An online newspaper in El Salvador is facing threats because of its stories about alleged negotiations between the government and criminal gangs.

The publication, El Faro, ran an article last week detailing a government deal to give certain benefits to jailed gang leaders like transfers to better prison facilities or even money if they would cut back on the violence.
El Salvador has the second highest homicide rate in the world (after Honduras) at 66 per 100,000 people and much of the killing is attributed to gangs.
In its stories, El Faro reported that after the alleged agreement was reached, only three murders were reported, down from an average of 14 per day.
In its article, El Faro reporters gave details of their conversation with a gang leader still on the streets. The gang member said murders planned for the very day that got the order to “calm down” were cancelled.
Imprisoned gang leaders did get transferred to another prison, but government officials deny striking any deal.
El Faro editor and founder Carlos Dada said in an email published by Spain’s El Pais newspaper that government sources have said that by publishing the article “El Faro’s risk level has greatly increased.”
Gangs have targeted journalists. In 2009, French documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda was killed in El Salvador after finishing an award-winning documentary, “La Vida Loca” on gang life in El Salvador.

On May 31, Asia Times Bureau Chief Sayed Saleem Shahzad was found dead about 150 miles outside of Islamabad. His death occurred after he had written a story linking the Pakistani military with terrorists believed to have orchestrated a recent raid of a naval base. Journalists in the country cried out and are blaming the nation’s secret service for his murder.

This comes as no surprise as Pakistan is currently ranked as the sixth most murderous country for free press in the world according the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2011 Impunity Index. In a post for the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News, ASU Hubert Humphrey Fellow Malik Siraj Akbar recounts his own frustrations with the free press horrors that are taking place in his homeland and the colleagues he has lost as a result.

[CORRECTION 6/09/11: The above word "recounts" has been corrected from "recants."]

“The authorities have not investigated or punished those responsible for these killings,” Siraj said. “Worse still, official pressure on media outlets has led to a complete blackout of the news concerning their deaths.”

In response to the increase in violence targeting journalists, SPJ President Hagit Limor and the International Journalism Committee mailed a letter to Pakistan Ambassador Husain Haggani last Friday, demanding an official investigation into the death of Shahzad. Additional copies of the letter were sent to Ambassador Haggani’s email account and the office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

You can read the full letter as posted below.

2 June 2011

To:             Hon. Husain Haqqani
Pakistan Ambassador to
The United States

Dear Ambassador Haqqani,

This letter to you and your government is an official statement from The Society of Professional Journalists and its International Journalism Committee on the recent death of journalist Saleem Shahzad, and the growing list of journalists killed in Pakistan for their professional work.

SPJ has been monitoring the plight of journalists in Pakistan and now must strongly protest against the violence that has befallen reporters, allegedly from elements of your country’s military.

Mr. Shahzad’s death so soon after he produced a story that raised questions about the relationship between Pakistani military officers and terrorist groups is alarming and raises our concern about press freedoms in your country.

Last year, eight professional journalists met violent deaths in Pakistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, making your country the most dangerous place on the planet to be a professional reporter – ahead of Iraq, Mexico and Honduras. In many of the killings in Pakistan, fellow journalists and international human rights organizations have publicly expressed suspicion that the crimes were acts of reprisal by members of your nation’s intelligence service and the military.

The danger that journalists face in Pakistan is a stark reminder that democracy cannot evolve to the benefit of the people without a professional and independent media which is free of selective pressure from government and overt and perceived threats of violence.

The Society of Professional Journalists, the oldest and largest professional organization of its kind in the United States, insists that journalists adhere to a strict code of ethics and a high standard of professional practice. More and more we are sharing our standards of practice with journalists around the world who seek to improve the quality of their work. We counsel our international associates that a journalist’s freedom of expression is a right that must be treated with respect. We insist that the best way to preserve that right is to practice journalism within a framework of high professional and ethical standards. It is, however, impossible to ask for media responsibility in an environment where journalists face government repression and repeated acts of violence.

Therefore, SPJ demands that the Pakistani government immediately launch an official investigation into Mr. Shahzad’s murder and into the violence that has turned so many journalists into victims in your country. Only a transparent and thorough investigation of this murder and of the violence aimed at journalists can lift the significant veil of international concern that hovers over your government’s relationship with the media.

SPJ and its International Journalism Committee are ready to participate and cooperate with your government in such an investigation, and in discussions on the future of press freedoms and responsibilities in Pakistan.

I am also ready to provide more details of our concerns in a conversation.

Thank you for considering our petition.

Sincerely,

Hagit Limor
President
The Society of Professional Journalists

The China Daily published two interesting articles related to journalism this past week. The media panel of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum met recently to discuss how Japanese and Chinese media can foster a better understanding of each culture.

An editorial, also published on August 31st, expressed concern about political party and police interference with journalistic activities. “That a matter between a media organization and an enterprise which should and could have been resolved very well by the judiciary, if necessary, has evolved into one between the media and the local Party and government authorities,” the editorial stated, “is in itself a worrying phenomenon.”

The Indonesian Press Council expressed concern that a recent Supreme Court ruling in that country threatens press freedoms. The Jakarta Post reports that Erwin Arnada, the former chief editor of Playboy Indonesia, was convicted of public indecency under the country’s criminal code. The Press Council argues that Indonesia’s press law, which “regulates violations committed by the press,” should have been used instead. The Council is worried that the decision sets a precedent that future actions could be taken against media organizations using the country’s criminal code.

Here’s a new twist on how to limit press freedom in Iran — jail AND a three-decade ban on journalistic writing. Agence France Presse reports that Iran journalist Jila Baniyaghoob has gotten a one-year jail sentence for her reports tied to last year’s election unrest. Her punishment also prohibits her from writing for the next 30 years.

Both Baniyaghoob and her husband, economic journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amooi, were arrested last June for their reporting work. He got a five-year prison sentence for the articles that he wrote for now shuttered reformist newspapers.

The court considered Baniyaghoob’s reports on last year’s disputed presidential elections in iran to be anti-government.

Baniyaghoob is the recipient of the 2009 courage in journalism award from the International Women’s Media Foundation.

Nice to see that the United Nations finally took note of the dangers to journalists.

The UNESCO report — The Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity — takes note of the issue of targeting journalists and the way many governments and para-military groups seem to think they can get away with it.

The problem of impunity has been a major issue for those who care about bringing the murderers of journalists to justice.

The Inter American Press Association has rune Project Impunity for about 10 years. In that time, the IAPA has sent delegations to Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, Argentina and other countries in the Americas. The missions were designed to let the government leaders know directly that the regional media were looking at how aggressively the governments go after the murderers of journalists.

The UNESCO document on impunity and dangers to journalists came out March 25 after the usual long process United Nations vetting process. (Their data ends in 2007.)

The IAPA issued a statement March 30 calling for governments in the region to get serious about protecting journalists.

The issue of impunity is not limited to just the Americas. Too many journalists are targeted because they are doing their jobs.

I wouldn’t count on any of the countries that have not responded to the UNESCO requests for information about the status of the criminal investigations to change their ways overnight. I have more hope that journalists around the world will keep an eye on these countries.

And I suppose it is too much to ask that maybe a few stories about the progress (or lack thereof) might occasionally be done.

Originally posted at Journalism, Journalists and the World.

A Brazilian judge did not believe Google does not have the technical means to block pages in its Orkut social network system.

A Costa Rican blogger has just been awarded a national award for journalism in his country. Cristian Cambronero won the award for his blog, Fusil de Chispas [es]. He’s been writing it since 2005. It’s another step forward for citizen journalism, not just in Costa Rica, but throughout Latin America.

Costa Rica has been giving out its National Culture Awards since 1961 and recognize contributions to art, science, traditional culture and Journalism. This is the first time that digital media was nominated for an award.

For more, read the story at
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/01/19/costa-rica-blogger-awarded-national-culture-award-for-journalism/

Spanish journalists are trying to rally international support for two of their colleagues who are banned from working as journalists through 2011 for “revealing secrets” as part of a court verdict against them.
The two journalists, Cadena SER director Daniel Anigo and chief news editor Rodolfo Irago, were given suspended jail terms of 21 months for publishing information about of one of Spain’s conservative political parties on the website of their radio network. Cadena Ser is part of the PRISA-El Pais, the largest media conglomerate in Spain.
The judicial ruling did not question the veracity of the reports or the published information, but instead found that information published on the Internet should not be given the same rights and guarantees as information published by traditional media.
Interestingly, the judge did not question the veracity of the information published, but simply took issue that it was made public via the Internet.
The sentence has been challenged and condemned throughout Spain and expectations are that the decision will be reversed on appeal. A Facebook group ((http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237811642915&ref=mf) has been formed in support of the two journalists.
Still, the Spanish judge’s decision is something for all of us to think about. As more and more information and news is shared over the Internet, shouldn’t the Internet news sites be afforded the same protection as traditional media?

The annual Freedom House report showed a decline in freedom around the world. For the fourth consecutive year global freedom declined in 2009.

“This represents the longest continuous period of deterioration in the nearly 40-year history” of the report, writes this year’s author, Arch Puddington.

Survey release material.

First posted at Journalism, Journalists and the World

Journalist Noha Atef keeps a very unusual blog in Egypt. Atef  blogs about police abuse and torture in Egypt and she posts and tweets so that people will know about it. .

Interpress News Service reports about the work the 25-year-old woman is doing in an article published this week, “Bloggers Name and Shame.”

Atef’s blog, ‘Torture in Egypt’, aims to expose what she considers the brutality of Egypt’s police and security forces.

Read the full article for more.