freedom of press

Foreign Policy's Phelim Kine reports on the many, many threats that Afghanistan journalists face: The Taliban said last year that it would specifically target journalists and NGOs as part of its insurgency, and there were eight journalists killed in 2014. A Human Rights Watch report documented how media outlets are increasingly subject to harassment, threats and violence from security forces and pro-government warlords. And the official Media Violations Investigation Commission, rather than examining if complaints about the accuracy of reporting have merit, directly forward complaints to the Attorney General's office to intiate legal action against journalists. The result? Afghani journalists self-censor in order to protect themselves (this reminds me of how some Mexican news outlets stopped reporting on drug trafficking because of the murders and kidnappings they faced from drug cartels): "A Kabul-based senior newspaper editor told Human Rights Watch that reporting on certain politically connected mujahidin warlords — veterans of the conflicts against both the Soviet occupation and the Taliban — were effectively off limits for his reporters," Kine reports. 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week on World Press Freedom Day that "freedom of expression, independent media and universal access to knowledge will fortify our efforts to achieve lasting results for people and the planet," Pakistan's The Nation reports. The secretary general also criticized attacks on journalists.

An estimated 65 journalists have been assassinated so far this year, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

UNESCO is the entity of the United Nations charged with tracking the freedom of press worldwide.

The InterDependent reports that Guy Berger, UNESCO’s director of the Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development, said UNESCO focuses on the murder of journalists because  “'although many journalists are harassed or imprisoned worldwide, we prioritize our attention on the killings and impunity issues which constitute not only the ultimate form of censorship but also a cycle of unpunished attacks.”'

The Wall Street Journal will now be able to report the names of individuals that British prosecutors plan to implicate in a criminal case alleging that they were involved in a scheme to manipulate "benchmark interest rates," that paper reports today. The judge in the case will not contine a temporary order barring the WSJ from publishing the names in England and Wales as well as to remove the identities of those people on-line. Prosecutors had sought the order. Dow Jones & Co., WSJ's publisher, had called the order "a serious affront to press freedom," WSJ also reported.