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Philippine journalists vow to defend democracy, truth

Philippine journalists yesterday vowed to defend their profession on World Press Freedom day, despite the country's description by an international media watchdog as the "most murderous" for reporters in the world.

In the past three years, 23 journalists have been killed and 66 have been murdered since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said in a statement.

"We will not be cowed. We will not be silenced. You will not steal democracy from the Filipino people," the NUJP statement said ahead of a commemoration ceremony for the 15th annual World Press Freedom Day. "Those who want the attacks to bring on a chilling effect on Philippine media will find journalists more determined to unearth the truth."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said murder is the leading cause of job-related deaths among journalists worldwide, "and the Philippines is the most murderous country of all," followed by Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia.

Of 190 journalists who died on duty worldwide since 2000, 121 were "hunted down and murdered in retaliation for their work" and most of the killers have gone unpunished, the CPJ said.

"By failing to investigate and punish the killers, the governments in these five countries embolden all those who seek to silence the press through violence," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said. "The violence becomes self-perpetuating and the free flow of information is cut off."

In a separate statement, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders held Philippine authorities responsible for abetting a "culture of impunity" that allows killers and masterminds to attack journalists without fear of arrest.

The NUJP acknowledged weaknesses, corruption and "conflict-of-interest situations" that also characterize the Philippine press.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has promised to bring killers to justice, but efforts so far haven't made any headway.

Her spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, protested the statements made by the international media watchdogs, saying they were "unfair and exaggerated, considering the special attention being given by the [police] to this issue."

"Press freedom is fully protected and media practitioners may ask the police for special protection if their lives are under threat," he said.

Thousands of journalists elsewhere in the world also held marches and sit-ins yesterday to they face.

In Nepal, about 1,500 reporters marched through Katmandu demanding an immediate end to government censorship and the release of colleagues detained since King Gyanendra seized power in February.

Journalists in Nepal are barred from criticizing the king, his government and the security forces. Independent radio stations have been banned from broadcasting any news at all. Dozens of reporters have been arrested in the past three months and 12 remain in jail.

In Sweden, the main journalists' union and other media organizations held a 24-hour vigil yesterday at Sergel's Square in Stockholm to demand the release of journalist Dawit Isaak, a Swedish citizen imprisoned in his native Eritrea since 2001.

Reporters Without Borders said Iraq remained the worst place to be a journalist, but new threats have emerged in places like Africa and Bangladesh.

It released a report yesterday on the 56 journalists or their assistants killed in Iraq since the war began more than two years ago -- only seven fewer than during the conflict in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975.
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