- Centre for the Freedom of the Media investigating the safety of journalists around the world
- Issue of journalistic freedom and the public right to know to be discussed in Question Time style debate in Sheffield
- Event is part of the Economic and Social Research Council Festival of Social Science
Those who murder journalists are managing to escape justice, according to ongoing research by the University of Sheffield.
Professor Jackie Harrison, joint Head of the University’s Department of Journalism Studies, says the deliberate targeting of reporters is relatively new and raises questions about press safety and the impunity of those who attack them.
"The way in which journalism is seen in different parts of the world has changed," said Professor Harrison, Chair of Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University.
"Journalists used to be more protected, but what’s happening now is that they are deliberately being targeted - and it’s about information control. Journalists themselves are getting killed because people are trying to silence them. You can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time - but what is relatively new is this singling out of journalists. These are attacks on freedom of expression and the public right to know."
The issue of journalistic freedom and the public right to know will be discussed in a Question Time-style debate at an event as part of the annual Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) Festival of Social Science. The panel will address issues such as whether attacking reporters should be classed as a war crime, and what international organisations can do to protect press freedoms.
It is a matter of increasing concern that journalists are being jailed and attacked around the world for exercising the right to freedom of expression. More than 700 journalists have also been killed over the past decade for bringing news and information to the public. Those who have died include Marie Colvin and James Foley in Syria and staff at Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, deaths which were greeted by worldwide condemnation.
Only one in ten cases of the 700 killings has led to any conviction of those responsible. In response, the United Nations (UN) has developed an Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. However, Professor Harrison points out there is concern that plans like these can only succeed if for example news organisations and the public are aware of them, and engage with matters of safety.
In order to investigate these issues, Professor Harrison is carrying out’s with editors and senior journalists working at news organisations in six countries. The target countries in the project are Pakistan, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Turkey, India and Bulgaria. The reason they have been selected is their low position on the Press Freedom Index 2014, which ranks the performance of 180 countries according to their treatment of journalists and the media in general.
Of the six countries, Pakistan is lowest ranked at 158th - journalists here face high levels of violence and threats from a range of sources, according to Freedom House which publishes the index. The military, intelligence services and militant groups are all considered to be threats. Currently ranked 152nd, Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries with 76 killed between 2000 and 2013, and another 16 disappeared since 2003.
"Our aim is to discover what journalists know about the UN action plan and if enough is being done to prevent people escaping punishment," says Professor Harrison. "We want to know what editors feel about the safety of their own journalists, given that many are being threatened and sometimes killed. Where journalists are not free they are at risk, and are more likely to be attacked, intimidated or jailed."
The work of the CFOM will be highlighted at the ’Question Time’-style event ’Journalism in Danger’, held in Sheffield on 11 November for the general public.
The panel includes:
- Chair, William Horsley, International Director, Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) and former BBC foreign correspondent
- Ellen Manning, Former Chief Reporter for Press Association who covered UK troops in Afghanistan
- Emma Beals, a freelance journalist who specialised in on-the-ground reporting of the war in Syria
- Simon Marr, Director of Safety, Security and Resilience, BBC
- Elisabeth Witchel, Impunity Campaign, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
- Gillian Phillips, Director of Editorial Legal Services, Guardian News and Media Limited
- Jackie Harrison, Chair for the Centre for the Freedom of the Media (CFOM) and Professor of Public Communication in the Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield
