Media Tracker lists the challenges and achievements of the journalists and media organisations worldwide. Here’s a list of journalism at risk stories in the recent month. We would like to thank international media protection organisation and news outlets for their content.
- According to news reports, the “non-bailable arrest warrant” on Cyril Almeida, Deputy editor Dawn, Pakistan, have been withdrawn and his name has been taken down from the ECL—Exit Control List—that bars journalist from travelling outside Pakistan.
The case has its origin in the interview that Sharif gave to Dawn on 11 May for that he is being investigated for treason and Almeida is still being treated as an alleged accomplice to treason.
(TT)
- Whereabouts of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi are being sought internationally. Jamal was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. But not since. Saudi consulate authorities claim that he left from the backdoor. Multiplenews outlets reported today that Turkish authorities have anonymously shared their belief that Khashoggi is dead and was killed inside the consulate.
Jamal’s case is not an isolated one. In the recent crackdown, more than 15 journalists and bloggers have been arrested in a completely opaque manner in Saudi Arabia since September 2017. In most cases, their arrests have never been officially confirmed and no official has ever said where they are being held or what they are charged with.
Between 25 and 30 professional and non-professional journalists are currently detained in Saudi Arabia, which is ranked 169th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index
(CPJ; RSF)
- The most recent report published by an NGO, Mérték Médiaelemző Műhely (Mertek Media Monitor), from Budapest analyses the decaying media market in Hungary and focuses on the soft censorship on the media that eventually leads to self-censorship.
In such a restricted media landscape, journalists experience drying up of the advertiser money, especially, when writing critically about the Hungarian government in their newspapers. The study details the considerations that Hungarian advertisers take into account when deciding how to distribute their advertising spending in media. Leonárd Máriás, the author of the report, explained that there had always been rumours in Hungarian newsrooms about advertisers that let political considerations influence their decisions.
Máriás study, encompasses interviews with nearly a dozen current and former advertising and media market figures, all of whom requested anonymity, offers the clearest picture yet of the media advertising market in Hungary.
(IPI)
- Taiwanese government lodged a protest with the United Nations as a Taiwanese reporter from United Daily News was denied entry into the UN headquarters in New York recently after presenting building security with both a Republic of China passport and a Mainland Travel Permit issued by Chinese authorities.
Officially known as the Republic of China, Taiwan was a member of the UN until 1971, after the General Assembly voted to recognise Beijing as China’s ruling government. Its most recent request for admission was denied in 2007. However, a coalition led by the United States subsequently forced the global body and its secretary-general to stop using the phrase “Taiwan is a part of China.”
Taiwanese citizens are not allowed to enter UN buildings, though – in previous years – the UN told Taiwanese citizens that they could enter using their national identity cards.
(HKFP)
- Upon receiving a death threat, Paraguayan journalist Noelia Díaz Esquivel, also the secretary general of the Sindicato de Periodistas del Paraguay (Paraguayan Journalists Union, SPP), has announced that she will not stop working until her daughters receive the same rights enjoyed by men in the society, away from all forms of violence.
The death threat against Díaz Esquivel is seen as part of a growing climate of hostility and violence toward female journalists, who are being targeted throughout the region due to their status as public figures with higher exposure, as well as the important role they play in denouncing the systematic rights violations suffered by women.
(IFEX)
