MONITORING MEDIA FREEDOM Violence as a tool to silence journalists

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Friday 26 July 2019

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VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

Above: Journalist Vadim Komarov died on 20 June from injuries sustained when he was attacked with a hammer in broad daylight on 4 May in the town of Cherkasy, Ukraine.

This week Index's Monitoring and Advocating Media Freedom project published three reports detailing the use of physical violence against journalists in Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Next week, reports on Azerbaijan and Belarus will be released.

In Russia, dozens of independent outlets have closed or changed ownership and editorial policy in the last ten years. Numerous media outlets are still fighting to survive and produce quality journalism as their reporters face increasing threats of physical violence. Independent media sources have been hamstrung by restrictive legislation and police, governmental, and private interference. Physical assaults, detentions, lawsuits, fines, and blocked access are common. Many outlets have chosen to practice self-censorship to protect themselves. Strict new laws limiting press freedom have been introduced, despite having progressive press laws from the 1990s still on the books and a constitutional article guaranteeing freedom of the press. Out of 175 violations recorded in Russia by the Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project between February and June 2019, 20 were physical assaults that came from political figures, police structures, known private individuals and unknown perpetrators. Several of the cases are egregious examples of how physical violence is used to target journalists in Russia.

In Turkey, the government uses national security and terror legislation to censor journalists. Arrests, detentions and trials of media workers are frequent. Turkey’s freedom of the press was curbed after the attempted military coup in July 2016, when over 150 media outlets were shut down. Many journalists working in Kurdish territory were subject to physical violence and threats, and Rohat Aktaş, a journalist who covered the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in the town of Cizre, was killed. Physical attacks on media workers have become rare in recent years. However, Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating Media Freedom project documented seven assaults in Turkey in May, and another one in June 2019. This surge has raised concerns about the continuing pressure on media professionals in the country.

The majority of violations in Ukraine were categorised as physical assaults, attacks to property or blocked access. Most frequently, these actions were taken by agents of the state — whether law enforcement or other governmental structures. The project recorded 16 incidents in which journalists have been subjected to physical assaults, and 17 incidents in which journalists has their equipment and property damaged since February 2019, 4 of which are in both categories. The project’s numbers are corroborated by the National Union of Ukrainian Journalists (NSJU), which recorded 36 incidents targeting journalists since 1 January 2019, including physical assaults and attacks on property, as part of their Index of Physical Safety of Ukrainian Journalists.

#IndexAwards2020

Artist? Campaigner? Digital activist? Journalist?

Nominations for the 2020 Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship are now open. The Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship exists to celebrate individuals or groups who have had a significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world. Index works with the winners to provide longer-term assistance to help fellows maximise their impact and broaden their networks.
Hurry, the deadline is approaching. Public nominations close on 31 July.

IN MEMORY

Commemoration, contemplation and celebration

Greetings dear reader and thank you for joining us. It was a just a couple of weekends ago that we were struck by the sad news that the late, great Andrew Graham-Yooll had passed away in London. Today’s edition of the Buenos Aires Times, our 100th, is designed to honour and pay tribute to this brilliant, influential and courageous journalist, a fantastic writer whose words and presence we were lucky enough to have grace our pages on many occasions over the past two years. -- James Grainger, Editor-in-Chief, Buenos Aires Times

Index magazine editor Rachael Jolley spoke at a memorial service for former editor Andrew Graham-Yooll at the Argentinian embassy, about his contributions and legacy to Index. Graham-Yooll was forced to flee Argentina during the years of dictatorship when critics were being murdered and disappeared. His brave journalism meant that the murders and disappearances continued to be covered in the international media. Jolley said: "I think that Andrew would have enjoyed the service as there was tango music and Malbec wine and lots of conversation, all things that Andrew embraced wholeheartedly. Andrew wrote for Index from its second edition, and then was editor between 1989 and 1993."

Reading List
Andrew Graham-Yooll on Argentina
Index is featuring some of the highlights of his writing for the magazine about his home country Argentina. The pieces featured cover a broad range of topics and events primarily related Argentinian art and journalism, and showcase Graham-Yooll’s fierce integrity and characteristic humor.

A JustGiving campaign has been set up to support Index by Andrew Graham-Yooll's family.
Andrew's daughter Ines wrote: "Dad felt passionately about the work undergone by Index on Censorship."

INDEX ADVOCACY

Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg joined a discussion of artificial interlligence and gender at AllBright in London with Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder of CognitionX, and Akemi Tsunagawa, CEO of chatbot company Bespoke. Ginsberg is also attending the IFEX general assembly in Berlin.

Last Friday, head of advocacy Joy Hyvarinen participated in a panel discussion at the Scottish Press Freedom Summit, organised by Scottish PEN, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Saltire Society in Edinburgh on 19 July. It was a conference exploring modern press freedom through the threats from a range of themes, including journalists’ safety, structural issues, legal challenges, digital security and privacy, freedom of information and platform regulation.

Also read:
Turkey: "Trial is in itself an act of intimidation"
Index joined with other human rights and freedom of expression organisations to condemn the interim judicial decision taken in the second hearing of Turkey's Gezi Park trial.

Ursula von der Leyen must ensure media freedom and protection of journalists are priority
Twenty press freedom organisations have written to the new president of the European Commission to urge that media freedom is made a top priority.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK
22-28 September

Book burner to stand trial in Iowa

On 19 October 2018, the city of Orange City, Iowa, held a LGBT+ pride parade downtown, and a drag queen story hour in the public library. One man, however, had already checked out of the festivities–and he had taken several library books with him.

Paul Dorr, a resident of nearby Ocheyedan and the director of the Christian organisation Rescue the Perishing, posted a live video to Facebook about an hour before the parade was scheduled to start. During the video‘s 29 minutes, Dorr recited a Rescue the Perishing blog post entitled “May God And The Homosexuals of OC Pride Please Forgive Us!” and threw four books he claimed were from the library into a flaming trash can. Dorr explained that he was protesting drag queen story hour, and told viewers that his actions were inspired by the burning by Nazi youth of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a private sexology research institute, in 1933.

Save the Date
26 Sept: Truly Uncensored? LGBTQ+ Young Adult Literature
23 Sept: John Osborne’s Under Plain Covers
23 Sept: Walled In: Writers consider walls in literature and in our lives
More events to be added soon

EVENTS

2-4 August / Index at the Cambridge Folk Festival
Folk tales for grown ups

Join Index on Censorship for a weekend of talks and performances in the Flower Garden at Cambridge Folk Festival (1-4 August 2019).

Full details

7 September / Symposium
The paradox of creative constraints

This public event will reflect on the paradox of creative constraints in contemporary cinema from the Middle East – a day of film screenings and panel discussions with filmmakers, funders and programmers, including some of the most innovative rising talents as well as established experts.

The symposium will offer new insights into filmmaking from the region, revitalising debates on cinematic creativity in sites of conflict and crisis in the Middle East and beyond.

Full details

Forest Folktales explore grisly tales of love and adventure

Its towering pine trees illuminated in green and purple, fairy lights twinkling in the treetops, the Faraway Forest teemed with groups of storytellers who had congregated to share grisly tales of love and adventure. Though it may have seemed so to attendees, Index on Censorship’s Forest Folktales: Uncensored did not take place in a mystical fairyland, but rather at this year’s Latitude Festival, an annual event that brings together visual artists, musicians, dancers, poets, comedians, and chefs in the picturesque woods of Henham Park, in Suffolk.

Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.

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