2006 a bad year for press freedom in RP

SINGAPORE — Sixteen journalists were killed in Asia last year, with Sri Lanka and the Philippines topping the list.

"Murders, assaults, arrests, abusive lawsuits and censorship were the hallmark of 2006 in this country (the Philippines)," Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF or Reporters Without Borders) said in its annual report, released Thursday.

At least 328 journalists were arrested and 517 physically assaulted or threatened, the report said.

In the same report, RSF tagged First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo as the "new enemy" of Filipino journalists after he lodged numerous defamation suits against Filipino writers, editors and publishers critical of the administration of his wife, President Arroyo.

The report noted that the Philippines, where six journalists were killed, had arrested and convicted murder suspects in some cases.

But it said Philippine authorities have failed to stop a continuing wave of anti-media violence, and criticized a number of lawsuits filed against media by Mr. Arroyo.

Seven of the deaths were amid separatist fighting in Sri Lanka, the report said.

It said that in Sri Lanka, pro-government militia and the army have been responsible for some attacks on media members, while the Tiger Tamils have threatened journalists critical of their political position.

The report focused largely on censorship, calling it an "Asian custom."

"There are very few Asian countries which allow absolutely anything to be said or written," it said.

"Governments in Asia still have a number of laws at their disposal which allow them to imprison journalists for press offenses," it said, adding that many leaders also use the press as a propaganda tool.

Chief among the report’s offenders was North Korea, where news content is totally controlled by the government and journalists are under police surveillance and work under the threat of re-education.

The report said Myanmar also imposes an "iron grip" on the media.

In Vietnam and China, whose governments also use the press to put out their own messages, some liberal media emerged - but only to be subsequently suspended, the report said.

The report criticized Thailand’s new military leadership, saying it has shut down hundreds of community radio stations and pressured journalists.

"In the past, we suffered from self-censorship," it quoted an unidentified Thai journalist as saying. "Today, we cannot even investigate the activities of the junta. ... We are being stifled."

Singapore news media use self-censorship on domestic politics, and the government has stifled opposition through measures such as defamation suits, the report said.

It said Singapore’s government also tried to "browbeat the foreign press into submission in 2006" through defamation cases and media laws requiring legal representation and large cash deposits in case of lawsuits.

Independent publications are rare in neighboring Malaysia, where the report said there are strong links between ruling parties and news outlets. "Media concentration in the hands of the families of government members" increased in 2006, it said.

On the positive side, the report lauded India for a press that counterbalances the government.

It also praised Cambodia’s "courageous decision to decriminalize defamation," and hailed Indonesia for dropping the offense of insulting the head of state.

The report praised the increase in private TV channels in Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and India as one of the "genuinely hopeful signs on the continent."

FG the enemy

BAGUIO CITY - Vincent Brossel, Asia Pacific desk head of the RSF, said "despite new arrests of murderers, the authorities failed to stem the wave of violence against journalists" in the Philippines.

Brossel cited the killing of at least six journalists murdered while doing their job in 2006, a majority of whom are radio broadcasters.

Brossel drew an irony that, "while her husband was lodging ‘defamation’ complaints against more than 40 journalists, President Arroyo said, on 18 November 2006, that her government was ‘respectful of press freedom, an institution of Philippines democracy.’"

But on the same day, the RSF official lamented, journalist Ellen Tordesillas, a stern critic of the government received an email warning her: "Your days are numbered."

Brossel further said, "the avalanche of suits brought by the ‘First Gentleman’ in a country where defamation is still a criminal offense, put the liberty of scores of journalists in danger."

In October, eight members of the management on privately-owned daily Malaya narrowly escaped arrest after publishing an editorial accusing Mr. Arroyo of corruption. At least 43 libel cases were leveled against journalists as the First Gentleman claimed P70 million in damages.

In December, various journalists’ organizations also brought a complaint against Mr. Arroyo for violating press freedom and demanding one peso in damages for each Philippine citizen.

The RSF also noted the search and seizure of documents of The Daily Tribune, a national daily newspaper linked to the political opposition after a foiled coup by some military forces prompting the President to declare a state of emergency on Feb. 24, 2006.

In its report, the RSF scored the administration for victimizing "politically-committed" journalists who have fallen in violence as in the case of Mazel and George Vigo who were reportedly killed in Mindanao in June 2006.

"Community media defending the rights of peasant farmers were also targeted," Brossel said. He also specified that in July last year, armed men torched a building housing Radyo Cagayano, one of whose presenters, a peasant union leader, was killed a few months later.

The military is suspected of being behind these attacks, Brossel said.

Brossel however commended authorities after police and the courts resolved some murders of journalists, citing the guilty verdict against four men who killed Marlene Esperat in March 2005, a journalist in Mindanao who exposed corruption in government.

The RSF also noted that there were at least 25 murder attempts and assaults and 10 arrests against journalists in 2006. Brossel also cited media censorship "getting a bit deeper, often because of

local politicians seeking to silence opposition media, like in March 2006, the mayor of Valencia City in Mindanao allegedly ordered the closure of radio dxVR, some of whose presenters were close to their political opponents."

Even in Manila, a program of reports on ABS-CBN was banned by the regulatory authority over the controversial subject of drug use in the country.

Lamenting the dangerous situation of Filipino journalists, Brossel said authorities in Aurora province, in Central Luzon have still failed to mount any search for radio presenter Joey Estriber, a specialist on environmental issues, who was reportedly kidnapped in March.

Estriber, who had been outspoken in his radio program against illegal logging, remains missing. - AP, Artemio Dumlao