Women journalists are among those attacked or arrested while doing their job

The International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) strongly condemns the targeting of journalists covering protests over George Floyd’s death in the United States of America (USA) and in other countries. Journalists, who are at the very core of democracy, are not only being prevented from reporting the happenings on the ground but are also being threatened, attacked, shot at with rubber bullets, sprayed with pepper spray and arrested.

IAWRT, an alliance of women in media, finds unacceptable the intentional attacks on fellow journalists. To name a few:

Linda Tirado, a freelance photographer, activist and author was shot in the left eye on May 29 while covering the street protests in Minneapolis. Doctors told her that she is not likely to recover her vision in that eye.

Nina Svanberg, a Swedish foreign correspondent in the US, was struck in the leg by several rubber bullets.

Susan Ormiston, a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist, was hit with a gas canister while covering the protests in the city.

Kaitlyn Rust and her team from WAVE 3 News, a local TV station in Kentucky, were struck with pepper balls by police while reporting live on air, despite following police instructions and staying behind police lines.

Ellen Schmidt and Bridget Bennett, reporting for Review-Journal were arrested at the Strip in Las Vegas, and released a day later only after having to post a $1,000 cash bond each.

The list is long and spares no media; radio, television, print or social media. Despite ensuring they are identifiable as journalists doing their job, over 100 media persons have been attacked.  These targeted attacks are appalling and are an attempt to stifle the press.

IAWRT President Violet Gonda said: “These are worrying targeted attacks on journalists covering the protests in the USA. Media organisations should be allowed to document and inform the public during these uncertain times without fear or favour.”

She emphasised the need to protect journalists and ensure their safety as they cannot be caught between fire from both ends – the protestors and the police.

Journalists have protection under the First Amendment of the US Constitution covering free speech. Where it gets blurred is that the right to freedom of the press is not different from the right to freedom of speech. Suffice it to say the media is not provided any special rights or privileges that are different from those of other citizens.

The current US administration has created an environment hostile to journalists. Calling the work of various journalists and media organizations ‘Fake News’ and then overwhelming the media with misinformation, has created an uncertain environment that cannot recognize legitimate journalists at the protest marches, even though they are well identified. This results in the lack of respect for journalists. The cornerstone of a robust democracy is a well-informed electorate, which seems impossible in this culture of hostility against the news media.

IAWRT expresses solidarity with our fellow journalists at this critical juncture, where the world is fighting not only a pandemic that has claimed so many lives, but also racial tensions, violence against minorities, and oppressive measures against people during lockdowns and ushering the “new normal.”

IAWRT urges women journalists to continue to work and fight for gender equality in media and the world

Despite some inroads in gender equality in media, women in media today continue to face all sorts of attacks, harassments and threats – in person and online.

These attacks hurt women’s opportunities, safety and lives and that is why we must tirelessly work and fight for gender equality in the media.

Sexual harassment in the media industry continues to be rampant, with the #MeToo movement gaining ground only a few years before and has more to uncover and change in the system that perpetrates preying on women.

Attacks online aimed at women journalists continue to grow. The gendered online harassment was seen to result in women declining reporting on some issues while some leave the media and news industry altogether.

Women journalists exposing salient and sensitive issues in their countries face judicial harassment, arrests and/or detention or physical attacks, while some were killed for their reporting. Only a few weeks ago, radio broadcaster Teresa Aracely Alcocer aka Bárbara Greco was shot to death after recently speaking out against violence against women and children. Frenchie Mae Cumpio, IAWRT Philippines member and executive director of an independent news publication reporting on people’s issues and poverty in one of the poorest regions in the country, was arrested and detained on ‘planted evidence.’

For 69 years, International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) has worked and fought for gender equality in the media – in the newsroom and on air. We have worked on building capacities for safety of women journalists. When women are not safe, they also have a hard time being represented.

IAWRT calls on all governments and media houses managers to create polices that keep women safe and provide equal opportunities.

We urge women journalists to fight back against the structures that effect these dangers on women journalists for the next decades to come. This is so that the next generation of women journalists may reap the benefits of a more gender-equal world.

We pledge to continue to join hands with all who work for the advancement of women in all spheres of society.

IAWRT joins media groups calling for the immediate release of Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a member of the IAWRT Philippines chapter.

Cumpio was arrested with four other human rights defenders in simultaneous early morning police raids on offices on February 7 in Tacloban City.

by Lady Ann Salem

Prior to her arrest, Cumpio has been subjected to surveillance for several months.

In December 2019, Eastern Vista raised alert on the tailing and surveillance on Cumpio, the latest of a series of such incidents. Eastern Vista believes the harassment on Cumpio are related to the group’s human rights reporting.

On January 31, an unidentified person reportedly visited the premises of the Eastern Vista office. He was reportedly carrying a photo of Cumpio and a band of flowers while asking for the exact location of the office. Human rights groups have noted several incidents where state agents sent flowers as a form of death threat and intimidation.

We believe these acts of surveillance and types of harassment on journalists have no place in a democratic state like the Philippines. It is also a country that has enshrined freedom of expression and press freedom in its Constitution. We call on the Philippine government to uphold these principles and rights and immediately release Cumpio. In tandem, the government must also address and resolve cases of harassment, violence and killings against journalists in their country.

Cumpio is the executive director of independent media outfit Eastern Vista and the radio anchor of Lingganay han Kamatuoran. Cumpio is also a broadcaster of community radio Radyo Tacloban.

Cumpio is an active IAWRT member who has participated in our investigative training program, global secretariat launch and the Philippines’ chapter general assembly. Her team reported on Radyo Tacloban, IAWRT’s own mobile disaster community radio project in the city/region.

IAWRT is an international organization of women in media founded in 1951 and has since then worked on gender equality, giving women journalists a voice in the workplace and in media and on journalists’ safety among others. It currently has 14 country chapters and more than 400 members globally.

Justice for all journalist killings:

Statement as the Philippines, and the world, awaited the the verdict in the Ampatuan massacre, after 10 years of waiting.

Numbers remind us of the harrowing story that earned the event the gruesome titles of worst case of election violence in the country and the single deadliest event for journalists in the world in recent history.

On November 23, 2009, 58 civilians were killed, some of them passersby, 32 of them journalists covering the filing of candidacy of an ally-turned-rival running against the reigning political dynasty in the province, the Ampatuan clan. Witnesses said there could have been more than 70 killed, because of those missing and reported to have tagged along or mistaken as part of the convoy, but physical evidence only turned up 58.

There were around 12 women civilians and 5 female journalists killed. There was evidence that at least 5 of the female victims, 4 of them journalists, were raped before being killed, while “practically all” of the women had been shot in their genitals. Two were pregnant at the time of their murder.

After 10 long years, with 198 suspects, 200 defendants and 300 witnesses identified at the beginning and more than 80 suspects still at large since the time of the massacre, the world will witness how justice can prevail in a patently heinous crime – one with at least 58 bodies to show for it.

Press freedom stands on trial as well in the Ampatuan massacre, and wherever and whenever journalists are killed. Whenever justice is not served.

UNESCO in November 2019 reported no convictions in 90% of 1,109 journalists’ murders around the world from 2006 to 2018 and a rise in killings of journalists by 18 percent in the past five years (2014-2018) compared to the previous five-year period.

The Ampatuan massacre case promulgation comes at the same time as the case of the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese investigative journalist who exposed government corruption, is making progress in identifying masterminds and accomplices. A businessman was detained and charged with complicity to murder and other charges related to the case. Some government ministers stepped down and the prime minister announced on December 1 that he would stand down in January in the wake of the continuing investigation.

Journalists can only continue to demand justice for journalists killings. Journalists must continue to stand for press freedom. Those are in the interest of the journalist’s duty to uphold the public’s right to information.

We stand with Filipino journalists and the Filipino people in their yearning for press freedom to be upheld, in the meting out of justice in the Ampatuan massacre.

(Statement from the International Relations Committee of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television)

Media and women are being targeted in the midst of a governmet crackdown on mass demonstrations.

Our Iraq Kurdistan chapter reports that the targeting is happeneing as thousands of Iraqis demonstrate against government corruption, failing state services and a lack of job opportunities.

Amidst six weeks of unstable conditions in Iraq, journalists and civilian activists, including women journalists and media workers, are being targeted and are more are at risk from the danger of ongoing violence.

We, the Iraq-Kurdistan chapter of IAWRT, want to let the whole world know that with the demonstrations in Iraq at a very dangerous stage, a day does not pass without youth, young women, activists and media being targeted by government security forces and alligned militias.

The BBC and other outlest have reported on attacks on media and various shutdowns of the internet to combat the protests.   

Victims from October 2019 to now, number about 320 dead and more than 11,000 wounded. People who have been victimized include countless journalists, media workers, writers and activists, including women media professionals.

One very alarming incident is the killing of civil activist and cartoonist Hussein Adel Madani and his wife Zahra. In the southern city of Basra, unknown assailants stormed the house early in the morning on October 3rd, shot and killed the couple in front of their 2-year-old daughter. The well-known activists had been taking part in protests in the city the day before their killing.

In addition to the dire situation in Iraq, journalists in Kurdistan are also subjected to violations of their rights. One of our colleagues and IAWRT member Niyaz Abdulla, 38, was arrested and tried for an article published on Draw Media, of which she is a member. She is not the author of the article and also not the editor of the group. She was released on a bail bond of five million dinars and was prosecuted under the Electronic Device Abuse Act, rather than being prosecuted under the Kurdistan Region Press Law.

We live in a country considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists Global Impunity Index 2019 ranked Iraq as 3^rd worst country for prosecuting murders of journalists. There are 35 unsolved cases of journalist killings in Iraq over the last 10 years. 

The Iraq-Kurdistan chapter of IAWRT asks journalists and media workers in the world to support the call for journalists and people’s rights to be upheld amid continuing anti-government protests and the violent crackdown on these protests.

picture: Iraqi protests from Tahrir square in 25 October 2019 Photo credit: FPP via WikiMedia Commons