Can I keep your secret? STEPHEN GREY Too dangerous to report from war zones? LINDSEY HILSUM Why reporters are too lazy JEAN-PAUL MARTHOZ Out of Africa: a previously untranslated play HENNING MANKELL THE VOICE OF FREE EXPRESSION | 45.02 | SUMMER 2016 | £7.99 Dear all, We are delighted to share this special collection of articles drawn from our milestone 250th issue of Index on Censorship magazine. The 250th issue was dedicated to exploring the increasing threats to reporters worldwide. This collection -- curated from our special report – Truth in Danger, Danger in Truth: Journalists Under Fire and Under Pressure – is packed with must-read features. • Lindsey Hilsum asks if journalists should still cover war zones. • Laura Silvia Battaglia looks how Iraqi reporters train to safely cover their country’s ongoing conflict. • Hazza Al-Adnan explains the extreme dangers faced by Syria’s journalists. • Martin Rowson’s editorial cartoon includes a fat-cat politician that quashes inconvenient questions. • Plus, Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, an early Index supporter, reflects on the magazine’s 1972 launch. The entire 250th issue of the magazine is available on Exact Editions for your mobile or tablet device or can be read on Kindle. Visit www.indexoncensorship.org/subscribe for more details. In the full issue you’ll find: the late Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell exploring colonialism in Africa in an exclusive play extract; Irene Caselli writing about the controversies and censorship of Latin America's soap operas; and Norwegian musician Moddi telling how hate mail sparked an album of music that had been previously banned or silenced. There are also cartoons and illustrations in the full issue by Ben Jennings, Brian John Spencer, Sam Darlow and China’s most famous political cartoonist, Rebel Pepper, who is a nominee for the 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards. Best wishes, Rachael Jolley, editor Contents INDEX ON CENSORSHIP VOLUME 45 NUMBER 02 SUMMER 2016 Risky business RACHAEL JOLLEY 3 The life of a state journalist in Eritrea Why journalists around the world face increasing threats ABRAHAM T. ZERE 34 What it’s really like to work at a highly censored government newspaper Truth in danger, danger in truth Smothering South African reporting Journalists under fire and under pressure CARIEN DU PLESSIS 36 Are racism accusations and Twitter mobs being used to stop truthful coverage at election time? Behind the lines LINDSEY HILSUM 8 Writing with a bodyguard Should reporters still be heading into warzones? CATALINA LOBO-GUERRERO 41 Colombia’s state protection unit has supported journalists We are journalists, not terrorists in danger for 16 years, but does it work? VALERIA COSTA-KOSTRITSKY 11 How reporters around Europe are being silenced by Taliban warning ramps up risk to accusations that their work threatens national security Kabul’s reporters CAROLINE LEES 44 A foreign correspondent recalls safer days in Afghanistan Code of silence and looks at journalists’ challenges today CRISTINA MARCONI 15 Why Italy’s press treads carefully between threats from Writers of wrongs STEVEN BOROWIEC 48 the mafia and defamation laws from fascist times Have Japan’s press clubs created overly cosy relationships between business leaders and the press? Facing the front line LAURA SILVIA BATTAGLIA 18 Iraqi journalists on safety training for reporting The Arab Spring snaps back ROHAN JAYASEKERA 51 Giving up on the graft and the grind The state of the media after the revolution JEAN-PAUL MARTHOZ 22 Why journalists are failing to cover difficult stories Shooting the messengers DUNCAN TUCKER 54 Women investigating sex-trafficking in Mexico Risking reputations FRED SEARLE 24 Young UK writers fear “churnalism” will cost their jobs Is your secret safe with me? STEPHEN GREY 58 Difficulties of protecting sources amid mass surveillance Inside Syria’s war HAZZA AL-ADNAN 28 The extreme dangers faced by local reporters Stripsearch cartoon MARTIN ROWSON 62 A fat-cat politician quashes questions Living in fear for reporting on terror ISMAIL EINASHE 31 Scoops and troops KAYA GENÇ 64 A Kenyan journalist speaks out after going into hiding Interviews with Turkey’s struggling investigative reporters 1 INDEXONCENSORSHIP.ORG 00_index_45-02-syria.indb 1 14/06/2016 17:28:38 In focus Culture Rebel with a cause JEMIMAH STEINFELD 70 A world away from Wallander An interview with China’s most famous political cartoonist HENNING MANKELL 92 The late Swedish crime writer explores colonialism in Soap operas get whitewashed IRENE CASELLI 74 Africa in this exclusive play translation Censorship and controversy in Latin America’s telenovelas “I’m not prepared to give up my words” Are ad-blockers killing the media? 78 MATEI VISNIEC 100 Speigel Online’s Matthias Streitz in a head-to-head debate Norman Manea introduces a surreal Romanian play where with Privacy International’s Richard Tynan rats rule and humans are forced to relinquish language Publishing protest, secrets and stories Posting into the future OLEH SHYNKARENKO 111 LOUIS BLOM-COOPER 82 How Facebook updates during the Maidan Square In the 250th issue of Index on Censorship magazine, an protests in Ukraine were turned into a futuristic novel early supporter remembers its launch Songs that sting MODDI 86 A Norwegian musician on how hate mail about an Israeli Index around the world JOSIE TIMMS 119 concert sparked an album of censored music The What A Liberty! youth project reaches its climax The lost art of letters VICKY BAKER 122 Has the power of personal correspondence been diluted by email, and will historical archives ever be the same? EDITOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Rachael Jolley Josie Timms DEPUTY EDITOR DESIGN Vicky Baker Matthew Hasteley SUB EDITORS COVER Charlotte Bailey, Alex Dudok de Wit, Ben Jennings Jan Fox, Sally Gimson THANKS TO: CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Jodie Ginsberg, Sean Gallagher, Kaya Genç (Turkey), Natasha Joseph Ryan McChrystal (South Africa), Jemimah Steinfeld, Magazine printed by Page Bros., Irene Caselli Norwich, UK Index on Censorship, 292 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1AE, United Kingdom +44 (0) 20 7963 7262 2 INDEXONCENSORSHIP.ORG 00_index_45-02-syria.indb 2 14/06/2016 17:28:38 INDEX Risky business EDITORIAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE Jodie Ginsberg EDITOR, MAGAZINE 45(02): 3/5 | DOI: 10.1177/0306422016657007 by Rachael Jolley Rachael Jolley EDITOR, ONLINE AND NEWS Sean Gallagher FINANCE DIRECTOR David Sewell HE TRUTH IS in danger. Working with Syria, Mexico, Colombia, Afghanistan DEPUTY EDITOR Vicky Baker reporters and writers around the world, and Iraq, all appear in the top 10 tables for T ASSISTANT EDITOR, ONLINE AND NEWS Index continually hears first-hand stories of danger to journalists. In just the last few Ryan McChrystal HEAD OF EVENTS the pressures of reporting, and of how jour- weeks National Public Radio’s photojournal- David Heinemann nalists are too afraid to write or broadcast ist David Gilkey and colleague Zabihullah ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Helen Galliano because of what might happen next. Tamanna were killed in Afghanistan as they SENIOR ADVOCACY OFFICER In 2016 journalists are high-profile tar- went about their work in collecting infor- Melody Patry PROJECT OFFICER gets. They are no longer the gatekeepers to mation, and researching stories to tell the Hannah Machlin media coverage, and the consequences have public what is happening in that war-blasted EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Josie Timms been terrible. Factions such as the Taliban nation. One of our writers for this issue was ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT and IS have found their own ways to push a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan in Susan Shanks out their news, creating and publishing their 1990s and remembers how different it was ARTS ASSOCIATE Julia Farrington own “stories” on blogs, YouTube and other then. Reporters could walk down the street social media. They no longer have to speak and meet with the Taliban without fearing DIRECTORS & TRUSTEES David Aaronovitch to journalists to tell their stories to a wider for their lives. Those days have gone. Chris- (Chair), Anthony Barling, Peta Buscombe, public. This has weakened journalists’ value, tina Lamb, from London’s Sunday Times, Kate Maltby, David McCune, Turi Munthe, and the need to protect them. tells Index, that it can even be difficult to be Sanjay Nazerali, Elaine Potter, David Schles- Around 2,130 journalists were killed be- seen in a public place in Afghanistan now. inger, Mark Stephens tween 1996 and 2014, according to statistics She was recently asked to move on from a PATRONS compiled by Cardiff University and the Inter- coffee shop because the owners were wor- Margaret Atwood, Simon Callow, Steve national News Safety Institute. And in 2015, ried she was drawing attention to the prem- Coogan, Brian Eno, Har- old Evans, Christopher in Colombia, 104 journalists were received ises just by being there. Hird, Lord Joel Joffe, some state protection, after receiving threats. Physical violence is not the only way the Jude Kelly, Michael Palin, Matthew Parris, In Yemen, considered by the Committee to news is being suppressed. In Eritrea, journal- Alexandra Pringle, Gabrielle Rifkind, Sir Protect Journalists to be one of the deadliest ists are being silenced by pressure from one Tom Stoppard, Lady Sue countries to report from, only the extremely of the most secretive governments in the Woodford Hollick brave dare to file a story. And that number is world. Those that work for state media do ADVISORY COMMITTEE Julian Baggini, dwindling fast. Our contacts tell us that the so with the knowledge that if they take a Clemency Burton-Hill, Ariel Dorfman, Michael pressure on local journalists not to do their step wrong, and write a story that the gov- Foley, Andrew Franklin, Conor Gearty, Andrew job is incredible. Journalists are kidnapped ernment doesn’t like, they could be arrested Graham-Yooll, AC and released at will. Reporters for independ- or tortured. Grayling, Lyndsay Grif- fiths, William Horsley, ent media are monitored.