security agencies

CPJ urges Nigerian president to prioritize press freedom

June 3, 2015 President Muhammadu Buhari State House, Abuja Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria C/O: Senior Special Assistant to the President Special Adviser to the President Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to congratulate you on your recent victory in Nigeria’s presidential election. As Nigeria prepares to enter a new chapter in its history, we urge you and your administration to take steps to ensure that journalists are able to work freely and openly in the country without fear of reprisal of any form. In your inaugural speech on May 29, you identified insecurity and pervasive corruption in Nigeria to be among your immediate concerns. You also recognized the country’s “vibrant” press and appealed to the media to exercise “its considerable powers with responsibility and patriotism.” It is our belief that a patriotic press is also a critical press. To achieve your objective in tackling the challenges Nigeria faces, it is vital that your government prioritize press freedom so that journalists may ask questions and expose corruption at all levels of society without fear of harassment or intimidation. Nigerians and the world must be left without any suspicion or uncertainty about the transparency of your government. As Nigeria aspires to strengthen its democracy, your government must show that it can tackle Nigeria’s challenges, including the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency and the use of terror tactics, but can do so without compromising democratic principles, whose core elements include press freedom and freedom of expression. The success of the democratic government you now lead will depend largely on the guarantee that journalists are free to inform the society about their commonwealth. We welcome your public assurances that you will not allow authorities to abuse the trust of the Nigerian people. We are encouraged by your promise to take disciplinary steps against security forces who commit human rights violations, but there is a long way to go. Security forces are the most frequent perpetrators of violations against the press, according to the Lagos-based International Press Centre, which found that Nigerian police and security forces were responsible for 24 of at least 32 cases of attacks on journalists between November 2014 and February this year. No one has been brought to justice, the IPC said. CPJ has also documented other physical attacks, threats, and intimidation of local and international journalists seeking to cover the news. In a weeklong siege in June 2014, soldiers and agents of the Nigerian State Security Service disrupted the operations of nearly a dozen independent newspapers under the guise of fighting terrorism, according to CPJ research. Federal troops across the country seized and destroyed newspaper deliveries, confiscated editions, and took over media vehicles. No public apology was forthcoming, nor any compensation given for the loss in newspaper sales incurred by news organizations, distributors, transporters, vendors, advertisers, and other stakeholders. CPJ has also documented a worrisome number of work-related murders of journalists in Nigeria. Since 1992, at least 10 Nigerian journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work, while another nine journalists have been killed under unclear circumstances, CPJ research shows. The country is second only to Somalia in terms of Africa’s worst record of unpunished murders of journalists. In 2014, Nigeria ranked 12th on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free. President Goodluck Jonathan’s government showed no resolve in finding the killers of these journalists, but we ask that you make this a priority of your administration. Nigeria retains outdated laws on criminal defamation, publishing false information, and sedition, which authorities have used to persecute journalists for their reporting. In 2010, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights called on member states to repeal criminal defamation laws or insult laws, which impede freedom of speech, and to adhere to the provisions of freedom of expression articulated in the African Charter and other regional and international instruments. In a landmark ruling in December 2014, the African Court on Human and People’s Rights found that prison sentences for criminal defamation were disproportionate and should be used only in restricted circumstances. Still, despite growing international consensus that journalists should never face criminal charges for their professional work, Nigerian authorities continue to persecute the media. In December, two journalists with the Abuja-based National Waves magazine were arrested and charged two months later with criminal defamation, according to news reports. They had published a report in the magazine that alleged fraudulent dealings between an oil magnate and the Bauchi State government, news reports said. CPJ, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, believes that the use of criminal laws against journalists for reporting news or opinion is wrong and has a deeply chilling effect on the press as a whole. Journalists are critics–not criminals. On March 17, before the elections, you told the Nigerian Press Organisation in Abuja that if you won the presidency, “the Nigerian media will be free under our [All Progressives Congress] government.” You also told the journalists, “The health of Nigeria’s democracy rests partly on you. Without a robust and thriving media, the masses would have no voice.” We, too, believe that a society cannot thrive without a free and open press. This is why we are dismayed that on May 29, the day commemorating Nigeria’s democracy and coinciding with your inauguration and that of Nigerian state governors, Joseph Hir, a journalist with the independent Daily Trust, was viciously attacked, allegedly by supporters of the Nassarawa State governor, a member of your political party, who stood a short distance away taking his oath of office, according to news reports. Hir told CPJ the attack followed repeated threats he had received over a recent story he wrote that questioned the political relevance of Nassarawa State in the national affairs of your political party, the All Progressives Congress. Mr. President, we are aware of the significant challenges your administration faces, which are problems not of your making but which you are now required to

News

Communique of a One-Day Experts’ Meeting on Safety of Journalists

/ May 11, 2015

1. INTRODUCTION The one day experts’ meeting organized by the International Press Center (IPC) Lagos with the support of UNESCO Regional Office in Nigeria was a landmark development in the quest to document, raise consciousness and propose solutions to attacks on journalists while addressing other safety issues affecting effective journalism practice. The meeting had in attendance about thirty-five experts drawn from prominent media institutions, bodies and associations as well as the law enforcement agencies. Also present were female and male editors in print and broadcast media outlets including those reporting in the conflict affected areas of the North East. Among those present were Julie Osagie-Jacobs, National Programme Officer/Communication & Information, UNESCO, Mr. Bayo Atoyebi, former Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council (NCP); CSP. Abayomi Shogunle, who represented the Force PRO; Louis Achi of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, (NGE) and James Uwem, representing the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). The discussions were preceded by the presentation of the Overview of the report of Baseline Audit on Safety and Security of Journalists in Nigeria by the Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade. Also presented were three other papers were also presented including Media Handling of Gender Issues in Contemporary Nigerian Conflicts by Dr. Ifeoma Dunu, Department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Professionalism and ethics in reporting conflicts: perspectives on dealing with the new challenges by Dr Sola Ishola of the Department of Peace & Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan and Religious conflicts and media responsibility and the emergent challenge of Boko Haram by Dr Abubakar Mu’azu of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri. The presentations were followed by plenary sessions during which the experts exchanged ideas on contentious issues in conflicts and the safety of journalists. 2. OBSERVATIONS The participants observed that: • The safety of journalists seems to be on the downward trend as forty seven journalists were attacked between November 2014 April 2105, according to the baseline audit on safety of journalists which relied on information sourced from nine print media outlets; • Attacks on journalists are mostly perpetrated by security agents, armed militia men, political party loyalists/thugs and unknown gun men; • There has been no diligent prosecution of those responsible for various attacks on journalists; • Journalists working in conflict prone areas especially the north east of the country have been exposed to physical sufferings and psychological trauma; • Media outlets in the North East are sometimes vulnerable to attacks by terrorists; • Media reporting of the Boko Haram crisis sometimes do not show sufficient understanding of the north eastern landscape and the enormity of the task of combating the terrorists; For example, Borno state has a bigger land mass than combined five states in the south while the Sambisa forest stretches from Nigeria to the East African region; • There is the tendency for security agents operating in conflict areas to be hostile to journalists reporting such conflicts; • There is absence of regular dialogue between media stakeholders and security agencies on the challenges of violent conflicts in the country; • The gender dimensions of conflicts in the country are often under-reported; • The reporting of conflicts poses many professional and ethical challenges and dilemma, which should be properly addressed; • The media is not doing enough to report the factors that predispose parts of the country to conflicts. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS The meeting recommended that: • Journalists should in the course of reporting conflicts and other issues avoid compromising professional and ethical principles so as not to be seen as being biased by parties to the dispute; Allegations of bias could expose journalists to risk or danger; • Media proprietors and the union/professional associations of journalists should put in place multiple insurance schemes as part of the welfare provisions for journalists; Journalists working in or reporting in conflict prone areas should in addition be entitled to special insurance schemes as they face higher risks of attacks, accidents, injuries and loss of life and property; • Security agents should accept the obligation to protect and ensure the safety of journalists working in or reporting in conflict affected areas; • Security agents should understand the necessity of attending to requests for information on conflicts from journalists; They not see such requests as constituting acts of hostility to the state; • Security agencies and media professional bodies and associations should hold periodic roundtables to discuss issues in conflicts and the challenge of ensuring the safety of journalists; Such forum would also enable them to develop mechanisms for overcoming mutual distrust and suspicion; • Journalists reporting in conflict affected areas should understand that security agencies are invaluable sources of reliable information and therefore should cultivate them in a professional and respectful manner; • Media outlets and media professional bodies/associations should commit adequate resources to the training and re-training of editors and reporters on conflict sensitive reporting and safety in reporting conflicts; • Journalists working in conflict prone areas must study and imbibe professional safety tips; They should avoid acts that could put their lives at risk; • The reporting of conflicts should take into account the plights of women and children; Journalists should adopt the principles of gender sensitivity in reporting violent conflicts especially by avoiding gory or offensive details of violent acts against women and children; • Journalists should adopt the principle of an injury to one is an injury to all, and therefore act in solidarity whenever in any one of them is subjected to harassment or assault by whosoever; • Media managers/gate keepers must not allow their partisan or commercial interests to override good judgment in reporting conflict issues so as not to expose journalists reporting from the field to unnecessary risk or danger; • The media should in line with its social duty and constitutional obligation hold government accountable to its responsibility to provide for the needs of the people and alleviate poverty, so as to discourage the resort to acts of terrorism. Lanre Arogundade Director, IPC Tel: +234 (0) 8023186845 ,