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According to the International Press Institute (IPI), 78 journalists
were killed last year, the worst 12-month toll on record. Abduction
and assassination of journalists in Iraq, the Philippines, Colombia,
Ivory Coast and many other countries raise once again the controversial
issue of protection of journalists on dangerous missions. Which protection
are we speaking about? Protection against what? Protection by whom?
One can really wonder how journalists could be better protected than
other civilians (the international law puts them in the same category)
in countries and regions where human rights and humanitarian law go
unheeded, where terror strikes indiscriminately. Whatever the situation
is, in most cases, journalists are victims of violence and intimidation
just because they are journalists. Today, targeting journalists is a
very popular game not only among terrorists and drug traffickers, but
also, in some countries, among regular police, military and paramilitary
forces.
There is at least one point on which media professionals agree unanimously
: journalists do not need protectors, for protection implies control.
To better protect journalists also means to better control journalists.
What journalists need is a democratic environment based on the rule
of law and the respect for human rights, where media freedom and independence
is legally guaranteed, where the judiciary is independent of any other
power, be it political, economic, military or religious. Such a democratic
environment will make it possible to conduct systematically full and
independent investigations into crimes against journalists, and to trully
prosecute and sentence those crime makers. These basic requirements
are absolutely essential to fight against impunity, which is presently
a worldwide cancer as for crimes against journalists.
Actually, what needs to be protected is the journalist’s duty
that is to provide information enabling citizens to form their own opinions,
make responsible and informed choices, make an effective impact on public
affairs, thus influence decisions affecting their daily lives. The journalist’s
duty to inform, comment, and analyze is essential to the functioning
of all democratic societies.
Free, independent and pluralistic media is the central nervous system
of our democratic societies. It activates our sensitivity functions,
feeds our tensions et stimulate our intellectual and emotional faculties.
Without press freedom, a society is apathetic and sinking into a sort
of coma. Its nervous system is inert.
The World Press Freedom Day provides a unique opportunity to pay a tribute
to journalists whose mission is to inform us, quite often in risking
their life. The celebration of this Day (3rd of May) was decided in
December 1993 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, at the
initiative of UNESCO. It reminds us that journalists’ freedom
is also our freedom.
Alain MODOUX
President of ORBICOM
Former Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for
Freeedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace
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