According to Reporters Without Borders, 140 journalists were incarcerated and 81 died while working in 2006, meaning there has never been a more dangerous time to be a journalist.
Journalists from several countries discussed the current status of freedom of the press in the international arena at a conference sponsored by Reporters Without Borders at the National Press Club last Thursday. Several AU students praised the work of journalists, especially those who cover stories in areas of conflict.
Watson Meng, the editor of Boxun, an online Chinese newspaper that relies on coverage from anonymous journalists, said there are currently 52 people jailed in China for "Internet expression" and the government is looking to implement Spyware programs on household computers.
Huda Ahmed, a reporter in Iraq and International Women's Media Foundation Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow, asked the crowd not to photograph or film her for fear that attackers will find it easier to identify her.
According to Ahmed, the fall of Saddam Hussein left the media excited with the hope of unprecedented freedom of press. Yet, today some Iraqi journalists carry guns, use back routes and spend nights in their offices because they are afraid of being followed by insurgents, Ahmed said.
According to Ahmed, American soldiers who were hiding in bushes shot Iraqi journalist Yasser Salehi as he drove in his car.
Nowadays, Iraqi journalists sometimes publish their pieces under the names of foreign co-workers for fear of reprisals, Ahmed said.
There is a clear distinction between foreign and local journalists because the latter do not "have security guards, drive in armed cars or live in secured compounds," she said.
According to Jose Carre¤o, a correspondent for Mexico's El Universal, freedom of the press is not only an issue in war zones like Iraq. Carre¤o said the Mexican government does not do enough to protect journalists.
Craig Will, the brother of U.S. journalist Bill Brad, who filmed his own murder in Oaxaca, Mexico, last October, said Mexico suffers from a culture of impunity.
"Authorities did little in the way of proper, sophisticated and neutral ballistics and forensic studies" during the investigation of his brother's assassination, he said.
The United States is also not exempt from the dangers of journalism.
In the United States, the government hinders the media because they do not want to reveal everything the public needs to know, said Jennifer Tyre, a first-year graduate student in the School of Communication at AU.
Recently, U.S. journalist Sarah Olson defied a court-martial subpoena to testify against one of her sources, Lt. Ehren Watada. Watada was charged with several counts of "conduct unbecoming an officer," which are offenses subject to court martials, for statements he made to her during interviews, Olson said.
"It's not a journalist's job to participate in government prosecution, especially when it's about making personal political statements," Olson said.
Keosha Johnson, a senior in SOC, said she thinks soldiers should be able to take political stances.
"Soldiers should have all the rights of civilian Americans," Johnson said. "Sometimes you may not be for the war but if your job is to fight you cannot wear an anti-Iraq War T-shirt."
However, Johnson said the coverage of the war in Iraq should be bolder.
"I wish they were more radical, like during Vietnam," Johnson said. "We say soldiers are dying, but to see it would be completely different"
