DangerousAssignments

covering the global press freedom struggle

Fall | Winter 2005 www.cpj.org

Mass graves, corruption, and drugs are under-reported in Colombia. Attacked by all sides, the press censors itself …

Four Great Press Turnarounds Committee to·Protect Journalists Micah Garen’s Rescuers

CONTENTS

Dangerous Assignments Fall|Winter 2005

Committee to Protect Journalists AS IT HAPPENED Executive Director: Ann Cooper The top press freedom stories...... 2 Deputy Director: Joel Simon IN FOCUS By Leigh Newman Dangerous Assignments A Kashmir battle injures eight journalists ...... 3 Editorial Director: Bill Sweeney Senior Editor: Robert Mahoney COMMENTARY By Ann Cooper Contributing Editor: Leigh Newman U.S. quietly imprisons journalists in Iraq ...... 4 Designer: Virginia Anstett Printer: Photo Arts Limited FIRST PERSON By Galima Bukharbaeva An Uzbek reporter witnesses a slaughter ...... 6 Committee to Protect Journalists Board of Directors FEATURES Honorary Co-Chairmen: Walter Cronkite COVER STORY Terry Anderson Untold Stories By Chip Mitchell Chairman: Paul E. Steiger Gustavo Santiago knew he couldn’t fully report a politician’s slaying. It would have cost him his own life. The killing is among Andrew Alexander, Franz Allina, Christiane Amanpour, Dean Baquet, many untold stories in Colombia. Besieged by all sides in a Tom Brokaw, Josh Friedman, Anne deadly civil war, the press is muzzling itself ...... 8 Garrels, James C. Goodale, Cheryl Gould, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Gwen Murderers Go Free By Nina Ognianova Ifill, Steven L. Isenberg, Jane Kramer, David Lavanthol, Anthony Lewis, No one except police thought reporter Natalya Skryl died in a David Marash, Kati Marton, Michael robbery. The case has followed standard Russian procedure: Massing, Geraldine Fabrikant Metz, no arrests, many questions ...... 16 Victor Navasky, Andres Oppenheimer, Burl Osborne, Charles L. Overby, PLUS: Moscow Q&A with David Marash...... 19 Clarence Page, Norman Pearlstine, Erwin Potts, Dan Rather, Gene Roberts, About Face By Leigh Newman Sandra Mims Rowe, John Seigenthaler, Paul C. Tash, and Mark Whitaker CPJ recounts the four great press turnarounds of the past quarter century. In Argentina, Nigeria, Poland, and Indonesia, Published by the Committee to courage and commitment paid off...... 20 Protect Journalists, 330 Seventh Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, N.Y. A Hostage’s Ordeal By Maya Taal 10001; (212) 465-1004; [email protected]. Micah Garen thought his Iraqi captors would behead him. In a

Find CPJ online at www.cpj.org. new book, he tells how journalists helped win his release ...... 24

Zimbabwe’s Exiled Press By Elisabeth Witchel Dozens of the nation’s best journalists have been forced to flee their homeland. Now, they fight to keep their careers alive ...... 26

CPJ REMEMBERS By Kamel Labidi A “Prince of the Pen” is silenced ...... 31 DISPATCHES By Michael Marizco A slugging reporter vanishes in Mexico ...... 32 RADIO WAVES By Alexis Arieff Freedom delayed may be freedom denied ...... 34

On the cover: A cameraman runs CORRESPONDENTS By Martha Wexler for cover during fighting between A Russian reporter is trapped in his hometown...... 36 government troops and guerrillas with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of UPDATE By Shawn W. Crispin Colombia in rural southern Cauca. In Aceh, the press is reborn after the tsunami ...... 38 Photo: AP/J. George KICKER By Mick Stern ...... 40

Dangerous Assignments 1 AS IT HAPPENED IN FOCUS

A look at recent red-letter cases from the CPJ files…

June independent news agency Havana October Press, for covering a meeting of oppo- sition activists. He joins 24 other 2 Samir Qassir, columnist for the daily 4 CPJ condemns Thai Prime Minister Al-Nahar, is killed outside his Beirut Cuban journalists behind bars. Thaksin Shinawatra’s latest attack on home by a bomb planted in his car. the press: criminal defamation com- 24 Tunisia bars the Tunisian Journal- Mass demonstrations (below) follow. ists Syndicate from holding its first plaints against two talk show hosts. (Story, page 31.) national congress. The move comes as Thaksin’s government and affiliated Tunisia prepares to host a UN-spon- business interests have filed several sored summit on Internet expression. such cases. I l o o b q a

September M q i As They Said f a R / i P d i The U.S. military fails in investi- A a 14 S “Imagine what would have hap- l a gating the killing of journalists by its m

a pened if during the 1980s an J /

s forces in Iraq, CPJ says in a new analy- r

e American communications com- t u

e sis. In 13 fatalities, the military did not R pany had provided information address questions of accountability; that allowed the South African 26 Corruption, easy access to guns, and did not make its inquiries public; or government to track down and an unresponsive justice system threat- simply failed to investigate at all. en the Philippine press, CPJ finds after imprison an anti-apartheid a weeklong mission. CPJ later issues a 15 After deadly attacks against jour- activist. That is pretty much report saying rural radio commentators nalists in Mexico’s northern states, the moral equivalent of what have been killed in record numbers. President Vicente Fox (below) says he Yahoo has just done in China in n will seek a special prosecutor to inves- the case of journalist Shi Tao.” i s a l Y o o tigate crimes against free expression. —Max Boot, Council on Foreign r a b q July D a /

Relations, in the Los Angeles Times. P Fox’s pledge comes in a meeting at CPJ M A q i f

headquarters. (Related story, page 32.) Yahoo provided China with infor- a In its first mission to Saudi Arabia, R 3-18 / P

mation about Shi, who was sen- A CPJ finds that the government inter- tenced to 10 years in prison for feres in newspaper operations and top Srinagar, India f

f e-mailing “state secrets.” e

Saudi editors shy away from sensitive r e d n

topics. (Kicker, page 40.) o “We’re just asking for due B e

n process and some answers, a i

6 A U.S. judge jails New York Times D /

P which so far the military has acing to cover an explosion in eramen from India TV and Zee TV, civilians were injured. reporter Judith Miller (below) for refus- A refused to provide.” Kashmir, eight journalists were were immediately wounded. Another Al-Mansurian and the Pakistan- ing to reveal a confidential source to a 16 CPJ demands that Eritrea, the —CBS News President Andrew Rwounded by gunmen. cameraman was later hit in the hand. based Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen claimed grand jury investigating the leak of a worst jailer of journalists in Africa, Heyward, in Huffington Post, Around 5 p.m. on Friday, July 25, Security forces returned fire and the responsibility for the attack. Indian CIA operative’s identity. account for 15 journalists held incom- about the case of a CBS camera- two Islamic gunmen targeted the cen- gunmen split up, each on one side of forces and militant groups accused municado, some in secret prisons, man detained by U.S. forces in tral Lal Chowk district of the capital, the busy Maulan Azad Road. In the each other of targeting the journal- since September 2001. Iraq for several months. through which government officials ensuing gunfire (bottom left), four ists. Journalists at the scene said the i r

a frequently travel. One attacker fired more journalists were wounded, wounded were probably caught in the b 20 A Chinese court sentences Zheng n “That is our own affair, a sover- a

h on a bunker in a nearby Indian para- including Sahara India TV camera- crossfire. G Yichun to seven years in prison for eign issue. It is up to us what, z a

r military camp. The other hurled a man Muzaffar Ahmad Bhat, who was Since 1989, more than a dozen

a “inciting subversion.” Zheng is the

H why, when, and where we do /

P grenade and fired at a Border Security hit in the stomach and carried out by Islamic groups have been fighting for A third Internet journalist sentenced to things.” Force vehicle (top photo), turning it his colleagues (bottom right). control of Indian-administered Kashmir. jail this year in China. —Eritrean Information Minister August into a “slow moving ball of fire and The fighting continued for more More than 44,000 people have died in Ali Abdu, to Agence France-Presse, 25 May Chidiac, a Lebanese TV news smoke,” Indian Express reporter Muza- than 24 hours until both gunmen were the conflict, including 11 journalists in response to a CPJ report on the 6 Cuba jails Albert Santiago Du anchor and critic of Syria, is seriously mil Jaleel said. killed. Two security officers were killed on duty. detention of 15 journalists. I Bouchet Hernández, director of the wounded when her car explodes. Three journalists, including cam- killed, and at least 25 officers and —Leigh Newman

2 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 3 COMMENTARY

But the record of detained journalists A military spokesman said “inconsis- instead displayed a pattern of disre- is plain: In each case documented by tencies in his story” warranted further gard when confronted with issues CPJ over the past two years, journal- questioning. After a public outcry, involving the security of Iraqi journal- ists detained on security suspicions Kadhem was freed three days later. ists and citizens. were released without charge. These detentions inhibit front-line In June, CPJ and Human Rights Jailing Iraqi Journalists Another August detention, although journalists from covering a conflict Watch wrote to Defense Secretary not as long as others, highlights the that is already exceptionally danger- Donald Rumsfeld to urge the Penta- secretive and arbitrary nature of the ous. CPJ research shows that 56 jour- gon to adopt basic safety procedures The Pentagon is silent as U.S. military imprisons local journalists. process. Reuters cameraman Haidar nalists and 22 media support workers at military checkpoints. The recom- Kadhem was detained by U.S. troops were killed between March 2003, mendations were basic: Install signs, on August 28, moments after his car when hostilities began, and Septem- speed bumps, lights. In fact, they had By Ann Cooper came under U.S. fire in Baghdad’s Hay ber 2005. A large majority are Iraqis. been made by military investigators al-Adil neighborhood. A colleague rid- The cases also reflect the wider themselves in the aftermath of a fatal ing in the same car, soundman Walid issue of detentions in Iraq. Thousands shooting of an Italian intelligence Khaled, was killed in the gunfire, Iraqi of Iraqi citizens have been detained agent and the wounding of an Italian police reported. Reuters said its news by U.S. forces, many for weeks or reporter in March. Secretary Rumsfeld uch has been said about Press, and Agence France-Presse, bureau had dispatched Kadhem and months at a time without charge. The did not respond, and checkpoints what is and is not being among others. Khaled to the neighborhood after a handling of these cases reflects on the remained unnecessarily dangerous. Mreported in Iraq, but At least three documented police source reported a skirmish leadership of the U.S. military and is By being unresponsive, the Penta- one thing is clear: Local, front- detentions exceeded 100 days; involving police and gunmen. bound to resonate among Iraqis for gon gives every impression that it line journalists are not only risk- the others have spanned many A U.S. military spokesman said many years to come. sees no need to be accountable. That’s ing their lives, they are risking weeks. CPJ has received reports Kadhem was detained by U.S. troops Responsiveness and accountability not a good lesson to pass on to the cit- imprisonment for their work. of numerous other detentions and taken to an undisclosed location. are antidotes. But the Pentagon has izens of an emerging democracy. I Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mash- that, because of the secrecy of hadani, a 36-year-old freelance the proceedings, it has been cameraman and photographer unable to confirm. Iraq’s Death Toll who worked for the Reuters Most of the confirmed detainees are Iraqis—local jour- news agency in Ramadi, was Here is a breakdown of journalists killed between March 2003, when hostilities began, nalists covering the conflict in taken from his home on August and September 2005, as compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. 8 during a general sweep of his their own country. These jour- neighborhood by U.S. Marines. nalists are vulnerable because His family says the Marines they are most frequently in the By Year: By Job: were suspicious of photos he field reporting from places Total: 56 • 2005: 18 • Photojournalists: 20 (Includes deemed too dangerous for stored in his cameras. He was • 2004: 24 still photographers and camera sent to Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib Western reporters. They are • 2003: 14 operators.) prison, held without charge, and often the first on the scene to • Reporters and editors: 27 n e denied access to his family and e report on clashes or insurgent By Gender: • Producers: 6 m

A • Men: 51 • Technicians: 3

d attacks. In at least five cases

a lawyer. e

m • Women: 5

m documented by CPJ, the

U.S. officials refused requests a

h Earlier conflicts: o detainees were photojournalists from Reuters to discuss his case, M

/ By Circumstance: Journalists killed in major s r e and they provided no explana- t who initially drew the military’s • Insurgent action: 33 (Includes conflicts since CPJ was founded u e tion or evidence supporting his R attention because of what they crossfire, suicide bombings, in 1981. and targeted killings.) • Algeria (1993-96): 58 detention. In September, a secret Reuters cameraman Haidar Kadhem was wounded by had filmed or photographed. • U.S. fire: 13 • Colombia (1986-present): 52 tribunal ordered al-Mashhadani U.S. forces in an August shooting that killed col- Despite repeated inquiries league Walid Khaled. U.S. forces then detained Kad- • Iraqi armed forces, during U.S. • Balkans (1991-95): 36 held for up to six months before hem without substantive explanation. over many months, the U.S. mil- invasion: 3 • Philippines (1983-87): 36 the case would be reviewed. itary has refused to provide evi- • Crossfire or other acts of war in • Turkey (1984-99): 22 Open-ended and unsubstantiated mented seven cases in 2005 alone in dence to support these detentions. which source unconfirmed: 7 • Tajikistan (1992-96): 16 • Sierra Leone (1997-2000): 15 detentions of journalists in Iraq have which reporters, photographers, and Instead, military officials have made • Afghanistan (2001-04): 9 camera operators were detained by vague and unsubstantiated assertions undermined the ability of the press • Somalia (1993-95): 9 to report on the conflict. The Commit- U.S. forces for prolonged periods with- that these Iraqi journalists may pose • Kosovo (1999-2001): 7 tee to Protect Journalists has docu- out charge or the disclosure of any “security risks.” • First Iraq war (1991): 4 supporting evidence. These deten- There is no doubt the U.S. military Ann Cooper is executive director of tions have involved journalists work- has an urgent need to ensure security, the Committee to Protect Journalists. ing for CBS News, The Associated and journalists are not above scrutiny.

4 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 5 FIRST PERSON

had rushed to Andijan from my Uzbek soldiers take position outside Ihome in Tashkent on Friday morn- the administration building in Andijan ing after news that armed men had on May 13. Hundreds died when attacked government buildings and soldiers opened fire on protesters. stormed a prison to free 23 local busi- Witness to a Massacre nessmen on trial for allegedly forming an Islamic resistance group. Thou- sands of unarmed civilians poured An Uzbek reporter risked her life to tell the world into the streets after the uprising, protesting freely for the first time of Andijan assault. against repression, poverty, and unemployment. Political trials are By Galima Bukharbaeva nothing new in Uzbekistan. The accused businessmen, however, were well-educated, influential, and organ- ized. They denied belonging to any Galima Bukharbaeva was interviewing Islamic group. demonstrators in the eastern Uzbek Up to 5,000 supporters had gath- town of Andijan when President Islam ered outside the court in the final Karimov’s troops rolled into Bobur days of the trial and the authorities Square and opened fire. She had a nar- were nervous. They began arresting row escape when a bullet tore through demonstrators outside the court- y k s her backpack, punching a hole in her t

house on May 12 and confiscating a k u notebook and press card. Her eyewit- their cars. This, according to Sharif L m e r ness reporting of the crackdown in Shakirov, whose two brothers were f E / P

which hundreds of civilians were shot among the 23 men on trial, provoked A dead informed the world and angered n the armed uprising the following day. r e n t r S the authorities. Fearing prison, she frustration with President Karimov’s me, soldiers finished off the e

The rebels stormed the jail and freed t k S c i k c M

fled Uzbekistan and is enrolled in the prisoners, but Shakirov would authoritarian rule and economic mis- wounded lying in the blood- i / J M P / J C

Columbia University’s Graduate School never celebrate his brothers’ release. management. The protests were washed square. Opposition P C of Journalism in New York. She is one Galima Bukharbaeva fled to New York He was killed in the attacks. peaceful. Parents brought their chil- and human rights groups say of CPJ’s 2005 International Press Free- after her coverage of the Andijan crisis By early Friday morning the rebels dren to see the unprecedented specta- up to 1,000 people were killed in angered Uzbek authorities. dom Award recipients. had taken a local government building cle. The rebels expected that the army Bobur Square and a nearby border but always from a safe distance. Here, on Bobur Square and barricaded them- would move against them to retake town the next day. Karimov says t was only after I had stopped run- I was among a handful of local selves inside. A few residents ven- the buildings, but the crowd had no some 30 Uzbek soldiers and 137 ning that I realized I could have reporters in the square who had to tured out to watch the standoff. As inkling of its fate. other people were killed. Ibeen one of the men, women, and dive for cover from a hail of bullets Neither I nor the other five the day wore on they were joined by children falling around me. I reached that came without warning. thousands more who vented their rom nowhere, a column of eight- reporters and one photographer in for my backpack to take out my note- Fwheeled armored personnel carri- Andijan that day could stay to count book only to find that a bullet from an ers surged onto the avenue alongside the casualties. Like many others much A bullet pierced Galima Bukharbaeva’s AK-47 rifle had torn through it, punch- the square. Atop each vehicle special worse off than me, I became a refugee. notebook and press card as she sought ing a neat hole in the face of Che Gue- forces soldiers in black flak jackets sat The prosecutor in Tashkent has cover during the government’s assault vara on the cover. My press card from in a circle, their weapons pointing out. opened a case against me for working on Andijan. the Institute for War & Peace Report- Without warning, the soldiers as a journalist without proper accred- ing was also shot through. opened fire into the crowd. Bodies fell itation. It would be dangerous for me had fled. Many of them recognized us It was just after 5:20 p.m. on Fri- like mown hay, row upon row. People in to return while the present govern- from Bobur Square and began weep- day, May 13. Minutes before, I had been the center of the square ran in all direc- ment is in power. The authorities will ing and shouting: “They’re alive.” moving through the 10,000-strong tions, but soldiers had blocked off side want revenge for my reporting and A beautiful young girl, Nailya, crowd, listening to the speeches and streets. A helicopter clattered overhead, testimony to the U.S. Congress about turned to me with tear-filled eyes and laughter of people exhilarated by their pointing out those trying to escape to the Andijan killings. asked: “Do you think we will ever go sudden defiance of years of Soviet- the troops below. I don’t know how I After slipping out of Uzbekistan, I back home?” n r e t

style oppression. Now I was shaking S escaped. I just ran. “They think we are went with my colleagues to a refugee I held her gaze and said: “Of k c with an animal fear. I had covered i just dirt,” a woman cried to me. camp in neighboring Kyrgyzstan to course, we will go back.” But I could M / J P

fighting once before in Afghanistan C That night, witnesses later told which some 500 Andijan residents not say when. I

6 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 7 COVER STORY In this case, news outlets feared reprisals not only from And the self-censorship has international dimensions. Murillo, who insists he had nothing to do with the assassi- The Uribe administration, for example, is pushing for U.S. nation, but from President Alvaro Uribe’s government, and European funding of a $130 million plan to reintegrate which had suspended arrest warrants for the warlord as the demobilized paramilitaries into society. But foreign tax- part of negotiations to demobilize paramilitaries. The talks payers can hardly judge whether the plan might bring had dragged on for more than two years, lately in a para- peace if the press doesn’t dare investigate drug trafficking Untold military haven the government set up just a few miles from by paramilitaries or their civilian attacks. the murder. Naming Murillo as the suspect would have “We’re talking about serial massacres—extremely cruel focused attention on violations of a “ceasefire” the paramil- deaths with torture,” notes reporter Beatriz Diegó Solano of itaries declared for the talks. And it would have fueled El Universal, a daily newspaper that curtailed its investiga- Stories international criticism of Uribe-backed legislation awarding judicial leniency to paramilitaries who disarm. Two weeks after the assassination, Threatened by all sides, Colombia’s news authorities finally broke the silence, media muzzle themselves. announcing a fresh arrest warrant for Murillo. Even then, few news outlets explored the paramilitary chief’s alleged By Chip Mitchell role in any depth. One fear, Santiago notes, was that journalists would end up having to testify against him. Such hands-off treatment is perva- MONTERIA, Colombia sive in Colombia, a Committee to Pro- he main suspect in Orlando Benítez’s murder was tect Journalists investigation has never in doubt. Benítez, a lawmaker here in the found. Interviews with three dozen Tnorthwestern province of Córdoba, was preparing to news professionals show that media

run for mayor of a municipality controlled for years by outlets and journalists across the s e d i v

Diego Murillo Bejarano, a paramilitary chief known as “Don country routinely censor themselves a n e Berna.” Murillo, once a close associate of drug lord Pablo in fear of physical retaliation from all B s i u L

Escobar, hadn’t given the campaign his blessing. sides in the nation’s conflict. / P The local and national press reported briefly on a police At least 30 Colombian journalists A Hundreds of paramilitary fighters from a faction called "Heroes of Granada" gather announcement of the hit, in which five men gunned down have been murdered over the past for a demobilization ceremony in Cristales in August. Benítez, his sister, and his driver on April 10. But the press decade for their work. “We love our pro- didn’t mention Murillo or subject the triple murder to any fession, but we’re human,” says Carmen Rosa Pabón, news tion of scores of unmarked graves discovered near Sincelejo significant investigation. “No journalist tried to check into director of Voz de Cinaruco, the Caracol Radio affiliate in the this year. “Do you think these people are going to become what everyone suspected,” says Gustavo Santiago, news northeastern city of Arauca. “Threats and killings make us corn farmers? They’re psychopaths.” director of the Caracol Radio affiliate in Montería, the afraid. To survive, we have to limit ourselves.” provincial capital. “It could have cost you your life.” On some occasions, verified news is suppressed shortly olombia’s main guerrilla groups—the Revolutionary It takes mettle to be a journalist in this Andean nation before broadcast or publication. In other cases, probing jour- CArmed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller riven for decades by a war that pits government and para- nalists are killed, detained, or forced to flee. More often, National Liberation Army (ELN)—formed in the mid-1960s, military forces against leftist guerrillas, by international investigations never even get started. The issues short- calling for socialism on behalf of the country’s impover- syndicates that enable Colombia to supply most of the changed are human rights abuses, armed conflict, political ished majority. But the guerrillas have earned a reputation world’s cocaine and much of its heroin, and by an array of corruption, drug trafficking, and links from officials to illegal for abusing human rights through tactics such as extortion, underworld organizations that control contraband, extort armed groups. Journalists end up focusing instead on “pleas- kidnapping, and assassination. And the FARC, now more z

from businesses, and manipulate public officials. e ant topics like fauna and flora,” says Angel María León, news than 15,000 strong, has generated much of its revenue r é P

o chief of Arauca’s RCN Radio affiliate. from “taxing” peasants who cultivate coca, the raw material g a i t

Chip Mitchell is a radio and print journalist based in Bogotá. n Communities pay a high price. “Any region without for cocaine. a S Frank Smyth of the Committee to Protect Journalists con- investigative journalism is going to have impunity,” says In the early 1980s, ranchers, military officers, drug traf- Reporters in northwestern Sucre interview a paramilitary chief Jaime Vides Feria of Radio Caracolí in Sincelejo, a provincial fickers, and businessmen began forming regional private tributed to this story from the southwestern province of Valle known as Ernesto Báez. Paramilitaries are demobilizing, but del Cauca. journalists say threats continue. capital near the Caribbean coast. armies to ward off the guerrillas. But the paramilitaries,

8 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 9 dubbed “self-defense forces,” have focused largely on two other journalists on an 11-day journey to a secret unarmed social movements. Often working closely with southern camp where the FARC was holding scores of cap- government forces, they’ve murdered thousands of peas- tured soldiers and police. The video footage formed the ant leaders, trade unionists, politicians, human rights advo- basis of a 43-minute documentary substantiating claims cates, and other civilians accused of supporting the guer- by relatives that the government had virtually forgotten rillas. And they’ve played a leading role in turning narcotics about the captives. Botero called it “the most anticipated into Colombia’s largest export sector. story of my career.” Since the Uribe government began negotiating with them But a letter from the government’s National Television in 2002, the paramilitaries have ostensibly demobilized Commission urged Caracol to scrap the work, claiming it units totaling more than 8,500 of their 20,000 fighters. At the would “seriously hurt the feelings of large segments of televi- same time, however, they’ve expanded and entrenched illicit sion viewers, such as children,” and that “this sort of broad- operations ranging from extortion to drug running to gaso- cast could turn out to be counterproductive” for peace efforts. line smuggling. They now hold sway over city halls, provin- The documentary never aired. A statement from Caracol cial governments, and federal agencies across the country. President Ricardo Alarcón acknowledged the letter but said They boast of controlling a third of Congress. the network made the decision on its own, already “having The FARC, meanwhile, remains potent. “Here we have divulged many of the images in our news.” o t n e found a terrorism reigning for decades, a terrorism hidden Another way officials encourage self-censorship is by i m r a in our large cities and in more than 300,000 [square] kilo- accusing journalists of guerrilla ties. In Saravena, a town in S A photographer traveling with the Army’s 18th Brigade trains his camera on soldiers loading the bodies of alleged paramili- o l i

n tary fighters in the northeastern province of Arauca.

meters of jungle, a terrorism financed by drug trafficking,” Arauca Province, soldiers of an Army battalion called the a D Uribe said in a 2003 speech. “Nowhere in the world in my Revéiz Pizarro Mechanized Group entered community radio generation has it been necessary to confront a terrorism station Sarare Estéreo on August 21, 2003, and arrested the decrees restricting people’s movement, but also on sports, trying to link journalists to guerrillas. In February, Vice more powerful, rich, aggressive, and dangerous than what town’s only full-time journalist, Emiro Goyeneche. He was cultural events, and daily life,” says Goyeneche, who fre- President Francisco Santos chastised reporting that ques- we’ve confronted in Colombia. And how are we confronting one of 19 people in the province swept up that day, charged quently shot video for Caracol TV on top of his radio work. tioned the country’s security policies following an upsurge it? With the hand of the Constitution. We’re confronting it with “rebellion” and accused by the attorney general’s office “We were always respectful toward the rule of law and the in deadly FARC bombings against government forces. The without trimming press freedom.” of being an ELN member. bounds of democracy.” media, he said, had created “a sounding board for terrorist While the Colombian government exerts little formal The mass detention came as part of government efforts Reporters in the Arauca capital praise Goyeneche’s work actions that, without a doubt, was more effective than the control over news content, officials sometimes persuade to increase security along an oil pipeline run by Los Angeles- and call the charge against him specious. But he ended up use itself of the explosives.” media outlets to censor themselves. In 2000, Caracol’s tel- based Occidental Petroleum. “We had been reporting on in prison for more than 20 months. The jailing wiped out Jorge Otero Martínez, founder of the Montería weekly evision network sent reporter Jorge Enrique Botero and [guerrilla bombings], attacks on government forces, and Sarare Estéreo’s news programming, a blow to a town with newspaper Cuarta Opinión, says such statements accom- no newspapers and no other radio station except one run by the battalion. While the Colombian government In Their Words Station Manager Mireya Camacho and her small staff have struggled to resume the news amid repeated confronta- exerts little formal control over tions with the Army. At one point last year, the battalion The Committee to Protect Journalists interviewed three dozen journalists around the country. threatened to close the station for broadcasting a commu- news content, officials sometimes Here is a sample of topics they said they’d investigate if not for fear of reprisals. nity meeting about the killing of three local trade unionists persuade media outlets to censor “In Sucre, many people have dis- deaths. We’d look into all the facts “One thing you don’t want to “I’d like to report on the topic of by soldiers. “There’s self-censorship,” she says. “We can’t air appeared in recent years, not if it didn’t mean getting killed.” touch is drug trafficking. Even hostages held by the guerrillas statements from legally constituted social organizations themselves. only at the hands of paramilitary Javier Sepúlveda Ramírez more risky is corruption. The and the impossibility of a about human rights because military forces immediately groups but also guerrilla groups. Kapital Radio drug traffickers at least work, humanitarian exchange [for arrive to question us.” plish ends similar to formal censorship. “A journalist’s duty To start investigating would be Arauca, Arauca but a handful of people inside guerrillas held by the govern- Interviewed in May, battalion commander Col. Luis is to give the news, to be a witness to our times,” he notes. very delicate as far as security the government don’t.” ment] or some sort of negotia- goes.” “I would be investigating the links Alfredo Martín Rodríguez tion so these people, for God’s Francisco Medina Corredor said many of those organiza- “If they attack the [Army’s] 11th Brigade, do we have to keep Jorge Velásquez Crespo from politicians to the paramili- La Jota Estéreo sake, could return to their tions—he named the town’s teachers union and its most our mouths shut because the national government says it Caracol Radio taries and guerrillas, and the Tuluá, Valle del Cauca homes. I’d like to know what’s prominent human rights group—take orders from the ELN. never happened?” Sincelejo, Sucre money laundering by certain indi- the blindness of both the gov- But he insisted his relations with Sarare Estéreo were fine: Uribe, speaking at a March conference of news executives, viduals and these same groups.” “There are a lot of misgivings ernment and the guerrillas that “I don’t know what the fear is about.” The colonel said urged media outlets to exercise “self-control” and consider “One topic to investigate would Jorge Eliécer Quintero about investigating the big cor- could eternalize suffering of be corruption of, for example, the Cuéllar porations. I don’t think they’re such magnitude.” Goyeneche, released in April and still awaiting a ruling on the barring the publication of interviews with members of illegal [oil] royalties that were robbed in Diario de Huila bullies, but they can hurt you Jorge Otero Martínez charge, is free to work at the station “as long as he doesn’t armed groups. “The terrorists maintain a very dangerous Arauca for years. Another would Florencia, Caquetá professionally.” Cuarta Opinión get involved with terrorist groups.” political game,” he said. “One day they kill and the next be all the province’s unexplained Carlos Eduardo Huertas Montería, Córdoba Far-flung military commanders aren’t the only officials they want to be news personalities.” Semana Bogotá

10 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 11 In a June 27 radio interview, Uribe admonished one government appealed that ruling. In August, almost 14 The Hands that Feed journalist in particular. He said Hollman Morris, a Colombian years after the killing, the president of a national panel of television reporter who has written critically about the administrative judges known as the State Council said the administration’s security policies, had traveled to the case’s evidence files, weighing more than 100 pounds, had olombia may be unique in the extent to which its and, on another station, negative. There’s no balance. southern province of Putumayo based on advance knowl- “disappeared” and would have to be reconstructed. The press censors itself in fear of physical reprisals. There’s no objectivity.” edge of June 25 FARC attacks that killed 25 government family won’t be receiving the reparation any time soon. CPowerful economic factors, though hardly excep- Some media bosses exact payments for coverage, mak- troops there. The allegation turned out to be false: Morris, Last year the Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Free- tional, add yet more pressure. ing it impossible for their news staff to report objectively. who was working on a BBC documentary, arrived after the dom (FLIP) examined 157 attacks on journalists reported to Bogotá-based Grupo Empresarial Bavaria was “The owner calls up the governor or mayor and says, clashes. The president’s office retracted the claim, but authorities in recent years. A court had ruled whether a accused last year of paying a $2 million bribe to a for- ‘Give me a million pesos [US$435] and we’ll keep work- Morris says he had to cut his Putumayo visit short in fear defendant was guilty in only two of the cases. In one—the mer Peruvian intelligence chief to clear the way for the ing together,’” explains Kapital Radio’s Javier Sepúlveda of retaliation. 2002 murder of newspaper reporter Orlando Sierra—the company’s purchase of Peru’s sole beer brewer. Peruvian Ramírez of the northeastern province of Arauca. authorities are investigating the accusations, which The pressure is similar when the owners them- he number of attacks on Colombian journalists has Bavaria denied. “It was an international scandal, and it selves are immersed in politics. Many news outlets are Tdeclined in recent years, but the country remains one was Colombia’s biggest conglomerate,” Semana’s Carlos the property of current or former governors, mayors, or of the world’s most hazardous places to report news. This Eduardo Huertas notes. “There was a lot of red meat.” members of Congress. Other outlets, even major net- year, at least one journalist has been murdered for his But Colombian media outlets didn’t launch their work affiliates, are owned by the Roman Catholic work, several others have survived attempts on their lives, own probes. Instead, they briefly recapped what the Church, which takes stands on public issues and holds and dozens have reported receiving threats. Peruvian press had revealed and provided platforms government education contracts. “It’s impossible to The slain journalist, Julio Hernando Palacios Sánchez of for Bavaria to assert innocence. The tame coverage fight with the owner,” notes Jaime Vides Feria, a radio the northeastern city of Cúcuta, hosted a Radio Lemas pro- avoided trouble with one of the country’s biggest reporter in the northwestern city of Sincelejo. gram that regularly focused on local corruption. Two advertisers—a company that controlled Colombia’s The family that owns El Tiempo, the country’s unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire as he drove beer market and trailed few in the production and dis- largest newspaper, includes Vice President Francisco to work January 11. a r

tribution of bottled water, juices, malt beverages, and Santos, who was editor-in-chief throughout the 1990s, Six explosions this year have damaged news facilities. a g r e soft drinks. Bavaria, since purchased by SABMiller, and his cousin, former Finance Minister Juan Manuel The worst was a February 20 car bombing that destroyed V o d n

filed defamation suits against the Peruvian journalists Santos. The paper’s editorials have supported President the building housing the RCN radio and television stations a n r e F

who broke the story. Alvaro Uribe’s military and economic policies and a con- in the southwestern city of Cali. The FARC claimed respon- / P Outside Colombia’s largest cities, the lion’s share of stitutional amendment that, if approved by the nation’s sibility four days later. A media revenue comes not from corporations but from highest court, will allow him to seek a second four-year On May 16, funeral wreaths were delivered to the offices President Alvaro Uribe waves during a military parade in Bogota. He is joined by Armed Forces Commander Gen. Alberto provincial and municipal agencies, which advertise term next year. Co-publisher Enrique Santos, another of three nationally known journalists whose work often cast Ospina, center, and Navy Commander Adm. Mauricio Soto. everything from aqueduct maintenance schedules to cousin of the vice president, insists the newspaper’s negative light on the Uribe administration. The wreaths health and educational programs. In the southern editorial stance will have no impact on its campaign came with cards inviting the journalists to their own burials. killer received a lengthy prison sentence, but those who province of Caquetá, Diario de Huila’s Jorge Eliécer reporting. “It’s not going to influence the balance at all,” One of the three, Daniel Coronell, also received e-mail mes- ordered the hit hadn’t been investigated. In the other—the Quintero Cuéllar recalls what happened this year after he said in an August 29 radio interview. sages threatening the life of his 6-year-old daughter. Coronell, 1999 murder of political satirist Jaime Garzón—the con- he wrote two unflattering reports about Gov. Juan Carlos Some observers aren’t convinced. “If the people who who directs a news show on the TV network Canal Uno and victed mastermind, paramilitary chief Carlos Castaño, went Claros Pinzón: “The governor himself called our office sign the paychecks think one way,” says Semana colum- writes a column for the weekly magazine Semana, tracked missing on April 16, 2004. and canceled the [province’s] contracts with us.” Quin- nist Daniel Coronell, “it definitely reduces a journalist’s the messages to a computer in the Bogotá mansion of for- Some lawmakers and human rights advocates have tero Cuéllar says the ad withdrawal didn’t dampen his spirit to report any story to the contrary.” mer Congressman Carlos Náder Simmonds, a close friend of blamed such impunity on paramilitary infiltration of the reporting and that the newspaper’s local sales chief Yet another factor encouraging self-censorship is Uribe. Náder denied sending the threats but admitted they justice system. Within months of assuming his post in managed to restore the contracts a month later. the profession’s poor compensation. Most full-time came from his computer. An investigation by the attorney 2001, according to Human Rights Watch, Attorney General But such manipulation often succeeds. In small Colombian journalists earn less than $350 a month, and general’s office has shed no light. Luis Camilo Osorio fired 26 human rights prosecutors and cities and even provincial capitals, staffing at news out- some earn even less than the nation’s loosely enforced The lack of security owes much to Colombia’s justice promoted many others who eventually faced corruption lets is usually so tight that reporters are responsible for minimum wage, $165. “On any given day, your work system, described in a February report by the U.S. State charges. The Miami Herald reported last year that prosecu- selling ads, which puts them in the untenable position may have damaged someone’s reputation, and the whole Department as “overburdened, inefficient, and subject to tors in the cities of Cúcuta and Medellín had tolerated or of covering the very politicians feeding their families. country may be talking about it,” says El Universal’s intimidation and corruption.” Inefficiency, at the very least, participated in paramilitary atrocities. The U.S. State Quintero Cuéllar describes the results in Florencia, the Beatriz Diegó Solano of Sincelejo. “But you still have to has stalled many cases involving journalists. Two Army sol- Department has reported on a score of separate cases in Caquetá capital: “You listen to the radio and turn the walk home alone every night because you can’t afford a diers were convicted in the 1991 murder of Henry Rojas which the attorney general has taken little or no action in dial. The same news story on one station is positive car or bodyguard.” I Monje, an Arauca correspondent for the Bogotá daily news- response to the disappearances or deaths of lawyers, union —Chip Mitchell paper El Tiempo. The Defense Ministry was eventually leaders, journalists, and other prominent figures. ordered to pay more than $20,000 to his family, but the Osorio stepped down this August, but journalists may

12 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 13 not fare differently under his replacement, former Deputy Some of the censored news involves routine reporting. In perhaps the most extreme form of Justice Minister Mario Iguarán, appointed by the Supreme Meyer Sánchez recalls a press conference in which the self-censorship, journalists pack up and Court on Uribe’s recommendation. Osorio describes Iguarán Army’s 12th Brigade announced it had captured a few para- leave. During the crackdown to protect the as his “clone.” It happens that Iguarán co-authored the leg- military fighters. He says a man outside the event intro- oil pipeline, almost every reporter in Arau- islation for demobilizing the paramilitaries. The measure, duced himself as the detainees’ commander and urged that ca fled the province. Several events trig- supported by the United States and signed into law by Uribe there be no reporting on the arrest “for your security and gered the exodus. On June 28, 2002, sus- in July, reduces jail sentences and provides cash awards to the security of your family.” That threat, Meyer Sánchez pected paramilitaries gunned down Efraín illegal combatants who disarm. Uribe calls such incentives adds, persuaded the station not to broadcast anything Varela, owner and news director of the crucial for peace. “The law is universal,” he noted in a July about the capture. radio station Meridiano 70, on a highway speech. “It’s for guerrillas and paramilitaries.” El Caleño, a daily newspaper in Cali, decided against just outside the provincial capital. On But the law’s critics—including Human Rights Watch, publishing an image of a June murder victim after the pho- March 18, 2003, two other suspected para- Amnesty International, and the human rights commissions tographer received a threat on his cell phone. “Sometimes militaries killed Luis Eduardo Alfonso, of both the United Nations and the Organization of Ameri- it’s hard to be a good journalist because of the fear,” Man- Varela’s replacement as news director, as he can States—warn that it sets prosecution time limits that aging Editor Blanca María Torres Ramírez notes. arrived for work at the station. Eleven days may allow some of the worst paramilitary offenders to On July 14, authorities near Medellín captured José after Alfonso’s murder, a mysterious list remain free. The few convicted, they say, could serve sen- Aldemar (“Mechas”) Rendón Ramírez, wanted in the United named 16 local journalists as assassination o t n e tences as short as two years and keep their forces intact. States for his suspected role as a financial officer of the i targets of the guerrillas or paramilitaries. m r a

That sort of impunity weighs heavily on the news media. Norte del Valle drug cartel. The national and international S “We were on planes for Bogotá within days,” o l i n

In Florencia, a southern provincial capital, radio journalists press covered the arrest, but media outlets in the south- a recalls León, who didn’t return to Arauca D western city of Cartago, where Rendón grew up, gave the for five months. Canal Cuatro’s Hernán Morales, Caracol’s Rodrigo Avila, and RCN’s Carlos Pérez story a pass. “There are things we can’t report,” Cartago cover the deactivation of explosives in downtown Arauca. “Threats against us persist today,” León Stereo’s Luis Angel Murcia explained the day after the adds. Most Arauca journalists now confine arrest. “We’re afraid of reprisals.” negotiating table revealing that the government had offered their reporting to the capital. Even then, they move in In another form of self-censorship, news outlets abandon to protect paramilitary chiefs from extradition to the United packs and rarely stray from bodyguards provided by the important investigations. In April and May, El Universal States, where Murillo and many others are wanted on drug- government. “It’s very hard for a journalist to work like reporter José Javier Sarmiento broke several stories about 72 trafficking charges. “After that, there wasn’t a direct threat, this,” he notes. “When we show up in a neighborhood with unmarked graves found on farms where paramilitary chief but there were clear and strong signals from underworld the escorts, it scares people away.” Rodrigo (“Chain”) Mercado Pelufo operated. Sarmiento never sources to be careful,” says Carlos Eduardo Huertas, Semana’s Threats and attacks have uprooted many other journal- received explicit threats, he says, but “many people with clear investigative coordinator. The magazine’s reporting on the ists. In April, Angélica Rubiano fled Florencia, where she knowledge” of Mercado Pelufo’s unit told him his reporting talks softened. “People noticed a change,” he says. reported for the local radio station Cristalina Estéreo and had gone far enough. “The newspaper also said I had to tone As journalists censor themselves, they invariably rely La Nación, a daily newspaper based in the nearby city of

z it down and not mention the farm owner,” he adds, referring more on government sources. In Buenaventura, the country’s Neiva. Her investigation of FARC operations had led to e r é P to his only report that named the proprietor of the 6,000-acre major Pacific port, 12 youth soccer players were massacred threatening phone calls and apparently a March 13 bomb- o g a i

t tract where most of the bodies had turned up. on April 19. Local reporters learned quickly that paramili- ing of an antenna used by the station. “She was one of the n a S Numerous angles begged for more investigation. taries had accused two of the players of FARC ties. “The best journalists around,” says reporter Jorge Eliécer Quintero Gustavo Santiago, news director for the Caracol Radio affiliate Authorities, for example, weren’t pursuing the farm owner whole neighborhood knew what happened, but we couldn’t Cuéllar of Diario de Huila, a competing newspaper. in Montería, says in-depth reporting on the murder of a mayoral candidate could have cost reporters their lives. and hadn’t identified most of the bodies. Area residents said publish anything because of fear,” says Adonaí Cárdenas Television director Julian Alberto Ochoa Restrepo fled hundreds of corpses remained to be found. And Mercado Castillo, correspondent of the Cali-based daily newspaper Andes, a municipality in the northwestern province of Alfredo Abad López, Guillermo León Agudelo, and José Pelufo, wanted in 10 massacre cases, was enjoying a sus- El País, noting that a dozen journalists in Buenaventura Antioquia, in July after a May 23 assassination attempt and Duviel Vásquez Arias were murdered over an eight-month pension of his arrest warrants as part of the demobilization have been murdered over the past 15 years. “Even if you subsequent threats over his rumored contribution to a period in 2000 and 2001. “The attorney general’s office still talks. Yet El Universal dropped the story. Juan Manuel know who killed someone,” he says, “you can publish only national journalist’s report on area corruption. Buenaven- hasn’t determined who’s responsible,” notes Carlos Meyer Sánchez, who supervised the newspaper’s Sincelejo edition, what the police report.” So the press offered no hint who tura television journalist Fanor Zúñiga Hurtado left that Sánchez, news director of the local RCN Radio affiliate. “That acknowledges the danger of investigating the paramili- might be responsible for the massacre until authorities city July 24 after months of threats from the FARC. has led to self-censorship. There are topics you can’t touch.” taries: “We try to inform without bothering any armed announced a paramilitary fighter’s arrest four weeks later. In Coronell’s case, fear for his 6-year-old convinced him group.” But he insists this story died on its own. The farm Cárdenas Castillo notes that the lack of information to move his family outside the country in August. He elf-censorship turns up in every corner of the country but owner “didn’t have links” to Mercado Pelufo, he says, and damages the credibility of both the government and the accepted a one-year fellowship at Stanford University, took Smost intensely in regional media. “We live here, our fami- the other angles lacked “reliable sources.” press, increasing the likelihood of violent reprisals, espe- a leave from his TV show, and got Semana’s permission to lies live here, and everyone knows us,” says León, the radio Semana, the nation’s largest newsmagazine, last year cially in a city like Buenaventura, which averages a murder submit his column from overseas. “The possibilities for reporter in Arauca. “It’s not the same with journalists who published a string of reports questioning the demobilization a day among its 270,000 residents. “If we could publish investigation have deteriorated,” he laments. “But the safety visit for a few days from Bogotá or an overseas news agency.” talks. The coverage peaked with a transcript of tapes from the what happened, it would curtail impunity,” he says. of my daughter comes first.” I

14 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 15 cial were found dead in what were termed suicides; the a single version” of possible events in Skryl’s murder. The mayor was gunned down next to his house. office gave no further explanation of the decision to shelve The day she was attacked, Skryl told a colleague she the case. Yet a month later, the prosecutor’s office issued a planned to meet a source for the Tagmet story. “Natalya different statement in response to CPJ inquiries. A.P. Kizlyk, didn’t say who the person was, but she mentioned that he a senior assistant in the Prosecutor General’s office, said in a was supposed to pass her more detailed, confidential infor- July 11 letter that the Skryl investigation “continues.” mation about Tagmet,” said Irina Hansivarova, an editor That’s news to Skryl’s colleagues, said Grigory Bochkary- who sat nearby in the newsroom. Aleksandr Pestryakov, ov. “Nobody has informed or discussed anything with us,” another colleague, said the young reporter’s coverage was said Bochkaryov, who worked with Skryl and now works for increasingly detailed and critical. Skryl, he said, “had her the Moscow-based press freedom organization, Center for finger on the pulse” of Tagmet. Journalism in Extreme Situations. Officials in the Taganrog prosecutor’s office initially Skryl’s colleagues said the authorities’ evasiveness com- The day she was killed, Natalya Skryl told a ruled out robbery as a motive because Skryl’s jewelry and pounds suspicions they’ve long had about the investigation. colleague she planned cash were undisturbed. Just five days after the slaying, the Bochkaryov said Skryl’s colleagues were not questioned in to meet a source who Taganrog police chief told a press conference that three sus- any depth, nor was any composite drawing of the suspect promised “detailed, confidential” informa- pects were in custody. But the three were soon released and ever released. Hansivarova, the editor who worked near a tion for a sensitive y the probe seemed to take an entirely new direction. By July Skyrl, said an investigator spoke briefly with her once—for m e

business story. r V 25, 2002, police announced that robbery was the motive about two minutes, she estimated. She volunteered that Skryl e h s

a after all, and that the crime had nothing to do with Skryl’s had planned to meet a source for the Tagmet story, but the N work, the Ekho Rostova radio station reported. No explana- information generated no follow-up from investigators. tion of what prompted the shift was offered. Another suspect was arrested four days later, but he was released as well. welve journalists have been killed in contract-style Murderers Go Free By September 2002, investigators decided to wrap Tmurders in Russia since 2000. The slayings have things up. Taganrog authorities closed the investigation, occurred all over the country, from Togliatti in the south to saying they did not have suspects, Yuzhanskaya said. The Murmansk in the north. Many have gone virtually unno- Omission, obstruction, secrecy mar investigations into slayings case sat with no evident change for nearly three years ticed as authorities halted investigations despite open before authorities, facing new questions this summer, questions. By the Prosecutor General’s standard, a case is of journalists in Russia. issued contradictory statements. “solved” once a suspect is identified. But even high-profile In a June 10 letter, the Prosecutor General’s office in slayings such as the 2004 assassination of American Paul Moscow—the nation’s top prosecutor—told the press free- Klebnikov have yielded no convictions. By Nina Ognianova dom organization Glasnost Defense Foundation that investi- Relatives and colleagues of the slain journalists met in gators in Taganrog had halted the probe and “did not neglect Moscow on July 7 at a conference organized by CPJ. Increas- MOSCOW a review of the few publicly available documents—has t was after 10 o’clock on the night of March 8, 2002, and uncovered a pattern of inconsistencies, omissions, and Natalya Skryl, a reporter with the Rostov newspaper secrecy in the probe of Natalya Skryl’s murder. The Skryl INashe Vremya, was walking from the bus stop on her case—along with problem-plagued investigations into the Death Roll Igor Domnikov, Adam Tepsurgayev, Natalya Skryl, way home from a party. Skryl, 29, who lived with her par- slayings of Eduard Markevich and Dmitry Shvets—illus- Novaya Gazeta Reuters Nashe Vremya July 16, 2000, November 21, 2000, March 9, 2002, ents in the industrial town of Taganrog, covered local busi- trates official shortcomings in a series of unsolved murders Moscow Alkhan-Kala Taganrog ness news for the paper, including a struggle for control of of journalists in Russia since 2000, CPJ has found. Twelve journalists have been the local pipe-making plant. killed in contract-style murders Sergey Novikov, Valery Ivanov, From behind, a man struck Skryl a dozen times with a atalya Skryl’s attention in recent months was focused in Russia since 2000. All of the Radio Vesna Tolyattinskoye pipe or other heavy object. Her screams roused neighbors, Non Tagmet, a Taganrog metal plant and one of the cases are unsolved, according July 26, 2000, Obozreniye Smolensk April 29, 2002, S

who found her lying in a pool of blood. Taken to the town to CPJ’s analysis. Here are the E

biggest steel pipe producers in southern Russia. By March J

Togliatti C hospital, she died of head injuries the next day, her body 2002, a two-year fight over Tagmet had reached its peak: an victims, their news organiza- Iskandar Khatloni, Dimitry Shvets so disfigured that her father did not recognize her. The alternative board of directors was seeking to oust manage- tions, and the dates and places Radio Free Dmitry Shvets, attacker, described by witnesses as a young man with long ment; armed guards were deployed around the plant; its of their deaths: Europe/Radio TV-21 Northwest- Paul Klebnikov, Liberty ern Broadcasting Forbes Russia black hair, did not take the money in Skryl’s purse nor did director had virtually barricaded himself inside. S E J

September 21, 2000, C April 18, 2003, July 9, 2004, he take her gold jewelry. It seemed clear to all—including It was a turbulent time in Taganrog, an important indus- Moscow Eduard Markevich Murmansk Moscow police, initially—that he struck to kill. trial port on the Azov Sea. “There was big money to be An investigation by the Committee to Protect Journal- divided among interested parties at the time,” said Nashe Sergey Ivanov, Eduard Markevich, Aleksei Sidorov, Magomedzagid ists—based on interviews with colleagues and analysts and Vremya’s top editor, Vera Yuzhanskaya, referring to a wave Lada-TV Novy Reft Tolyattinskoye Varisov, of privatization in Taganrog. Many prominent people were October 3, 2000, September 18, 2001, Obozreniye Novoye Delo Togliatti Reftinsky October 9, 2003, June 28, 2005, Nina Ognianova is CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program turning up dead that year. A court official was found shot Togliatti Makhachkala I researcher. She was part of a CPJ mission to Moscow in July. in his office; a well-known businessman and a police offi-

16 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 17 stopped a car 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Reftinsky next month, responding to CPJ inquiries, the Prosecutor request to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, seeking to and detained the driver. After 10 days, the suspect was General said the hunt for the mastermind was on. meet with him in Moscow. CPJ requested a meeting in early released without charge, the Center for Journalism in “I do not trust the prosecutor’s office,” said Inna Shvets, July, around the time of its conference with the families. Extreme Situations reported. who added that investigators routinely withheld informa- The response from Ustinov’s office was sent by mail, Sverdlovsk prosecutors vowed publicly to give the case tion about her husband’s killing. “Nobody talks or meets dated July 11, and postmarked July 25. It reached CPJ’s New special attention and Markevich’s widow, Tatyana, contin- with me. I only get vague statements in written form, and York headquarters on August 5. A meeting was impossible, ued publishing Novy Reft. But six months after her hus- even those I get after filing at least two written requests.” the letter said, because of the “intense work schedule of the band’s killing, Tatyana Markevich started getting anony- That is a common refrain from families of the slain jour- Prosecutor General’s office.” I mous phone threats, the Glasnost Defense Foundation said. nalists, who say authorities have been evasive, sluggish, and By October 9, 2002, someone tossed a dumbbell with a unresponsive. This pattern held true when CPJ sought For updates on the Russian journalist murders, visit threatening note through her apartment window. The next explanation from prosecutors. On June 14, CPJ faxed a www.cpj.org. morning, her apartment door had been splattered with var- nish, and burnt matches were on the ground. Fearing for her safety, and that of her 3-year-old son, Tatyana Markevich shut Novy Reft on October 15, 2002, and fled Reftinsky, the e y i

n Moscow Q & A: David Marash

e Glasnost group said. r z o

b Now, after four years of stops and starts, the investiga- O e

y tion into Eduard Markevich’s murder has been officially

o ABC News correspondent David Marash, What was common to the families’ experiences? k s n i halted. In its July 11 letter to CPJ, the Prosecutor General’s t a veteran CPJ board member, met with What’s most telling is the pattern of details. First off, the t a y l office said that, “after checking all possible versions, the o families and colleagues of 12 slain jour- journalists knew that they were working in dangerous ter- T investigation is stopped.” Possible motives were never nalists during a mission to Moscow in ritory. Secondly, in most cases, the journalists had received Karen Nersisian, who represents relatives of three slain jour- nalists, says prosecutors have compelling reasons to avoid the explained publicly or to Markevich’s relatives, said Maria July. He talked with CPJ’s Maya Taal open or veiled threats not to persist in their reporting. powerful forces behind the murders. Istomina, a family friend. “I think prosecutors deliberately afterward. Third, the hits are almost all professional-style, involving ignored journalism as a motive because Eduard Markevich lethal use of a very professionally handled weapon and a ingly concerned by the failure of Russian authorities, they actively criticized local officials,” she said. pre-planned getaway. The subsequent investigations tend are considering forming an association to exchange infor- to be under-funded, and they rarely persist. The one mation and press for justice. ven in instances where authorities claim progress, they Given your long involvement with CPJ, how was this notable exception is the murder of American journalist Paul Karen Nersisian, a lawyer representing the families of Ehave withheld information. Such is the case of Dmitry mission different from others you’ve undertaken? Klebnikov, where at least investigators claim to be pro- slain journalists Igor Domnikov, Valery Ivanov, and Aleksei Shvets, the 37-year-old deputy director of the independent Usually we meet with a lot of government officials. This ceeding to a real prosecution. Sidorov, said prosecutors routinely reject professional television station TV-21, who was gunned down outside the time, we hoped to meet with prosecutors and we didn’t— Have they gone further in the Klebnikov case because motives in journalist killings, instead classifying them as station’s offices at around 5 p.m. on April 18, 2003, in the we didn’t really meet with anyone in the government who of international pressure? street crimes. “It is easier for investigators to deal with northern city of Murmansk. An assailant fired several times was directly involved in these cases. However, the confer- murders where hooliganism or robbery is the motive,” Ner- in the presence of many witnesses, then fled in a waiting car. ence accomplished a great deal. It brought these families There’s no question international attention has helped in sisian said. “By admitting that the killings have been Shvets was a prominent local figure with many com- together to synthesize their protests, and it worked as the Klebnikov case. So has government pressure. President ordered, prosecutors oblige themselves to look for the mas- mercial interests, someone active in public relations and moral reinforcement. Looking into one another’s faces, Bush and Condoleeza Rice, as national security advisor and terminds.” And in Russia, where politics, business, and politics. Family and colleagues believe he was killed for his hearing one another’s voices, hearing one another’s stories secretary of state, have personally pressed the issue with crime sometimes converge, going after a mastermind can hands-on work at TV-21. Svetlana Bokova, news editor at had a very strong, psychologically boosting effect. their Russian counterparts. This obviously has the effect of invite big trouble, he said. TV-21, said Shvets was investigating a mayoral candidate’s getting formal action. Whether these formal actions pene- What left the strongest impression? When Eduard Markevich, the 29-year-old editor and alleged links to organized crime in the days before the slay- trate to the core of the crime remains to be seen. It’s the sheer courage necessary to practice professional publisher of the newspaper Novy Reft, was shot outside his ing. The candidate had recently threatened TV-21 staff for journalism on a meaningful level in Russia. The threat of How do people compare the current press climate to home in the Ural Mountains village of Reftinsky on Sep- broadcasting an unfavorable interview, the station report- some kind of intervention, whether it be legal or fatal, is that of the Soviet era? tember 18, 2001, speculation immediately centered on his ed. Murmansk police and prosecutors requested copies of constant. Families and journalists who had been there from the mid- work. Novy Reft regularly criticized local officials, and Shvets’ TV-21 reports over the previous two years. ’80s say that press freedom conditions are approaching the Markevich had received many threats over the years. In In early April, prosecutors said they had found Shvets’ Has government indifference in these murder cases bad old days of the Soviet state and are far worse than dur- 1998, two attackers broke into his apartment and beat him alleged killer—now dead, they said—but they refused to affected the families’ resolve? ing the glasnost era of the late ’80s and the perestroika era in front of his pregnant wife. The assailants were never identify the suspect or provide any other detail. In deflect- The single defining fact is that all 12 murders are unsolved, of the early ’90s. apprehended. Markevich was also at odds with local ing questions, authorities cited the confidentiality of the and many of them are officially closed “for lack of a sus- authorities, who once detained him for 10 days on a investigation. One of the few things they did say: Investi- pect.” The uniformity of this powerless outcome is a real How do journalists and others encourage the Russian defamation charge. After a regional prosecutor intervened gators now had a clear idea of who ordered the killing. indictment of the government. Most of the killings seem to government to make progress in these cases? and ruled the 2000 detention unlawful, two officers were But the status of the case is not at all clear. In its July 11 be professional, organized hits; in none of the cases have The best thing we can do is to shine a spotlight on it, to show forced to resign. letter, the Prosecutor General’s office described the Shvets’ the progenitors of the crime been found. This suggests that through our own reporting and our own advocacy that what On the night of the slaying, local reports said, witness- case as “solved.” By mid-August, Murmansk prosecutors the Kremlin and the prosecutor’s office don’t want very happens to journalists in Russia matters to journalists and es noticed a stranger in Markevich’s neighborhood and saw told Shvets’ widow that investigators had stopped looking much to find these criminals. their readers, viewers, and listeners all over the world. I a car speed from the scene. Transport police reportedly for the mastermind—because they had no suspects. Yet the

18 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 19 About Face

Archaeologists in Buenos Aires uncover a detention Four Great Press Freedom Turnarounds and torture center used by the military junta of the Past 25 Years

s during Argentina’s “dirty r e

g war.” The news media, o R

y once complicit in covering e

k Compiled by Leigh Newman

c up the regime’s atrocities, i R /

s became tough investigators r e t of the abuses. u e R t was 25 years ago that Poland’s Lech Walesa led his first strike at the Gdansk shipyards and Argentina’s military junta was in the midst of its brutal “dirty Iwar.” From Nigeria to Indonesia, authoritarian regimes held a tight grip on power and the press. The ensuing political changes seem nothing short of monumental. Regimes fell, the balance of power shifted, and, in many places, press conditions were transformed. As the Committee to Protect Journalists marks its 25th anniversary next year, we salute four great press freedom turnarounds—in Argentina, Nige- ria, Poland, and Indonesia. In each nation, the emerging free press served as cat- alyst for political change and barometer for societal freedoms. i r p Time and again, the presence of a vibrant underground press helped ensure the u S / s r transition. The support of press advocacy groups encouraged front-line journalists e t u e and deterred government repression. International attention and investment R helped foster new media outlets. And in each nation, the sheer courage of writers, Editor Goenawan Mohamad shows a editors, and photojournalists made the transition possible. Here are their stories. copy of Tempo as he and colleagues resume publication ARGENTINA: Up from the ashes in October 1998. The Argentine press rebuilt itself from the ashes of 25 years ago. With the country Indonesian Presi- locked in what its leaders framed as a good-versus-evil struggle, the mainstream dent Suharto had Argentine media supported the junta’s “dirty war,” exaggerating the threat from revoked the maga- zine’s license four leftist guerrillas and covering up the regime’s atrocities. years before. Journalists themselves were victims. During seven years of military rule from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, nearly 100 journalists were among the thou- sands of people who “disappeared,” human rights organizations now report. The loss of life made it one of the deadliest conflicts for the press in modern history. The turning point is reflected in the powerful story of Jacobo Timerman, editor i k

s of La Opinión, and one of the country’s most prominent journalists. An early sup- n y z

c porter of military rule, Timerman was abducted, tortured, and detained for more p o K

l than two years. His 1981 memoir, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, e w

a became a touchstone in the human rights and press freedom movements. P / s r

e The next generation of reporters went on to re-establish the credibility of the t u e

R press as the country moved to democracy in 1983. The Argentine media began to play a significant role in investigating human rights abuses during the junta’s rule. It grew bolder during the Menem administration of the 1990s, despite the government’s legal persecution of critical media outlets.

Copies of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s popular daily, roll off the press. Launched by the Solidarity movement, the newspaper has Leigh Newman is a freelance writer and contributing editor to Dangerous Assign- become a powerful, independent voice. ments. Alexandra Zabjek contributed research to this story.

20 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 21 a printing presses and an informal, well-organized distribu- i a B

i tion network established during the 1970s set the stage for d o d r

a an independent media. a i r u a d k E

a Dangers on the horizon: Criminal libel remains on the / Z P A r a

t books. On rare occasions, it is used to suppress critical h c u news reporting of influential politicians and powerful insti- M / P

A tutions such as the Catholic Church. Indonesian President Suharto announces his INDONESIA: The one left standing resignation in May 1998, his administration Twenty-five years ago, under the autocratic rule of Presi- Argentine editor battered by riots, dent Suharto, small independent media faced stringent

Jacobo Timerman, economic woes, and r e press laws. Some critical publications were banned and d international criticism. l seen in this 1984 e f

n many journalists censored their work to avoid threats and e

photo, helped spark t t u

human rights and G harassment. d i

press freedom v

a Yet Suharto left standing one publication whose fate D

movements with his / P eventually intertwined with his own. Tempo, founded in powerful memoir. A Nigerians line up in Lagos to cast their votes during 1971 and considered the country’s most respected news the 1999 presidential election. By enduring violent magazine, was credited by many with nurturing a genera- repression during years of dictatorship, the Nigerian tion of journalists and setting standards of professionalism. press helped set the stage for the vote. It, too, ran afoul of Suharto in 1994 with an article exposing government infighting over the purchase of East German patrol boats. When the government revoked POLAND: Taking root underground Tempo’s publishing license, the magazine’s founder and P A An underground press kept journalism alive during Soviet- chief editor Goenawan Mohamad led his colleagues in Supporters carry Polish labor leader Lech Walesa in Warsaw in 1981. era repression, eventually evolving from its partisan roots organizing the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI). Its Walesa’s Solidarity movement is closely linked to the emergence of Poland’s independent press. to become a vibrant, independent force. One woman, Helena journalists continued to write, sometimes without bylines Luczywo, and one newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, symbolize for fear of government reprisal. A key factor in maintaining press freedom over time Christine Anyanwu, a CPJ International Press Freedom the evolution. Former Tempo reporter Ahmad Taufik, the group’s first was the press advocacy group, PERIODISTAS. Organized in awardee, spent three and half years in prison for publish- Luczywo ran two underground publications. The first, president, was sent to prison for three years in 1994, along 1995 by prominent Argentine journalists, PERIODISTAS ing news of a coup plot in The Sunday Magazine, a weekly Robotnik, advocated a break from Soviet domination and with two other AJI staffers, for publishing articles critical of monitored press conditions, helped unite the media, and she edited and published. Shortly after her release in reached a circulation of 20,000 by the time the Solidarity Suharto. His case brought international condemnation of the defended local journalists. 1998, Anyanwu wrote in a CPJ report: “It was a journey that movement began in 1980. When Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski Suharto government for its treatment of the press. Taufik Although the 2002 economic collapse caused many spanned 1,251 days. I moved 10 times through the declared martial law the following year, Luczywo went and Goenawan each received CPJ’s International Press Free- media outlets to fold, the Argentine press continues to play nation’s most notorious detention centers, through into hiding and started the underground newspaper dom Award. a vital role in setting the public agenda. The thriving media spooky, forsaken prisons. It was a tour of a world that, Tygodnik Mazowsze, which featured the Solidarity logo on Suharto, in power for more than 30 years, was forced to community includes national dailies, private television and even in my worst nightmares, I could never have imagined. its masthead. resign in 1998 because of student riots and an economic radio, and weeklies such as Noticias, which recently exposed I had a taste of life at its most raw—perhaps its lowest— By 1989, popular resistance to the communist regime meltdown. Within days of Suharto’s resignation, the new the use of government advertising contracts to reward sup- and in the process got a fuller appreciation of human had grown and strikes had forced Poland’s first free elections regime told Goenawan that Tempo was free to reopen. portive media and to silence critics. nature and our creator.” in 60 years. Solidarity launched Gazeta Wyborcza (Election Here’s how CPJ reported it in 1998: “The magazine’s re- Dangers on the horizon: Local journalists worry that Unable to work openly during the height of repression Gazette) from a kindergarten classroom before the historic launch celebration on October 4 was a major event in Jakarta, the dissolution of PERIODISTAS in 2004 has weakened in the 1990s, much of the Nigerian press published clan- parliamentary elections, recruiting Luczywo as its editor. drawing some 2,000 reporters, politicians, government provincial media outlets, which are suffering from govern- destinely. By sustaining its efforts, the press flourished The paper was essentially a booster for Solidarity dur- ministers, and diplomats. Tempo’s newsstand sales have so ment-imposed advertising embargoes. with the end of military rule and the election of Olusegun ing that first election. But as the political process moved far exceeded expectations … leading to a sense of buoyant Obasanjo as president in 1999. ahead in Poland, Gazeta Wyborcza shed Solidarity from its optimism.” NIGERIA: Bravery and endurance Today, Nigeria’s long-established independent press is masthead and asserted independence in its reporting. It Today, Indonesia has democratic elections, hundreds of This is a story of courage. From the mid-1980s, when able to operate freely again. The country’s media are among continues to be one of the country’s most influential and publications, and a diverse array of news broadcasts. Critical Ibrahim Babangida took power in a military coup, repression the most robust on the continent, with many private news- popular dailies. articles about government and corruption now make head- of the independent press grew. But the darkest period came papers that criticize Obasanjo and other authorities. State media were privatized and new media outlets lines, a testimony to the efforts of local reporters. under the dictatorship of Sani Abacha, who seized control of Dangers on the Horizon: Recent arrests and acts of have proliferated, some bolstered by foreign investment. Dangers on the horizon: Outdated criminal defama- the country in 1993. Abacha used detention, torture, office censorship by the State Security Services have raised alarm. National traditions were important as well. Polish citizens tion laws—some dating from the Dutch colonial era—are bombings, and killings to eliminate and intimidate journal- In May, a journalist was imprisoned for more than two weeks had known a relatively free press, economic growth, and still on the books and continue to be used against the ists. By 1997, Nigeria had 17 journalists behind bars. after his publication accused the first lady of corruption. free markets during the 1920s and 1930s. Underground press. Tempo itself has been targeted by these cases. I

22 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 23 A CPJ Interview you, and that’s being perceived as somebody who is really By this time, Garen believed death was imminent, and just there for the truth and is as objective as possible.” he began to devise an escape plan for the morning of The pair stayed for three months, shuttling between August 19. At the last minute, however, Doushi backed out, Baghdad and Nasiriyah. At that time, they were the only arguing that an escape was too dangerous. He insisted that Western journalists working in the area because the roads their chances of survival were greater if they stayed put. A Hostage’s were so dangerous. Garen and Carleton filmed the guards Despite the video, the families continued to make both pri- hired to protect the Sumerian site of Umma as the recruits vate and public appeals to al-Sadr and local Muslim clerics. trained and bought guns at a local arms market. On July 30, Garen’s sister, Eva, went on Arabic-language Al-Jazeera and Carleton headed back to the United States, leaving Garen to Al-Arabiya to plead for his freedom. Finally, al-Sadr, by now Ordeal wrap up the project. On Friday, August 13, two days before in hiding, wrote a letter demanding Garen’s release. On he was to return to New York, Garen went back to the arms August 22, Garen and Doushi walked free. market with interpreter Amir Doushi to grab just one more minute of footage. “To get a story and really document it, In a new book, filmmaker Micah Garen recounts you had to take risks,” Garen said. Friday the 13th was not a lucky day. He aroused the suspicion of one vendor, and his captivity in Iraq. within minutes he and Doushi were bundled into a car. Their captors held them in a cramped enclosure made from date palms in a remote marsh. They were completely By Maya Taal cut off, and the guards were changed every few hours so that they could not strike up a relationship. His biggest stroke of luck was being held with Doushi. “If my translator hadn’t been there, I don’t know what I would have done,” Garen said. Doushi was able to gather snippets of informa- tion from the guards, and the two men kept each other company. The guards treated Garen relatively well, but they t u

were harsh on Doushi for working for Americans. a D a i

U.S. documentary filmmaker Micah Garen was held hostage she said. Carleton put aside her despair and went to her d u a l

for 10 days in Iraq in August 2004 and released unharmed, computer to mobilize journalists to lobby for Garen’s release. n New York, Carleton transformed the couple’s West Village C / s r e thanks in part to the work of his fiancée Marie-Hélène Iapartment into a “war room” in a campaign to free Garen. t u e Carleton. The couple spoke with CPJ about their new book, aren had first gone to Iraq in June 2003 to research a “In the end it was the grassroots effort that would really pay R American Hostage, which recounts the ordeal. Gdocumentary. He shunned bullet-proof vests and off,” Carleton said. The leadership of the cleric’s Mehdi army Micah Garen, seen here just after his release in August 2004, says he holds no grudges but fears that protection for journal- armed guards and found it easy to work. “I wasn’t afraid of had collapsed, and al-Sadr’s control over the splinter groups ists has eroded in Iraq. espite the blindfold, Micah Garen caught a glimpse saying that I was an American,” he said. He returned with was tenuous. But a direct appeal to al-Sadr remained the best of what he feared would be the site of his execution. Carleton in May the following year to finish the film on the hope. Al-Sadr’s groups were open to journalists, Carleton Garen said he bears no grudges about his ordeal. “Iraq DA large white banner with Arabic writing hung from looting of archaeological sites around the southern city of said, but they had to be convinced that you were willing to is a place where you try not to have judgments. Our job a back wall. A dozen young men with weapons stood Nasiriyah. report their side of the story. She galvanized journalists being out there was to document,” he said. “In the greater around the room. In the center was a video camera. But during his absence the mood in Iraq had soured. through e-mails and phone calls to use whatever contacts scheme of things … you walk out alive, and it’s something “It was like they had set up a studio for a beheading,” “Within a few months it changed dramatically, and then you they had with al-Sadr’s people. She also worked with the U.S. to be happy about.” He set to work writing a book with Garen said. It was in just such a setting that hostages Nick realized your nationality was a target,” he said. Carleton, government, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and other Carleton about the ordeal, a process he says has been Berg and Kim Sun-Il had been beheaded, their brutal deaths who has French and U.S. citizenship, traveled in full Islam- “cathartic.” The book is dedicated to their two sisters and filmed in spring 2004. Garen had seen them on television ic dress and the pair carried only her French passport, leav- the journalistic community. “That coming together was in his Baghdad hotel room. Now it was August 17, 2004, a ing their U.S. passports in their hotel room. They took It was like they had set up a studio extraordinary,” Garen said. “I never thought that hundreds day Garen thought would be his last. Instead, when his cap- painstaking precautions to keep their movements secret. of journalists would be out there doing this.” tors removed the blindfold, they made him hold his press They would hire two drivers the night before a trip then for a beheading. Garen and Carleton want to return to Iraq, although card up to the camera and state his name. Then they cancel one on the morning of their departure, not revealing they believe it is even more dangerous today. More than 50 launched into a stream of invective in Arabic, which he did their destination to the other until they were in the car. The journalists have been killed in Iraq since hostilities began not understand. couple thought that their best protection was their status groups to get the message to influential Iraqis that Garen in March 2003. The status of journalists, which Garen The next day, in New York, Marie-Hélène Carleton as independent journalists, separate from any government was an independent journalist covering a cultural story. called his best protection, has been eroded by the violence. watched as her fiancé’s captors, sympathizers of radical or military. “We used all of our resources to convey that there’s no “Most journalists are either embedded or confined to their Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, announced that if U.S. forces did “The only thing that protects you out there … [are] the benefit in holding an innocent civilian like Micah hostage,” hotels,” said Garen. “Sadly, that barrier has kind of been not leave the holy city of Najaf, Garen would be dead within 48 principles of journalism,” Garen said. “A lot of times people said Joel Campagna, CPJ’s senior program coordinator for crossed. … It no longer matters that you are a journalist.” I hours. “For a short moment, it felt like the death of hope,” are tempted to look for other protection, like, ‘I’m going to the Middle East. The campaign seemed to be making head- wear a bullet-proof vest. I’m going to go out in an American way, Carleton recalled, until the “terrible, terrible moment,” American Hostage, by Micah Garen and Marie-Hélène Car- Maya Taal is CPJ’s executive assistant and board liaison. convoy.’ … There’s only one thing that is going to protect when the kidnappers’ video of Garen was broadcast. leton, published by Simon & Schuster, October 2005.

24 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 25 “Operation Murambatsvina”—or “Drive Out Trash”—has country could they honestly report on events in Zimbabwe. destroyed the homes and livelihoods of an estimated And some such as Magugu Nyathi, whose newspaper, The 700,000 Zimbabweans. Done under the guise of urban Tribune, was shut in 2003, saw no job prospects at home. renewal, the demolitions are aimed at breaking strongholds “As professionals we said ‘How do we continue?’” of political opposition, critics say. recalled Mutsakani, who served briefly as managing editor Zimbabwe’s Exiled Press of the Daily News until authorities shut the paper. “I felt we pread as far as New Zealand, the exiled journalists have had a choice. We could sit back in Zimbabwe, but that Smade their homes among the estimated three to four mil- would be tantamount to surrender,” Mutsakani said. lion members of the Zimbabwean diaspora. Unemployment, Instead, he and several colleagues went to South Africa and Uprooted journalists struggle to keep careers, independent reporting alive. political violence, and human rights abuses have fueled a started the Web publication, ZimOnline. steady stream of emigration from Zimbabwe since the late But some did not have the luxury of planning an exit. By Elisabeth Witchel 1990s, according to a study released this year by the Inter- In February, three Zimbabwe correspondents for foreign national Organization for Migration. The survey of 1,000 media outlets—Angus Shaw of The Associated Press, Bryan Zimbabwean expatriates in South Africa and the United King- Latham of Bloomberg News, and Jaan Raath of The Times dom found that most are professionals, whose absence cre- of London—faced imminent arrest after being accused of ates “concerns for the longer-term future of Zimbabwe.” spying and publishing information detrimental to the Zimbabwe’s exiled media reflect similar patterns. state. They left behind their homes, families, and decades- LONDON doing odd jobs. She wonders at age 30 whether the career Journalists such as Urginia Mauluka, a former Daily long careers. andra Nyaira was on a career high when she left Zim- at which she excelled—the one for which she once risked News photographer beaten and detained while covering an Most journalists interviewed by CPJ have found exile a babwe three years ago. For her work as political edi- her freedom—will be open to her again. opposition political rally in 2001, initially left for tempo- bitter experience, even as they point out that they have Stor of the country’s leading independent newspaper “We’re rotting away here,” said Nyaira, referring to her rary respite only to delay their return as press conditions greater security than many colleagues back home. To pen- the Daily News, she had earned a prestigious Courage in exiled Zimbabwean colleagues. deteriorated. Others such as Abel Mutasakani, who left for etrate competitive media job markets abroad, many must Journalism Award from the Washington-based Interna- At least 90 Zimbabwean journalists, including many of South Africa in 2004, decided that only by leaving their secure work permits and prove their qualifications anew. A tional Women’s Media Foundation. After traveling to the the nation’s most prominent reporters, now live in exile in United States to receive the prize, Nyaira attended the South Africa, other African nations, the United Kingdom, journalism master’s program at City University in London and the United States, making it one of the largest groups on a scholarship. of exiled journalists in the world, an analysis by the Com- Nyaira expected to be back at her job in Zimbabwe in a mittee to Protect Journalists has found. CPJ traveled to year. She has yet to return. Johannesburg, South Africa, and to London, conducting 34 President Robert Mugabe’s government, after several interviews with exiled Zimbabwean journalists, analysts, unsuccessful attempts to muzzle the Daily News, finally and human rights advocates. succeeded in closing the popular daily in 2003 amid an Some of these exiled journalists left as a direct result of political persecution, others because the government’s crackdown virtually erased opportunities in the independ- ent press. Authorities have routinely detained and Some left as a direct result of harassed journalists in the past five years to quash report- political persecution, others ing on human rights, economic woes, and political opposi- tion to the regime, CPJ research has found. Repressive leg- because the government’s crack- islation such as the 2002 Access to Information and Pro- down erased opportunities in tection of Privacy Act criminalizes journalism without a government license. the independent press. The crackdown has taken a devastating toll on Zimbab- we’s independent media. Once home to a robust press corps, Zimbabwe today has no independent daily newspa- escalating crackdown on the independent media. Family pers, no private radio news coverage, and just two promi- and colleagues warned Nyaira, who had already been nent independent weeklies. Journalists remaining in Zim- arrested once on criminal defamation charges, that it would babwe are either without jobs in their profession, or they be foolhardy to return home. work under threat of laws that, among other things, set

Now Nyaira lives in Somerset, England, eking out a living prison terms of up to 20 years for publishing false infor- o o l s n

mation deemed prejudicial to the state. i r P l e

Elisabeth Witchel is journalist assistance coordinator for Zimbabwean citizens are denied access to diverse, ques- r a K /

the Committee to Protect Journalists. Gretchen L. Wilson, tioning voices at a time when the Mugabe administration, P A emboldened by this year’s election victory, wields power a freelance journalist based in Johannesburg, contributed President Robert Mugabe campaigns for re-election this year. In the weeks before the vote, his government ousted critical journalists to this story. more aggressively than ever. For instance, the government’s and blocked press coverage of the opposition party.

26 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 27 few have secured jobs with international media outlets, but most make ends meet by working in factories, service jobs, Cubans: Direct Line to Readers or clerical positions. Burmese: Delivering with Depth “It feels very frustrating. It is very, very difficult for a foreigner to break into mainstream journalism here,” said ince 1995, when the first independent news agen- BANGKOK, Thailand cies emerged in Cuba, dozens of journalists have Conrad Nyamutata, former chief reporter with the Daily fter Burmese troops fired on democracy demon- Sfled the country to escape harassment, threats, News who now lives in Leicester, England. “Very few of us strators in August 1988, Aung Zaw, a student detention, or jail. Many have settled in the United States have managed to get work in the field.” Awho had already been jailed for helping to pub- or Spain, where some continue to work as journalists. The emotional cost is high as well. Dingilizwe Ntuli, a lish pro-democracy pamphlets, fled into the jungle. Sev- Manuel Vázquez Portal, who won CPJ’s 2003 Inter- former correspondent for the Sunday Times, said that enteen years later he has yet to return home. Aung Zaw, national Press Freedom Award, settled in Miami in June adjusting to life in South Africa and leaving his family— a pseudonym, is a senior member of a vibrant commu- after being released from a Cuban jail on medical parole including his ailing father who died before Ntuli could see nity of Burmese journalists in exile in neighboring Thai- in 2004. He had been unjustly imprisoned for more him again—had thrust him into depression. land. than a year, one of 29 journalists swept up in a massive “When you are forced to leave your country of birth, it In 1992, he established the Irrawaddy newsletter on government crackdown. is devastating,” said Ntuli, whose first name means “wan- a shoestring budget of $2,000 with one desktop com- “As for practicing journalism, I feel much more com- derer.” Though he now works again for the Times out of puter. Irrawaddy has outgrown its humble format and fortable now,” said Vázquez Portal, who had helped Johannesburg, Ntuli said he was out of the profession and is now published as a glossy news magazine with a establish the independent news agency Grupo de Tra- disenchanted with journalism for a long period. “I felt noth- monthly circulation of more than 3,000 copies, many of bajo Decoro when he was in Cuba. “I don’t have to jus- ing was worth living for. I gave my all to journalism and which are spirited into news-starved Burma. tify what I’m doing to anybody.” what happened? I lost my home.” “Then people were looking for something independ- Vázquez Portal works as an editor at the Miami- ent that wasn’t associated with any particular opposi- based news Web site CubaNet (www.cubanet.org). He imbabwean journalists in exile stand out in size and tion group,” says Aung Zaw, who is also chief editor. also writes a column for El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish- Zprestige—CPJ interviewed at least four winners of inter- “That’s what we deliver: In-depth, unbiased coverage of language edition of The Miami Herald, which employs national awards for this report—but their situation is not Burma affairs.” other exiled Cuban journalists as reporters. “Here, unique. A crackdown in Eritrea and the threat of imprison- Once the pioneer, Irrawaddy is no longer alone. In through my opinion columns, ment in Ethiopia spurred flights of more than two dozen recent years more than a dozen Burma-focused publica- I’m able to communicate with journalists to Kenya, Sudan, Europe, and North America. tions have sprouted across Thailand, India, and Bangla- my readers, unlike in Cuba, Communities of Burmese and Cuban journalists have desh. Many of the Thailand-based publications have an where journalists are man- been publishing in exile for years, becoming valuable ethnic twist: Kao Wao, The Kachin Post, and The Shan aged by political organiza- sources of information on their closed societies. The exo- Herald Agency for News all report in their respective i s e

dus of Zimbabwean journalists has led to the emergence of j

tions. Those organizations n ethnic dialects and focus on issues relevant to their o similar media-in-exile that strive to keep news flowing B n

are the ones that communi- e home regions. B cate with the readers.” about their homeland. Exile-run publications fill an important news gap, par- Behind the walls of a nondescript office complex on the Sandra Nyaira, once a rising journalist in Zimbabwe, makes a a i

t Some exiled journalists ticularly in Burma’s lawless ethnic territories. Some

i living doing odd jobs after being forced into exile. She’s among o G continue to work with col- outskirts of London, Gerry Jackson and her staff at SW 90 journalists who have fled the country. papers track abuses in the decades-old conflict between e s o

J Radio are fighting to broadcast within Zimbabwe. Jackson / leagues on the island, report- the military and ethnic insurgents. In ceasefire areas, P A ing on local developments started SW Radio in 2001, after the government closed Cap- wean journalists and lawyers, the site is intended to be a exile publications focus on illegal logging, illicit drug pro- Manuel Vázquez Portal ital Radio, her first independent radio venture in Zimbab- news service for international media to pick up “the real is now based in Miami that the official press ignores. duction, and forced relocations of the local population. we. From London, SW Radio broadcasts programs into Zim- Zimbabwean story,” according to its managing editor, Abel and works as an editor Independent journalists have Barred from distributing inside Burma, all of the for the news Web site no voice inside Cuba, where babwe in English and in the Shona and Ndebele languages. Mutsakani. exile-run news publications rely on outside donor fund- CubaNet. the government owns all “Radio is such a lifeline to people there who feel forgotten,” “No news groups are allowed in Zimbabwe so news is ing. The U.S. National Endowment for Democracy and media. So they file for Web sites such as CubaNet and Jackson said. “It gives them a sense of creating dialogue.” not coming out from the ground,” said Mutsakani, who the Dutch-run nongovernmental organization Noviv are Miami’s Nueva Prensa Cubana (www.nuevaprensa.com) But the station suffered a major setback this year when relies on an in-country network of sources for information. among foreign donors that have pledged funds to that are run by exiles. the Zimbabwean government succeeded in jamming its “We want to tell the story of ordinary people, especially Irrawaddy. Other exiles in the United States, Europe, and Latin shortwave broadcasts. Jackson tried to overcome the obsta- black Zimbabweans, who suffer the most from food short- Exiled journalists from Burma, however, still stand America publish in the online daily Encuentro en la Red cle by broadcasting on multiple frequencies, but this costly ages and unemployment.” on shaky ground, particularly in Thailand. Thai Prime (www.cubaencuentro.com), which is run by Cubans in arrangement proved unsustainable and the station now Zimbabwean law does not explicitly bar foreign publica- Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has implemented a more Madrid, Spain. With an emphasis on opinion pieces, the sends programming online and via medium wave—methods tions from circulating without a license. Wilf Mbanga, a co- conciliatory policy toward Burma than his predeces- Web site provides a forum for cultural and political that draw very limited audiences within Zimbabwe, though founder of the Daily News, used that opening to launch The sors, and the Burmese junta has publicly lobbied him accessible to the diaspora. Zimbabwean newspaper this year. From a small cottage in debate among Cubans at home and abroad. I to close exile publications in exchange for commercial In Johannesburg, working in an office unmarked for Hythe on the southern coast of England, Mbanga and his wife —Sauro González Rodríguez concessions in Burma. I security reasons, editors of ZimOnline focus on getting produce the weekly, which the couple said has a circulation —Shawn W. Crispin breaking news out of Zimbabwe and into the international of 30,000 in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Zim- community. Launched in South Africa in 2004 by Zimbab- babwe. The paper relies on largely unpaid contributions by

28 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 29 CPJ REMEMBERS

Zimbabwean journalists in exile, as well as some anonymous information, and few fact-checking resources, some exile office in Beirut, he said that all Arab reporting in the country. media also struggle to establish credibility. Pervasive states “have dangerous and ruthless Mbanga, who left Zimbabwe with his wife and “one suit- anonymity in their reports exacerbates the problem. To men supported by security services.” case each” in 2003 to take a fellowship in the Netherlands, protect sources in Zimbabwe and family members back “Samir symbolized freedom of decided he couldn’t return home after a story he published home, many contributors to The Zimbabwean use pseudo- opinion in its full meaning,” said his on the militant activities of youth groups in Zimbabwe nyms while ZimOnline does not use bylines at all. Samir Qassir younger brother, Walid Qassir, a law landed him the official status of “enemy of the people.” “It is easy for the government to discredit an unknown professor at Beirut’s St. Joseph Univer- “While I was in the Netherlands I felt cut off from news voice coming from so far away,” said Geoffrey Nyarota, for- sity. “Nothing in the world, not even a at home,” he said. “I realized I would have liked a newspa- mer editor-in-chief of the Daily News, who has been in exile A voice for Lebanese freedom is silenced. ministerial portfolio, could tempt him per with Zimbabwean news available for the diaspora.” in the United States since December 2002. to turn his back on his principles. No Media-in-exile also include Studio Seven, a radio service Still, the exile media play an important role for the dias- matter how difficult the circum- on the U.S.-government funded Voice of America in Wash- pora. Daniel Mololeke, who recently launched an organiza- By Kamel Labidi stances, he guarded his freedom of ington that is staffed mainly by exiled Zimbabwean jour- tion of expatriate Zimbabwean journalists called the Media thought. His articles mirrored his Reference Group, said the exile media maintain unity and thoughts exactly.” build identity in the diaspora. “Media is the glue that holds Ghassan Tueni, the publisher of Zimbabweans living outside their country together,” said Al-Nahar who convinced Qassir to Mololeke, a former lawyer and now a columnist for New- BEIRUT, Lebanon A bomb exploded in his Alfa return from France 13 years ago, said Zimbabwe.com. s a thoughtful and provocative Romeo on June 2, plunging the Arab he symbolized “the successful jour- columnist, Samir Qassir knew world’s beleaguered independent jour- nalist, thinker, liberator, and academ- hether Zimbabwean journalists become entrenched in Ahe had many enemies, includ- nalists and democracy advocates into ic.” Qassir, who had a doctorate from Wexile appears closely linked to political and economic ing the chiefs of the Lebanese and Syr- grief and despair. the Sorbonne, wrote for many news- developments at home. The majority of Zimbabwean exiles ian secret police. Qassir managed to be both charis- papers, including Le Monde Diploma- interviewed for this report told CPJ it would take not only “I, whom the security services matic and academic; international tique of Paris. the end of Mugabe’s rule, but reform of the country’s media failed to silence, will not be silenced human rights groups are indebted to “Now I wonder if he had stayed in laws, and a loosening of the ruling party Zanu-PF’s control by you,” he told right-wing activists him as a result. He helped researchers France, would he have been killed? for conditions to allow their return. At least some, though, who tried to prevent him from reading and campaigners plan their work and That is the tragedy and the catastrophe say they would return now if there were job opportunities a message of support from Syrian provided them with contacts in with which I live every day,” Tueni con- in journalism. intellectuals at a rally in Beirut’s Mar- Lebanon and other Arab countries. His fided at a memorial ceremony in July at Nyarota, the former Daily News founder and editor, said tyrs’ Square in March. strategic thinking and courage unnerved the American University of Beirut. l e h c

t the return of exiled journalists is important to the future of He quieted the hecklers and read security agents, who harassed him and Qassir, a Lebanese and French i W h

t democracy in Zimbabwe. Nyarota, who hopes to return the message, which backed the uprising confiscated his passport in 2001. When national, was 45 and had two daughters. e b a

s home, noted that national elections in 2001, when inde- against 29 years of Syrian dominance I first met Qassir in 2000 at his small His widow, Gisele Khoury, a i l E / J

P pendent media outlets still dotted Zimbabwe’s media land- of Lebanon. It also urged Lebanese not prominent television journalist, called C scape, were far more competitive than this year’s vote, to vent their anger at Damascus on for an international investigation with Daniel Mololeke, now a Johannesburg-based columnist for NewZimbabwe.com, is trying to organize Zimbabwe’s exiled when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was innocent Syrians working in Lebanon. French participation. She and his journalists. nearly shut out of press coverage. Qassir, an architect of the emerging close friends established the Samir Though critics accused the Zanu-PF of manipulating democracy movement, then hammered Qassir Cultural Foundation to pro- nalists. An online version of the Daily News is produced out this year’s polls, “cheating was not necessary for them to home the message in his own words. mote his legacy and protect press of South Africa, while NewZimbabwe.com, featuring win,” Nyarota said. The lack of media diversity, he said, The following month, Damascus freedom in the Arab world. tabloid-style news and commentary online, is produced out ensured the ruling party’s victories. withdrew its troops under international Few deaths of Arab journalists of Wales. In August, Zimbabwean journalists in London For now, financial and professional needs are plentiful, pressure, and Qassir said nothing have prompted such anger and sad- launched Zimbeat.com, a news, culture, and commentary both in Zimbabwe and in the exiled community. Scores of could stop the march toward democ- ness in the region and around the Web site. journalists in Zimbabwe have been left unemployed in their racy. “The ruling relics of the Baath world. Hundreds of journalists, Mugabe’s government has taken notice. The state- profession by the closing of media outlets. Some exiled jour- (Party) are handling the situation in activists, and students took to the owned Herald newspaper has published articles lambast- nalists seek funding for new and existing media projects; Syria the way they used to control streets of Beirut in June to protest the i d ing The Zimbabwean as “a propaganda tool for the former others need professional work, training, and education. Lebanon, making mistake after mistake i murder, and United Nations Secretary a S l colonial power Britain.” Nyaira and some of her colleagues started the Associa- and managing at the same time to stir a General Kofi Annan called for the m a J /

Despite their growth, the exile media face serious chal- tion of Zimbabwean Journalists in the United Kingdom as a hostility among the people,” Qassir s killers to be brought to justice. For r e t u

lenges. Reliant on private donations and charitable founda- first step in addressing those needs. “There is no ques- wrote in his column in Al-Nahar on e weeks, articles in Lebanese and for- R tions, with little or no advertising revenue, they struggle to tion—eventually people will go back,” she said. “And when May 27. It proved to be his last. Within eign newspapers paid tribute—calling Colleagues raise Samir Qassir’s coffin in be financially viable. And while these outlets have had suc- we do, there will be a lot of work to do.” I a week, he was dead. front of Al-Nahar in central Beirut, him the “Martyr of Freedom and cess reaching the diaspora, their reach within Zimbabwe is where a huge poster of Qassir hangs. Democracy,” the “Professor of Inde- Hundreds of mourners flocked to his limited to urban and affluent populations. pendent Journalism and Ethics” and For updates on threats to Zimbabwe’s journalists, visit Kamel Labidi, a freelance journalist funeral amid calls for an international With shoestring budgets, limited access to government www.cpj.org and CPJ consultant, lives in Egypt. inquiry into his assassination. the “Prince of the Pen.” I

30 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 31 DISPATCHES

being paranoid,” Urias said, shaking his head. But when Jiménez asked about a back door Urias showed him the way. Later, Jiménez telephoned a col- A Fighter Goes Missing league to postpone a dinner, saying he had to meet a source he described as nervous. A state official told authori- Mexican reporter Alfredo Jiménez Mota took on drug lords. ties that he gave Jiménez a ride to a convenience store that evening but did not see him again, Morales said. By Michael Marizco Jiménez made a telephone call shortly afterward to a federal prosecutor, the editor said. Authorities have ques- tioned both officials. Three days later, Jiménez’s father HERMOSILLO, Mexico police chief for alleged drug traffick- tarting out, Jiménez worked as a and editors from El Imparcial filed a s a boy, Alfredo Jiménez Mota ing in a border town; and he riled Mex- Sfeature writer at a Sinaloa news- missing person report with the Sonora wanted to be a boxer. Instead, ico’s most powerful drug cartels by paper, but he hated covering the mere Attorney General’s Office. Police found Ahe became a bare-knuckle naming names. “Those stories distin- surface of Mexican life. Jiménez wanted the reporter’s cell phone, police scan- reporter, taking on drug lords and guished the type of reporter he was,” to dig deeper into the drug smuggling ner, radio and all his clothes in his corrupt officials along Mexico’s bor- Morales said. rackets plaguing the country, and he apartment, together with his pass- der with the United States. The 25- Jiménez idolized Jesús Blancor- got his chance at the Culiacán daily El port. The case was turned over to fed- year-old, who nearly flunked school nelas, publisher of the Tijuana weekly, Debate. He showed his mettle as a eral investigators in May; tips and because he spent too much time in Zeta, who nearly died in an assassi- reporter early on when assigned to sightings have been reported, but the offices of his local newspaper, nation attempt in 1997. “That man cover what could have been a simple nothing has come of them. quickly earned a reputation as a jour- was like his guide,” said Morales, car crash, said former colleague Ismael The disappearance has baffled nalistic slugger for his exposure of recalling that his reporter talked Bojórquez Perea, editor for Rio Doce in investigators. In transcripts of a meet- organized crime. about Blancornelas incessantly and Sinaloa. In December 2003, a gangster ing between El Imparcial staff and fed- On April 2, Jiménez told a col- smiled when a colleague compared and a police commander were involved eral investigators, Mexico’s top drug league he was slipping out to meet a him to the publisher. in a car crash. The commander could prosecutor, Jose Santiago Vasconce-

identify the man—but let him go. o

“nervous source.” He never came c los, said drug cartels were capable of z i r back. Family, friends, and journalists Ignoring a threat from the gang, a “all types of barbarities.” He pointed M l e at El Imparcial, his newspaper in the Jiménez wrote the full story. a out that the Arellano Félix cartel in h c i northwestern city of Hermosillo, have Jiménez, who lived alone, was care- M Tijuana and the Osiel Cardenas not heard from him since. ful to protect his family, telling sources A soldier guards the offices of El Imparcial on August 30 as press executives from Guillen organization in Tamaulipas Mexico’s northern states have that his parents lived in Culiacán when throughout northern Mexico gather to issue the “Hermosillo Declaration.” The executives dispose of victims’ remains by burn- agreed to work together to protect their reporters. Alfredo Jiménez Mota, who covered become some of the most hazardous their home was actually many hours drug trafficking for El Imparcial, went missing in April. ing them in barrels of diesel oil. places in Latin America for journal- away. “He wanted the danger. He was “Sometimes I tell my wife that our ists, according to research by the just excited by that life,” said his weeks after the Fuentes shooting and mother, sounding panicked for the son wanted recognition,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists. mother, Esperanza Mota Martinez. came to Hermosillo in the state of first time, his mother said. reporter’s father, Jose Alfredo Jiménez Jiménez, eager for fame, went after That excitement was evident on Sonora. Three men were following him. He Martinez. “He wanted to be a powerful the big names and refused to pull September 11, 2004, when he heard of Sonora is home to drug smuggling went to the Hermosillo police depart- journalist who was known interna- punches. He quickly made enemies, the killing of a drug trafficker’s brother. cartels that have escaped close scrutiny ment, where officers told him he was tionally.” The father played with his said El Imparcial Assistant Editor As a reporter for El Debate he predicted in the local media—even though its paranoid. eyeglasses at his simple kitchen table. P

Jorge Morales Borbon. He angered the A correctly that the shooting of Rodolfo border with the U.S. state of Arizona On the open door he has pasted a a i v

Attorney General’s office by hounding l Carrillo Fuentes would trigger a war is second only to south Texas for iecing together accounts from sticker with his son’s missing person a i c r its Sonoran bureau over dropped a among the drug cartels for control of drug smuggling. It is the entry point Pfamily, friends, and colleagues, it photograph and a telephone number. p m I investigations; he investigated a l the Tamaulipas crossing point to Texas. for more than half of all illegal appears that Jiménez walked into a He began to cry. E In the ensuing months, more than 500 migrants arrested attempting to enter restaurant owned by a childhood “I suppose he has that now. Every- In the hours before he vanished, Alfredo Michael Marizco covers border issues Jiménez Mota told a friend that he people were killed along the border the United States. friend, Rodolfo Urias, at about 4 p.m. body knows he’s missing.” I for the Arizona Daily Star of Tucson. CPJ feared he was being followed. The from Baja California to Chihuahua. Jiménez tried to turn the spotlight on April 2. He said two men were out- young reporter, who tried to spotlight At the urging of a friend, Jiménez on the cartels, but even he became side in a Volkswagen Beetle taking Americas Program Coordinator Carlos drug cartel activities, has not been seen For updates on threats against Mexican Lauría contributed to this story. since April. left the violent city of Culiacán two frightened. In February, he called his his photograph. “I told him to quit journalists, visit www.cpj.org.

32 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 33 RADIO WAVES

Award. “They aren’t running down the street, gun in hand, chasing after newspaper vendors.” Instead, the government tries “to give the impression of being an open Freedom Delayed state that is freeing the media and all that—when in fact we are dealing with a sophisticated repression,” added One station’s struggle highlights Cameroon’s subtle repression. Njawé, who became a symbol of Africa’s press freedom struggle after frequent jail terms for challenging Biya By Alexis Arieff in his popular newspaper, Le Messager. “It was obvious that by the time

they lifted the seals, the equipment Water damaged the ceilings and some e u

would be unusable,” Njawé said. “And g of the equipment at Freedom FM’s n e studios in Douala. Pius Njawé, above, so they would be able to say with M e l

è says the government freed a “corpse.” s reedom FM is Free at Last,” good conscience, ‘We have freed the i G Cameroon’s Post trumpeted radio station,’ whereas in fact they “Fon July 18. But freedom for were freeing a corpse.” equipment, hired staff, and took out ing, including the station’s suit before the stillborn radio station conceived Cameroonian journalists say that newspaper ads announcing Freedom the African Commission, which had the by award-winning journalist Pius rather than issue formal broadcast FM’s launch on May 24, 2003. But at potential to embarrass the govern- Njawé came at a price. When the gov- licenses the government has relied on noon on May 23 the Communications ment. In August, the state-owned daily ernment finally unsealed the studios a nebulous system of “provisional Ministry told him he had not followed Cameroon Tribune said the Communi- in the port city of Douala—two years authorization,” which leaves broad- proper procedures and could not go cations Ministry would begin accepting after the station’s scheduled open- casters in a legal limbo where they are on air. applications from private broadcasters ing—neglect and leaky roofs had liable to be closed down if they anger “While I was trying to reach the for official broadcasting licenses. destroyed or damaged its expensive the authorities. ministry in order to understand what Mbonjo said that a committee broadcasting equipment. “It’s not a license, it’s not a con- was happening, the army, the police, drawn from several government min- “Yes, they lifted the seals from Free- tract, it doesn’t give you any rights— and the gendarmerie simply circled istries, as well as the National Com- dom FM,” Njawé said. “But this is a poi- they could take it away the next day,” the building, invaded the studios, and munications Council, a nominally soned gift.” It could be months before said Darian Pavli, an attorney with the occupied the area,” Njawé said. independent media regulatory body, Njawé raises money to repair the stu- Open Society Justice Initiative in New Alain Batongué, a veteran journal- would decide which stations to dios and train new staff. Even then it is York. He helped bring a complaint ist and director of the independent approve for licenses. “This issue of not certain Freedom FM’s promised against the government on behalf of g n o independent voice will get on the air. j Freedom FM to the African Commis- n a

The government ordered the sta- m sion on Human and People’s Rights, a u T

l Journalists say the government relies on a nebulous tion closed in May 2003, the day e u watchdog of the African Union. “So it’s n a before Njawé planned to begin broad- m a great invention for keeping every- system that leaves broadcasters vulnerable to m E / casting, saying Freedom FM failed to P one quiet and under watch,” he added. A submit the proper paperwork. The closure if they anger authorities. A billboard in Yaoundé touts the 2004 re-election of President Paul Biya. Cameroon’s move prevented Freedom FM from government blocked the launch of Freedom FM in the months before the vote. ommunications Minister Pierre covering the 2004 election that CMoukoko Mbonjo disputed such returned President Paul Biya to office Although journalists complain of gov- record, independent observers said. criticism. “The system of provisional daily Mutations, said Biya’s govern- licenses will not drag on with me,” he for another seven years, a vote ernment intimidation when reporting But repression continues in a more authorization has greatly benefited ment would have had a compelling said. “It will go very quickly.” marred by allegations of fraud and on sensitive issues, this nation of 16 subtle and legalistic form, with jour- radio and television owners” by allow- motive to keep Freedom FM off the air Local journalists are skeptical, and media self-censorship. Biya, in office million on the Gulf of Guinea boasts a nalists subject to lawsuits and regula- ing them to operate without paying in an election year. Radio is popular, it some expressed doubt that licenses for 23 years, is one of Africa’s longest- diverse press and many private radio tory actions, according to research by licensing fees, he told CPJ. The minis- has a wider reach than newspapers, would be issued in a timely fashion. serving leaders. stations today. the Committee to Protect Journalists. ter said Cameroon had more than 60 and Njawé was a proven critic, he said. Njawé and the Open Society Justice Until the late 1990s, the govern- “(Security forces) no longer invade private radio stations, including “radios After two years of negotiations and Initiative are asking the African Com- he case illustrates the evolution of ment frequently jailed journalists, newsrooms with guns and nightsticks that do not at all favor the govern- under a new communications minister, mission to monitor the government’s Tpress restrictions in Cameroon. including Njawé, on charges such as to break computers and confiscate ment … which continue to exist, and the ministry signed an agreement with handling of Freedom FM’s application. “insulting the president.” Internation- equipment,” said Njawé, who, in 1991, have never had any problems.” Free Media Group to allow the station “Sophisticated repression,” Njawé Alexis Arieff is research associate for al pressure made Cameroon sensitive was one of the first journalists to win Njawé filed for permission to to open. As part of the deal both sides said, “requires a sophisticated response CPJ’s Africa program. to criticism of its press freedom CPJ’s International Press Freedom broadcast in fall 2002. He bought agreed to drop litigation over the clos- from the international community.” I

34 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 35 CORRESPONDENTS

bug. He began covering the conflict, acknowledged this was absurd, and cover the first anniversary of the traveling with his RFE/RL colleague gave me a temporary residency per- tragedy in September, but police pre- and mentor, Andrei Babitsky, whose mit. They told me to wait several vented him from working. own reporting on Chechnya has months and hand in all my identifica- Bagrov’s lack of a passport affects enraged the Russian government. tion papers to the local court. I did more than his professional life. In Reporting trips have been out of this, and after about a month and a June, his wife Marina gave birth to the question for Bagrov since August half, I did receive a Russian Federa- their first child, Daniil. He could not 25, 2004, when FSB agents rang his tion passport.” register the birth. “Marina will have to doorbell at 8 a.m. Ten men barged in This was the passport that the FSB register him, and eventually, when this and began turning over his apartment. agents confiscated during the raid on is cleared up, I’ll have to ‘adopt’ my “They announced they were his apartment in August 2004. Four own son,” he says with some irony, searching for materials that could be months later, Bagrov was tried on just 10 days after becoming a father. used to forge official documents,” charges of using false documents to Marina, whom Bagrov describes as a Bagrov recalls. “They said they would obtain the passport. The prosecutor tremendous moral support, has her- also be looking for weapons, ammuni- alleged that the stamp and signature self received threatening phone calls tion, and narcotics. They watched as I of the judge granting Bagrov Russian referring to her as “Bagrov’s widow.” put on my clothes. It took some effort citizenship were forgeries. The court His editor at RFE/RL in Moscow, to make sure they didn’t watch as my turned down a request by Bagrov’s Oleg Kusov, has another theory about s

n wife got dressed.” attorney for an independent analysis what may have drawn the ire of o i t a

u The agents spent five and a half of the judge’s signature. Bagrov was authorities. Kusov thinks Bagrov is t i S

Reporter Yuri Bagrov, an e hours rifling through every book and convicted and ordered to pay a 15 not so much an irritant for Russian m e r ethnic Russian, grew up in t paper. Bagrov stood in dismay as they thousand ruble (US$500) fine, which federal authorities as he is for local x Soviet Georgia and lived in E n Russia for more than a i went through his wife’s underwear he did, after an appeals court upheld officials and FSB agents in North Osse- m s i l

decade. Yet the government a and dug into the soil of the potted the verdict. tia. Kusov, himself an Ossetian and n r

pulled his internal passport, u

o houseplants. The agents confiscated After paying the fine, Bagrov native of Beslan, says Bagrov may be J

effectively restricting him r o f his internal passport, birth certificate, decided to apply again for a Russian viewed as an outsider, someone with- to his hometown. r e t n

e college diploma, computer, tape passport. In March, he submitted out the family and local ties necessary C recorder, and video and audiotapes. copies of his identification papers to for social survival in the Caucasus. “I asked how I could possibly use a his local passport office and was told Kusov says Alexander Dzasokhov, Reporter Without a Country tape recorder to forge a document,” to wait for six months. On August 31, until recently the president of North Bagrov remembers. The men pro- the passport office sent him a letter Ossetia, was “categorically against” ceeded to search his car. informing him that his request for the presence of foreign journalists in In Russia, a prominent Caucasus reporter is stripped of a passport. Bagrov was called in for question- Russian citizenship had been denied. his republic. Kusov remembers that ing and asked how he had become a Bagrov was told he could not apply when he was working as a reporter in Russian citizen. He explained that he again until February 26, 2006—one the republic, he felt very uncomfort- By Martha Wexler had grown up an ethnic Russian in year from the day he paid the fine. able. “But I held on,” he says, “thanks Soviet Georgia. In 1992, after the This latest rejection came as a to my personal ties.” Bagrov, however, breakup of the Soviet Union, he heavy blow for Bagrov. “I don’t know is a Russian originally from Georgia, a VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia Without identification papers, Bagrov 2004 piece about kidnappings in the moved across the border to the Russ- what to do. I don’t know how I can neighboring state that has strained f authorities want to muzzle jour- can’t be accredited to cover stories or Russian republic of Ingushetia. “I ian republic of North Ossetia. His live, if I can’t work,” he says, his voice relations with Ossetia. nalists, they can pull their press even pass through the many police wrote about the complicity of FSB grandparents lived in the republic’s breaking. Kusov says of Bagrov: “He simply Ipasses. But Federal Security Service checkpoints on Russian roads. agents in this. The father of one of the capital, Vladikavkaz, and he enrolled wasn’t under the control of the local (FSB) agents have gone a step further. Bagrov began reporting as a free- kidnap victims was a former judge at the local university. or months, Bagrov tried to work, as authorities, and they do control every They confiscated reporter Yuri Bagrov’s lancer for The Associated Press and who conducted his own investigation Bagrov registered his residency in Fbest he could, for the Russian serv- journalist working in the republic, internal passport, effectively strip- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty into the abduction. He gave me the Vladikavkaz in 1992, but ran into ice of RFE/RL. He reported inside the including those who work for national ping him of his citizenship and mak- (RFE/RL) from his base in the city of name of the FSB commander involved trouble with his documents in 2003, city limits of Vladikavkaz and did Russian media. ing him a prisoner in his hometown. Vladikavkaz in 1999. He was known for and the license plate numbers of the when the Russian government adopted phone interviews. But the authorities “You know, some reporters in North investigative pieces, including stories cars used in the kidnapping.” a new passport format. He went to then lifted his accreditation for the Ossetia even resort to writing under Martha Wexler is senior editor of that revealed closely held casualty fig- exchange his old Soviet passport and biggest news story in Vladikavkaz— pseudonyms—men take women’s names “Weekend All Things Considered” on ures for Russian military and police agrov, who studied genetics in col- was told he was not a Russian citizen, the trial of a Chechen charged in last and vice versa,” Kusov says. “But Yuri forces in Chechnya. Blege, had no formal journalistic although he had lived in Russia for 11 year’s terrorist attack on a school in was independent.” National Public Radio. She reported for I NPR from Russia this summer. Irina When asked which of his reports training. But after Russian forces years, and both his mother and wife Beslan. Bagrov hitched a ride with fel- Mikhalyova, NPR’s Moscow bureau might have cost him his passport, the launched the second Chechen war in were Russian citizens. low journalists to Beslan, 25 kilome- For updates on Bagrov’s case, visit producer, contributed to this report. 29-year-old Bagrov points to a May late 1999, Bagrov caught the reporting “At the passport office, they ters (15 miles) from Vladikavkaz, to www.cpj.org.

36 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 37 UPDATE

ical of the government’s reconstruc- tion efforts. “It is more open for local journalists after the tsunami,” says Nurdin Hasan, head of the AJI-Aceh, adding, “particularly if you compare After the flood it to the previous situation under martial law.” Large amounts of aid money have Freer press emerges from tsunami devastation in Aceh. flowed in since the tsunami, includ- ing funds earmarked for media reha- bilitation. The Jakarta-based broad- By Shawn W. Crispin caster, 68H, which provides program- ming to 420 radio stations nation- wide, was quickest to react to the cri- sis, providing temporary transmitters and equipment for seven of its Aceh- BANDA ACEH, Indonesia had lost friends and relatives to the based members. aiful Bahri’s home and the radio killer wave. Foreign aid workers cred- Santosa, 68H’s founder, who like station where he worked for 20 it the media’s rapid reporting of pub- many Indonesians goes by one name, Syears were swept away with lic health and relocation announce- sees an opportunity in crisis. His much of the coastal town of Sigli on ments with helping to prevent disease media group plans to help establish or December 26, 2004. But within two and starvation. Nearly three-quarters rehabilitate another 20 stations across i r T

weeks Saiful was reporting on the of the region’s 45 or so radio stations the underdeveloped region by 2006. g n a d

tsunami’s devastation and was com- were hit by the tsunami, and many of “We see an opportunity from the a D / s piling “missing person” and “I’m alive” them were destroyed. Almost all are tsunami to open access to information r e t u e

announcements for Sigli’s radio sta- now back on air. Aceh’s only local tel- in more remote areas,” he says. R tion, Megaphone FM. A friend of Saiful evision station, state-run TVRI-Aceh, Established news outlets, mean- An Acehnese boy looks at photographs of more than 50 Serambi staffers killed in the December 2004 tsunami. gave the station space in his home lost 12 staff members, but it, too, was while, took a little longer to get back and promised it could stay for the quick to resume broadcasting. on air. Radio Prima FM, which lost four training and advocacy organization, had pressure from GAM and TNI (the military matters is still taboo, while next two years rent-free. Serambi, then Aceh’s only local of its 22 reporters, its office building, has aired a series of hard-hitting Indonesian military),” says Syambul covering the GAM can be risky. One Saiful now works in a house, but he newspaper, lost 54 of its 200 staff as and all of its equipment, was broad- reports since the tsunami, including Kahar, chief editor and founder of print reporter told CPJ that he and returns home each evening to a tent in well as its offices, printing press, and casting again by January 20, 2005— investigative stories showing that Serambi. “Even when we wrote a bal- several colleagues were harassed by a refugee camp where he, his wife, and equipment. Remarkably, the daily albeit from its proprietor’s back yard, reconstruction authorities have used anced story, still both sides were mad police intelligence officers, who fol- daughter have taken shelter since the broadsheet was publishing just five where the station’s former storage illegally harvested timber to build with us,” he says. “After the tsunami, lowed them and made threatening disaster. “We never thought this sort of days after the wave. For weeks it was room has been converted into a studio homes and accusations that officials things changed. Now nobody is pres- phone calls after they wrote about thing could happen,” he says. “It will given away free. and seven of its reporters now live in are hoarding rather than distributing suring us. We can play an independent the GAM. According to AJI-Aceh, take a very long time before we return tents. Uzair, Radio Prima’s news direc- medicines donated by European coun- role.” Serambi’s circulation has jumped another local journalist was recently to normal—if we ever do.” he public’s hunger for news of tor, hosted a popular call-in show tries. “Before the tsunami,” says Yon 25 percent since the tsunami, due par- forced to hand over his tapes to a sen- Aceh’s fledgling media were par- Treconstruction and rehabilitation before the tsunami hit. With the eas- Thayrun, the program’s news director, tially to its now freer reporting of the ior military officer after interviewing a ticularly hard hit by the tsunami. Of efforts has allowed Aceh’s historically ing of government restrictions, Uzair “airing such criticism of the govern- conflict, Kahar says. GAM leader. about 1,000 journalists in the region, restricted media to operate more is exploring new, sometimes contro- ment would have been unimaginable.” The media were restricted in their Still, the media are eager to cover around 100 were killed and 70 were freely. In the immediate aftermath of versial, subject matter—leading to a coverage of earlier peace deals in 2001 the peace deal’s “truth and reconcilia- forced to live in camps, according to the tsunami, the Indonesian govern- surge in the station’s audience, he ournalists and editors hope the and 2002, which both unraveled. Now, tion” measures, which promise to the Alliance of Indonesian Journalists ment eased many of the restrictions it claims. In mid-August, he hosted a Jnew era of openness will extend journalists hope to be able to monitor unearth information about past abus- in Aceh (AJI-Aceh). An estimated had imposed on reporting from Aceh, talk show that debated whether the beyond monitoring tsunami recon- the ceasefire and planned withdrawal es and atrocities on both sides. The 170,000 Indonesians were killed or where a rebellion had raged for nearly post-tsunami influx of Western aid struction to checking the implementa- of 50,000 Indonesian troops, and the opportunity for such investigative are still missing, while more than 30 years and where martial law was workers carried an increased risk of tion of a new peace deal. On August disarming of some 3,000 rebels. “If reports will arise after the Indonesian 500,000 people lost their homes. frequently imposed. Indonesian and HIV/AIDS transmission to the local 15, the government in Jakarta and the someone gets killed, we will expose military has withdrawn and GAM Yet Saiful’s determination to get foreign reporters were given unprece- population, a rumor that had gained rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who did it,” says Isfandiar, a reporter rebels are reintegrated into society, back on the air was shared by other dented access to the resource-rich currency in some communities. “We signed an accord to end three decades for Rakyat Aceh, a newspaper estab- local journalists say. “We want our journalists in Aceh, many of whom region on the northern tip of Sumatra. are testing new waters,” Uzair says. of fighting that has cost 15,000 lives lished three weeks after the tsunami. country to be a democratic one,” says The media still enjoy those free- “Peunegah Aceh,” a daily radio pro- in a region of four million people. “Now is our golden chance to establish Kahar, the Serambi editor. “We want to Shawn W. Crispin is a freelance jour- doms and have taken the opportunity gram produced in cooperation with The print media, are testing new [media] independence.” play our role to make sure this peace nalist and CPJ’s Asia program consultant. to publish and broadcast reports crit- Internews Network, a U.S.-based media boundaries. “Before the tsunami we Perhaps, but reporting on some lasts a long time.” I

38 Fall | Winter 2005 Dangerous Assignments 39 KICKER n r e t S k c i M : n o i t a r t s u l l I

40 Fall | Winter 2005