This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 6, March 13-19, 2005
http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=12781
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risk having their licences withdrawn.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 © 2004 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified. News media
told not to interview ‘terrorist groups’