March for justice in Mexico

Journalists is the Mexican state of Veracruz marched over the weekend to demand protection for journalists and for the government find and prosecute those responsible for killing investigative journalist Regina Martinez.

Government officials say they have the killer of Martinez, who was found beaten and suffocated in her house. But her co-workers don’t believe them.

The man convicted of the murder is Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva. According to the government versions, Martinez was killed because she interrupted a robbery by  Hernandez Silva.

Unfortunately for the government, Hernandez Silva says he was forced to confess after being tortured for several days. The editors at Martinez’s publication, Proceso, don’t accept the government story, pointing out that none of the fingerprints in the Martinez apartment match Hernandez Silva.

The local authorities did not do themselves any favors when, according to Proceso, some current and former state officials issued orders to capture a reporter who questioned the verdict and “to do him harm if he resists.”

After the national government stepped in and expressed its skepticism of the local version of events, Veracruz Gov. Javier Duarte  met with editors of Proceso and promised a full investigation.

See original story: Mexican journalists march against attacks on press

Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. The threat comes from drug cartels and corrupted government officials. Since 1992, 28 journalists and media workers have been killed in Mexico. Of those 28 cases, 22 have not been solved.

The national government has stepped up its efforts to protect journalists and to deal with the lack of action by local governments.

Late last week the national legislature passed a bill giving the federal government jurisdiction over crimes against journalists. It only awaits the president’s signature.

Read more about the bill and the problem of impunity in Mexico: In Mexico, a movement and a bill against impunity

 

UPDATE: Yoani Sanchez heckled & praised in Brazilian congress

The latest in the Sanchez world trip has the blog writer and Cuban dissident showing that many in Brazil have not grown past the rhetoric of the Cold War.

[T]hose on the left hailing Cuba as a victim of U.S. aggression against communism while others praised Sanchez for fighting against political repression on the island.

“Mercenary, go to Disney,” shouted those opposed to her visit, repeating the Cuban government’s view that all dissidents on the island are on the payroll of its ideological archenemy, the United States.

At the same time others called out the Castro government as a dictatorship.

Cuban dissident blogger inflames splits in Brazil’s Congress

It is just as sad to see so many on the left in the Brazilian Congress fail to see reality and to get past the rhetoric of the Cold War as it is to see conservatives in the U.S. Congress also fail to get past the rhetoric of the Cold War.

Guess refusal to see facts is not limited to just one ideology.

Yoani Sanchez’s world tour starts with protests in Brazil

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was blocked from seeing a film that featured her by protesters supporting the Cuban government. According the AP reports in Brazil say the Cuban embassy in Brasilia was instrumental in helping organize the demonstrations.

Oddly enough those complaining about Sanchez — for pointing out the lack of freedom in Cuba — have the right to demonstrate against here because Brazil is a democracy that tolerates dissent. Too bad that Pres. Dilma Rouseff did not speak out against this violation of Sanchez’s right to speak. (There are also reports that help for the demonstrators came from the president’s office.) Rousseff was also quite about the Cuban government suppression and arrests of dissident bloggers during her visit to Cuba last year.

Sanchez was recently allowed to leave Cuba after the Raul Castro government changed its travel rules allowing people to now get passports without having to first pass a loyalty test.

She will move on to about a dozen other countries to talk with free speech/press organizations and supporters. In the United States she will visit the offices of Google and Twitter.

Sanchez regularly blogs at Generation Y.

Here’s hoping she gets the kind of coverage a brave person like her deserves in the U.S. media — and I mean the real press, not the right-wing blogs.

Criminalized libel in Somolia puts journalist in jail for interviewing rape victim

Once again the whole idea of libel as a criminal matter instead of a civil one has landed a journalist and his source in jail.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reported earlier this month (and Roy Greenslade blogged) that Somali freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim was sentenced to a year in jail because he reported about about a woman who claimed she was raped by soldiers. The charge: Insulting the government.

• The Guardian: Somali journalist jailed for insulting the government
• CPJ: Somali court hands journalist one-year jail term

The issue of criminalized libel is a serious problem for journalists trying to do their jobs. This issue is a growing concern among journalists.

The International Press Institute has a whole campaign to get Caribbean countries to change their laws. (IPI Campaign to Repeal Criminal Defamation in the Caribbean)

The bottom line is that even if the information is correct, individuals, organizations or governments can ask for criminal penalties against journalists if even one person thinks less of the subject of the story. The American idea of “truth as an absolute defense against libel” is not part of the equation.

Hong Kong journalists object to new law

A while back the New York Times and Bloomberg used public data to show how wealthy the leaders of China are. And where their wealth is stashed away.

Lots of that information came from documents in Hong Kong. The pro-Beijing forces in Hong Kong just could not let that continue.

So the new government in Hong Kong put forth new laws that would restrict access to information about directors of companies listed on the Hong Kong exchange.

Under the proposal, corporate directors could apply to have their residential address and full identity card or passport numbers blocked from public view — a bid the government said was meant to protect their privacy.

But the plan has sparked an uproar among journalists as it comes amid concerns over Beijing’s meddling in local affairs and after a number of reports focusing on the wealth and assets of China’s ruling elite grabbed headlines.

And so journalists in Hong Kong have spoken up: Hong Kong journalists publish press freedom petition

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong reminded Hong Kong Chief Executive, C.Y. Leung of his promise to not restrict press freedom. (FCC Letter of Concern on a Proposed Change to the Companies Ordinance)

In your address to us last month you pledged to uphold the importance of a free and open media in Hong Kong and we believe that the ability of foreign correspondents and journalists to legally access information about individuals and their companies is vital to our role of reporting on issues of public interest.

We call on the government to withdraw this amendment and to maintain its support for the free flow of information in Hong Kong.

And seeing how the Hong Kong exchange is linked with markets in Europe and the Americas, it seems that any law that restricts vital access to information about Hong Kong companies also affects American and European companies.

Looks like what goes on in Hong Kong does indeed have an impact on what goes on in the United States. (There’s that old Local-Global thing again.)