"Pakistan Rated As World's Most Dangerous Country For Journalists"

KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), April 30 (Bernama) -- State repression against the media in some Commonwealth countries has caused constraints on the ability of journalists to operate, with Pakistan rated among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) president Rita Payne said on Monday. Underlining the consensus of a recent CJA conference on "Threats to Democracy," she said violence and censorship were still daily threats for too many journalists, with some Commonwealth countries, including India and Pakistan, resisting a draft United Nations Action Plan on Safety of Journalists. "Without a free press and freedom of expression, governments can impose bad policies and abuse power with impunity, and the result is diminished quality of life," she said in a statement emailed to Bernama to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3. She said the CJA was active in bringing these issues to the world stage while its efforts were global, with CJA branches in Pakistan, Sarawak, Uganda, Cameroon, India and Britain among those holding educational workshops and awareness-raising events to mark World Press Freedom Day. Worldwide statistics paint a grim picture of the way journalists are targeted and prevented from doing their job of reporting on government and society. Payne, who is also CJA United Kingdom president, said monitoring agencies reported 179 journalists imprisoned worldwide last year, up from 145 the previous year. Another 67 were killed in 2011 and 17 more so far this year, who were murdered or killed on dangerous assignments or had died in a crossfire, she said. Payne said wars and the uprisings of the Arab Spring claimed many journalists in 2011 but even outside of conflict zones, some of CJA's Commonwealth colleagues faced threatening conditions in their daily work. Even as Pakistan was rated among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, she said, South Africa had enacted strict censorship measures that limited reporting on corruption and to control the press. "Journalists in these circumstances are not the lucky ones in our profession, but they are among the bravest. We must salute and support them with our best weapon: well-chosen words and the determination to stand up for the inalienable rights of journalists everywhere who face violence or persecution in their profession." She said it was time for all Commonwealth countries to uphold the same values of a civil society, with the onus on governments to ensure that press freedom and freedom of speech were protected and promoted. -- BERNAMA