PARIS: The number of journalists killed in the line of duty fell this year, despite reporter deaths in Gaza in the past two months, media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.
In the first 11 months of 2023, 45 journalists were killed carrying out their work, down from 61 last year, according to the annual report by RSF.
It was the smallest number since 33 died in 2002, largely due to a major drop in Latin America.
While some 63 journalists have been killed in the Middle East since the October 7 start of fighting between Israel and Islamist group Hamas, only 17 of those deaths fell under RSF’s definition.
“It takes nothing away from the tragedy in Gaza but we are observing a regular decline, and are very far from the 140 journalists killed in 2012 and again in 2013” because of the wars in Syria and Iraq, RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire said.
The decline is due to efforts by inter-governmental organizations and NGOs to combat impunity, as well as to greater “prudence” by reporters themselves, he said.
Of the 17 journalists RSF counted as killed carrying out their profession in the Middle East since October 7, 13 were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, three died in Lebanon and one was killed in Israel by Hamas.
RSF in November said it filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court for “war crimes” for these deaths.
AFP last week said its investigation showed that Israeli tank fire was responsible for killing Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah on October 13 and wounding six others, including AFP photographer Christina Assi.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said the journalists were in an “active combat zone” in southern Lebanon, an answer that Deloire called “not satisfactory.”
The war in Ukraine cost the life of two reporters in 2023, including AFP reporter Arman Soldin, “the only reporter to have lost their life outside their own country,” RSF said.
A total of 11 reporters have been killed since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
There was a sharp drop in Latin America where six reporters were killed, down from 26 in 2022. In Mexico alone, the number fell to four from 11 the previous year.
RSF warned that Mexico remains dangerous for journalists, citing continued kidnappings and attacks.
Of the 84 journalists counted as missing worldwide, about a third are Mexican.
The number of jailed reporters declined to 521 from 569 in 2022, with Belarus joining China and Myanmar as “one of the three biggest prisons in the world.”
Turkiye and Iran also repeatedly jail journalists, the report said.
A total of 54 journalists are being held hostage, compared to 65 in 2022.
Number of journalists killed on job in 2023 declines despite Gaza: media advocacy group
https://arab.news/yn9nr
Number of journalists killed on job in 2023 declines despite Gaza: media advocacy group
- 45 journalists killed carrying out their work, down from 61 last year, in first 11 months of 2023
- A total of 54 journalists are being held hostage, compared to 65 in 2022
Meta Oversight Board says wrong to remove Moscow attack posts
- Non-binding board ruling argues news value justified exemption from platform rules
- Daesh claims responsibility for Moscow concert hall attack that killed over 140 people
SAN FRANCISCO: The Meta Oversight Board on Tuesday said the social network was wrong to remove three Facebook posts showing images from a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall in March.
The posts did violate Meta rules against showing victims during an attack, but their news value should have made them exempt from those rules, according to the independent board.
“In a country such as Russia with a closed media environment, accessibility on social media of such content is even more important,” the board said in a written decision.
“Suppressing matters of vital public concern based on unsubstantiated fears it could promote radicalization is not consistent with Meta’s responsibilities to free expression.”
Each of the posts clearly condemned the attack, expressing solidarity with or concern for victims, according to the board.
Meta should restore the posts — adding a warning that the content could be disturbing to viewers, the board ruled.
Four gunmen stormed the Crocus City venue before the start of a rock concert, opened fire on the audience and set fire to the building, in an assault claimed by the Daesh group.
The assault claimed more than 140 lives, the deadliest attack in Russia for almost 20 years.
The board is referred to as a top court for content disputes at Meta, and the social media giant has agreed to abide by its decisions.
Media watchdog condemns Israeli labelling of Gaza journalists as ‘terrorists’
- Reporters Without Borders director general says move is part of troubling trend to control narrative of the ongoing conflict
LONDON: Reporters Without Borders has condemned Israel for labeling journalists in Gaza as “terrorists,” describing the move as part of a troubling trend to control the narrative of the ongoing conflict.
Speaking in Geneva, RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin voiced alarm over the Israeli Defense Forces’ portrayal of Palestinian journalists, calling it a blatant disregard for press freedom.
“We’re seeing Israeli defense forces trying to portray Palestinian journalists as terrorists. So we’re very worried about that trend too,” said Bruttin.
“In the past we had responses which were not satisfying … but still they were trying to pretend that they were abiding by international standards in terms of protection of the press. Today, now they’re outrageously lying and trying to portray journalists in Gaza as terrorists.”
Since the conflict began on Oct. 7 last year, Israel has been accused of waging a “retaliatory campaign” against media workers in Gaza.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 137 journalists — mostly Palestinians — have been killed so far, though the actual toll is believed to be significantly higher.
“Not only have they not been able to protect them, but also we have good reasons to believe that a fair amount of the about 140 journalists that have been killed have been deliberately killed, have been targeted,” Bruttin said.
Bruttin, who succeeded Christophe Deloire in July, highlighted the dire conditions faced by Palestinian journalists, noting severe shortages of essential resources such as food, water and electricity.
He emphasized that Gaza remained closed to international press, forcing global news outlets to rely heavily on exhausted local journalists who faced dual risks as both civilians and potential targets.
“We’re very worried about what’s happening there,” Bruttin said, describing the circumstances as “unprecedented.”
He urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for its treatment of journalists, stressing the need for genuine pressure on Tel Aviv to change its policies.
Despite the dangers, journalists continue to report on the conflict, said Bruttin.
“In such a short period of time, I think it’s fairly unprecedented. But we have seen wars in the beginning of the 21st century which have been very violent and rough too.
“The war in Iraq has been a nightmare for journalists and hundreds of journalists have been killed there. So we are aware of the specific nature of the conflict in Gaza.”
Publisher defends prize-winning French novel after Algerian victim’s claims
- Kamel Daoud’s novel “Houris” centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s
- Survivor of a massacre alleged on Algerian TV that the main character in the book is based on her experiences
PARIS: The publisher of the novel that won France’s top literary price has strongly defended its French-Algerian author after an Algerian survivor of a 1990s massacre in the North African country claimed the book is based on her story used without her consent.
French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud this month won the Goncourt for his novel “Houris” centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s.
The novel, banned in Algeria, tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when an Islamist cuts her throat as she witnesses her family being massacred during the civil war.
However the survivor of a massacre during the period has alleged on Algerian TV that the main character in the book is based on her experiences.
The woman, Saada Arbane, said she had told her story during a course of treatment to a psychotherapist who is now Daoud’s wife. She accused Daoud of then using the details narrated during their therapy sessions in his book.
Publishers Gallimard however said Daoud and his wife were the victims of orchestrated attacks after the banning of the book in Algeria, adding that the publishing house had also been banned from Algeria’s main book fair earlier this month.
“Although Houris is inspired by tragic events that occurred in Algeria during the civil war of the 1990s, its plot, characters and heroine are purely fictional,” said publisher Antoine Gallimard who heads the Gallimard publishing house.
“Since the publication of his novel, Kamel Daoud has been the subject of violent defamatory campaigns orchestrated by certain media close to a regime whose nature is well known,” he added.
Arbane has alleged that she told the psychotherapist not to reveal her story but has found that there are details in the life of the main character in the book — Aube — that would only have been known to the doctor.
Speaking on television with a speech aid, she has described the book as a “violation of my intimacy” and accused the psychotherapist of going back on a promise that her story would not feature in Daoud’s work.
But Gallimard said: “It is now the turn of his wife — who in no way is a source for ‘Houris’ — to be attacked over her professional integrity.”
Daoud, who used to work as a journalist and columnist in Algeria, has stirred controversy with his analyzes of society in Algeria and elsewhere in the Arab world in French and international media.
Associated Press to lay off 8 percent of staff
- Move is part of efforts to modernize its operations and products
LONDON: The Associated Press said on Monday it would lay off about 8 percent of its workforce as it looks to modernize its operations and products.
The news publisher said affected employees will be notified over the next few weeks. It will offer a voluntary separation plan to a small number of eligible staff, based on department, role and tenure.
The Associated Press has reached a tentative agreement — subject to ratification — with the News Media Guild to extend this offer to some union staff in the US.
Under the agreement, a maximum of 116 people in the editorial unit and five people in the technology unit would be eligible for a voluntary buyout package, News Media Guild administrator Tony Winton said in an emailed response.
Founded in 1846 as a news cooperative, the Associated Press has journalists in nearly 100 countries and in all 50 US states, according to its website.
“We are taking proactive steps, including making some staff reductions, as we focus on meeting the evolving needs of our customers,” AP said in a statement.
The news publisher’s CEO Daisy Veerasingham said in a memo to employees that those eligible for the voluntary plan will be notified by the end of the day.
AP was among the first news organizations to sign a deal with OpenAI. It had licensed a part of its archive of news stories to the ChatGPT-maker last year, setting a precedent for similar partnerships.
US to call for Google to sell Chrome browser: report
- Determining how to address Google’s wrongs is the next stage of a landmark antitrust trial that saw the company in August ruled a monopoly by US District Court Judge Amit Mehta
SAN FRANCISCO: The US will urge a judge to make Google-parent company Alphabet sell its widely used Chrome browser in a major antitrust crackdown on the Internet giant, according to a media report Monday.
Antitrust officials with the US Department of Justice declined to comment on a Bloomberg report that they will ask for a sell-off of Chrome and a shake-up of other aspects of Google’s business in court Wednesday.
Justice officials in October said they would demand that Google make profound changes to how it does business — even considering the possibility of a breakup — after the tech juggernaut was found to be running an illegal monopoly.
The government said in a court filing that it was considering options that included “structural” changes, which could see them asking for a divestment of its smartphone Android operating system or its Chrome browser.
Calling for the breakup of Google would mark a profound change by the US government’s reglators, which have largely left tech giants alone since failing to break up Microsoft two decades ago.
Google dismissed the idea at the time as “radical.”
Adam Kovacevich, chief executive of industry trade group Chamber of Progress, released a statement arguing that what justice officials reportedly want is “fantastical” and defies legal standards, instead calling for narrowly tailored remedies.
Determining how to address Google’s wrongs is the next stage of a landmark antitrust trial that saw the company in August ruled a monopoly by US District Court Judge Amit Mehta.
Requiring Google to make its search data available to rivals was also on the table.
Regardless of Judge Mehta’s eventual decision, Google is expected to appeal the ruling, potentially prolonging the process for years and possibly reaching the US Supreme Court.
The trial, which concluded last year, scrutinized Google’s confidential agreements with smartphone manufacturers, including Apple.
These deals involve substantial payments to secure Google’s search engine as the default option on browsers, iPhones and other devices.
The judge determined that this arrangement provided Google with unparalleled access to user data, enabling it to develop its search engine into a globally dominant platform.
From this position, Google expanded its tech empire to include the Chrome browser, Maps and the Android smartphone operating system.
According to the judgment, Google controlled 90 percent of the US online search market in 2020, with an even higher share, 95 percent, on mobile devices.
Remedies being sought will include imposing measures curbing Google artificial intelligence from tapping into website data and barring the Android mobile operating system from being bundled with the company’s other offerings, according to the report.
