For more than seventy years, we have been among the prime watchdogs over the freedom and rights of expression of our international colleagues and we understand the unique complexity of those issues for the Pakistani government at the present moment. However, though ruthless and violent attacks against the media are from militants, the Taliban, or the religious sects in Pakistan, government support of the press has been insufficient, even negligent.
Author: OPC of America
Calgary Journalist Dies in Afghanistan
Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang never took the easy way out, whether it was holding government to account or
travelling to a busy African AIDS clinic to chronicle the downside of
recruiting foreign doctors.
Brazil December 23, 2009
This past year was in many ways a great one for Brazil — a booming economy and then the news that Rio de Janeiro will play host to the 2016 Olympics. Brazil is in a spotlight brighter than ever before, and with that new scrutiny has come heightened awareness of the frequent threats to our colleagues there.
Bolivia Re-Election
The OPC takes this occasion to express its alarm over what appear to be government-inspired attacks on the press, both physically and verbally.
More Good Times Than Bad for Sir Harold Evans
One of the most impressive things about Sir Harold Evans is that while he ran many newspapers, started a magazine and presided over the largest U.S. publishing house, people in the audience at the December 14 Book Night also got the sense that Evans is a real reporter. The kind of reporter who gets his hands dirty to get a story and relishes seeing the after effects of the reporting for the public good, as when he reported on preventable cancer treatments for women in Great Britain, which he called his most satisfying journalism experience of all time.
CPJ: Philippines, Somalia Fuel Death Toll
At least 68 journalists worldwide were killed for their work in 2009, the highest yearly tally ever documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organization said in its year-end analysis. The record toll was driven in large part by the election-related slaughter of more than 30 media workers in the Philippine province of Maguindanao, the deadliest event for the press in CPJ history.
Freedom of the Press Committee Report to OPC Board of Governors
OPC’s press-freedom committee doesn’t often have cause to address itself to issues in the United States, though it’s far from unprecedented. The most recent example, involving a Florida public official, is significant because it illustrates the potential effect of what the Committee does, which is often obscured by distance.
Ecuador December 8, 2009
The OPC would like to endorse the declaration of the Inter-American Press Association that the Communications Law placed before the National Assembly is a clear threat to the freedom of information in Ecuador. Taken at face value, the proposed law might not seem overly threatening. But these measures become extremely dangerous when set in the context of what has been happening to the media in Ecuador.
Final Broadcast of Lehrer NewsHour
Friday marked the final broadcast of PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” Beginning Monday the show will be titled “PBS NewsHour,” with Lehrer and rotating senior correspondents Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff and Jeffrey Brown will co-anchor the hourly broadcast.
OPC Denounces “Suicide” Verdict in Death of Another Russian Journalist
Once again, a Russian reporter who has angered government officials has died under mysterious circumstances. Once again, the authorities have decided — with no evidence at all, and very little plausibility — that Olga Kotovskaya committed suicide. But this time, after her colleagues insisted that the suicide theory was ridiculous and that she must have been murdered in retaliation for her work, the regional prosecutor has re-considered and opened an investigation into the death. Once again, as so many times in the past, we write to urge the Russian government to expend all possible efforts to make sure the investigation is thorough and transparent.