http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=12781
News
media told not to interview ‘terrorist groups’
Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today at the warning not to carry
interviews with "terrorists groups" which President Gloria Arroyo issued
to the news media on 5 March, a few days after the army called for a law
that would sanction media that do this. A ban on interviewing rebel groups
is also included in an anti-terrorism bill currently before congress.
These measures will have the effect of imposing "censorship" and
"self-censorship" on the Philippine media, the press freedom organization
said. "We are aware of the need to combat terrorist organizations, but we
condemn the fact that the media could be exposed to sanctions for just
doing their job of disseminating the news," the organization said in a
letter to President Arroyo.
Agence France-Presse quoted presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye as saying
the measure would be applied "on a case by case basis, depending on the
interview's content." He did not specify what sanctions would be used, but
the media could risk having their licences withdrawn.
Bunye also pointed out that a law banning the dissemination of calls for
the "government's overthrow" is already in force in the Philippines.
The warning has come at a time when the army is stepping up its offensive
against armed bands and terrorists groups, especially Abu Sayyaf - which
is accused by the Philippine and US authorities of links with the nebulous
Al-Qaeda - and the communist New People's Army. There are also separatist
movements - the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National
Liberation Front - on the southern island of Mindanao.
The term "terrorist group" is very vague. Reporters Without Borders
believes that it should be up to the news media themselves, and not any
other body, to decide who they interview.
Abu Solaiman, the spokesman of the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf, last month
claimed responsibility on the air for bombings on 14 February that killed
12 people and wounded about 100 others in Manila and two southern towns.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said in a
release : "Giving access to Abu Solaiman's claim of responsibility for the
Valentine's Day blasts was not a crime. Exploding bombs is a crime. Airing
a claim of responsibility, on the other hand, served the public's interest
to know of details behind the event."
The NUJP has condemned the new measure, describing it as a "restriction on
press freedom" that will result in practice in journalists being kept out
of the conflict zones.
Reporters Without Borders
defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world, as
well as the right to inform the public and to be informed, in accordance
with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reporters
Without borders has nine national sections (in Austria, Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom),
representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Montreal,
Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington and more than a hundred
correspondents worldwide.
© Reporters Without Borders
2005
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