Journalists say 'war on terror' threatening freedom of the press
The response of western governments to the threat of terrorism is "out of all proportion" to the threat itself, and is a "devastating challenge" to human rights, civil liberties and press freedom, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said.
An IFJ report, Journalism, Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism, argues:
• independent journalism suffers in a "pervasive atmosphere of paranoia" which is leading to dangerous levels of self-censorship
• dissent inside and outside the media is being restricted
• governments are creating massive databanks for surveillance of their citizens
It concludes that about half of the minimum standards set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are being undermined by the so-called war on terror.
"An atmosphere of fear and uncertainty is being created and civil liberties are being torn to shreds, even in states with a reputation for tolerance and pluralism," said Aidan White, general secretary of the IFJ, at the report's launch on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.
The report argues the media have a key role in combating secrecy and the threat of self-censorship, and in alerting "civil society" to the erosion of basic rights.
The IFJ notes that 2004 was the worst year on record for war casualties amongst journalists and media staff, with 129 killed, and 73 media staff killed in Iraq alone in the two years to March 2005.
However, it stresses that the media itself has become a battleground in this war and that journalists have come under increasing pressure from governments anxious to dictate the flow of information to the public.
"Western media struggle to maintain even basic levels of professionalism in a charged atmosphere of fear, violence and intolerant political rhetoric", says the IFJ.
"In the United States, constitutionally the home of the world's freest media, journalism has suffered, particularly as a result of self-imposed censorship.
"The monstrous failure of the United States media to challenge the spin and dishonesty of the White House information machine and, particularly, the two lines of deceit that were fed into the public consciousness – that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that his regime was linked to Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden – has provoked an unprecedented bout of hand-wringing and self-doubt among journalists in the US."
This failure is in part attributed to the "crackdown" on dissenting voices which followed the 9/11 attacks.
"Commentators who suggested that American policies in the Middle East, for example, may have contributed to this drift towards extremism and terror, were isolated. Some were sacked."
"People did not get any answers because media did not ask the right questions. The population at large, anxious and fearful, followed the lead of their President and his key advisors who planted seeds of intolerance, which have taken root and may not be dislodged for some time."
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