Courts sentence journalists for contempt, slander worldwide

Sabir Shah ,Thursday, November 13, 2014 
LAHORE: Journalists and media houses all over the world have often been punished by their respective courts and media regulators for committing culpable crimes such as false reporting, defamation, libel, slander, extortion, getting their palms greased and even for not contemptuously disclosing sources of their stories before the presiding judges, a cumbersome research conducted by the Jang Group/Geo Television reveals.

Starting with India, here follow some widely-publicized global precedents in this context:

1. Not so long ago in November 2012, two senior journalists working an esteemed Indian television channel “Zee News” were arrested on extortion charges.

(Reference: the BBC online edition of November 27, 2012)

Sudhir Chaudhary, head of news, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of business at the “Zee News,” were jailed after they were accused of trying to extort $18 million from an Indian business firm “Jindal Group” in exchange for suppressing reports about the company’s alleged links to a high-profile corruption scandal involving the allocation of coal mining concessions.

Jeddah expats pay tribute to well-known Pakistani journalist

Pakistani Consul Geneal Aftab A. Khokher speaks at the condolence meeting.

JEDDAH: SIRAJ WAHAB
Prominent Saudis, Pakistanis and Indians have paid rich tributes to well-known Urdu sports journalist Zafar Iqbal who died four days ago in Chaklala, Pakistan. He was 60 and leaves behind two daughters and a son.
He was a popular figure in the Saudi cricketing community because of his nearly 20-year association as sports editor with Urdu News, a sister publication of Arab News.
Friends, acquaintances, colleagues, diplomats and sports stars recalled his services in promoting cricket and hockey at a well-attended condolence meeting organized by the Pakistan Journalists Forum (PJF) on Friday.

Nominations open for Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards 2015

Presswire, 4 November 2014
For the past 14 years, the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards have honoured some of the most remarkable fighters for free expression from around the world – from familiar faces like orchestral conductor Daniel Barenboim and education activist Malala Yousafzai to lesser known trailblazers like Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat and Azerbaijan's last remaining independent newspaper Azadliq.

* Awards honour journalists, campaigners and artists fighting censorship globally
* Nominations close 27 November 2014
* Nominate at www.indexoncensorship.org/nominations

The awards shine a spotlight on individuals fighting to speak out in the most dangerous and difficult of conditions.

Journalists Silenced As Killers Walk Free

Pakistani journalists protest for their colleague Hamid Mir, who was shot and injured by gunmen in Karachi on Saturday, Monday, April 21, 2014 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP/Shakil Adil)

The report found that between 2004 and 2013, 370 journalists were murdered “in direct retaliation for their work” and that in 90 percent of these cases there was total impunity – “no arrests, no prosecutions, no convictions.”
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 4 2014 - A new report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shows that nine out of 10 cases of journalist killings go unpunished.

The report found that between 2004 and 2013, 370 journalists were murdered “in direct retaliation for their work” and that in 90 percent of these cases there was total impunity – “no arrests, no prosecutions, no convictions.”

CPJ also found that although “in some cases, the assassin or an accomplice has been convicted, in only a handful is the mastermind of the crime brought to justice.”

Democracy incomplete without independent media

LAHORE: Journalists in Pakistan have always paid the price with their lives for speaking the truth, and democracy is incomplete in the absence of an independent media.

These views were expressed by speakers at a seminar titled “Journalism, law and our responsibilities”, held here under the auspices of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA).

Senior anchorperson Hamid Mir, columnist Anjum Rasheed, senior lawyer SM Zafar, Lahore Press Club President Arshad Ansari, renowned columnist Orya Maqbool Jan, Press Council of Pakistan former president Raja Shafqat Abbasi and LHCBA President Shafqat Mehmood Chauhan addressed the audience and shared their views regarding need for liaison between law, legislation, independent media and responsibilities of journalists and masses.

Free and fair journalism

The UN marked on November 2, 2014, the first International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) since the General Assembly passed a resolution to recognise the Day last year. The IDEI is mean to highlight how the culture of impunity around violent crimes against journalists affects not only the journalist community but the societies they live and work in. The resolution urges member states to prevent violence against journalists and media workers and prosecute those responsible. Over 700 journalists have been killed in the course of their duty over the last decade and only one in ten of those cases have resulted in convictions for the alleged offenders. The UN reports that 593 journalists were killed between 2006 and 2013 and less than six percent of those murders have been solved. The reported cases of journalists killed do not include those tortured, kidnapped, detained without charge, or violently attacked and assaulted.

The Dangers of Being a Journalist in Balochistan The media is being targeted on all sides in the name of information control.

By Muhammad Akbar Notezai, 
http://thediplomat.com/
November 04, 2014, 

In Pakistan’s province of Balochistan, journalists have been under deadly assault since 2008, with dozens losing their lives. Traditionally, journalists were targeted mainly in interior Balochistan, but the danger zone has now expanded to the provincial capital of Quetta. A case in point is the recent killing of senior journalist Irshad Mastoi, his trainee reporter Abdul Rasool Khajak, and accountant Mohammad Younus in their office in Quetta’s Jinnah Road area.

To date, no one has claimed responsibility for the killings.

The recent killings have created widespread fear among journalists working in Balochistan. Meant to serve as a “voice” for persecuted people, journalists have now resorted to demonstrating in front of the Quetta Press Club. They have also been rallying on roads, chanting slogans against the provincial government for failing to provide security.