Following a new report on journalist safety and the launch of Committee to Protect Journalist’s new Emergencies Response Team, this evening will bring together a variety of perspectives on how the safety landscape for journalists and media workers has changed in recent years. The speakers will discuss the new threats facing journalists, what work has been done to address them, and what work remains to be done.

Chaired by Vaughan Smith, co-founder of the Frontline Freelance Register and Founder of the Frontline Club Charitable Trust.

Speakers:

Colin Pereira, CPJ’s journalist safety specialist

Neil Breakwell, London Bureau Chief for VICE News

Nevine Mabro, Head of Foreign News and Foreign Films at Channel 4 News

Alison Baskerville, Freelance British documentary photographer and FFR affiliate

Maria Salazar Ferro, Emergencies Director for CPJ, will make introductory remarks about the new report and emergencies response team.

From Egypt to Mexico, Russia to Syria, journalists are increasingly coming under attack. They are murdered, imprisoned and intimidated for doing their job. If this continues we will face a growing crisis in information – a shortage of the news that we need to make sense of our globalised world, and to fight human rights abuses, understand conflict, and hold power to account.

As executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon is on the frontline of the global battle for media freedom. In his latest book, The New Censorship, he details that battle and offers a prescription for how to counter these new challenges.

Simon will be joining us to offer an insight into the problems we face and to examine what needs to be done to ensure future generations are not deprived of a free press.

Chaired by Richard Sambrook, Professor of Journalism and Director at the Centre for Journalism, Cardiff University. He is a former director of Global News at the BBC where he worked for 30 years as a journalist, producer, editor and manager. He is the chairman of the International News Safety Institute (INSI).

Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and has written widely on media issues. He is a regular contributor to Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review, and his articles and commentary have appeared in the New York Review of Books, The New York Times, World Policy Journal, and other publications. He is also the author of Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge.

Across the world everyday journalists face injuries, kidnappings and death in the line of their work. In the majority of cases the perpetrators are not brought to justice and this evading of punishment often leads to self censorship by other journalists.

Reporting on corruption, crime, conflict, politics and human rights is crucial in society, but how can we better protect the journalists doing this work?

Following World Press Freedom Day we will be bringing together some of the key players that are working on tackling impunity, to discuss the level of the problem and the work they are doing to combat it.

Chaired by Peter Horrocks, the director of BBC Global News, responsible for leading the BBC’s international news services across radio, television and new media. He has worked at the BBC since 1981.

The panel:

Kim Sengupta is the defence and diplomatic correspondent at The Independent. He covers international and domestic news and his extensive reporting from around the world has included many of the major conflicts in recent times.

Heather Blake is the UK Director for Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) and an affiliate to Pembroke College, Oxford University, Changing Character of War programme.

Elisabeth Witchel is a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) consultant, she served for many years as the organisation’s journalist assistance coordinator. She launched CPJ’s Global Campaign Against Impunity.

Aidan Sullivan is a photographer, picture editor and vice president of Getty Images. He is the director of the Ian Parry Scholarship and founder of the campaign A Day Without News?.

No one who attended last night’s discussion at the Frontline Club on the safety of journalists was under any illusion that the issue was not an important one, but few there could have anticipated that it would be so topical.

News of the death of Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin, a regular at the Frontline Club, and French photographer Remi Ochlik in a shelling in Homs has shocked and saddened the journalist community.

The reports of the respected journalists’ deaths came after the Committee to Protect Journalists released their annual report highlighting the risks journalists take in order to shed light in dark places.

Attacks on the Press was presented by CPJ executive director Joel Simon, alongside a panel including Colin Pereira, head of safety and security at ITN; Maziar Bahari, a journalist who was detained in Iran in 2009, and chaired by award-winning journalist Jenny Kleeman, who has been working with Channel 4’s Unreported World since 2007.

The report outlines the impact the events of 2011 had on news crews all over the world, with hundreds of journalists being imprisoned, censored, supressed and exiled around the world.

“How can you protect journalists when they are close to the action? A certain amount of risk is inevitable, but we have to embrace it. Information is important, valuable, and sometimes it is worth taking a calculated risk for,” said Simon.

It plays a pivotal role in our lives.

“You can’t control the risks – but you can control the people you send,” added Pereira. “But like any machine we get very tired. Our resources are depleted. What is becoming apparent to major broadcasters is that the real risk is not [having] foreign news crews parachuting in to countries, it’s the local journalists.”

Last night, CPJ casualty figures for 2012 stood at six. Last year, over forty journalists were killed. These figures lie in stark contrast to the two journalists killed in World War I.

The terrain journalists cover has changed. From being seen as neutral observers bearing witness to events, they are increasingly being targeted in a bid to silence unfavourable reports against governments.

The tumultuous events of 2011 has seen ‘crackdown’ become a buzzword among press freedom organisations. In Egypt, where documenting the unrest can be seen as highly damaging to the regime, journalists have reported being targeted and attacked. In Iran, threats by the government have extended to the harassment of journalists’ family members.

The panel believed one of the reasons the number of journalists killed has rocketed over the past years is because of a reigning culture of impunity.

“Governments think they can get away with kidnapping, murder and targeting,” said Bahari.

“Frontline news gatherers are increasingly local, online and freelance journalists, and are victims of violence and repression because they work without the same support that journalists with media organisations have,” said Simon.

He urged media organisations and support groups to come together to fight censorship or information and the reigning culture of impunity.

“We need to create a global coalition against censorship, a community of global citizens. [Censorship is] something I feel is an emerging threat and needs to be challenged.”

View in iTunes

Over 40 journalists were killed during a tumultuous year of political unrest last year. Hundreds more remain imprisoned, censored, suppressed and exiled around the world.

Increasingly pressured into self-censorship through intimidation, fear and legislation, journalists are facing increasingly dangerous times. Such danger are compounded by repressive governments and violent criminal groups.

Join us at the Frontline Club for the first in a series of events, screenings and workshops examining the challenges to safety faced by journalists around the world.

We will be discussing the dangers faced by journalists today and the impact on journalism of a world more and more people are demanding their rights to equality and justice. What more can be done to protect journalists in their work?

The event will also mark the launch of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Attacks on the Press report which will be presented by CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

Chaired by Award-winning journalist and reporter, Jenny Kleeman, has been working with Channel 4’sUnreported World since 2007, reporting from locations as diverse as the Amazon rainforest, the slums of Liberia and most recently Afghanistan. She writes regularly for the Guardian, Sunday Times and Independent.

With:

Joel Simon, executive director of the CPJ, under which they launched the ‘Global Campaign Against Impunity’ and established the ‘Journalist Assistance program’ which provides help to journalists in distress.

Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who was detained in Iran during the uprising following the 2009 disputed election. He is author of Then They Came for Me: A story of injustice and survival in Iran’s most notorious prison.

(via Skype) Libyan contractor turned fixer, Suliman Ali Zway who was recently awarded the Martin Adler prize alongside Osama Alfitory for their dedication and bravery in reporting the conflict in Libya. They are known to international journalists as ‘The A-Team.’

Colin Pereira, head of safety and security at ITN, he is responsible for the security of ITN operations in high risk environments. Previously he was deputy head of the BBC High Risk Team. He has advised on thousands of deployments around the world, ranging from the London riots to deploying crews to downtown Mogadishu. He is also head of high risk for 1st Option Safety, specialising in production and freelance safety.

In association with CPJ 

By Nicole Hunt

After a false start on 9 February and another postponement on 15 February, euro zone Finance Ministers are using their regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday to discuss whether to release the next tranche of Greece’s bailout loan in light of the new austerity measures approved in Athens last week. Ministers are also expected to sign the Treaty for the European Stability Mechanism, so that the ESM can take effect from 1 July, six months earlier than planned.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency begin their second visit to Iran in as many months to meet with Iranian government officials. The visit comes on the heels of Iran’s 15 February announcement that it had inserted domestically-produced nuclear fuel rods into its reactor, raising western concerns about the progress of its nuclear programme.

Monday also marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of protests in Morocco, one of the more peaceful campaigns of the Arab Spring movement. There have been rumblings of protests to mark the anniversary by members of the February 20 Youth Movement unhappy with the speed of democratic reforms.

Just over a year after the beginning of considerably less smooth protests in Yemen, which saw nearly 2,000 people killed by the time a power-transfer agreement was brokered in November 2011, Yemenis go to the polls to officially approve the transfer of power from long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. Hadi runs unopposed as the consensus candidate for the country’s major parties, and will lead the country through a transition period before further elections can be held.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who has been tipped to replace President Hu Jintao in the leadership shuffle this autumn, continues an overseas jaunt that has seen him visit the US and Ireland with a short trip to Turkey to meet with President Abdullah Gul. The meeting could be a bit tense, though, as Turkey have been vocal proponents of international action on Syria, while China recently joined Russia in blocking a UN Security Council resolution condemning President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

The Committee to Protect Journalists launches its annual Attacks on the Press report right here at the Frontline Club.

The Pakistani Supreme Court Commission investigating the so-called ‘memogate’ incident sits again on Wednesday, hoping to finally hear testimony from Mansoor Ijaz, the man responsible for revealing the existence of the memo in an FT op-ed. Ijaz has failed to appear before the Commission on three previous occasions, citing safety concerns, and has been allowed to record his testimony from the Pakistani High Commission in London this time around.

Megaupload founder Kim DotCom (aka Kim Schmitz) is back in court in New Zealand, this time to face his first extradition hearing, having been twice denied bail since being arrested in January. DotCom is fighting extradition to the US on suspicion of ‘running an international organised criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy’.

London hosts the International Conference on Somalia on Thursday. Ministers from around the world convene to discuss piracy, protection of ships in the Gulf of Aden, Islamic extremists, the causes of conflict and instability in Somalia, and how to support surrounding countries. Kenya hosted a regional conference on 9 Febraury as part of preparations, while Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Somalia on 2 February, becoming the first UK Foreign Secretary to do so in 20 years.

Following his much-publicised preliminary hearing in December, Private First Class Bradley Manning returns to Meade, Maryland for a formal arraignment hearing, the first step in his eventual court-martial for allegedly passing information to WikiLeaks.

Tunisia hosts the first Friends of Syria meeting on Friday, with confirmed attendees including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The meeting is reminiscent of the Libya Contact Group conferences that were organised as the campaign against Muammar Gaddafi intensified there, though the first LCG on 13 April, 2011 came just two months after the protests in Libya began; the Friends of Syria will meet as the Syrian protests approach their one year anniversary.

G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors hold their first meeting of the year in Mexico City on Saturday and Sunday. As always these days, the European debt crisis is likely to be high on the agenda, though ministers will also be discussing a $500bn increase in IMF funding to help the Fund cope with the demands of the crisis. Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said earlier this month that a consensus on the funding was ‘unlikely’ this month.

Normally-quiet Sunday is actually a day of big decisions this week, though some are considerably bigger than others. In Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces their Oscar-winning choices.

In Senegal, voters decide who will be the country’s President for the next seven years, or at least who will take part in a second round runoff. Incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade’s candidacy was approved by the Constitutional Court last month, despite protests from his opponents that he should be ineligible for a third term. Senegal’s constitution limits leaders to two presidential terms, but Wade argued that since the term limit was introduced after he’d already been elected the first time, it shouldn’t apply to his first term.

Finally, Syrian President Bashar al Assad announced on 15 February that the country’s constitutional referendum, not expected until March, would take place on Sunday. The new constitution would allow for changes to Syria’s electoral system, which currently reserves the majority of parliamentary seats for supporters of Assad’s Baath party.

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists puts together a list of the 10 worst countries to be a blogger. Visit their site to find out more about the 10 countries and the justification for inclusion. The list, in order, is below and Burma comes out worst. Click each country below to learn more about individual cases of bloggers being arrested, harrassed or killed in each place,

1. Burma

2. Iran

3. Syria

4. Cuba

5. Saudi Arabia

6. Vietnam

7. Tunisia

8. China

9. Turkmenistan

10. Egypt

There’s also a short audio chat with CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney on CpJ.org about the thinking behind the 10 worst countries list.

Photograph of Hossein Derakhshan, blogger arrested in Iran in November 2008, taken by Joi

Iraq, Sierra Leone and Somalia are the most dangerous place for journalists according to the 2009 Imupunity index released by the Committee to Protect Journalists today. However, the report entitled Getting Away With Murder 2009, highlights worrying trends in South Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka and Pakistan,

“We’re distressed to see justice worsen in places such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Our findings indicate that the failure to solve journalist murders perpetuates further violence against the press,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “Countries can get off this list of shame only by committing themselves to seeking justice.” link

"The situation in Pakistan is quickly eroding," [said Shawn Crispin, CPJ Asia programme consultant and a former foreign correspondent based in Southeast Asia.] "There are more and more journalists getting caught, not necessarily in the crossfire itself, but by competing groups. They don’t like the coverage of the journalist, they target the journalist." link

Forty-one journalists died in 2008, down notably from previous years. A sharp drop in the number of journalists killed in Iraq led to the overall decline. Improved security conditions in Iraq and, possibly, a rollback in foreign bureaus in Baghdad helped lead to the lower numbers there. Many journalists killed in previous years were targeted because of their ties to Western media outlets. link

If you use use Twitter, you can follow the press conference in 140 character text snippets with both the CPJ and with journalismnews. And don’t forget, the Frontline Club uses Twitter too.

"We are shocked by the killing of Ando Ratovonirina and extend our condolences to his family and colleagues," said CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, Tom Rhodes. "President Marc Ravalomanana’s government must immediately investigate the shooting by members of the presidential guard and hold those responsible to account." link

Ratovonirina is the first journalist to have been killed since the CPJ started keeping death records in 1992.