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STORY: UN / JOURNALISTS
TRT: 2:24
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK / RECENT
RECENT - UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
1. Wide shot, exterior, UN headquarters
15 FEBRUARY 2011, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, press conference podium
3. Cutaway, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists:
“Pakistan, where suicide attacks are on the rise, was the world’s deadliest country for the press in 2010 with eight journalists killed in connect with their work – a significant portion of the worldwide total of 44. In 2010, China’s brutal suppression of ethnic journalism and Iran’s sustained crackdown of critical voices have pushed their numbers of journalists imprisoned worldwide to its highest level since 1996 with 145 journalists in total behind bars. Thirty-four journalists imprisoned in each country, China and Iran, those two countries make up nearly half of the worldwide total.”
5. Cutaway, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists:
“As recent events in Egypt have made clear the stakes are enormous. Egyptian authorities clearly sought to curtail the ability of the press to cover the demonstrations in order to lay the groundwork for violent assault on protestors. That effort did not succeed but as unrest spreads through the Middle East, so do attacks on journalists. In the last few days, we have documented press freedom violations in Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Jordon, etc.”
7. Cutaway, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists:
“We have been making an effort to go through the cables as they are released and to see if any journalists are names in those cables and if as a result they could be endangered. We did determine that had occurred in a number of occasions. We did notify WikiLeaks and those names were largely redacted so that’s certainly positive but we do have some concerns and we are trying to address those concerns in a pragmatic way.”
9. Cutaway, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists:
“Level of violence in Iraq, while still very high, has declined dramatically. I mean Iraq was the most dangerous conflict that we had ever documented in our 30 years and the level of violence now is greatly reduced.”
11. Cutaway, journalists
12. Wide shot, end of press conference
The latest "Attacks on the Press" publication by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that amid a rash of suicide attacks, Pakistan became the world’s deadliest country for the press in 2010, with at least eight journalists killed there in connection with their work, constituting a significant portion of the worldwide death toll.
The majority of fatalities in Pakistan were caused by suicide attacks or crossfire during militant strikes.
At a press conference at United Nations (UN) headquarters today (15 Feb), CPJ’s Executive Director Joel Simon said “China’s brutal suppression of ethnic journalism and Iran’s sustained crackdown of critical voices have pushed their numbers of journalists imprisoned worldwide to its highest level since 1996 with 145 journalists in total behind bars.”
According to the CPJ’s year-end analysis, at least 42 journalists were killed around the world in 2010, with Iraq, Mexico, and Honduras also ranking high for journalism-related fatalities.
In recent weeks, there also have been numerous assaults on journalists in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt, where civil unrest had led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak. CPJ reported that there were 52 assaults on journalists in Egypt alone.
Simon noted that as unrest spreads through the Middle East, “so do attacks on journalists,” adding that in the last few days, “we have documented press freedom violations in Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Jordon, etc.”
Worldwide, nearly 90 percent of the victims were local reporters covering issues that affected their communities. About five international journalists were killed in connection with their work.
Deaths in Iraq, after plummeting in 2008, appear to have leveled off amid persistent insecurity. Four Iraqi journalists were killed during the year compared to over 20 in each year from 2004 to 2007.
Simon confirmed that level of violence in the country “has declined dramatically.”
When asked about dangers of naming journalists in WikiLeaks cables, Simon said that CPJ continues to monitor the cables and has, in a number of occasions, notified “WikiLeaks and those names were largely redacted.”
In the past, as WikiLeaks began to release classified diplomatic cables, CPJ reviewed them and found around a dozen instances in which journalists were mentioned.
CPJ’s database of journalists killed for their work in 2010 includes reports on each victim as well as a statistical analysis. The organization also maintains a database of all journalists killed since 1992.
