Hilbert College

Issues in Mass Communication:

Crimes Against Journalists

- Home - Students - Tutorials -

- Student Papers -

(Note: This paper was written at the University of South Carolina)

by Laura Dickert

23 November 1999

"When you report about things as they are, that's when the trouble starts." -Yusuf Jameel, a Kashmiri journalist

In Arlington, Virginia, the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial stands in remembrance of American journalists who died on assignment or were murdered for what they wrote, photographed, or broadcast (Snyder 1998). Over 1,600 names have been etched into the surface of this monument, which stands as a reminder of the hazards journalists face in order to protect freedom of speech. In the past ten years alone, 494 journalists have been killed in the line of duty (Economist 1998). When asked to describe what journalists must face in order to do their jobs, Miami Herald Photographer Murray Sill said, "It is like being in a meteor shower- you stand in it and gaze up in awe and try to stay out of its way" (Henry 1983).

Today, the most volatile press freedom battlegrounds are contained within societies that have only recently emerged from autocratic or totalitarian rule (Snyder 1998). In the United States, it is believed that the truth will set a person free. However, in foreign countries, the truth can often get you killed (Labbe 1999). For example, Algeria is one of the most dangerous locations for journalistic work. Fifty-nine journalists were killed there in the time period from May 1993 to August 1996. The editor-in-chief of Algeria's leading daily newspaper, Omar Belhouchet, narrowly avoided assassination in May of 1998. He recounts the story as follows:

"It was eight o'clock in the morning and I was taking my children to school as usual. As my daughter got out of the car, I saw someone jump over the balustrade and come quickly behind the car. Only when he got within a meter of the driver's window did I realize that he'd come to assassinate me. Thankfully, the engine was still running. I put the car in first gear, lay down on the passenger seat and took off. Five bullets hit the car, but I survived unharmed" (Seddon 1993).

However, most attacks against journalists are not so unsuccessful. The most horrendous example of a criminal attack on journalists in Algeria occurred to Hamid Mahiout, a reporter with the Liberte newspaper, and his driver, Ahmed Ben Khalfallah. These two men were abducted by their murderers and tortured. Following the abuse, their heads were placed on spikes on the fence of a cultural center (Husarska 1999).

Algeria has been a hotbed of political conflict and a dangerous place for journalists since political conflicts spiraled into a civil war there in 1992 (Husarska 1996). During this year, the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front won the first free elections in Algeria. This victory caused the army-backed government to stop further elections. This block incited the Islamic militants to begin a terrorist campaign against the state of Algeria. The civil war is responsible for over 50,000 civilian deaths and, as previously mentioned, over 59 journalists.

However terrible the situation in Algeria is, it is still only one example of the atrocities committed towards journalists each year. On June 26, 1996, Veronica Guerin, a journalist in Ireland, was assassinated in retaliation for her efforts to expose organized crime lords and activities in her country (Rosen 1996). As she was pulling up to a traffic light, a motorcycle pulled up beside her vehicle and one of the two riders leapt off of the bike and shot Guerin five times in the neck and chest. She died instantly.

Although crimes committed against journalists in other countries seem to receive the most media coverage, journalists in the United States are also at risk. It is not uncommon in the U.S. for reporters and photographers to be abused (Braffman-Miller 1999). Julia Sandridge, a reporter with KMSP-TV in Minneapolis, was brutally beaten unconscious and nearly killed while covering a riot following the Rodney King verdict (Sandridge 1993). She was rammed in the head with the butt of a young man's hand and then kicked in the head. Sandridge was hospitalized following the attack and had to overcome a great deal of psychological distress.

Many organizations have been developed to help journalists deal with the stresses of placing themselves in foreign countries or volatile situations, to defend the rights of the press and the rights of free speech, and to expose people or organizations that have infringed on these rights. One such organization is the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization was founded in 1981 by a group of U.S. journalists in response to the often-brutal treatment of their foreign colleagues by authoritarian governments (Committee to Protect Journalists 1999). The Committee to Protect Journalists warns news organizations where attacks on press freedom are likely to occur, reveals abuses against the press, and acts on behalf of imprisoned and threatened journalists. The group publishes articles and news releases, special reports, a quarterly newsletter, and the most comprehensive annual report on attacks against the press around the world (CPJ 1999). Information for these publications are obtained through full-time program coordinators, located all over the globe, which do independent research, fact-finding missions and firsthand contacts in the field (CPJ 1999).

For example, in 1997, the Committee to Protect Journalists released information concerning the attack of Christian Mbipgo Ngah. Ngah was working for The Herald, a local English-language paper in Cameroon, when he was arrested, tortured, and beaten for several hours at the Santa Gendarmerie Brigade, and released only after promising to stop writing articles critical of former prime minister Achidu Achu or the gendamerie. In yet another report, Ali Hajikuliyev, executive secretary of the Jumkhurriyet opposition newspaper in Azerbaijan, was beaten on a subway platform by policeman after he refused to show them certain documents he had used in an article (Chasnan 1998).

Another organization dedicated to providing legal help to journalists and other news organizations is the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 1999). This committee was founded in 1970, when media figures were frequently subpoenaed to reveal confidential sources. Journalists needed legal assistance to defend their First Amendment rights against these court orders. The RCFP provided this assistance, and also began to publish press releases concerning violations of journalist's rights and crimes committed towards journalists.

For example, in one recent RCFP report, released October 4, 1999, the imprisonment of an American journalist and the killings of both a Dutch and an Indonesian journalist while covering the attacks in East Timor were discussed. The journalists had witnessed the 1991 massacre of hundreds of civilians by the Indonesian government (RCFP 1999). The American journalist, Allan Naim, had just been arrested and expelled from East Timor when the Dutch and Indonesian journalists were shot to death. Naim was only spared from death due to calls to the Indonesian government from the U.S. State Department.

In addition, the Inter American Press Association has moved to defend journalists against physical threats to their First Amendment rights. In 1995, this group launched a project, entitled Unpunished Crimes Against Journalists, to investigate and analyze the causes and consequences behind the unsolved murders of journalists in the Americas (Trotti 1997). The project investigated six cases involving the assassination of journalists and elements which kept the responsible people from being brought to justice: including cover-ups, bribes, jury tampering, and violence against witnesses, judges, prosecutors and victims' relatives (Trotti 1999).

One of the six assassinations studied in Unpunished Crimes Against Journalists in the case of Irma Flaquer, editorial assistant at the daily La Nacion newspaper in Guatemala. On October 16, 1980, several men traveling in two vehicles intercepted her automobile and gunned down her son, who was riding in the car with Flaquer (Trotti 1999). Flaquer was forced into one of the vehicles, never to be seen again. The murders were thought to be in retaliation for her articles criticizing the oppression of the indigenous population of Guatemala and violations of their human rights (Trotti 1999).

In order for people to be fully informed about the world around them, some form of journalism must exist. For this information to be accurate, a journalist's First Amendment rights must be protected. When a journalist fears doing his or her job due to threats of violence, the quality and accuracy of their work is affected. Clearly, the simplest and often the most effective tool of repression is violence, and the murder of a reporter not only silences one voice; it serves to intimidate others and makes the threats against them more credible (Marz 1998). Organizations that investigate crimes against journalists serve to better the mass media and protect basic Constitutional rights.

The real issue with crimes against journalists is how they can be prevented. In order to prevent crimes like the ones previously mentioned, the government and the people must be aware of their existence. Organizations like the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press investigate and raise awareness of these events. Their influence on the national government is key in the fight to protect journalists. Like these groups, people must also enlist the government to provide legislation which protects the rights of journalists and enables them to do their jobs in the safest way possible. Their safety is the only way to ensure accurate and careful reporting. When a reporter feels safe, the quality of his or her work certainly improves.