy
tary victories and successful operations.Civilians kdled territory.What is really needed is to be able to gather
were said to be resistance fighters.Local inhabitants liv- informationinconspicuouslyand disappearin time,with-
ingunder regular fire and bombardmentwere exclusively out attractmg attention.Chechnya today is the scene of
described as “accomplices of the resistance fighters”, a topsy-turvywar,in which terrorism has become con-
thereby fully justifjingthe harsh repcisals against them. fused with anti-terrorism,and non-stateterronsm is in
Accommodatmg,obedient journalistswho worked ex- fact being fought with state terrorism.Journalistswho
clusivelywith military personnel received ample rewards seek to be objective are deemed to be “enemies of Rus-
for their services from the i‘vhistry of Defence and the sia’’,who should be destroyed.W e are in the middle of
President of the country.Less docile journalists who an acute crisis of civilization.
attempted to followproperjournalisticpractices,the most
important of which is to collect the fullest possible in-
formationabout an event,were treated to constantpub-
lic denigration and insults.

Now,two and a half years later,it seems that the Gov-

ernment’s brainwashing campaip to ensure the right
m g e for the war in Chechnyahas been completelysuc-
cessful The proportion of Russian citlzens who are
convmced that Chechnya is the scene of a real war with
terrorisq who do not know and do not wish to know
the truth of the matter, and who therefore support the
anti-terroristoperation,remains high at 30-45per cent
of the population And thanks to the Government-and
Army-controlledmedia,the Chechens have been branded
a nation of bandits b e m g collectwe responsibility for
the acts of a handful of Chechen individuals.

Those journalists and media that have not submitted to

the rules imposed by the President’sadmtnistrationand
the General Stafc and have travelled independently
 PrnT III
Media and Terrorism:Status of Research
 Introduction

In the last fewyears,acts of violence and terroristincidentshave occurredwith such

Violence regulxity to attract extensive media attention and coverage.LLke most continents,
Africa has not been immune or spared from the explosive nature of violence and
terrorist acts that become a dady staplein the news meda.The acts of,violence and
terrorismincludekidnappingof foreignnationals,ethno-politicalconflicts,and state
sponsored violence. Often,most of these incidentsserveas lead-inand front-page
Terrorism stories for television evening news and newspapers.For better or worse,the con-
texts and framingof news stories aboutviolence and terrorismdo impacton global
in Africa and regionalperceptions of Africa,as either an ally of those at the forefrontof the
war on terrorism or as enemynations that provide refuge and comfortfor terrorists
and their operatives.Thisis what is now known as the “Bush docme”- no distinc-
tion exists between terrorists and those who harbor them. 93

The perception of a nation as an ally or collaboratorappears to influence foreip

policy imperatives,as most “enemy”or “rogue nations”are severelypunished while
thosewho supportthe US.-ledeffortto combat terrorismare rewarded.Therefore,
formost African counttles,it matters how the meda cover terroristincidentswithin
their territoriesand it is mportant how their role in the war on terrorismis packaged
or framed for world consumption.The conflation of media coverage of violence
and terrorism,the resultmg perception and the unequal dependency relationship
that exists between Western and African counttles can earn them a status that ena-
bles world isolation or even ditary action Consequently,the so-calledwar on ter-
rorism has compelled the leadership in most African countries to present them-
selves as supportive of the U.S-ledeffort to rid the world of terrorism

In this research,we are concerned with how violent acts and terrorist incidents in
Africa are reported in the media. This is also an attempt to document scholarly
analysis of such coverage.In the process,we hope to review the focusof each study
and the research questionsaddressedas wellas their conceptual or theoretical frame-
works.All of these studies are examined wih the context of the extent,if any,
they contribute to knowledge and understanding about violence and terrorism in
Africa. To set the stage for this research, however,it is important to examine the
defintionalproblems associatedwith the discourse of terrorism so as to assist read-
ers to understand +e conceptas used in this discussion.

Understanding Terrorism as a Concept

W h d e definitional consensus has eluded most students of terrorism,there has not

been any reluctanceon their part to understand terrorism.One such effortis that of
Laqueur (1987)who,in his book The Age of Terronsm,grapples with the inttlcacies
of the term ‘‘terrorism’’ and the label “terrorist” as he traces their origin and mean-
ing over the years to contemporary usage In his viey terrorism has undergone
changes in character over the last century and these changes compound the
definitional problems one faces in dealingwith it
Andy 0.Alali
Understanding terrorism has meant trying to define it. One of the most serious
Department of Communications
attempts at scholarly definition and classification of types of terrorism has been
California State University,
that of Paul Wilhson (1974). First,Wilkinson makes a distinction between four
Bakersfield, U.S.A.
types of terrorism (criminal,psychic,war,and political) before defining political
terrorism as “the systematicuse or threat of violence to secure political ends” @.
17). H e furtherdistinguishes political terrorism into three broad types:“revolution-
ary,” “sub-revolutionary,”and “repressive.”According to Wilkinson, the first type,
ith the ultimate goal being to
rezlolittionary terrorism,is a systematic use of violence w
obtain a radical change in the political order.The second type,sib-retuhkonaryterror-
 is the use of teriuustic violence t3 effect a changein
i~m, literature about media,violence and terrorism in Africa
public policy without alteringthepolitical order.The third between 1998 and 2001.I also looked for case studies,
type, rp-eJszte temnkm,involves the use of violence to qualitative and quantitative analyses thatprovide perspec-
suppress or restrain c e r m individuals or groups from tives on media coverage of violence and terrorism in
forms of behavior considered undesirable by the state. Africa.A comprehensive content analysis of available
Whereas the first two types are used by individualsand materials was conducted.Khat emerged was alarming:
non-stateactors W s t targetstates,the latteris used by even though Africa had experienced over 160 terrorist
states to maintain a status quo thatmay be advantageous attacks,with 5,33 1wounded and over485deaths during
to those belonpg to a particular class, ethnic or racial the period under study (US. Departmentof State,2001;
group,or religious faith.States that practice this form of 2000;1999;1998),there was a dearth in scholarly litera-
terrorism usually explain their repressive actions as be- ture on media coverage of violence and terrorism in
ing in the interest of national security even though the Africa.The lack of published research in h s subject
real purpose of their actionsmay have been to maintain area is alarmingbecause one would expect that the high
94 regime security.Iraq is a good example of a nation in incidenceof violence and terrorism in the African con-
which h s form of terrorism is practiced; to some ex- tment would warrant serious scholarly endeavor to de-
tent,pre-MandelaSouth Africa fits h s category. termme how reports in the media are framed.Conse-
quently,the conclusions here are based on the author‘s
In his conttlbution to our understanding of terrorism, analysis rather than published research.
Andrew Pierre (l984)focuses on terronsm of the inter-
national vmety.Although conceding the difficulty of Global Analysis and Critical Assessment
endowing international terronsm with a universally ac-
ceptable definition,he sees it as “acts of violence out-
The analysis here covers the extentof terroristthreat,if
side national boundmes,or with clear international re-
any,in Africa;patterns of violence and terrorism in Af-
percussions” (p.85) He goes on to list factors that mo-
rica;and media framing of the context of violence and
tivate international terronsts. According to Pierre:
terrorism in Africa.
1. The terrorist is dedicated to a political goal which
he sees as one of transcendent merit; Terrorist Threatin Africa

2. The terrorist seeks attention and publicity for his There is no doubtthatterrorism is anew challengeworld-
cause; wide. Terroristassaults claim humanlives and have rocked
the ditary and economic foundation of counttles,as
3. The terrorist aims to erode support for the estab- seen in the 11 September,2001 terroristincidentsin the
lished political leadershipor to undermine the author- Untted States.The anti-terroristagenda of the United
ity of the State by destroyingnormality,creatinguncer- Stateshas placed African countriesin the spotlight,par-
tainty,polarizinga country,fosteringeconomic discord ticularly Sudan and Somalia - because of the alleged
and generally weakening the fabric of society; connection between Osama bin Laden and these na-
tions.Given this background,w e ask the question:Is
4. The terrorist’sactions can be a measure of deep there a terrorist threat in Africa? W e discuss this ques-
frustration where there is no legitimate way to redress tion in the next few paragraphs.
grievances;
Two recent incidents have given people reason to be-
lieve that there is a terrorist threat in Africa.First is the
5. The terroristmay seek to liberate his colleaguesin 11 September terrorism,when the two World Trade
foreign jails; and Center buildings were reduced to rubble and parts of
the Pentagon destroyed.Second is the 1998 bombings
6. Finally,the terroristmay desire money so as to buy of the US.Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es
arms and finance his organization (pp.86-87). Salaam,Tanzania.These two incidentsenabled focuson
Africa as public celebrations that displayed strong anti-
Research Method Western (particularly,anti-American)sentiments in Ni-
geria,the Sudan and Somalia were broadcast to the en-
The fociis of the report presented here was a desk re- tire world.Coupled with these incidents is the fact that
search‘toidentifythe kindsof research studies and schol- Osama bin Laden is no strangerto Africa.It is no secret
arly publications aboutmedia,violence and terrorism in that he took shelter in Sudan between 1991 and 1996.
Africa during the period of January1998 to December He has been charged with his operatives with the 1998
2001.To collectinformationfor the report,Ireliedheavily bombings of US.Embassies in Nairobi and D ares Sa-
on electronic library search engines to identify scholarly 1XUl-I.
It is also a belief,at least one that is widely held in West-
ern countries,that there is a threat of terrorismin Africa
because one-thirdof its 700 million citizens are Mus-
lin~,some of whom are said to be associated with bin
Laden’sal-Qaeda.It has been reported that ul-Qaeda op-
eratives soughtrefuge in Somaliaand they have done so
in concertwith al-Itdaadal-Ishmz,a Somaliorganization
dedicated to creating a radical Islamiststate in Somalia.
Even though the organization operates its own schools
and provides services normally associatedwith govern-
ment,it has also been accused of conductmg terrorist
operations in neighboring Ethiopia.In fact,Al-I~tzhaad
aLIshmiearned a mention in President George Bush‘s
23 September,2001 Executive Order blocking property
of and prohibiting transactionswith terrorists.
It is important to note that reports about the history
and talks about radical Islamist terrorism can be traced
back to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the seizure of
the US.Embassy in Tehran in November of that year religious dunensionswhile terrorism is often political in
(Boroumand and Boroumand, 2002). Since then,
Boroumand and Boroumand (2002) observe that “its
presence is global,and its influenceis felt not only in the
lands of the cast Islamic crescent that extends from
Morocco and Nigeria in the west to Malaysia and
hfmdanao in the east but also in many corners of Eu-
rope,India,the former Sovietworld,the Americas and
even paa~of western h a ” @. 6).
Clearly,Africa is an importantpiece in the globalwar on
terrorism.The terrorist threat is complex and a serious
challenge in the Horn of Africa because of bin Laden’s
connection to Sudan and Somalia.Sudan was hts home
from 1991 untd early 1996, and hts ul-Qaeda o r w a -
tion enjoys a level of popularity and supportwithin the
northern Sudanese society.The connection to Somalia
is that it is home of mgabeddznveterans,operatmgunder
the mantle of al-Itibd.In his report on Somali’s and used to control insurgency from opposition outside of
Sudan’srace to the forcein Africa,Mornson (2002)con-
cludes that “Sudan and Somaliaw il remain crediblepo-
l
tential havens for a/-Qaeda” @. 194), thereby posing a ing three categories:
serious threat to the wax agamst terrorism.
Africa’s connection to terrorism is also substantiatedby
the presence of al-Qaeda cells in some of the countries.
For example,al-Qaedacells exist in Cape Town and D u r -
ban,SouthAtirca,the Sudan,and Somalia.InCape Town,
the cells are alleged to have established affiliation with
twomovements -People Against Gangsterismand Drug
(Pagad) and Qzbh.Pagad was accused of launching a
bombing campaign and terrorist assaults upon US.in-
terestsand othersin Cape Town in 1998.The twomove-
ments,Pagad undQzbh, are on the official US.list of
terrorist organizations.
Lastly,the fact that terror groups such as the al-Qaeda
and HiTbalhZh,are linked to illicit diamond trafficking in
West Africa indicates the serious threat of terrorism in
Africa.In November 2001, the Wmbznggtoon Post reported
thatwith the funds generated from this trade and resale
of diamondspurchased from rebel movements,they are
able to fund some of their operations as well as preying
on the poor to execute some of their attacks.The argu-
ment here,therefore,is that there is a terrorist threat in
Africa.If that is the case,what then are the patterns of
violence and terrorism in Africa? The question is ad-
dressed in the next section.
Patterns of Violence and Terrorism in
Africa
Between 1998 and 2001, Africa experienced a wave of
violence and terrorist incidents,resulting m the deaths
of hundreds of people and countless number of
wounded.Most violence in Africa has ethnic and/or
nature.Yet,even though terrorism is a form of political
violence,no group describes itself as terrorists;they of-
ten describe themselves as freedom fighters.A typical
example is the InkathaFreedom Party (IW) ofthe mid-
1970~~ an organization led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi;
Pagad andQzbh in SouthAfrica,and al-Itibaadin Somalia.
Terrorism,asw e knowit, is not restnctedto small groups.
States are also predators and perpetratorsof violence.A
good example is the violent acts perpetrated on blacks
by the apartheid-eragovernment of South Africa.Such
acts are replicated in African countries where dictator-
ship is the norm,as m the case of Nigeria under the
leadership of late General Sani Abacha.In most cases,
state-linkedviolence is ameans of regulatinghuman re-
lationswith a country’sborders.Itis also a mechanism
the state’sterritory.Concretely,the patterns of violence
and terrorism in Africa can be placed within the follow-
Kidnapping of Foreign Nationals
Most reports on violence and terronsm in Africa em-
phasize the casualties suffered by foreignnationals.For
example, between’1998 and 2001 alone,the US.D e -
partment of State data indicate that a number of West-
ern nationals,particularly French,Austrian,Italian,Por-
tuguese,United States,German,Belgian,Norwegian,and
Swisswere either abducted or kidnapped in Africa.It is
not uncommon for foreip nationals to be kidnapped
or abducted in Africabecause of the continued Euro-
pean exploration of the continentwithout due regard to
the economicand ecological situationof the people.Fol-
lowing are recent incidentsin Africa:
 1. Four French nationalswere kidnapped in Febru- whatMark Fishman (1980,p.143)describesas “the prin-
ary 1998by the Union of Democratic Forces PDF) ciple of bureaucratic affinity” where the media often
in Manda National Park in Moyen-ChmPrefecture, depend and gravitate toward officialsources as a means
chad; of quenching their thirst for news.Yet,because of the
media fadure to adequately report or cover Africa,inci-
2. Austrian nationals were kidnapped in February dents of violence and terrorism in the region are
1998 by the Ogaden National Liberation Front underreported,unless the incidents result in an Arnefi-
(ONLY; can or European casualty or effects Westerner or West-
ern interests.
3. Sur French and two Italiannationals in the Tibesti
regionof Chad were kdnappedby the National Front Even though Africa is still underreported in the media,
for the Renewal of Chad (FNTR); the imagesassociated with Afxa are often framedwithin
the context of an embattled continent that is besieged
4.Two Portuguese citizenswere abducted in Cabinda by violence.The fewreports aboutAfrica is intended to
by the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda En- r e m d audiences that the continenthas had more than
clave-cabinda Armed Forces (FLEC-FAC); and its share of a vmety of violence that ranges from con-
flicts with historical roots to actions of badly behaved
5. The widely reported abduction of m e Red Cres- dictators
cent workers at an amtrip north of Mogadishu,So-
malia. The hostages included a U.S citizen,a Ger- The representation of instability of African states as a
man, a Belgian,a French,a Nonvegan,two Swiss, product of badly behaved dictators is often equated with
and one Somali “prermodem”tribalism and that the only solutionis the
institutionofdemocratic elections and nation-statebudd-
Civil Wars or Internal Strife ingbased on the Western model and experience.Unfor-
tunately,these reports are not embedded in national or
A significantpart of violence seen in Africa pertain to ethnic/tribal histories,which may offer explanationsfor
the public violence that permeates the region,nor do
civilwars and the internal strife that conimue to besiege
they includepeoples’interpretation of the cause ofvio-
the coniment. It is evident that the mass media have
lenceand the conditionsand circumstancesthatprecipi-
replayed the various wars in Africa,particularly in An-
tated such acts.
gola,Liberia, Mozambique,Rwanda, Somalia,and Si-
erra Leone.Also,such reportsinclude someof the rebel
Richard A.Giggs (1995)argues that the construction of
activities and military struggles,as seen in Senegal and
this image of violence in Africa is intended “to absolve
Guinea-Bissau.
the West from the structural d a m q p imposed by colo-
nialism.”He suggests a list of these structural damages
Ethno-PoliticalConflicts that include:(i) irrational boundaries that contribute to
endemicinstability;(ii) export-orientedinfrastructurethat
Africa’sunagein the media have also been framedwithin marpaltzes Africa within the world economic system;
ethno-politicalperspective,which is mdlcative of how (iii) Western cultural hegemony that has weakened Afri-
actions by dominant groups prompt minority groups can tradition;and (iv)bureaucratic systems of govern-
toward secession and invigorate movements .med at ance that concentrated political power and favored cer-
autonomy.The strugglesof the Sudan People’sLibera- tam ethnic groups over others.
tion Army (SPLA), the case of Biafra in Nigeria,the
Casamance in Senegal,and the Hutu and Tutsis in This perspective dovetailswith what Africans have long
Burundi and Rwanda, are typical examples of ethno- argued -that the Western media emphasize more on
political conflicts replayed in Western media. the negative than confronting the factors that precipi-
tated the current condition in the region.
Media Framing of the Context of
Violence and Terrorism in Africa Suggestions for Further Studies

Analysis of news about Afitca indicates that the mass The dearth of research “attentionto how violence and
media often depend on government officials for most terrorism in Africa are replayed in the news media is
of thelr reports and highlights about violence and ter- particularly surprisingbecause of the incessant appetite
rorism in Africa There is tendency for media depend- to portray the worst of Africa to the world Equally m-
ency on official versions,often from countries remote terestmgis the factthat Africanist communication schol-
from where the incident occurred.Such dependency is ars have done little analysis or seriousresearch on media
coverage of violence and terrorism in the continent
Clearly,research on h s subject-areaand the quality of
findings that result from such endeavor would offer
scholarsand other interested parties-governmental and
non-governmental- sipficant grounds for reflecting
on how Africa is covered,the competinginfluencesthat
bias and news interpretations of violence in Africa? Is it
possible that some conflicts start with no ethnic or reli-
gous dimensionsand develop ethnic and religousover-
tones?W h y does this occur? Is it possible that state and
non-stateleaders manipulate these concepts to stir con-
flicts and violence? 1

shape such coverage,to predict futurecoverage of the

regon and the perceptions of Africa’s role in violence Additionally,we must consider the economic conditions
and terrorism. and human rights abuses that may influence violence
and terrorismin Africa.Often m e s , the ecofiomiccon-
There is no question thatthe lackof researcheffortabout ditionspeople are subjectedto in Africaresultfromgov-
media, violence and terrorism in Africa has created a ernmental or institutional abrogation of their responsi-
vitcuum in contemporaryscholarlyliterature.As research- bilities and agreements.Is it possible that these factors
ers,we have an obligation to the academic community triggerviolence and terrorism?Itis equally importantto
to offerprescriptivemeasures and recommendways this examine how Western interests may impacton violence
dearth in literature can be remedied.The first step is to and terrorism in Africa.Within theselines of research is
prescribe themes thatwould guide future research in the the need to determine whether the factors that nurture
subject-area.Therefore, it is my recommendation that these conditions in one country may,or may not,serve
researchers interested in media, violence and terrorism as threatto violenceand terrorism in otherAfrican coun-
in Africa focus theu work on four general themes:fac- tries.
tors contributing to violence and terrorism in Africa;
perpetratorsand victimsof violenceand terrorism;m& Perpetrators and Victims of
representationsof violence and terrorism in Africa;and Violence and Terrorism
perceptions createdby media coverage.A brief explana-
tion of each theme is presented here. The second suggested theme for M e r research deals
with a need to identifythe “bho”alluded to earlier in the
Factors Contributing to Violence and discussion.For example,we need to answer questions
Terrorism in Africa such as:W h o are the perpetrators of violence and ter-
rorism?Who are the key political actors in the violence
The h st theme for further investigation requlres re- and terrorism that take place in Africa?What about the
searchers to a s c e m the root causes and factors that extra-regonalactors -the outsiders-who influenceand
contribute to violence and terrorism in Africa Here, re- seek to ameliorate or exploit conditions in the conflict
s e d should focus on a number of issues,including area? W h o are the victims?Are African victims treated
the structureand nature of conflicts and the factorsper- as importantas thosefrom Westem counmes?Are these
petuating conflicts,exammation of these issues would acts of violence aimed at only Western interests or are
make adable to other researchersanswersto the Wy,” African interests equally targeted? What is the ratio of
“Mo,”and “Mat”questions thatare oftenmssingm most African versus Western victims of violence and terror-
discourse of this nature. For example,we need to how ism?Here,we believe research that answers these ques-
the extent,Lf any,to which e h c class &visions and tions would add immenselyto our understandmgof the
religon impact on conflicts,violence and terrorism in contextand victuns of violence and terrorism in Africa.
Aha.
Media Representations of
There is no question that,though ethnicity or religon is Violence and Terrorism in Africa
not the sole cause of conflicts,Africa’sproblems are
often attributed to its myriad of e b c identities and The third set of issues suggested for M e r research
religon,particularly in the context of Islam - one of concernsmedia representationsof the violence and ter-
the predominantreligons in the continent Inhis analy- rorism that emanate from Africa. The media, particu-
sis of the Ugandan conflict,Mark Leopold (1999)ob- larly those outside of the African continent,have been
served that ‘hewsabout the so-called<warin the north’ accused of presenting their interpretationsof violence
is as msleading as some international reporting,often and terrorism from a Western viewpoint.Often tmes,
doingmore than elaboratingethnic ideologies”than the violence and terrorism are indexed within the concept
real issues.One can argue that the focus on ethtlicity of winners and losers,or seen as acts perpetrated on
appears to be a deliberate act armed at exonerating the Western interests by people who ought to be apprecia-
West from their culpability for the violence and conflict tive of Western humanitarian efforts in their respective
that take place in Africa W e need to seriously examine countries. In the process,acts of violence and terrorism
these issues by askmg ourselvesthe followingquestions are framed within perspectives that give meaning and
Is it possible that ethnic and religous labels influence credence to the Western view,without adequately ad-
 dressing or providing realistic interpretafions of the ac-
tions and motivations of perpetrators of violence and
terrorism.This is not to suggest that w e provide refuge
to those who c o m t violent and illegal acts,rather,we
need to provide a well-roundedpicture of what hap-
pened,why it happened,and how to go about address-
ing the issues or factors that precipitated these acts of
violence and terrorism.
index violence and terrorism.W e must identify the types
of discourse that constramt or promote violence and
terrorism and how market forces impact on press cov-
erageof theseissues.Itis out:belief thataresearchagenda
that focuses on these issues would provide a picture of
the role of the media -independentand state-control-
led -and how they replay for the world the violence and
terrorism that takes place in Africa.

Most scholars,especially those who study media repre- Perceptions Creuted by

sentation of Africa,would agree that there are obvious Media Coverage
contradictions between domestic and foreignmedia re-
porting of Africa, partdarly as it relates to violence The last mportant theme is research that documents
98 and terrorism.W e believe these contradictionsexist be- the perceptions created by media reconstructionof vio-
cause the context of news and the framing of opinions lence and terrorism in Africa. The question, ‘ N o wis
are defined within different ethical standards when it Africa perceived by the world commuruty?”must be
comes to Africa. Here, the journalistic ends justify the answered.Are Africans countries seen as nations that
means and the importance of accuracy and fairness is provide safe haven to terrorist?Are their leaders seen as
somehow forgotten.Therefore,any research in this sub- individuals who condemn or supportviolence and ter-
ject-areamust focus on a set of issues that provide the rorism? What is Afnca’s contribution to international
public and policy makers a picture of the context of terrorism?What is the level of African governments’
media framing and the potential impact it would have comfzlitment on cooperation in the fightag-ainstterror-
on society.Research aboutmedia representationof vio- ism?
lence and terrorism in Africa should consider some of
the following questions:Who are the sources (govern- Concluding Remarks
mental and non-governmental)of the perspective that
is advanced in the media? W e need to determinewhat The globalization of violence and terrorism appears to
sources say about violence and terrorism and how the be a challenge to nation-statebuilding in Afnca And,
media interpret them.What language do journalists use whde the U.S.-led anti-terrorismefforthas placed Africa
to describe violence and terrorism in Africa? What are in the spotlight,“US preoccupation w ith al-Qaeda dis-
the general themes and issues covered,or not covered, places attention to many other concerns in Africa”
by the media?D o the media cover the reactionsof Afri- (Morrison,2002,p. 196)
cans to violence and terroristattacks?Are local journal-
There is no doubt that the bombings of U S Embassies
ists employed to feed international news agenciesor are
journalistsremote fromwhat or where they report?H o w
in the region and the 11 September incidents have
does such arrangementaffectthe news content?Clearly,
strengthened cooperation between some African gov-
ernments and the US.Most noteworthy is the coopera-
the goal here is to determine whether coverage about
Africa is responsible or misleading. tion between US.and Kenya,Tanzania, South Africa
and Nigeria All of these countrieshave pledged to work
Assessment of media coverage would not be complete with the United States to:
without analysis of the symbolic referents used in repre-
senting Africa to the world.For example, researchers 1. remove the terrorist threat extant in Africa and
should try to identify the connotations and symbolic ensure agamst the use of African countries as a ter-
referents of the language used in discourse about vio- rorist base;
lence and terrorism in Africa.Are the same terms ap-
plied in context of violence and terrorism in Africa and 2. prevent developmentsin regonsof “rogue nations”
elsewhere? from threatmg regionalpeace and stability;and

Lastly,researchers would contribute immensely to the 3. overcomethe long-termgovernancechallengesthat

research literature if studies were to examme the per-
spectivesadvanced For example,it makes a difference
in news content if the perspectives advanced are either
those of the journalist,government,victim,or of those
who perpetrate violence and acts of terronsm.It would
be useful to determe the perspectives of international
versus domesticand regionalmedia,especially how each
terronsts exploit to make African countries their base.
The media have responsibdity to explam violence and
frame conflicts within the contexts thatprecipitate such
acts that violence and conflicts are mvmably tangled up
with power plays in the African political landscape.
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 Introduction
Media,
Violence At the beping of the 31stCentury terrorismhas come to be regarded by govern-
ment officials as the most important issue facing the world.It has also earned the
and attention of media,public opinion and social scientists especially after September
11,2001.In response to this terrorist event,the international community has wit-
Terrorism in nessed a huge number of conferences,seminars,websites and publications on glo-
bal terrorism.‘ W ethese activitieshave dealtwith terrorism in all of its complexi-
the Arab ties,there is yet to be an agreementon what terrorismis.The definition of terrorism
has an impacton whether or not the perpetrators of an act of violence are labeled
World “ c e a l s ” “terrorists” or ‘‘ freedom fighters” (Eke and Alali,1991,p. 3). More
importantly is the complex relationship between media, violence and terrorism.
Communication scholars have yet to reach a theoretical framework for better un-
derstanhg of the dynamic and intricate media-terrorism relationship and media
policy options towards terrorism coverage.

In this respect, the Arab world has obviously occupied a special place in the interna-
tional debate on terrorism.Many of the more dramatic and violent incidents of
recent decades have been perpetrated either in the Mddle East or elsewhere by
groups involved in the domestic and inter-stateconflicts in that region Some Pales-
tinian groups and others in the Arab world are defined by their opponents as terror-
ist bodies and,therefore,any act of legitimate resistance to liberate their occupied
land from Israel must be terrorism by definition Others,however,especially those
who sympathisewith their just cause,would regard them as freedom fighters(Shiva,
2001).Prior to September 11,the Western media successfullycreated and perpetu-
ated the impression that terrorism is rooted in Muslims and Arab Musllm people
Accordingly,national,regional and international counterterrorism cooperation re-
mamed a key element in the local as well as in foreign policy for many Arab states
throughout the 1990s and the beginning of the third dlennium

It is worth,at the beping of this report,to empathize three facts:

1. The terrorist attacks againstWestern countries are receivinga lot of attention

in media and internationalpublic opinion as well as in the UN and international
bodies However,the terrorist attacks on civilian targets belonpg to other,less
powerful nations,especially in the Arab Palestinian occupied lands,have not re-
ceived the same amount of international interest (Shukri,1991),

2. Terrorism and violence are the most sensitive issues in the Arab world They
are related to the instability of the Arab social,political and economic environ-
ment,the Israelioccupation of Arab lands in Palestme,Syria and Lebanon as well
as the interference of the US in local a€fm of the region,and,

3. A significant gap exists between the importance of terrorism in the Arab

Basyouni lbrahim world and the rarity of scholarlywork on this subjectingeneral and in the field of
Hamada communication in particular.

Department of This report reveals that in the Arab world few studies have tried to describe media
Mass Communication coverage of violence and terrorism and none attempted to investigate terrorism.
United Arab Emirates University The importance of the present report stems from the fact that in the majority of
terrorist and violent acts, “the most important element in communication about
terrorist acts is not the acts themselves but the m e m g assigned to the acts by the
media,authorities,and the popdace m a t is said about the acts and how the acts
are interpreted play a greater role in determining the impact and sipficance than
does the terrorism itself” (Robert,1993,p 19)
Research Methods induced and encouraged by the state agatnst one another
and their inhabitants.As a result, the concept tends to
The purpose of this reportis to present global synthesis be confined to domestic political violence.Accordingly,
and critical assessment of studies and publications on it does not give an explanation forthe roots of the inter-
media,violence and terrorism in the Arab world during nal Arab violence which to a large extent are symptoms
the four-year period ofJanuary1998to December2001. of external factors such as the Israeli political violence
Relevant research studies as well as scholarly publica- against the Palestiniansand the intended absence of the
tions carried out on media,violence and terrorism in the global justice inmanagmg the Middle East question.Itis
Arab world fromJanuary1998to December 2001 were this questionthat perpetuates the hostdity between Arab
collected and reviewed.Although this report is dedicated and Muslim world and the West.
to reviewing Arab published studies during this period,
w e reviewed other scholarly works published either be- Most significant for the present discussion is the official
fore 1998 or in 2002 because of their relevance. Also, Islamic position toward terrorism and violence as re-
most relevant Arab communicationpublications on the flected in the Islamic Sumrmt Conference held in Casa-
subject appeared in 2002.Three types of datawere used blanca December 1994.The conference announced a
inthis report.First,relevantliteratureon terrorism,writ- code of conduct,includmg the following (i) to declare
ten in English,was collected and analyzed.The second that Islam is innocent of all forms of terrorism that
kind of data covers the literature on violence and the involves the assassinationof innocentpeople as it is pro-
third consists of a fewresearch papers and publications hibited by God,(ii) to strongly condemn the perpetra-
which deal with media and terrorism and violence.The tors of those seriouscrimeswhich are committedunder
sourcesof this scholarlywork includerefereed journals, the plea of implementmg Islam or any other justifica-
books,conference papers,library databases,and online tion;(iu) to confirm that the struggle of peoples under
documents.This reportis based on the assumption that, colonial or foreign control or occupation for realization
whereas the Arab world has been shown as an environ- of their right to self-determinationdoes not constitute
ment which produces violence and terrorism,Arab com- an act of terrorism.Islam condemns any person who is
munication scholars have yet to participate in any type fanatical or extremist and insists on moderation, iind
of research that seriously examines the communication tolerance towards one another and other non-hfuslims.
implications of violence and terrorism.This situation In the Quran, the only permissible war is one of self-
has resulted in an obvious fdure to deal with some c r i ~ defense.Muslims may not begtn hostdities paher,1997,
cal questions concerning the distortion of the Arab im-
age in the Wiest and the coordinationof counter-terror-
P.67).
ism efforts. Media, Violence and Terrorism:
Is There a Relationship?
Arab Political Research on
Violence and Terrorism As incidents of terrorism have risen,so has the interest
of communication scholars all over the world - except
For better understanding of media-terrorismliterature in the Arab world - who have attempted to understand
in the Arab world,it is essential to critically examine the media’s relations to terrorism.This is partially attnbut-
Arab official political position on terrorism as well as able to the fact that many have come to view terrorism
some of the political research on terrorism.Ibrahim as a form of communication.Thus,it is necessary to
(1999)sees the conceptof political violence as compris- examine the communicative impact of terrorism.Thls
ingdifferent types of behaviors and practices that imply is p d y done by investigating the manner in which
the real use or threat to use power to cause any injury or the media report terrorist’acts.Both terrorists and re-
harm to individuals or to damage public and private searchers have vested interests in determiningwhich la-
possessions in order to attain political,economic,social bels are positively perceived, and when each is used
or cultural goals.These actions can be individual,or col- (Simmons,1991).The interestof communicationschol-
lective,declared or undercover,orpized or random.It ars in exmining the communicationimplications of ter-
might be either an official violence practised by govern- rorism is based on the notion that terrorism can best be
ments a.gatnst their citizens,manifested in actions such understood as a violent communication strategy.The
as:detention,imprisonment or termination or a popular nature of the terrorist act, its atrocity,its location and
violence practised by the citizens agamst the rulmg re- the identityof its vicbrn serveas generatorsfor the power
gime such as events of riots,rebellion,assassination, of the message.Violence,to become terroristic,requires
coups d’etat and revolutions.Despite the plausibility of witnesses pobert,1993).
this concept and its applicability to different forms of
political violence and terrorism acts, it does not cover Whereas there seems to be no argument about the im-
the forms of organized international political violence pact of media coverage of news on its audiences,the
same is not true concerning its impact on ‘‘terrorists”. phenomenon and damage,and (ii) the rarity of the
O n this matter,there are at least two major schools of number of research studies devoted to understanding
thought.Proponents of the first school contend that the complexlty of the incidents of terrorism from the
media coverage of terrorist events has a contagion ef- Arab point of view This gap represents the first feature
fect. Reporting terrorism is likely to increase terrorist of Arab media and terrorism literature The second is
activities;without commmcation there can be no ter- that it has recently received some lirmted academic at-
rorism eke and Alali,1991).The effects of media,ac- tention initiated by some communicationresearchersin
cording to the first school,can be classified as aware- the Arab region The focus of Arab literature is on the
ness,contagion,and interference.Interference may in- question of how media cover the violent and terrorist
volve direct physical involvementin an event,such as a acts,and the how Western media portray Arab image
reportermediatmg between terrorists ’and police,or in-
directpressure on officials to end the violence or threat. TheAgsa Intifadahas received someattentionfrom both
The second type is the contagion effect which implies Arab and American researchers.In her research on
that terrorism spreads,somebmes by other means but “Egyptian NewspaperCoverage of PalesthanIntifada”,
103
most often through the media.The third type is aware- El Tarabish (2002)analj*erlthree Egyptianleadmgnews-
ness.The diffusion concept of media would seem to papers from the period of September2000 to May 2001.
support the idea that media coverage increases public The content analysis focuses on the variables of news
awareness of terrorism.There are also those who ac- stories,investigative reports,editorialarticles,interviews,
cept general diffusion theory as having relevance to the cartoons,and columns among other writings forms,in
spread of terrorism.In this case,one has to hypothesize addition to sourcesused in storiesand event actors,types
that the media may play a role in the awareness aspectof of issues.El Tarabishiconcludes that the three newspa-
the adoption process of terrorism,but only aminorpart pers, AIAbram,AL. Wgd and Al Osbooa,place great
in the evaluative,acceptance,and adoption portions of emphasis on the developments of the Israeli terrorist
the diffusion of terrorist techniques (Simmons,1991). and aggressivemilitary attacks agamst the Palestinian ci-
vilians in the occupied territories.Daniel (1997)found
The second major school of thought argues that there that several interrelated frameswere used to present the
is no clear evidence that publicity (by the media) is re- Israeli-Palestmianconflict through the news media, in-
sponsible for significantly affecting the occurrence of cluding the cold war frame,the terrorist frame, the Jew
terrorism.When carefully analysing the terrorismlitera- as historical v i m , and the dichotomous good/evd
ture,one finds that it contains no credible evidence that framework.As symbols of Israeli-Palesmanconflict,
media are an important factor in inducing and diffusing the steady stream of negative images affects American
terrorist acts.As one reviews the literature,it becomes public opinion and subsequently U.S.foreign policy
clear that not a single study,based on accepted social (Daniel,1997).
science research methods,has establisheda cause-effect
relationship between media coverage and the spread of Arab Image Research:
terrorism.Yet public officials,scholars,editors,report- Misleading TerroristImage
ers, and columnists continually link the two elements
and present thelr relationship as proven (Simmons,1991). The stereotypical image that Western media present
A fewwriters from diverse quartersopposeplacingblame about Arabs has had dangerous effects on justifying ag-
on the media.They instead support the view that the gressive acts a p s tArabs,includingmilitaryaggression,
media are victims of terrorism.They argue that erasing and on mobilizing international public opinion to ac-
terrorism is a juridical and ethical question,not a ques-cept any allegations - whether they are true or false -
tion of the media (Barnhurst,1991). Still,there is an- a p s t Arabs.It also affects the diffusion of the Ameri-
other school of thought claiming that media coverage can media perspective toward Arabs among other Eu-
may actually reduce the possibility of future violent ac-ropean media without attempts to maintain a neutral,
tion on the part of those who engage in terroristicvio- critical and independent position (Baek,2002)).Pollock
lence by removing the need for individualsand groups and Artz (1997)found thatpublic support forthe Ameri-
to resortto violence in order to gam coverage (Simmons, can offensivein the Persian Gulf was promoted by me-
1991). dia employment of culturally acceptable anti-Arabim-
ages.This claim is based on a survey of headlines,pho-
Global Analysis and Critical Assessment tographs,captions,and cartoon regardingthe Gulf con-
flictand more specificallyon editorialcartoonspublished
As stated earlier, a significant gap exlsts between two in the Chikgo Tnhne,Chicago Sun-Times, LsAngehs Times,
phenomena:(i) the proliferation and intensity of terror- the IVew York Times,and Neizwszzeek from August to De-
ism and violence acts in recent decades with an interna- cember 1990.,4rhetorical analysis ofthe domant im-
tional emphasis on the Arab world as the source of this ages in these media supports the above claim.First,the
 media reduced 3 complex,geopolitical situation to the
motives of Saddam Hussein.Second, to demonize
Hussein,the medta simplyretrieved standardanti-Arab
stereotypes from popular culture and the media’s sym-
bolic image conditioned the American public for the
ditary aggressionthatwas to follow I(amalipour (1997)
draws the same conclusion in his research on media im-
ages of Arabs,Muslims,and the Middle East in the US.
H e found that violence and terrorist acts such as the
TWA explosion,the Oklahoma City bombing,the US.
embassy bombings, and the 1996 Olympic bombing
provide many lessons of the relationship between me-
dia,terrorism and violence acts.These lessons include
104 media dependency on the government and vice versa,
propaganda techniques aimed at manipulating public
opinion,reinforcingand globalizing stereotypicalimages
of the Arabs and manufacturing or alteringpublic per-
ception;and media portrayals of peoples,places, and
events become perceptions,and perceptions become
realities.These stereotypes or mindsets thenbecome the
bases for human interactions.
In his study of Arab image in the minds of Western
image-makers,Hamada (2001) found a dominance of
negative Arab image among Western image - makers
(media professionals). For example,85.7per cent said
that Arabs are fundamentalists,78 per cent perceives
Arabs as anti-West,and 69 per cent claimed that Arabs
are aggressive.As for the values Western image - makers
think Arabs are promoting,the findings show that 97
per cent of Western unage makers see that hdamen-
talism is the main value Arabs are promoting,54 per
cent,said thatviolence is the basic value of Arabs,while
40 per centnotes terrorism as the value thatArabs pro-
mote.Most important is the negative consequences of
the Arab image.Western image - makers were asked:
what do you personally think are the negative conse-
quences of a distorted Arab image? The majority (87
per cent) said that a distorted Arab image justifies any
armed aggressionagainst Arabs,and 81 per cent said it
may mobilize internationalpublic opinion to act a p s t
Arabs.Slightlymore than three-quartersof the surveyed
Westem journalists reported the threat to Arab security
and the isolation of Arabs as negative consequences
of the biased image.
Salah El-Dein’sresearch (2002)seeks to examinethe in-
tricaciesunderlying the relation between Egyptian me-
dia and the cognitions and attitudes ofpublic opinion.
His research reveals a positive correlation between in-
tensive exposure to the news media and (i) the knowl-
edge of the audience about terrorism in general ahd 11
September,2001 in particular; (ii) the attitudes toward
terrorismin generaland 11 September,2001 in particu-
lar;(iii) and the favorableevaluation of the performance
of the Egyptian authoritieswith regard to terrorism.
Abd El-Ghaffar (2002) found that Egyptian universi-
ties’ students relied heavily on CNN as the main inter-
national source of information about 11 September
while AIJayeera TV was the main regional source for
these events,followed by Egyptian television and Egyp-
tiannationalpress as major informationsourcesin Egypt.
Iseed (2001)notes that Western media consciously at-
tempt to darnage and distortIslamicvalues and civiliza-
tion in avery systematicway and its negative impactw ill
remain until Arab media develop a strategic plan capa-
ble of addressing Arab issues according to the Islarnic
cultureheritage.G allall (2002)argues,in his research on
Arab and Islamic issues in Arab media,that,if we seek
to understand how Western media portray Arab and Is-
lamic issues,it is important to study how Arab media
coverArab Islamicissues.H e believes thata strongrela-
tionship exists between Arab media’scoverage of Arab
and Islamic issues and that of the Kkstern media.The
authorwho uses the news framing theory as a theoreti-
cal framework concludes that the Arab-Israeliconflict
represents the most salientissue in all Arab media (print
and electronic).H e alsonotes that,althoughArab news-
papers and TV channels differ in their news values,the
general attitude of Arab media toward the Arab-Israel
conflict and the main issues discussed are s d a r .
Siddiqi (2002)addresses four questions:(i) how exten-
sively did the selected newspapers cover the issue of
terrorism,(U) how did each newspaper treat the events
of 11 September,2001; (iii) to what extent the newspa-
pers agree or disagree with the cause of terrorism,and
about combating it; and (iv)what primary national and
or internationalsourcesdid the newspapersrely on?The
newspapers thatwere selected are The New York Ernes,
The Times 4 London, The China Dazb,Saudi GayetLe,The
Strad Times of Singapore,Ftidq Report of Pakistan,and
Damt,an Indian newspaper.The m e frame for the
study was the three-monthperiod of September - De-
cember 2001.Siddtqi revealed two important findings:
(i) whde The Times,TheS t ~ E
dkzes,Saudi GayeB and China
Daib disagree somewhatwith the positions taken by The
Neut York Times on the question of causes of terrorism
and counter-terrorismefforts,Daw& and Fndq Report
disagreed considerably with the position taken by The
New York Ernes,and (U) there are sipficant differences
in the way terrorism is defined and understood in v G -
ous cultures.Terrorismin the US.referred to any action
by agroup or individual thatthreatens the hegemony of
the US., whereas in other cultures,especially in the Mid-
dle Eastand Asia,the emphasis seems to be on a broader
definition of terrorism.
A m e r and E
l Metwally (2002)focuson how the opposi-
tion press in Egypt presents the position of both the
US.and Egypt toward the events of 11 September,2001.
Two hypotheses were tested:(i) press coverage of crisis
contribute to formulate an urgent and distorted images
about what the crisis is, its causes and consequences,
and (i) the image of Arabs as presented in the Egyptian
opposition press is positive and capable to manage the
crisis and its aftermath while the image of U.S. is de-
picted negatively They found that the media ignore the
historical,and social context of the terroristic acts and
concentrate on the events per se. In other words,the
press isolates the incidents from the environment that
produces them,the causes and the potential impact.The
research offers strong support to the first hypothesis
but does not lend the same support to the second hy-
pothesis.
Policy Options on Media Coverage
of Terrorism
Wit
h the general belief that media coverage of terror-
ism has a contagton effect,it comes as no surprise that
the media are seen as having an important role to play in
any effort to combat terrorism.The debate around the
relationbetween media and terrorismamusesmany ques-
tions including What form should the media’srole take?
And at whose behest should the necessary policing of
the media come? eke and Alali, 1991). Terrorist acts
throughout the world have resulted in bans and limita-
tions on news reportmg in many countries.These have
ranged from temporary suspension of liberties to sttrct
censorshp of the press.Much of the controversy over
press coverage of terrorismrevolvesaroundwho should
control the news and on the basis of what objectives.
However,we cannotregard suppressionof such report-
ingasbeing justified.To suppress the news forwhatever
reason,good or bad,violates the fundamentalprinciple
thatgovern a free press in a free society (Gerbner,1988). Suggestionsfor Further Studies
seems thatanalysesof how the media should and should
not respond to terrorism w i
ll continue as long as such
activities take place, and w e may never come up with
satisfactory answers Anderson (1993)believes that the
press must fulfill its duty to expose and present infor-
mation objectively,thereby servingthe public good Cen-
sorship by goverhment officials would be a grievous
mistake, and so-calledgeneral guidelines are too often
vague or unsuited to particular events to be useful in
these kinds of situations.
What are the major policy options for a democratic so-
ciety with regard to the media’s response to terrorism?
First,there is a policy of hsse2faire. This assumes that
no specific steps should be taken with regard to media
coverage of terrorism.A second policy option is some
form of media censorship or statuary regulation.The
third option and the approach most favored by profes-
sional media organizations is voluntary self-restraintto
try to avoid the dangers of manipulations and exploita-
tion by terrorist groups (Wilkinson,1997). For several
reasons,it is certainly difficult to disallow media from
uncovering the truth regarhg the violation of any in-
ternational lawunder the guise of misleading allegations.
The forms of the global injusticeas well as the terrorist
acts of the colonial occupier must form the base and
substance of any free press in a free and democratic
society.Media people have to report these issues to the
fullest extentpossible to make the people aware of dan-
gerous effectsof these forms of terrorism.O n the other
hand,dealingwith terroristacts perpetrated by individu-
als or groups is a matter of a journalist’ssense of social
responsibility and self-judgment.

It has been certain that the role of media in forming While the literature on media and terrorism provides
public opinion towards any type of conflict - wars,ter- some general findings on how media portray violence
rorist and violent acts,crises,etc.is problematic.In Oc- and terrorism and how the Western media in particular
tober 2001,it was reported that the US.Secretary of the contribute to mobilizing international public opinion
State,ColinPowel,met with the E h i r of Qatar and asked againstArabs and Muslims,it does not offer a compre-
him to restrainAIJaTeera Satellite Television,citmg spe- hensive approach to understanding media-terrorismre-
cifically the channel’s rebroadcastof the 1998bin Laden lationship.The problems of violence and terrorism are
interview and charging that it invited anti-American of a cultural and ideological sensitivityas there are many
guests,who point to U.S.foreignpolicy as being behind perspectives that define and interpret these phenomena
the 11 September attack (AIMii-mi, 2002). Israel has and differentmedia as well as differentpersons wdlhave
denied access to journalists and media people to report different positions and attitudes.Bearing this in mind,I
its massacres of Palestmians.This measure has occurred suggest that future Arab research on violence and ter-
m y times during the second Int$&a. Moreover, the rorism should deal with such issues as: (i) how and why
Palestinian television building has been destroyed by the terrorists use the media,(ii) how Arab media character-
Israeli amtnke with a justification that it tends to en- ize acts and perpetrators of political violence and ter-
courage and support potential terrorists.In the Arab rorism; (iii) what is the impact of media coverage of
world,temporary terrorist acts give Arab governments violence and terrorism on public opinion;(iv)how the
an opportunity to justify the continuity of press restric- opponents and supporters of terrorists use Internetto
tions with the purpose of protecting the national secu- manipulate the audiences (v)what is the impact ofme-
rity interests as w
ell as combatmg terrorism.However,it dia coverage of terrorism on crisis management and
 decision m h r ,(vi)what is the credibility oflocal and EL TARABISHI,M.2002.“Egyptian Newspaper Coverage of Palestmian
Inhfada” Egyptiat/Joamalof publid Opinion Researcb,Vo1.3,No 1 pp:1-38.
mternational sources of news medla for the Arab peo- GALLLAL,A.2002.“Arab and Islamic Issuesin Arab Mass Media”.Paper
ple m times of terrorism,and (vu) how American, Is- presented at the Conference on Media and Terronsm,Faculty of Mass
raeli and Arab media portray the violence of Arab-Is- Communication,Cairo University,Egypt,April.
GERBNER,G.1988.l’iolence and Tenor in theMassMe&. Repods and Papers
raeli conflict on Mass Communimtion,No 102,P,ms,UNESCO.
HAMADA,B.2001.“Arab Image in the Minds of Western Image Mak-
ers”. TheJoumaI of Internadona/Communiwtion,
Volume.7,No.1,pp 7-35.
Conclusions IBRAHIM,H.F.1999 Poolih’calViolencein theArab WorU.Sfrafe&es. Monthly
Monograph Series,Vol 4,No.21.The Arab Centre for Strategic Studies.
This reporthas reviewed and evaluated the currentArab ISEED,M.2001.“The Role of Media in ExpandingDeviatlon in the Age
Globalization and Internef’.Paper presented at the Conference on
literature on media, violence and terrorismand presented of
Combating Cnme in the Age of Globalization,Law Faculty United Arab
global synthesis and critical assessmentof research and Emirates University,May.
scholarly studies.The report has shown the rarity of KAMALIPOUR,Y R.1997.“Media Images of Arabs,Musluns,and the
Middle East in the United States”. In Ibalipour,Yahya R.(Ed),The U.S.
serious scholarly work in the area of media and terror- Me& andfheMitM(eEosf:lmages andPerqbtion,Westport,Connechcut:Praeger.
106 ism in the Arab region It has also highlighted the need POLLOCK, M.A.and ARTZ,L.W 1997.“Lunihng the Options:Anh-
c
c
for serious acadmc research projects through which Arab Images in U.S.Media Coverage of the Persian Gulf Crisis”. In
Kamalipour,Yahya R.(Ed), The US.Media and the Mae East: Images and
n
u
Arab communicaoon scholars are required to contnb- Percepz’zon,Westport,Connechcut:Praeger.
t4 Ute to the understanding of the most critical issues fac- ROBERT,G.P.1993.Media P o d q a h of Terrorism:Fundions and Meaning OJ
N m ~ sC o m g e , Ames, Iowa:Iowa State University Press.
xL mg the mternational system
SALAH EL-DEIN,K.2002.“The Role of Mass Media in ShapingKnowl-
edge and Attitudes of the Egyptlan Public Opinion Toward Terronsm:An
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 Introduction
Media,
Violence This report presents an overview and critical assessment of research in the Euro-
pean regon on media, violence and terrorism.W e take the European dimension to
and not only include work on political violence occurring in Europe but also work by
European scholarson the subject.W e have not included the voluminous amountof
Terrorism research on the subject of media and domestic violence,or violence in popular
culture, although such material was included in earlier bibliographic reviews for
0
in UNELSCO (especially Gerbner,1988);these issues refer to different forms of poli-
tics than used here.
Europe
While the theoretical debates about the relationship between the media and terror-
ismwerefiercelywaged throughthe late 1970sand 1980s (Alexander,1976;Schrmd,
07
1981) and reviewed in more recent work (Alaliand Eke,1991;Paletz and Schmid,
1992;Weimann and Winn,1994), the issue has not occupied center stage in Euro-
pean studies of the media.Also,there is a substantialbody of work on the causes of
political conflict and the nature of political violence,yet the specific consideration
of the role of the media in such conflicts has not generated much sustained re-
search attention in Europe,except in relation to the Balkans and the Iiosovocrisis.

Research Methods

The timeframe was material published or presented during the four-yearperiod of

1anuary 1998-December2001. UNESCO argued that this period ‘hasbeen chosen
d y for pragmatic reasons and also to coincide with an observable increase in
politicalviolence and terrorism in different parts of the world”.However,this is not
avery accurate perspective for Europe.The ‘EuropeOverview’of Patternsof Ghbal
Terrorism, published by the US.State Department for the years 1998-2001(see
rorism/1998Rmort/eurooe.hd) suggeststhat for1998
the number of terrorist incidents actually declined in Europe.The reasons for this
are ‘‘inlargepartbecause ofincreasedvigilance by securityforcesand the recognttion
by some terrorist groups that longstandingpolitical and ethnic controversies should
be addressed in negotiations.”The reportidentifiesthe main incidentsof terrorism:
“terrorism in S p m was attributable almost entirely to the Basque Fatherland and
Liberty (ETA)group.In Turkey,most incidentswere related to the I.LurdistaWorkers’
n
Party (PKQ.In Greece, a variety of anarchist and terrorist groups continued to
operatewith virtual impunity.The deadliestterroristactoccurred in Omagh,Northern
Ireland,when a splinter Irish Republican Army (IRA)group exploded a 500-pound
car bomb that lulled 29 persons,including children.”

Sdady,Europe experienced fewer ‘terroristincidents and casualties in 1999,and

Western Europe had the largest decline in the number of international terrorist
incidentsof any regon in 2000.Several European states moved to strengthen and
codifyanti-terrorismlegslation,and many signed the InternationalConvention for
the Suppression of Terrorist Financing,which was opened for signature on 10
Annabelle Sreberny and
January2000.In the wake of the 11 Septemberterroristattacks in the United States,
Prasun Sonwalker
European nations responded by offeringimmediate assistance to manage the crisis
and build the international coalition agamst terrorism,with Al-Qada-related arrests
Centre for
carried outin Belguq Bosnia,France,Germany,Italy,and the U.K. (www.state.gov/
Mass Communication Research
University of Leicester
s/ct/rls/pg&~t/2001 /M/ 10?,4O.htm)

England
Thus two points are clear First,incidentsof terrorism actually declined in Europe
during the UNESCO study period, and this was reflected in the discursive and
random nature of academic output Second,acadmc output in this period was
domated by the media dynamics of the Iiosovan crisis This reflects both the
centrality of the Balkans as the major political crisis dumg the period, but also
 reflects the usual length of the academic research and terns of political and media response seems vitally m-
publishing cycle,which almost guarantees that no rapid portant. None of the big organizations,including the
response to events can get published.While September European Union and UNESCO,appearto have h d e d
11 has clearly been a trigger for renewed interest in re- work in this area.
search on this topic,most of that has not yet filtered
into the public domain.O u r sense is that a considerable Most of the research work was conducted on the press
amount of relevant work w i
ll appear within the next in and acrossvarious countries.Y etdifferentresearchers
year or two,but this cannotbe included here. selectdifferentnewspapers for analysis,agam leadingto
a randomness of subject matter and lack of building
Emad and the Internetmean that the conduct of such upon and refinement of research questions.There was
bibliographic research has certain advantages over ear- very little work conducted on television,despite a gen-
lier work.On-linebibliographic searches are faster,re- eral acknowledgementof its major role in opinion-for-
search activities are more transparent,individuals and mation and audience preference for its mode of infor-
108 orgarmations are easier to locate than before.W e posted mation delivery.There was almost no work conducted
requests on numerous academic listservs in different on radio,which often comes into its own during times
disciplines (Political Science,International Relations, of crises and can be accessed in wireless mode when
Communications,Media Studies). W e made direct con- electricity fads.Since some crises do surprise us,it is of-
tact with individuals known to work in this area, and tenvery difficultto put a researchproject togetherquickly
with dmktanks,researchinstitutes and university depart- enough;academic research is not noted for its rapid re-
ments. sponse modalities.Also, very few countries have any-
thing like atelevision newsarchive,suchas the Vanderbilt
W e used a variety of electronic databases including News Archive in the US., from which to retnevebroad-
BIDS/IBSS,INGENTAand others.There is undoubt- cast news content.
edly abias toward English-languagmaterials,a bias that
is perhaps Lnherentin the very structure of the Net and The preferred research approachwas the use of rhetori-
its tools W e substantialmaterial has been accessed in cal and discourse analysis and most research was con-
full, some has been retrieved electronically,and we are tent-driven Not much work focused on the interface
dependent upon author-wnttenabstracts,which often between politics and the media, and even less focused
lack detad about method and approach,for a sense of on the ditaq-mediainterface,although both areas are
the content of the research. O u r searches generated central for exploration of issues of agenda-settmg,de-
about 100items,m d y in English. termmation of the origins of discursive frames and is-
sues of propaganda and surveillance Research that in-
W e also found a fewreferencesin French,German,Ser- volved interviews with journalists,politicians, govern-
bian, Greek, Norwegian and Spanish.Yet without ac- ment and ditary spokespeoplewas rarelyused and there
cess to the completetexts,nor any adable Ehglish trans- was little attempt at triangulation
lations or summaries,this material could not be included
here.The language barriers, lack of research coordina- Despite the widespread use of comparative method,
tion and lack of key research sites across Europe in this there was a lack of comparisonbetween European and
area of media research are quite marked. US.media coverageto fully explore the potential “CNN
effect”.Whether there is an emerging global hegemony
Synthesis and Critical Assessment constructed by the US.articulated in its media channels
and picked up by European media or whether a more
General Findings modulated European political consensushas developed
againstAmerican foreignpolicy seem valuable questions
The researchw e were able to identifywasd y written or media analysis in this area. Not unsurprisingly,as
f
in English and conducted in a limited number of coun- alreadymentioned,the bulk of European research work
tries.W e found almost no work conducted in Italy, and during this time-periodfocuses on media and political
little in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe.Research is not violence in the Balkans and Kosovo.The rest includes
necessady triggered by instances of local violence,nor such divergent foci and orientations,including terror-
does it necessdy focus on the local.It can develop as ism, that it is hard to consider it as a sustained body of
much out of theoretical interests or interests in com- academic research.
parative media dynamics.In general,there is a lack of
sustained,large-scaleprojects,perhaps because of alack The Media and Political Violence in the
of sources of funding. There is also little evidence of Balkans
longitudinal studies of media coverage of political vio-
lence,although this is one area where tracktng of pat- The main,althoughnotuniversal,fmdmgacross this body
ofwork are that the European media unabashedly toed ines British media coverage and identifies a close rela-
the NATO-governmentline and enlisted in the propa- tionship between the media and the ditary,a journal-
gandawar O n the otherhand,detatled cornparamestud- ism of attachment,which helps to justify western mili-
ies suggest that different European media systems re- tary intervention as humanitarian.IQeble (2000) sug-
ported I<osovo differently,both reflectingthe European gests government and media both bction to hide the
Union’s fragmented public sphere but also the manner horror of “humanitarianwarfare”.Considerable critique
in which detailed rhetorical and discourse analysis pro- focuses on the role of US.media as a voice of NATO.
duces difference Analysis of the interfacebetween mass Allen and Seaton (1999)make very strongargumentthat
media and new technologiessuggeststhat in the I’\osovo myths and falsehoods were deliberately perpetrated by
conflictthe Web ensured that the media coverage was the US.in conjunctionwith the media so that action in
seen as propaganda,in contrast to the “good war”per- the name of humanitarianism actually obfuscated the
ception during the Gulf crisis US.goal of global hegemony.Phillips (1999)argues that
the mainstream US.media knowingly passed on biased
and false information from the US.ditary and NATO 109
Governmenfimedia Relations
to the US.public,with the US.governmentcreating the
Perhaps the most significant specific area of work fo- International Public Information group to orchestrate
cused on government-mediarelations in different loca- the news environment.
tions.Hammond and Herman (2000)analysed the par-
tisan and propagandistic role of Western media in re- Comparative Research
producing official spin.Hryatin and Trampuz (2000)
discuss themanner inwhich the Serbianmedia national- Comparative method is popular in media analyses of
ized,mobdized and emotionalizedthe public spherewith the coverage of political crises,yet researchers chose a
the use of ‘patrioticjournalism”,in the context of the variety of other crises with which to compare Kosovo.
Serb authorities spreading Serbian nationalism and the Robinson (2000~)examined Somalia, Bosnia and
implementation of new media legislation in the 1990s Kosovo.Contributors to Allen and Seaton’sbook (1999)
when abuse of the media began.Some analysts focused examined media representations of war in Greece,Iraq,
on the general way in which new information technolo- former Yugoslavia,Liberia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and
gies had changed the shape of warfare.Livingstone et. Kenya.I<uusisto (1999)compared the Western political
al.(2000)analyse the changes for both ditary and for- rhetoric used agatnst Saddam Hussein in the Gulf W ar
eign-policyestablishments created by the new environ- with that of the conflict in Bosnia.IQeble (2000)also
ment ofglobal real-timemedia. compared the Iraqiconflict of 1991 to the I’\osovo cri-
sis of 1999,examining the growth of a secret state in
The CNN Effect: Media Coverage and Britain and the role of the media,explored through the
Humanitarian Intervention institutionaland personal links between journalists and
security services.
A popular,if notvery securelygrounded,argumentarose
after the I<osovo crisis that media coverage of suffering A second form of comparison is the examination of
could prompt so-called“humanitatrian”intervention by representationof a particular moment across a number
Western governments.Robinson (2000%2OOOb)looked of different media systems. 1.luusito (1999)compared
for evidence of media-drivenintervention by examin- the political rhetoric of U.S., British and French political
ing US.policy responses to humanitarian crises in So- leaders,while Grundmann,Smith and Wright (2000)
malia, Bosnia,and I<osovo,and suggests that there is examined the discoursespertaining to the Balkan war in
some substance to the claims that media coverage “can the establishmentpress of France,Britain and Germany
triggerthe deployment of airpower intervention during In Hammond and Herman (2000),various contributors
humanitarian crisis but not ground troops”.In another analyse how the war was reported in the US., Britain,
article,Robinson (2000~)puts forward a policy-media Germany, Greece, Russian and France.Nohrstedt et. al.
interaction model as a useful tool for testmg the claim (2000)examine the discourses of the press in Greece,
thatmedia coverage causes intervention duringhumani- Norway,Sweden and Britain and how specificnational/
tarian crises;the suggestion is that media influence oc- local contextsfunctionin a contextofglobalization and
curswhen policy is uncertain and media coverageis criti- super-power dominance.Such comparisons suggest a
cally framed and empathises with suffering. pragmatic logic of the avadability of research colleagues
as much as an analyticallydriven argument for the choice
Thussu (2000)exammes the nature of CNN’spresenta- of comparators.Savarese (2000)examines 10 European
tion of NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia as ‘%humani- newspapers, loohg at “infosuasion”,narrative struc-
tarian intervention”,one of the few studies to take the ture and media logic.Nacos et. al.5- publication (2000)is
role of television seriously.Hammond (2000a) exam- one of the few volumes to make sustained comparison
 of public opinion in relation to both American and Eu- The Media Screen and Horror
ropean foreign-policyestablishments.
One line of analysis running through this material is the
At third form of compmson is to explore the differ- power of visual imagery of violence.Terrorism or hos-
ences across a range of media channelswithin one coun- tage takmgcan provide dramaticvisuals that attracthuge
try Eilders and Luter (2000)examtned Iiosovowar dis- media audiences.Doubt (2000)looks at Bosnia as a glo-
coursein the editonals of the fiveleadingGermannews- bal media screen for a horrifying moral tale. Hryatm
papers and suggesta high degree of consentin the press and Trampuz (2000)look at the film ‘Wagthe Dog”,
toward Germany’s first military action since World W
ar and discuss meda’s role in not only reportingabout but
Two Vincent (2000)looks at nine different U.S news also constructingwar.Scanlon (2001)examined two in-
media and coverageof Mlosevic and the Serbs and found cidents thatattracted strongmedia attention:Waco,Texas
considerableagreement and the Air Francehighjackmg and showed how escalat-
ing media coverage raised questions about effectivere-
110 sponses and about political leadership.Haynes (1999)
Examining Television Coverage
examined a recentGermandocudramaon the Red Army
There was not much research work conducted on tel- Faction and suggested that newspapers and film act as a
evision,despite it being the most popular medium for forum for debating the difficult issues which political
the delivery of internationalnews and the one perhaps violence raises.
most driven by the ‘tisuallyexciting”agenda of violent
events.Most countries still lack television news archives History and Memory
so it takes a very enthusiastic researcher to tape televi-
sion matenal in real-time for possible future research Media play the role of keepers of public memory,but
analysis.Thussu (2000)looks at televisionnews through whose memones and which histoncal narrative is often
the coverage of CNN,arguing that it reproduced the a site of contestation Huyssen (2000)looks atdiscourses
US.agenda to a global audience,molding public opin- of memory and focuses on Holocaust narratives that
ion in support of war.However recently - and falling were enerped by genocidalpolitics in Rwanda, Bosnia
outside the s t m t me-frame of this study - McLaughlin and Kosovo,examiningmediaas transmttersof memory
(2002)examined a sample of British and American tel- and their possible influence on perception and tempo-
evision newscasts in relation to NATO campaigns in rality Hammond’sbook review essay (2OOOb)examines
Serbia and 1.LOsovoand concludes that the presentation journalism’s mstantaneous production of history, and
of NATO material was often treated with appropriate its lack of perspective in the context of reporting on
professional scepticism.This is notable as one of the war and conflict.
few cntiques of the media that suggests they did not
simply toe the NATO line. NATO’s campagn in I(0sovo triggered debate about
the ‘i.lrtualization”of conflict with new technologes
Rhetorical and Discourse Analysis renderingwhat was a distanced and de-realisedexperi-
ence Carruthers (2001) questions the extent to which
Analyses of the rhetoric and discourses used in media conflicthas been transformedin an age of ‘tmtual”tech-
coveragewere the most popular research methods used. nology and “virtuous”motivahons Uhme (2001)con-
Penalvaand Mate0 (2000)conducted a semiotic analysis trasts I s l m s m and totalitmanism,and argues that both
of the coverage of NATO mtervention in Iiosovo by mobilise the masses to combatexternal threat and both
the Spanish newspaper ElPais which revealed the ten- rely on m a s s communication and suppression of dis-
dency of the media to display events within a narrative sent to develop their own monopolistic ideologies
structure in which the actors are predetermined.Scott
(1999)examines the arguments about NATO interven- Trauma Talk
tion in Kosovoby cosmopolitansand their critics as pre-
sented by the broadsheet press in Germany,with some Somework in this area grows out of psychologcal con-
comparisons to the differences in debate in Britain. cern for mental health effects Slone (2000)conducted
Goodwin and H ills (2001) examine the responses by an experiment about media coverage of national threat
NATO to the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Bel- situationsand armety An experimentalgroupwasshown
grade, as reported in Hong Iiong’sEnglish-language televisionnews clips of terrorism while the controlgroup
press;the focus is m a d y on the perceptions that China was shown newsclips unrelated to national secunty,and
and Western nationshave about each otherand the con- results supported the anxiety-inducingeffect of the ex-
tradiction between China’son-goingeconomic interde- pemental condition,suggestmg that further explora-
pendence with the West and its desire for political inde- tion of media coverage of political violence and psy-
pendence. chologicalprocesseswas needed.Hobart (2000)studied
 how ordinary people in Bali articulate the role of mass war fought out on the Net between NATO and Serbia
media in mmtaining the existingpolitical order,where mediated the real war in new ways, addressing readers
before the riots thatbrought down the Soeharto regune, both in Serbiaand around the world.Purcell and Kodras
they suggest that a new political and social order could (2001)examine Slovenia’sefforts at crafting an image of
only emerge afterapocalyptic violence More recentwork itself via the Internet,trying to disassociate itself from
by Skirrow et. ul.(2002) investigated the influence of the Balkan moniker and persuade the European Union
media events on hallucinatory contentof intensive care and NATO of its readiness for accession.Bieber (2000)
unit patients and discovered that during the war in suggested that while the Internet alleviated information
IGxovo,patients,especiallyolderadults,were more likely shortages in Yugoslavia,it helped the independent me-
to have hallucinatory experiences involving themes of dia as well as reachinga smalluser population.Tiryhan
war or the rmlitary (2001)offers a structural-functionalistanalysis of the
dynamics of ethnic conflict and the responsibility of
Media and Terrorism democratic states to interveneto mitigate such conflict.
The modernity of “virtual warfare” also heightens the 111
A small literature during the period of the research fo- responsibility of the media,particularly television.
cused specifically on terrorism,although our sense is
that a considerableamount of researchand writing that W ith a more general focus,Watts (2001)argues that the
has been triggered by 11 Septemberis currentlyundenva5 In ternet has supported both the political and commer-
as reflected in conference presentations through 2001- cial growth of skinhead and right-wingculture,provid-
2,and w il soon appear in published form.
l ing a means of supportand growth.Cdley (2001)looks
at the use of the Internet by terrorists and extremists in
h a t l s (2000)examinesthe interface ofgovernment, a new kind of informationwarfare,and argues thatgov-
media and terroristsin Greece,notingtheminimal spread ernments have to strike a balance between freedom of
of terrorism there but the considerablecriticism heaped speech and national seamy.
upon the Greek government regardmg its relationship
to terrorists.Both Silke (2001)and Me& (1999)essen- Herd (2000)focuseson the informationwarfare aspects
tially argue that terrorist events have had a very high of the second Russo-Chechencampaign in 1999,in-
media profile, the latter arguing that essentially terror- cluding Chechen exploitation of the Internet and inter-
iSm has not changed for many years ,andthat,true to its nal Russian press criticism of the war,providing a leit-
inherentcharacteristicsas a mode of struggle,terrorism motif of Russia’ssystemictransformation.Watts (2001)
cannot substantiallychange forbetter or forworse (writ- shows that bias crime has risen in Germany since unifi-
ten before 11 September). Gordon (2001)argues that cation while one-thirdof violent incidents come from
the scholarly communicationsystem with respect to ter- unaffiliated,informalgroupsof youngmen and not from
rorism research is both open,with information c o m g identifnbleideologicalgroupsas earlier.H e suggeststhat
,
in from government,and media,but closed,with infor- contemporary xenophobia is linked to aggressive ele-
mation flowing to the popular press.A more closed in- ments of youth culture but also to international ideo-
formation system might help its maturation into an au- logcal networks supported by the Internet.
tonomous academic research discipline.
Suggestions for Further Research
The ethical lmplications of the political framing in tel-
evision (Iyengar,1991) and more specificallythe media It appears that the debates about the relationship be-
coverageof violence has generated a considerabletheo- tween the media and terrorism that had been so fiercely
retical literature pester,1994,Boltanski,1999,Moeller, waged through the late 1970sand 1980shad pretty much
1999,Cohen,2001) This has raised profound questions fallenoutof the academic researchagendauntd the tqyc
about both the news production processes and audi- events of 11 September,2001 put terrorism firmly back
ence responses,and h s issue m s as an implicit theme onto the public political agenda. Our scanning of the
through much of the work cited here academic literaturegenerated littlework that focused on
definitions of terrorism,on the relationship between
Political Violence and the W e b symbolicviolence and the media,or on media coverage
of terrorist acts W e anticipate a flurry of new work fo-
Surprisinglittlework appeared during this period on the cusingon and reinterpretingthese issues to be currently
function and use of the web at times of political crisis. in pmt,but falling outside the remit of this study
AV, it seems that post- 11 September work will,of
necessity,pay more attenbon to the role of the web as a It appears that academic work is not immediately reac-
globalnews source.Hall (2000)examines Kosovo as “the tive to external events as the underlying presumption
firstweb war”and the manner in which the information behind this study might imply.Research is slow to fund,
 organize and undertake and the publishing cycle haher
slows matenal appeatlngm the public domain,and thus
any potential Impacts on policy-makmgor public opin-
ion formation.Instead,academic work trtes to refme
theoretical contsructs,test hypotheses,undertake com-
parativework.Indeed,much of the work uncoveredhere
is from doctoral research by individuals,suggesting the
difficulties for groups of academics to organize such
intensive work without adequate time and funding.The
cumulative difficulties of undertaking research work in
such a critical and contemporary area implies the need
for major institutional prioritizing and fundingfor such
work,a role that UNESCO and the Council of Europe
112 might take up.
: There are few longmdinal studies that seek to test
n
Ec whethercoverageof aparticularconflictactuallychanges
over timewitlun amedia system,dependingon the shifts
1
c of governing group or changes in the ownership and
focus of the media.While there is a plethora of com-
parative studies,each compares different things:differ-
ent countrtes,differentmedia,differenttime frames.And
there is alack of analysis of the benefits and drawbacks
of comparative analysis:if we are not comparing like
with like (andhow do we define that?)then of what use
is comparative analysis?
The possible impactof media coverageneeds better in- A more sophisticated examination of the inter-locking
vestigation.There is anecdotal evidence of political and
diplomatic elites rushing to watch CNN in order to un-
derstand world events;more research is needed on the
elite-mediainterface and the effects of mainstream cov-
erage on policy-making.That is, as well as trying to un-
derstand how political elites try to influence and struc-
ture media coverage (the Pentagon controllingaccess to
press accreditationduring the Gulf War;or the role of
NATO briefings) it is also vital to understand how these
elites are themselves influenced by media output.Ac-
cess to sources is difficult,but perhaps more analysis
could be made of secondary sources,such as memoirs,
autobiographies,etc,as well as government documents;
declassification is a slow process,and this implies a his-
torical approach to this area of work.
New areas of research would mclude analysis of the
coverageof the role of peacekeeping forces,both within
Europe and beyond,such as European forces deployed
m Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. This would mclude
the blurring of the boundmes between military and
political activity as well as the relations between such
troops and the local peoples amongst whom they are
placed.W e discovered no such research.
It seems an important m e to open up the field of re-
search,and to acknowledge different kinds of violence
wi
th differentcausalpatterns and differenteffects.Min-
mally,it is possible to recognizedomestic violence in the
private sphere, violence that stems from deprivation,
drugs and social exclusion,and more overtly political
forms of violence by proto-nationsand schismatic
groups.While these formsofviolence cannotbe simply
collapsed together,they cannotbe kept swctly separate
either.Hill (2001)is one of the few analysts to attempt
such a rereading of the debates.H e examines the key
stages in the physical and moral amplification of the
nsks of media violence,looking at the role of media,
politicians and anti-violencecampaign groups.These
groups try to control the information flows about stig-
matized examples of popular culture and media audi-
ences,trying to create a “safer” moral and cultural envi-
ronment.
W e need a better definition of what constitutes political
violence,since all of these formshave political ramifica-
tions m one form or another.Ball-Rokeach(2001)has
written of the need to analyse political forces operative
in the study of media effects and of mediated violence
in particular, including the establishment of corns-
sionsand thewritingof commissionreports.Thismight
be the start of a rethtnkmg and a recombinationof the
fragmented field of media and violence within a revi-
sion of the understanding of “politics”.
of differentforms of violence would lead to a strcnger
focus on the gendered nature of conflict and coverage
of conflict.Ths would not only include the gendered
nature of political conflict and the differential impacts
of political violence on men,women and children;it
would also examine the gendered cature of media cov-
erage,exploringwhether women journalists and editors
focus on different stories or different angles of stories,
and bring a different optic to their telling.Additionally,
political violence in “theatres of war’’ often has pro-
found consequences for relations in the “domestic thea-
tre” of family life,issues that have barely begun to be
recognised,let alone researched.
Despite the growing awareness of the gendered nature
of political conflictand its coverage,very littlework even
remarked upon this issue.Some recentwork like that by
Del Zotto (2002) argues that women’s experiences of
war were highly misrepresented in mainstream media.
Using a content analysis model for media of 21 nations,
she suggests a “news blackout”of women’swar experi-
ences and distortions of these experiences,all of which
hide crucial issues that would otherwise improve the
public understandingofd a r e .Also,in Playdons(2002)
interviewwith E v e - hPrentice,there is some discus-
sion of the inflection that being a woman has given her
professionalwork as a journalist.
Concluding Remarks
A major limitation to this studyis the linguistic blmkering
within academic databases.While many ofthe databases
searched include non-Englishlanguage materials, our
sense is that this is a miniscule amount ofthe totality of
references.W e are acutely awareof the English-language
bias of this study,and the difficulties of trying to rem-
edy that in the short-term.Indeed,there is probably a
strong English-languagebias within academic research
as a whole.If this area of research is of policy and po-
litical significance,as we suggestit is, then a centre,per-
haps located within a university,could be established as
an archive or clearing-housefor the collection,annota-
tion and on-goingmonitoring of this area of research.
Additionally,serious work needs to be supported by se-
rious hding and m e . These are possible future h c -
tions for UNESCO and the Council of Europe to take
up.Indeed,gven that this very researchis being under-
taken by researchers outside Europe,who may well be
making s d a r recommendationsabout their own cor-
ners of the world,an archive that collected the global
literatureon this topic would be welcome.
Given the range of European languages in which re-
search is conducted,there is need to gather the mate-
rial/data at one central site.For this purpose,an interac-
tive website could be created,where researchers from
different European countries feed in data that could be
available to others workmg in the same field.Such an
initiative may be undertaken by an apex orpsationsuch
as UNESCO or the Council of Europe,whose transla-
tion strengths could also be tapped for the purposes of
wider dissemination and utility to policy and research.A
conference of researchersworkmg in this areacould help
synthesise research across Europe,as well as highlight
the disjunctures between various theatres of conflict.
As we write h s in October 2002, in the wake of new
terroristviolence against tourists in Bali,a new research
question imposesitself around the relationship between
the experience of risk and the role ofmedia in increas-
ing public fear. There is tension between the public’s
rightto know and the need to be forewarnedaboutpos-
sibleacts of violence,and the possibleescalation of anx-
ety that generalised pronouncements about anticipated
future acts of terror generate.The focus of analysishere
is not aboutmedia coverageof acts of terror themselves
but about the media-politicsinterfacewhen public safety
depends upon unreliable knowledgeabout futurepossi-
ble events.It is undoubtedly the case that the events of
11 September,2001have reawakened the researchagenda
about media and political violence,not least in the dif-
ferent approaches between the US.and Europe about
these issues.This overview report is a small contribu-
tion toward that renewed debate.
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 Introduction

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary and a critical analysis of the
Violence academicstudies and publicationson media,violence and terrorism in Latin America
between 1998and 2001.There were two methodological considerations for select-
ingand reviewingthe texts presented in th~sreport.First,different reference sources
and in the region were consulted and information was sought from research centers
specializedin communication.The RedIbemammiana deRetistas de Comunicmiin (Ibero-
Terrorism in American Network of CommunicationJournals)was consulted as were the annals
of national and regional symposia organized by FELAFACS, the Fedeerakbn
Latinoamericanade Fmhadesy Esmeh de Comunzcm’bn,
Latin America (LatinAmerican Federation of
Communication Faculties and Schools); ALAIC,the Asoiaibn Latinoamencana de
Inuestigaa’oresde ka Comzcnzcmon (LamAmencan Association of Communication Re-
searchers); and by the different national communication associations.

Secondly,the selection of works was done based on academic critena.The search

was limited to studies and publications that contained:a conceptual,even if brief,
approach to the topic;an expository methodology,a bibliography;and other char-
acteristics of academicworks.The sampleincluded partial and completereports on
researchprojects,and theoretical essays supportedby empiricalknowledge,all taken
from annals of national and international congresses;books;academic journals;
and communication research centers’web pages, among other reference sources.
W e hope this report is useful for those people and institutions involved in media
production,education and research,and in the design of policies concerning media
and violence in Latin America.

Global Analysis and Critical Assessment

Information Coverage:
Armed Conflict and Political Violence

The set of works which w e analysed focused on media coverage of armed conflicts
and other forms of political violence,includingbut not limited to terrorism.These
studies are grouped under three basic headings:media narratives that manufacture
news aboutwar and peace;the situation of journalistsin politicallyviolent contexts;
and the public interactions between journalists,politicians, and armed groups.A
total of 28 studies and publications are in the group.Half of them are academic
studies whtch,although based on empiricaldata,do not intend to produce empirical
knowledge.The other half includesresearch reports that combine content analysis
with semiotic methods that charactenze cultural and discourse analyses.

N e w s about Peace and War

Jorge Bonilla Velez and
Camilo Tamayo Gomez
School of
Communication and Language
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Bogota, Columbia
Colombia is one of the counmes where works on this topic abound.It is worth
noting that in none of the works analyzed is the concept of terrorism used to
denote internal confrontation m this country.O n the contrary,all papers aUn at
studying the armed confrontation on the basis of political motivations,and social
and culturalcauses.Therefore,the discussionis not focused onwhether there should
be information about the war,or on whether meda are used for propaganda to
magntfy the actionsand discourse of dlegal armed groups.In that sense,workssuch
as those of Rey (1998), Bar& (2001)and Garcia and Romero’s (2001)contribute
interesting elements for analysing the nature of journalistic representations of the
armed conflict.Based on theirworks,it canbe seen that the fascinationwith “events
of war”inmedia agendais due to the factthat these events are associatedwith news
values that favor drama,tragedy,novelty,spectaculai-ity,antagonism and heroism.
 Such narratives constantly deflect “events of peace” (1999)points out that journalists are at high risk when
because these are not related to the dramatic,the unu- they work in such situations,since they are usually sub-
sual,or the shockmg. ject to pressure from the State,illegalarmed groups,and
even by media owners who try to prevent them from
It is emphasized that this kind ofmedia visibility is pro- informingabout issues they prefer to leave in the dark
portional to the degradation of the armed conflict away from public scrutiny.
Gpez, 2000). Parallel to the conflict’s escalation and
degradation,information agenda drive value-newsto W ith respect to this situation,some of the studies sug-
extremes where information is combined with drama, gest thatthreats to journalistsare the result of their own
uncertainty,and entertainment (Abello,2001), and real- polarized, ignorant,and naive information coverage.
ity is mixed w ith fiction (Correa,2001). This is done Some other studies defend the thesis that weak profes-
through news stories that not only (re)present war con- sional trainingbrings aboutunnecessary risks that affect
frontation in a simplistic way that lacks historical per- not only individuals but also the profession as a whole;
116 spective and politicalcontext (Bar& and Valencia,2001), journalists become victims of the “cross fire” between
but also trivialize horror,reinforce intolerance (UNDP, violence actors (Guerrero,2001).Therefore,it is pointed
1999),box society into the passivevictim’srole,and turn out,journalists have the fundamental responsibility to
journalism into a place for hegemonic representationof be better prepared to understand the causes,interests,
the “official”points of view (Garcia and Pereira,2000). evolution,and logic of conflicts,war,and violence.

For some of the authors,the challenge of information
coverage is to make visible the faces and voices of the
majority of the population that struggle daily to solve
conflicts peacefully and creatively without resorting to
violence (Floresand Crawford,2001).Accordingly,one
of the aspects to be worked on with journalists is the
political and professional background behmd thelr vi-
sion of reality;this would give room to other criteria for
informationwhere peace - peace culture - can be seen as
a matter of public concern.This can be done by foster-
ing political discussion,strengthening the public use of
common sense,and reconstructing news stories that
enhance reconciliation (Rey,2000).
Those who examine other conflicts,either internal such
as those in E
l Salvador,Nicaragua,Guatemala and Peru
or border conflicts such as the one between Peru and
Ecuador,acknowledgethat societiesatwarorwhich have
worrisome levels of politicalviolencewil alwaysbe con-
l A third issue of concern that can be identified in some
fronted with information restrictions.Several reasons
account for this: officialcensorship (Cortes,1999);per-
secutionof free and independentmedia (Herrera,1998);
lackof autonomywith respectto political power (Smeets,
1999);media’s submissionto anti-subversivepolicies that
prevent greater coverage and democratic criticism
(Acevedo,2001); and the “war fever” that takes over
media and reinforcesold myths by stereotypingthe “en-
emy” and simplifying the real causes for struggle (Reyes,
1999).
m a t would be the task? Three basic aspects of infor-
mation culture should be strengthened:(i) journalists’
training to cover peace, human rights,and democratic
coexistence insofar as these are long-termsocial proc-
esses (Beltrin,1988); (ii) journalists’specializationin the
coverage ofwar,sothatthey can distinpshpropaganda
from information, and question official and irregular
informationsources intelligently (Abello,2001;Guerrero,
2001); and (iii) media’s mumption of their social re-
sponsibility.The goal should be for journalism to be-
come a democratic forum for the expression and public
debate of the points of view of those sectors that seek
access to,deliberation about,or the defense of public
expression (Acevedo,2001).
Public Sphere, Information, Violence,
and Power
of the works is based on the acknowledgment that me-
dia are “central arenas” for competition and symbolic
power display,where politicaland social antagomsts strug-
gle for access to the public sphere.In some of the texts
found in this group,it is argued that, m political vio-
lence,war and conflicts,actors b m g along their forces
a p s t the enemy,and their symbolic and ideological
interpretation frameworks to act in society,since these
processes not only involve death and destruction but
also construction

Informingin the midst of conflict:
the role of iournalists
Another common concernof theworks analysedpoints
in two directions:the necessary guarantees to work as a
journalist,and the indispensableprofessional training to
work in situations of generalued violence.Albarrin
By questioning one of the most popular hypotheses
aboutthe roleof media m politicalviolence,Pedta (1998)
proposes to go beyond the idea that media are “reso-
nance boxes” for violent actors The author argues that
media,more than being inductors of political violence,
are m e r s e d into a complex system ofinteractions and
symbolic representationsthat also involveacademic dis-
course,the State,and violence agents After comparing and narrative,drama and technique,ordinary and expert
the role of natlonal and mternational press regarding knowledgeare combined.In contrast,“television wars”
the terronst violence perpetrated by “Sender0 hmznoso” of today are lmtingpublic visibility throughvirtual and
in Peru (1980-1994),Peralta (2000) points out that the technological management of the confrontafion that
press swung from media “spectacdarization” of vio- prevent horror,destructionand death frombeing shown.
lence,to keeping with official discourse,to an alliance
with acadermc discourse It is worth mentioning three studies that refer to the 11
September,2001 terrorist attacks in the United States:
Bonilla (2001)and Medina &Garcia (2001)have a sim- Chaves (2001),Levatro (2001)and Pacheco (2001).The
larargument.They point outthatthepublic sphere,which three analyze coverageof the events inthe Mexican media
includesme&% is a permanently tense space in constant by focusing on three main aspects of the information:
dispute.There,journalists and media establish coopera- therewas no obsession for horror images, although sen-
tion,consensus,censorship,inequality,rupture,opposi- sationalism was evident;mythical and religous explana-
tion and/or autonomy relationships with other “corn- tions of the events were common;and an anti-Ameri-
munication agents”- groups and institutions.These,in can sentiment was displayed,which did not promote
turn, struggle to become visible or invisible,as the case rational analysis of the situation.
may be,in the public sphere(s), as well as to control and
manage communication as a strategic resource of vital Concluding Remarks
importance for political and mditary management,and
for the symbolic structuring of conflicts. Terrorism does not seem to be a particular topic for
research within this academic interest in violence in me-
Through the analysis of the communication model of dia. Studies were not interested in analyzing terrorism,
the EZLN (Spanishacronym for ZapatistNational Lib- or the role of media with respect to terrorism and its
eration Army),particularlyof the discussionof sub-com- agents.Instead,they concentrated on analyzing infor-
mander “Marcos”,K m (2001)suggests thatthe pub- mation coverageand media’s stapg of violence,around
lic sphere should be understood as a space of perma- threemain topics:armed conflicts,political violence,and
nent tension given its social significance.According to criminal violence.In countries with current-or previ-
this analysis,the political charisma of “Marcos”is based ous- armed conflictsand generalized political violence,
on hts ability to mix Mexlcan popular and indigenous the media were analyzed in the light of their complex
symbolic drama with network technology The strength relationships within the public sphere,and the role of
of his message is not in the inductive and objective con- journalistswho risk their autonomy,independence,and
tents of Western thought,but rather in the narrative personal safety.Special attention was paid to the quality
expression capable of keeping hope alive. of public visibility of violence,war and peace,and the
news values behmd the presentation of horror,death,
Sierra (1998)also refers to this tension in his analysis of and tragedy,but also of life,hope and post-conflicttulles.
the Mexican war conflict.The author argues against the
generalized idea that the conflict in Chiapas is a “com- In countries where there are no armed conflicts,vio-
munication war”without censorship,and the result of a lence is no longer shown as “revolutionary violence”
postmodem form of confrontationbased on the gen- but rather as “molecular violence” associated with lack
eralized use of the Internet and on media’scentral posi- of safety,scandal and cmne. In these cases,more than
tion.According to the author,although the EZLN has analyzing violent contents,researchers were interested
been able to position itself in the international public in analyzing the consequences of media productions in
sphere through a discourse based on dipty and restruc- the constructlon of a social order based on reinforcing
tured symbols,the myth that Chiapas is a conflictwhich fear of “others” and on demands for safety
uses that which is symbolic and technological prevents
analysisof disinformation,propaganda,and censorship. In both cases,emphasis should be given to comparative
These are the methods that the Mexican government studies on media and violence in differentLatin Ameri-
and power sectors have learned in modern counterin- can countries.This would allow for a comparison be-
surgencymanuals and are using today. tween topic setimg agendas and public debate concern-
ing armed conflicts,violence,terrorism,crime and pun-
Along the same line, although less ideologically,Rey ishment,and theway they are valued and used politically
(1998) compares the quality of the public sphere and and socially in various cultural scenmos,demographic
media narratives both in international wars and in local contexts, social orders, and communication media in
conflicts.Based on analysis of the public sphere gener- Latin America.In terms of the theoretical scope and
ated by local war conflicts,the author argues that there limitations of each study,observations can be made
are greater public visibillty factors where information in two respects.First,it should be said that half of
 the papers are interested in approaching the relation GARCIA,M.E.and PEREIRA,J M.2000.Comunicacibn,unnrersidad y
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 Introduction and Research Methods

Violence This chapter presents a report on research published in North America on media,
polihcal violence and terrorism during the four year period from 1998 to 2002.W e
and began with a comprehensivesearch,using the keywords “terrorism,”“media,” “po-
litical violence,” “newspaper,’’“television,” and “news’’to identify all items that
Terrorism in could possibly be relevant.For books and doctoralor M.A. dissertations,we applied
our key words to WorldCat,a library catalogue of the holding of hundreds of
North libraries including the Library of Congress.It generated over 300 items, including
such works with bibliographies as Alexander (2002),Iiushner (2002),and Taylor
America and Horgan (2000).W e eliminated the numerous books aimed at ageneral audience
and those obviously devoid of original research.W e also excluded the many books
thatlooked as if they might containrelevantresearch but on closer inspectionturned
119
out not to do so;as well as those that,even when they had at least a modicum of
research,only briefly mentioned any form of media.After examining the rest for
scholarshipand substance,we identified fewerthan a dozen books with appropriate
material.Some of thesewere edlted collections (e.& Icushner,2002), fromwhich we
extracted only those parts published between 1998 and 2002.

For articles,we used several databases,includingJSTORand Expanded Academic

Index,and surveyed politicalscience,economics,and sociologyjournals.Thissearch
produced several hundred articles,the ovenvhehg majority of which we dis-
carded because they did not discuss the media or did so only briefly.W e also looked
through every issue published during the research period of the two leading jour-
nals:TmnSm ana‘ Pohtical Viohce and Studies in Con$ict &Tmtism,fmdmg a few
additionalarticles. O u r focus is on research,so reports to government agencies
and collections of statements and documents devoid of research,such as the vol-
umes compiled by Alexander and Swetnam (1999),were not eligible.W e scrutinized
think tank studies on terrorism and violence (‘e.gfrom
. the Rand Corporation) but
found few related to the media.

Our search and elimination leftus with approximately 100 items for detailed consid-
eration.Reviewingthem,we found that many only alluded to the media briefly or in
passing.Typical are Icushner‘ssurvey of contemporary terrorism which limits its
discussion of the media to a few pages on cyberspace (Ikshner,1998, pp.74-78),
and David Wilcox’s chapter (in Alexander,2002) on combatting terrorism in the
U.S.which has only roughly one page on the media.Even a book on terrorism and
the U.S.Constitution referred only by implication to the effects of and limitations
imposed by anti-terrorismlaws on the media (Cole and Dempsey,2002).

Global Analysis and CriticalAssessment

In this report,we discuss the relevant research that remains under three main cat-
egories with appropriate sub-categories.The categories are contents,effects, and
David 1. Paleh information and communication technologies.To the extent that each study deals
and Jill Rickershauser with each subject,we cover its focus,research questions,theories and concepts,
methods,fmdmgg,conclusions,and contnbutions to knowledge.
Department of Political Science
Duke University
Contents
USA
Cotter (1999)studies the mpact of white power rock and roll on the spread of the
neo-Nazisubculture H e seeks the reasons for the subculture’sdurability,diffusion
and appeal,and for skinhead violence Mau-~ research methods are content analysis
of record albums (lyrics and music) and acqcutlng sales figures as a measure of
popularity H e fmds that the skmhead subculturehas spread to more than 30coun-
tries and that there are more than 100 white power bands.The music’s themes
mclude bemg a skinhead, hatred for outgroups,anti-
semitism, conspiracy theories,incitements to violence,
and war between the races. Cotter concludes that the
music could result in more politically effective skmhead
organizationsand more large-scaleviolence
Yamamoto’ssubject (1999)is threatening letters sent to
the news media.He compares coverage and treatment
inJapanesenewspapers of the message from a teenage
murderer with American newspapers’responses to’the
Unabomber’sdemand for publication of hs manifesto.
H e uses Robert Merton’stheory on patterns of cultural
goals and institutional norms, as well as orienting the
research around the concepts of media ethics and re-
sponsibility.The researchmethod is analysis of thenews-
papers’decisions and reasonsbased on thepublic record.
H e concludes that in the United States thesewere based
on newsworthiness and concern for public safety, al-
though the latterwas emphasized.H e recommends that
the media “reconsider their way of reporting the mes-
sages of those using illegitimate means to get the me-
dia’sattention”(1998,p.128).
Anderson (1998) focuses on Iranian sponsored terror-
ism in the media.H e researches correlations between
anti-US.terrorism and communications by Iranian offi-
cials.His theory and concepts stem from Alex S c h d
and Jannyde Graaf’s discussion of the various possible
causesof terrorism,forexample,anthropologicalor sea-
tegic choice.Both have been used to explain Iranian ter-
ronsm.Anderson tests a differentmodel,adopted from
Bruce Hoffhan of RAND,in which contending fac-
tions in Iran use their views of terrorism to play out
domestic political quarrels in the media.The idea is that
state sponsorship of political communication,in the
form of threats or demands directed at an ultimate au-
dience,begm even before any terrorist action occurs.
of the Italian luxury liner Ad& Latlro and the death of
one of its American passengers,the hijacking also in
1985of TWA flight847en route from Athens to Rome
and resultingin the death of an American and,briefly,
the Oklahoma City bombing, the activities of the
Unabomber,and other incidents.Her conceptual ap-
proach is that terrorism is definitional:what makes ter-
rorism is the power to define it. The research method is
textual interpretationof prominent magazines,newspa-
pers,government reports,and academic writings in the
two countrres.Oliverio finds that whether actions were
defmed as terrorism in Italy and the U.S. depended on
each state’sgeopolitical interests.She concludes that the
concept of terrorism is used by the authorities in the
U.S. for statistpurposes:to stage-managecrises and so-
cial unrest.This book conttrbutes to knowledge by re-
minding us of the importance of whether events are
defined and constructed as terrorism and the benefits
that can accrue to the authorities especially when their
definitions are widely accepted and circulated by the
media.
The subjects of Wirschberg’s(1998) doctoral disserta-
tion are the Oklahoma City Bombing and its perpetra-
tor Timothy McVeigh.Her research asks how the
hegemonic media,presidential rhetoric,victim-survivor
groups,and militia and conspiracy theorists frame them.
The theories and concepts are taken from Baudnllard
and Foucault.Impressionisticcontent analysis is the re-
search method.The main fmdings are that hegemonic
national media converged to define the event as a na-
tional symbol:this “shows how crucial the proliferation
and hyperproductionof specific imagesare to the effec-
tive reproductionof ideology”@. 4).The research con-
tributes to knowledgeby showingthat the events could
be depicted in various ways but that one predominated
in the media.

The research method samples Iranian state communi- Relatedly,based on a descnptivecontentanalysisof CNN
cationsusingcategoricalcoding techntquesto determine coverage,Justin Boyd (1998)shows that from the m e
whether there are significant associations between cat- of the bombing through the next two days the media,
egoriesof statements and terroristevents.Themain find- with television foremost,framed the storywith Middle-
ing is that for every 1.0per cent increase in the measure Eastern terrorists as the likely suspects H e attributes
of factional strrfe, there was a 1.22per cent increase in this to the magnitude of the story and intense competi-
anti-US.terrorist actwity 10 months later.Anderson tion,immediatereportingwithoutwamg for confirma-
concludes that Iranian terrorism is not anthropological tion and corroboration,pack journalism,the felt need
but comes from the deliberate calculations of certain by television news personnel for short and smple sto-
individualsorgroupsassociated with the Islamic Repub- nes,and the incorporation of entertamment values in
lic.This research is more scientific than most:it is based the news which results in mi-dramas
on theoreticalmodels and tests different theories.
Effects
In her 1998book,hatnarie Oliverio focuses on how
acts of terrorism by terrorists are portrayed.She wants Idlebrew (1998)conceives of terrorist attacks as “criti-
to know whether the depictions differ and,if so,how cal events” that can influence the agendas of the elite
and why? She,therefore,compares Italian and Ameri- news media and government policy makers.H e asks
can state and media presentations of the 1985 seizure whether media or government sets the agenda? How
critical events enter the agenda?And whether they are Information and Communication
subject to conditions not typical in agenda-setting?The Technologies
critical events are the 1992 mortar attack on the British
Prime Minister’s residence at 10Downing Street by the Ronfeldt’sintroduction(1999)to a special issue of Stzld-
IRA and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. ies in Conzct &Terrorism and the analytical background
Research consists of content analyses of coverage of article written with John Arquilla in the same issue
the events in two elite newspapers in the US.and two in (Arqdla and Ronfeldt, 1999) encapsulate and explain
the U.K. and of the policy speechesby relevantgovern- their research on the relationship between the informa-
ment officials.Even though these critical events received tion revolution and conflict.They focus on what they
widespread media coverage and comments by call the ‘hetwar”waged by transnational terrorists,ethno-
policymakers,no agenda-buildingeffects were found nationalists,criminals,and even radical social activists.
from the World Trade Center bombing in the U.S.and These groups use the Internet and other communica-
only weak agenda-settingeffects in Britain from media tions services for internal command and control,coor-
coverage of the motor attack. dination,recruitmg,projectmg identity,and communi-
cating to target audiences.The authors find that netwar
In both cases,coverage emphasized their political more “is likely to revolve around propaganda campaigns,psy-
than thelr cmnmal nature.IGUebrew recommends the chologicalwarfare,and strategicpublic diplomacy.. .” (p.
development of a better model of agenda setting and 203). They conclude “that countemetwar may require
that futurestudies should includeeffects on public opin- very effective inter-agencyapproaches,which by their
ion.
nature involve networked structures” (Arquilla and
Ronfeldt,1999,p.200).
The focus of James David Ballard’s (2000)doctoral dis-
sertation is the bombingof the FederalBuildingin Okla-
Inthe same vein and the same issueof the journal,Whine
homa City in 1995.His researchuses it as acase study to
(1999a)looksat the use of ICTsby Islamistsand the Far
test three political sociology theories:corporate liberal,
fight H e quotes leaders and people mvolved in these
state autonomy,and state-centered.H is method is con- movements and gives examples of their activities,such
tent analysis of preexisting policy debates,media cover-
as information posted on web sites. H e finds that the
age of the bombing,and the debate leading to passage
use of ICTsis cheap,allows covertand anonymouscom-
of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
munications,is a force multiplier enhancing power,and
of 1996.Ballard finds limited support for the first two
enables “extremists to reach their target audienceswhen
theories.He concludes that <‘thestate-centeredtheory
other outlets and media are denied them,and to reach
offered the most explanatory value for the events prior
new audience,particularly the young and educated” (p
to and after the bombing in Oklahoma City”(p.I$. By
237). Whine concludes that the movements he studied
testing the relations of Politicalsociologypolicy making
used ICTsfor communicationand were poised (in 1999)
theories on an act of political terrorism and policy for-
to extend that use to command and control
mation processes and policies, this research makes a
major contributionto knowledge.Future research should
In a separate article,Whine (1999b)looks at Islamic ter-
go beyond publically avdable testimony to include the
speechesof the politicianswho controlthe hearings and roristoperating on the Internet.H e poses three research
use a longer media focus.Most important is to apply questions:what do terrorist groups do on the Internet?
this type of studyto the destructionof the World Trade M e r e are they? H o w can researchers use the Internet
Buildings on 11 September,2001. to learn more about terrorist groups?H e uses the con-
cept of netwar devised by Arqudla and Ronfeldt.H is
Hall (2001) focuses on the sources of US.policy re- research consists of collecting data from web sites and
gardmg terrorism and biological and chemical weapons, reading through intelligence reports and reports of ir-
researchingthe media’srole in spreadingpanic.H e looks telligence reports.He finds that the groups use the
particularly at novels and finds that they ridiculously Internet for internal communication, often requiring
overstate the danger.H e calls them ‘(the threat indus- passwords given only to members or close sympathia-
try” (p.45).The essay contributes to knowledge and ers; and for external propaganda from sites calling or
understandmgby cautioningagainstmaking public policy presenting themselves as news agencies.H e concludes
for unlikely dangers.The author concludes and recom- that the Internet is beneficial for Islamist groups but it
mends:“instead ofspendingcountless rmllions on anti- also makes it easy for researchersto gather information.
biotics and vaccines that might never be used,I’dlike to H e recommends rigorous monitoring of the sites and
see the government spend that money on development those with which they interconnect.
of better vaccines for common diseases and reforms of
the economics that cripple drug development and dis- Valeri and Knights (2000)focus on what they call “of-
tribution for the developing world” (p.45). fensiveinformationwarfare”, activitiesw ith politicaland
 strategicobjectivesamed at the integrity,avadabdity and also warns of the damage terrorists can inflict through
confidentiality of data inside information systems con- the Internet on Amencan institutions,particularly the
nected to the Internet Their m c l e has no conceptual government,military, business,and the electronic me-
and theoretical background or research method and re- dia.According to Stevens,cyber-biotechterrorismis also
lies on assertion They clam that, because cntical na- lkely To counter these dangers, he recommends pre-
tional infrastructure is well protected and hard to break vention and that the media not give “immediate and
into,terroristsare morelikely to target e-commercesites, unlimited attention to terrorism and terrorists’’(p.207).
producing mistrust and negative repercussions for the In contrast,Smith (2001)documents that the mass me-
Internet.They recommend cooperation between busi- dia have often gullibly gwen prormnence (undue atten-
ness and government to ensure that e-commerceuses tion) and credibility to the grandiose claims of so-called
the kind of software and hardware that w il
l protect electronic terroriststhat they are aboutto use their com-
against terrorist intrusions puters towreak some sortof havoc such as downloading
US.nuclear secrets.
122 Damphousse and Smith (1998) ask how the Internet
L
has changed terrorists’ communication forms.Their Suggestionsfor Further Studies
work is manly empirical,without much theoretical or
fi
I” conceptual background.During 1995 and 1996 they
n In a detaded study of the academic literature on terror-
C searched Yahoo for supposed terrorist groups.Natu-
1
.6
ismand themecla,Paletzand Boiney (1992)foundmuch
rally,organizations do not identifythemselves as terror- of it focussed on one question:does media coverage aid
ist, so to find them the authors used such key words as and encourage or obstruct and deter terrorism in gen-
Aryan and followed1 6 fromonepage to another.They eral and terrorist causes in particular.Publications fell
found that the Internetallows these groups inexpensive into such categories as terrorists’strategies and tactics,
and broad access to supportersand potential new meni- how and why terrorists use the media;indictments of
bers,to engage in attacks on objects of anger (through the media as pro-terroristor,far less common,anti-ter-
“virtual graffiti”)and,most commonly,to requestfinds rorist;and prescriptions such as voluntary cooperation
fromthegeneralpublic.Most important,thegroupsused between media and government or formalcontrolsover
the Internetto perform acts of terrorism such as defac- media coverage of terronsrn.
ing home pages, access government communication
processes, and threaten to or actually mpair them. In seardungoutand studyingthe academicliterature for
Damphousse and Smith conclude that political revolu- the present report,w e found no such research.Perhaps,
tionariesare making creativeuse of the Internetthrough this approachhas been so written aboutand repeated m
their apparently ‘leaderless”web sites.This methodical the past, there is nothing new for researchers to add,
study of web pages is an improvement over more im- leaving it only to the popularizers a?d polemicists.Cer-
pressionistic,less systematic research, although the au- tdy,we do not recommend it as a desirable direction
thors do not make explicit recommendationsfor future for future research.W e do believe that future research
work. on media, political violence and terrorism should be
empirical,generate oripal data and become,in a word,
Post et. al. (2000)are interested in information terror- scientific.W e briefly suggest five ways to help achieve
ism.Their research questions and issues involve them in this objective.
definingthe term,establishing criteriafordesignatingan
event as terrorism,and determkmgwho wd use infor- First,researchers should use and thereby test the validity
mation terrorism as a tactic. So they investigxte defini- of the elements of some of the (admtttedy few) theo-
tions,typologes of groups,and the psychology of group ries that exist on the media,political violence,and ter-
behavior.Their conceptual and theoretical approach rorism.An example of such a theory is GadiWolfsfeld’s
develops Arquilla and Ronfeldt’sdefinition of “netwar” model of politicalconflict (1997). Second,researchwould
and pre-1998work on information terronsm by other benefit from being cumulative,trying to replicate and
scholars.Their research draws from newspapers,other develop previous findings,includingfrom several of the
publications,and psychological theories,and displays a studies analysed in our report.Third,some of the stud-
convincing understanding of how the Internet actually ies we have discussed display the benefits of comparing
works.After providing severalexamples of information coverage of the same event in various media outlets and
terrorism,Post et. al. conclude that there is a growing countries.Comparativecoverage can show,forexample,
threat of information terrorism.This is deterredmainly whether governments infuse thelr definitions of terror-
by the high cost of development but tnhibitmg factors ism in the media,it reveals sdarities and differencesin
are likely to decrease over time. defmitions of terrorism and of depictions of terrorist
organizationsand their activities.Fourth,as some of the
In a summary of his previous research,Stevens (1998) studies w e have described also show,research is more
fruitfulwhen connectedto political communicationcon-
cepts.For analyzing media contents,framing is such a
concept.Another one is indexing the idea that journal-
ists’ coverage of an event or issue usually represents (in-
dexes) the range of views expressed in government de-
bate about it. Political communication concepts useful
in research on the effects of media coverage of political
violence and terrorism,that are used in the studies we
have described,are agenda setting and policy.But there
are many more possibilities.Effects on the public,for
example, can utilize such concepts as political
socialization,priming,the information gap, third-per-
son effects, public opinion,and political participation.
Fifih,we recommend research using information from
governmentsand terrorists.Certamly,governmentsagen-
cies in the United States,such as the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI)and the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA),keep many of their anti-terrorismmethods and
activities confidential,classify documents as secret,and
only release informationin their own interests.Yet,gov-
ernments do announce their strategies and tactics for
combattmg terrorism.Moreover, in democracies such
as the United States,with a free and sometimes aggres-
sivepress,governments find it hard to keep information
secret for long.This is especially so after a terrorist ac-
tion:witness,following the 11 September attacks, the
investigations,media coverage,and revelations of the
“inadequacies” of US.intelligence agencies.
Certainly,terrorist organizations infrequently give can-
did interviews to western journalists.But they do make
public statements and issue video and audio tapes ex-
pressing theirideology,justi@ing their tactics,and claim
ing credit for their actions.As with Osama bin Laden
and a/-Qaeda,they also grant occasional access to sym-
pathetic media outlets such as AlJaqeera.Robin Gerrits
(1992)has shown that considerableinformation can be
gained from terrorists’memoirs.
Conclusions
Some of the studies we have descnbed rase thoughtful
research questions,use significant concepts,apply ap-
propnate methods,come up with convincing (although
sometimes predictable) findmgs,articulate conclusions,
and contribute to knowledge.
For the penod 1998-2002,however,there is a relative
dearth of research Moreover,as we pointed out in our
suggestionsfor futurestudies,current research does not
bwld on existingtheories,is infrequentlycumulative,and
fdsto use concepts from political communication
A few articles in Terronim and Pohcal Viohnce bemoan
the inadequate quality of research.For M r e w Sdke
(200I), terrorism researcherstolerateconceptual confu-
sion,fail to produce meanin@ explanatory results and
predictions.Only “about 20 percent of articles provide
substantiallynew knowledgewhich was previously una-
vailable to the field” @. 8). H e fmds that most terrorism
research is based d y “on data from books,journals,
the media (or media-deriveddatabases), or other pub-
lished documents” @. 5).But this material may be inac-
curate and biased.
For Avishag Gordon (2001also 1999)terrorism studies
have not evolved into an academicdiscipline.Instead of
data and documents flowing from academiato the gov-
ernment and media,the reverseoccurs.His explanations
123
are “the problematic nature of defining terrorism...the
spread and lack of coordination of terrorism
literature...too few new researchers in the field and the
lack of a long-termcommitmentby researchers to this
subject area” (p.116). Gordon claims that the field is
gradually acquiring the characteristics of an established
discipline.W e areless sanpe.On the one hand,w e are
dismayed that so little of the research on media,terror-
ism and violence is by establishedscholars.On the other
hand,w e are encouraged by the prevalence in the re-
search we have discussed in our report of studies by
young scholars,particularly in the form of doctoral or
master’s dissertations.If they continue their work,a re-
search community of scholars is possible.
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 PART IV
Appendices
 Appendix 1:
Resolution o n
Terrorism and Media
adopted ky theparticipants in tbe Conj&ence on Temnsm and Media,
Mmih,the Pbiljtpines I-2Mq 2002

Pamcipantsin the UNESCO-sponsoredconference on to impose restrictions on the right to freedom of ex-

Terrorism and Media,meeting in Matlila,the Philippines pression and of the media,or on freedom of informa-
on 1-2May 2002: tion,and specificallyon the followingrights:

Recalling the fundamentalrole of the media in to editorial independence;

meeting the public’srightto know,includingabout
issues relating to terrorism;
4 Condemning killing of,attacks on,threats against
and harassment of journalists reporting on terror-
ism and conflicts;
Concerned about the restrictions imposed on the
right to freedom of expression and to freedom of
information by a growing number of States in the
aftermath of the attacks of 11 September;
4 Convinced that open public debate and the free
flow of information are essential to any long-term
solutions to the problems of terrorism;
Welcoming the Charter for the Safetyof Journal-
ists Worhg in War Zones or Dangerous Areas,
adopted by concerned organtiations in Pks on 8
March 2002,and the Safety Charter,adopted in
Montreal in 1992;
4 Noting theJointMessage for World Press Free-
dom Day,3 May 2002,by Kofi Annan,Secretary-
General of the UN,Mary Robinson,UN figh
Commissioner for Human fights,and Koichiro
Matsuura,Dxector-Generalof UNESCO,whch
recopsed the importance of press freedom and
freedom of expression in the fight agamst terror-
ism;
Resolve as follows:
Any strategy to address the threat of terrorism must
promote greaterrespect for freedom of expression and
ofthe media,rather than imposingrestnctions on these
fundamental rights.
Right to Report on Terrorism
The media have both a right and a duty to report fully
on terrorism in the interest of the public’s rightto know
and to promote open,informed debate about terror- ists reporbngonconflictand terrorismincludingthrough
ism;
AU parties to conflicts should respect the right of jour-
nalists to investigate and report freely on conflict and to The news media industryand the internationalcommu-
have maximum access to conflict areas;
The threat of terrorism should not be used as an excuse to have access to safety b m m g and equipment.
to protect confidentialsources of information; 27
to access information held by public bodies;
< to freedom of movement;and
< to privacy of communications;
Media outlets,journalists and publishers and broadcast-
ers associations,academic institutions and other cid
society organisatjons should take measures to enhance
the capacity of the media to report professionally on
terrorism and to promote tolerance,including through
training and providing opportunities for discussion of
edvcal issues relatmg to reporting on terrorism.
Safety of Journalists
States at peace, as well as all parties to conflicts,should
take effectivemeasures to ensure that they,diq forces,
combatants,as well as secret and intelligence services
and other officials engaged in combatingterrorism,un-
derstand and respect the rightsof journalistsas civilians
under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional
Protocols,as w ell as their right to freedom of expres-
sion;
States should devote sufficient resources and attention
to preventingattackson journalists,to investigatmgsuch
attacks when they occur and to bringmg those responsi-
ble to justice without delay;
States at peace,as well as all parties to conflicts,should
never allow their agents or combatants to pose as jour-
nalists,or attempt to use journalistsas agents;
hledia outlets,journalists and publishers and broadcast-
ers associations and other civil society organisations
should take measures to promote the safety of journal-
training the development of safety guidelines and the
provision of appropriate equipment;and
nity should consider establishing a fund to assist under-
resourced media organsations and freelancejournalists
 Appendix 2:
Official Ceremony and Awarding
of the UN€SCO/Guillermo
World Press Freedom Prize, 3 May 2002,
Manila, the Philippines:

Remarks by
Mn.Ana Maria Busquetr de Cmo,
President of the Guubmo Cm0 f i u n a o n

We are gathered, once a p , to submit the Unesco many causes.And as a long as they are not removed,
128 Guillermo Can0 Prize to Freedom of de Press,to one there is going to be, here and everywhere,terrorism that
person chosen by the international jury among many vindicates its execrable crimes. It is compulsory them,
candidates who d e s d the honor.In this occasion it to have the strength of true intehgence and start today
is Manila who kindly welcomes us in order to discuss (for it was not done yesterday and it would be too late
different affairs that concerns us. Being terrorism the to do it tomorrow)to remove the causes.Wherever the
issue of the day,I would like to evoke some words,writ- bad weeds lay.
ten by Gdermo Can0 in 1980 but that stdl prevail to-
day: The removal asked by Guillermo Can0 has become a
pledged for the violent to stop a t t a m journalists of
Each new terrorist act talung place, here or in any all regons an countries.Year afkr year we repeat the
place of the world, immediately receives the qualifi- complains and we denounce the abuses done on jour-
cation that the victim of such an act wants to give to nalists. This need for constant repetition of our com-
it. If it occurs in a country with a left wing tendency, plaints makes me think thatwe are not being heard,that
unmediately,the author or the authors,as wellas those maybe some governments have not interest in listening
who inspire it, are called right wing fascist. O n the to us, that maybe our claims are not loud enough or
contrary, if it occurs in countries ruled by tlght wing maybe thatwe complain and aftemads we abandon our
governments, the terrorism is a provocative of the causes.In those occasions in which we have insisted we
left wing hcists.If the terrorist act affects a centrist have insisted we have achieved the M o m of those
government,the responsibilityfalls into both left and who received the prize in former years.
right fascist.Left right and centerwinsrs all act the
same way. Besides rejoicing for the prize that we subrmt today for
such a complete journalist,as is Mt Nyarota,I want to
W all get caught in asnow ball when we try to face play tribute to those Colombian journalist assassinated
and stop terrorism and howevermake it grow bigger dunng this year or who could survive to the attacks of
and bigger until we find ourselves in h n t of a huge different violent groups.To those how died for publish-
monster that, due to its appearing forms,is unassail- ing huds or information conceming some politician.
able and indestructible by the traditional and known To those that died for publishmg the damages perpe-
means. trated by the gueda groups.To those U ed for de-
nouncing the right wing pups, and finally those who
There is terrorism bloody perpetrated,as any terror- dared to denounce ones and others for drug dealing
ism act,in the name of de digion,no matter which
it may be. Archbishops, bishops, priests and devo- Year after yearwealso rememberthe fight of Gdermo
tees are assassinated . There is communist, fascist, Cano.In spite of that,the counq where the d t o r of
left, right,and center winpryanarchist,democratic, EIE-rwas assassmated, is stdl the mchm of the
antidemocratic,with or without freedom terrorism.
most m el violence perpetrated by the same people,those
responsible for the killing in the tragc times of
It is the symbol of our ed
narcoterronsm and those who have had no objecaons
m profitmg with the dirty money w ed tn the busmess,
And every response to it engenders a new crueltyand arguing that they are domg it for the sake of the people.
a new chain of cruelties in h c h the link of good ThisISwhy,between ones and others,it 1s harder every-
human feelings, of htemity and equality, of loving day to be a journalist in Colombm In the last year, ac-
each other, is irremediably lost. codrig to the Antonio N d o Foundahon,m Cartagena
de Indias ,the sad annual average of kdhp has msed
Due to the fact that terrorism is an effect,it has to have fiom seven to 11, whtch is the number of journalist as-
sassinated in the last moths in dfferent regions of our
country.

So many Colombians Med,make me pledge for the

removal of what causes terrorism for your solidarity
and for a maximum support to those who dare to de- Madam President of the Republic of the Philippines,
nounce or criticize the acts of violent people. When a Mr Vice-president of the Republic of the Phdippines,
community gets together, and in our case it is that of Mr President of the UNESCO Advisory Group
people who work in the media,it is easier to face the for Press Freedom,
attacks because we are so many that the terroristswould Mr President of the Rrld Press Freedom Prize Jury,
not know who to silence. Mrs Anna-Maria Busquets de Car~o,President of the
Can0 Foundation,
I thk we are ladring solidarity and action through all
the media at the same time. If we could count on it, it hdies and Gentlemen, 129
would enable us to have better defense.We are also lack-
ing that you, joumalist from all over de world,be al- Let me first convey to all of you my warm greetings.I
ways alert to defend fteedom of expression and to de- am dellghted to be here to celebrate World Press Free-
nounce,with higher determination,those Countries that dom Day 2002.It is an important day on the world's
without being M y responsible for violence, collabo- calendar and I a m most grateful to the Government of
rate with others to be so. the Republic of the Philippines for agreemg to host h s
year's event and for all the hospitality and support it has
Colombia, it is true,produces cocaine that is grown in given to UNESCO.
out beautiful mountains, which,by the way, are being
devastate hr that purpose.However others are in c h q I would like to begin by paymg speual tribute to Her
of completing the job of the peasants in Los Andes. Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.Under
her capable steward- democracy in the Phihppinesis
Journalistof those countries that do not produce co- not only in safe hands, it is thriving To lead and govern
caine but make weapons and with no remorse sell it to a democracy as complex and diverse as the Philippines
the violent people who kdl their fellow mates in other is a great challengebut it is one she is taking in her stride.
parts of the world, should say so. One sign of the democratic health of the Philippines is
the M o m and vigour of its media.W ith over40 M y
Journalistof those countries that do not produce co- newspapers, over 500 AM and FM radio stations, and
caine, but profit by keeping the money of the violent over 130 TV stations, democracy in the Philippines is
people who kill their fellow mates in other parts of the not short of either news or opinions.
world,should denounce it.
W eh s is my first official visit to the Philippines in
J o d s t of those counties that do not produce co- my capacity as Director-Generalof UNESCO,I am no
caine, but produce the chemicals with which the drug strangerto your counq.In my earlier diplomatic career,
that damages the minds of the youth is produced,should I made over 10visits to the Philippines.I am very happy
denounce it. to be here once more and to experience agam the wel-
corning hospitality of the Filipino people.
Journalistof those countries that do not produced co-
caine but buy and consume it without making any ef- Ladies and Gentlemen,
forts to find the people who is profitingwith the busi-
ness,should denounce it. World Press Freedom Day is the day on which we com-
memorate the right of M o m of expression,which is
We,the Can0 farmly,lost G d e r m o who was denounc- enshrined in Article 19 of the UniversalDeclaration of
ing the males of the drug dealing and terrorism,stress- Human Rights.T h ~ is s one of the most basic of human
ing on the risks that these brought to M o m of ex- rights and a cornerstone of democracy.Indeed, in to-
pression.W have also lost the journal. days society,fteedom of expression means n o h g if it
does not also imply M o m of the press and, in turn,
However the G d e r m o Can0 Foundation d continue pluralistic and independent media.Today's World Press
to make every effort in order to keep those ideals and Freedom Day serves to highlight these basic human fights
the belief that a country only is free when is fixe to and to draw public attention to the fict that press &e-
express itself,&ve. For that we also need your cmpera- dom is std f k from being a reality in many countries
tion. around the world.In UNESCO's Constitution,there is
 a clear comtment to “the free exchange of ideas and by bringing all its partners together in a process of
knowledge”,which is a fundamentalhuman nght that intercultural dialogue aimed at promoting better mutual
should be enjoyed by all peoples,regardless of cultural, understanding.This is the only way to build confidence,
religous,ethnic or other backgrounds.The UNESCO trustand toleranceamongstdifferentcultures and civili-
Constitutionguarantees “the free flow of ideas by word zations.The media, in fact, can play a vital role in this
and image” as the very basis of mternational coopera- process but they cannotdo so if their own freedom and
tion in the fields of education,scienceand culture.These independenceare heavily constratned.
freedoms are prerequisites for the active participation
of citizens in social development,civil society,demo- During the conference that was held over the last two
cratic politicalprocesses and collective efforts to achieve days,many mportant issueshave been discussed regard-
peace ing “Terrorism and Media”. These issues deserve to be
aired so they become matters of open debate.W e we
The values and pmciples expressed in the UNESCO must not discount the fact that there are real dangers
130 Constitution r e m highly relevant to the world’s cur- and real anxieties,these concerns should not impose a
I rent problems and the difficultchallenges ahead of us hard silence upon us.But the discussion of the issues
4
I
Our goal of contnbutingto peace and security by pro- should be as mature as possible.W ith regard to terror-
”E
C
I
E
moting collaboration among the nations through edu- ism, the media should not encourage an irresponsible
E cation,science and culture is truly endumg.However, excitement of the public’sfears.At the same time,how-
d
we recognize that this goal must be continuously ever, this responsible approach should be achieved
refocused m order to address the changmg realities of through self-restramtbased on professional standards
our world Thts is evident in our response to the ternble rather than through harsh government control or cen-
events of 11 September 2001 and their aftermath sorship.
UNESCO’smission to promote mtercultural dialogue
and mutual understanding has become more important Terronsm,as we well know,is no friend of a free press.
than ever in the emerging international context. Whether its lmpactis direct or indirect,terrorismalways
seeks to succeed through intimidation The best defence
Let us be under no misapprehension:our fundamental agamst our f e a is the active exercise of our basic rights
freedomsand rightsare being threatenedby transnational and freedoms This is the centralmessage of World Press
terrorism.The international community,including rep- Freedom Day
resentatives of civil society such as the international and
regonal NGOs presenthere at today’scelebration,should The award of the World Press Freedom Prize has be-
join forces in opposition to terrorism.By acting in uni- comean integralpart of each annual celebration of Wodd
son,the internationalcommunitycan showits collective Press Freedom Day. It is one of the ways in which
strength in the face of terronsm’s threats. In the exer- UNESCOexpressesits strongand abidingcommitment
cise of their profession,journalistsmay sometmes find to freedom of speech and its solidarity with those who
themselves in situations of great danger and insecurity; sufferfrom repression and persecution in the exercise
their personal safety and their other basic human rights of their profession as journalists.
may be at serious risk.The rights and freedomsof jour-
nalists must be fully protected and respected.Thls is The annual award of the World Press Freedom Prize,
important,fmt and foremost,for their own sake but it moreover,helps to broaden public awareness of the val-
is also important for all our sakes.When a journalist is ues of freedom of expression and press freedom.It
kidnapped or threatened or attacked,our own rights and draws wider attention to the problems faced by many
freedoms are in jeopardy too. media professionals around the world, who fmd that
searchingfor truth and nskingone’slife go hand-in-hand.
One of the most worrying results of terrorism is that it
m a y cause some countxes to impose forms of control The UNESCO/Guillermo Can0 World Press Freedom
and regulationwhich constrm democracy,freedom of Prizeis awarded in honour of the Columbian journalist
expression,and free,independent,and pluralisticmedia and editor Guillermo Cano,whose murder has become
W e must remember that secunty is not an end in itself a symbol of cruelty against journalists Justa few mo-
but the means to an end,namely,the peaceful enjoy- ments ago,we listened with great interest to the words
ment of our nghts and liberties.Care must therefore be of hswidow,Mrs Ana Maria BusquetsCano.Each year,
taken to ensure that,in pursumg greater secunty,gov- we re-affxmour comtment to his ideals of a freepress
ernmental authonties do not impose unjustified restric- and freedom of expression The World Press Freedom
tions on freedom of expression and press freedom Pmehonoursjournalistswho,like Gudlermo Cano,have
distinguishedthemselvesby standingup for their beliefs
UNESCO is seelung to improve the current situation and the ideals of a free press
Before makmg this year’s award,Iwish us all to remem- Speech by
ber the situation of Mr U W in Tin,the winner of last Her Excehncy
year’sWorld Press Freedom Prize.Iwould like to appeal Mn.GloriaMacqagaLArryoS
to the authorities of Myanmar to allow the release of President of the R e p u b h of the Philippines
MI U W in Tin,who has been in jad since 1989 and re-
cently celebrated his 72nd birthday in detention.Com- Thank you very much Dr.Garcia.
mon humanity and justice demand nothing less than his
immediate release. First,I would like to greet and congratulate once agam
former President Fidel V Ramos,who is here not only
Ladies and Gentlemen, because he is former president of the Philippines but
because he belongs to the family of awardees of
O n the recommendation of the j q ,composed of no- UNESCO.W e rememberhun and congratulatehonce
table media professionals from all around the world,I again.forreceiving the 1997 UNESCO Peace Award.
31
have thehonour to award this year‘s prize to MI Geoffrey Congratulations,Mr.President.
Nyarota from Zimbabwe.H is courage and persistence
in denouncing the corruption and criminal activities of Director-GeneralMatsuura; Madame de Cano;Mi.
government officials in his country,despite two bomb Nyarota, our Awardee for h s year,excellencies of the
attacks against his newspaper,are an example to jour- diplomatic corps;Mrs. Soliven and Mrs. Elizalde; the
nalists throughoutthe world.H e has been arrested and journalistsand delegates of UNESCOWorld PressFree-
detained,he has repeatedly received death threats and dom D a y International Conference on Terrorism and
fourlibel suits are pendmg against him. the Media.The commissioners and officers of the
UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines;
However,he has never ceased to denouncebad practice, distinpshed guests;ladies and gentlemen:
crime and corruption.The Dazb News,the newspaper
founded by Mr.Nyarota on 31st March 1999,has not Thank you for this opportunity to be with your distin-
missed a single issue sinceit began to be published and guished group.
is now Zimbabwe’sbiggest-sellingnewspaper.
Iwelcome the fact thatw e are here together celebrating
O n behalf of UNESCO as well as in my own name,I World Press Freedom Day III the Philippines.The Phil-
would like to congratulate the prize winner for this great ippines is honored to have been chosen by UNESCO
distinction.His courage and persistence are an example to host tfus year’s celebrahon.And as both Mr Matsuura
to us all.The World Press Freedom Prize 2002consists and MI Nymta sad,our country has earned the repu-
of a cheque for US$25,000,of which US$ 12,500 is takon of being one of the not-so-manyhavens of press
p e n by the Can0 Foundation. freedom in the world today.W i
th all hdity, I never-
theless clam on behalf of our country that this IS awell-
Please accept my sincere congratulations. deserved reputation for press freedom.

Today we celebrate good journalism,which means we

celebrate the responsible exercise of press freedom.W e
celebrate principled disagreement, enlightened debate,
productive controversy.W e celebrate the light hats h e s
through events and mirrors them in the fLtlnament of
truth.

In the Philippines today there is avowedly a growing in-

terest in the media aboutplayingup the good news.This
seems to go agamst the tradition of reporbngthe seedy
part of the day.In the Philippines,we are known not
only for our free press but for having a licentiouspress.
But in the Philippines,speaking for the government,we
would ratherhave a licentiouspress than a bridled press,
that is our policy.Nonetheless,I am glad to know that
there are reformists within the press, and I hope that
this celebration of World Press Freedom Day w i
ll in-
spire the reformists to demonstratethat press freedom
can also mean the freedom to report good news.As a
 public servant,and therefore the subject of press re-
ports,Ireallyappreciatethe good news.Good news about
personalheroism,suchas the heroes thatw e in facthonor
today,values,human worth and community triumphs.
Sometimes we tend to gloss over these things,even if
they are the real stuff of nationhood.
I see no reason,for instance,why press freedom should
not mean that a good provincial story makes page one,
or a good metro report lands on premium space.I be-
lieve that press freedom means that the press is free
enough to give creditto a small-townmayor who helped
the rmlitary and the police recover a terroristhostage or
132 a hometown entrepreneur who develops a 15,000-peso
core shelter for calamity victims.Press freedom should
mean also gving credit to the people because the people
deserve a break.
But by all means,press freedom should mean letting the
media take down the spottywoodwork God knowsthere
are many underperformingpublic servants and there are
many lousy programs,but press freedom should mean
letting the battle focus on issues,on policy,on pmci-
ples.
Our societies need relief from personal attacks so that
the the issueswdl surface in a clear light.Press freedom
means gettingto the heart of acontroversialpolicy.Press
freedom means doing it with fervorand a genuine pen-
chant for chronology and detad.Indeed,,donethis way
as our awardees have demonstrated,press freedom is
one of the cornerstones of policy.
Inthe world press,Mmdanao has become amedia focus
of the globalwar a p s t terrorism,especially now with
the participation of American forces in trhing exer-
cises.I believe this attention is as it should be because
w e must defeat terrorism not only with force but w ith
enlightment.
But there is a deeper reasonwhy the press must be deeply
involved in the fight a p s t terror.It is accepted that
terronsm is amed at an audience beyond its mediate
victims Terronsm operatesin the broad arena of public
awarenessand discourse,mouldingapsychologcal land- Fifth,supporimgbroader interfaithdialogueto promote
scape of its own Terronsm breeds fear and doubt in Christianand Muslim solidarity.Terrorists wish to insti-
the efficiency of institutions,suspicion,hatred of au- gate a religious war.Nk must instead take every oppor-
thority,and,most of all, mational bases of conflict tunity to forge religous understanding,emenism and
solidarity.
W e took this into accountearly in the day in the Philip-
pine battle a p s t terrorism.In September last year, I Sixth,improvingsupport for,and confidence in,the law
laid down a 14-pomtcounter-terrorismprogram,and
this is what I said about the press.
‘Themass media assumes a paramount role in the
overall strategy to defeat terrorism.I seek the media’s
support in the implementation of our policies and
programs,in enlightening the public of the rationale
behmd our actions,in promotingconsensusand con-
structive criticism,in depriving terrorists of the ben-
efits of glorified coverage and publicity,and,most of
all, in maintaining calm, sobnety,prudence and soli-
darity in our society.W e must bring the media into
the loop of collective action and information.”
Let m e cite a few areas where common action between
the government and the press in indcated.
First,informingthe public of the full dimensionsof the
terrorist threat, especially concerning the relationship
between physical and psychological action, and the
transnationalnature of terrorism.The public must ap-
preciate the common interest involved in such alliances
as Balktan and our trilateral agreementw ith Indonesia
and Malaysia to check the movementof terroristsalong
our common sea borders.
Second,mustering the cooperation of the public with
the executive,legislative and judicial authorities in meet-
ingterroristthreats through operationalprograms,crimi-
nal justice programs and legslative measures.For in-
stance,we now have an anti-terrorismbill pendmg in
congress that I consider urgent.
Third,strengthmg local institutions and civil society
to bolster the vigilance of ordinarycitizens in the streets
and in the countryside,which makes the big difference
in the war a p s t terror.
Fourth,enlighteningthe public about the constitutional
issues involved,because the war a p s t terrorism re-
q u e s strong measures such as the power of the com-
mander-in-chiefto call upon the armed forces to quell
violence.The natureand breadth of thesemeasuresmust
be clear in the public mind,so that the we can allay the
perception that constitutional guarantees such as the bill
of rights are being eroded or set aside in favor of mar-
tial imperatives
enforcement agencies W e need strict vigdance against
movements of suspected persons,fKearms,explosives,
raw matenals, toxic matenals and biologcal matenals.
W e have already put a money-launderinglaw rn place to
check questionnares and du-tymoney transfers
Seventh,coordinatmgpublic preparation and action in I hope that we can soon remove the scourge of terror-
the event of a catastrophic terrorist attack however re- ism.But,more than that,I hope that w e can soon have
mote this may be. tangible results in our war a p s t poverty And that the
media wil fmd our continuing struggle worth covering.
l
Eighth,enhancmg public vigilance in securing critical
mfrastructures includingpower plants,power transmis- Thank you for inviting me to celebrate Press Freedom
sion and disimbution facilities, oil and gas depots,key Day with you.Iwould like to welcome all the journalists
public works structures,vital communicatlons installa- who took part in the International Conference on Ter-
tions,public bddmgs as well as private bddtngs, and rorism and Media.I understand that you had a success-
facilitiesin the nerve centersof commerceand industry ful conference and that the agreements are very good.
You have agreed that journalistshave the rightto report
Ninth,pushingforwardthe anti-povertycampaign,w ith on terrorism and that journalists have the right to be
focus upon the perceived roots of fanaticism and irra- protected against terrorism.I hope indeed,that those
tional violence. who participated,whether they are in the media,in gov- 33
ernment,or in civil society,w
ill work togetherand also
I consistently mention poverty side by side with terror- work in their own fields to carry out and ensure that
ism because there is a need to put terrorism in a wider these resolutions are implemented.
perspective.Poverty is a form of lingering terrorism,
one that slowly kills on a dady basis,one that condemns I would also like to congratulate the recipient of this
its victims to a lifetune of pain and misery. year’s UNESCO Gdlermo Can0World Press Freedom,
This is not to say that poverty is the cause of terrorism. MK. Geoffrey Nyarota, Editor-in-Chiefof Zimbabwe
Osama Bin Laden is not a poor man.It is evil,not pov- DdyNews.H e told us of his story and as he was telling
erty,that causes terrorism.But poverty and the sense of us about how in his journalism he has been the subject
powerlessness it brings provide the f e d e ground on of so much terrorisma p s t him,his institution and his
which terrorism can more easily spread its evil ideology, colleagues.I suppose our journalists here must thank
so if we must defeat terrorism,we must defeat poverty their lucky stars that w e are a country with a very free
with equal resolve and fervor. press.

The Philippines did not need to join the war on terror-
ism.Itwas in that war already,in the southwestem part
of our islands.The Philippinescould not have done oth-
envise than renew its commitmentto fight terrorism in
a wider field in the wake of September 11.
This is a fight between tolerance and bigotry,between
reasonand fanaticism,between lawand anarchy,between
justice and murder pretending to be just.
The fact that the Abu Sayyaf bandits,who once freely
roamed the entire southwestern Philippines,have ended
up with their last stand in Basdan,the province with the
lowesthuman developmentindexinour country,reminds
us of how closely national security and economic pros-
perity are intertwined.
In this context,I welcome the call made by President
George Bush for a new compact for development de-
fined by greater accountabilityforrich and poor nations
aldie This call echoes an mitiatlve I proposed to form a
global coalition against poverty,just as we have formed
a coalition against terronsm
The developed nationsmust recogntzetheir duty to open
markets,the transfer of resources and the reform of
international institutions.These wdl all help to win the
war a p s t poverty.
I would also like to pay homage to the man after whom
the award is named,Guillermo Cano,a martyr of ter-
romm perpetrated by the syndicateswho try to spread
the evil of drugs all over the world.That is political ter-
rorism and there is also criminal terrorism.It doesn’t
matter who causes the terrorism it is the act that consti-
tutes the terrorism.We’ll remember him.When the
awards are pen, we must always remember him and
thank h m for gwing up his life forthe cause of joumal-
ism.
W e also remember Daniel Pearl because we all s a w his
martyrdom on TV Not that we saw how he was mar-
tyred but we all know how he disappeared and we all
know how he surfaced again because everything was
covered by the freepress.And w e pay homage to him as
we pay homage to Guillermo Cano.
O n this note,I would like to thank all the journalists
who are here today and all the diplomats.To thank all
the representatives of the different countries who be-
lieve in press freedom,who believe in the war a p s t
terrorism.I thank you for a ferventand lastingpartner-
ship againstterrorism and poverty and in favorof world
press freedom.
Congratulations and thank you.