Cja Calls For Media Freedom During 2013 Chogm In Sri Lanka

From Caroline Jackson VALLETTA (Malta), Feb 8 (Bernama) -- The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) has expressed concern over the threat to prevent certain journalists from carrying out their duties at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka next year. At its just-concluded conference here, CJA urged delegates to call on Sri Lanka and all Commonwealth governments to respect fundamental human rights and raise the issue of media freedom before CHOGM takes place, and at the actual meeting itself. In a communique issued after the conference from Jan 29 to Feb 2, CJA also called on the delegates to urge journalists to monitor closely the United Nations' decision on war crimes, and write about the issue while calling on Commonwealth states to raise the issue at CHOGM. About 80 journalists and editors from 15 Commonwealth countries, including Malaysia, deliberated on session themes -- ranging from hi-tech journalism to democracy, sporting scandals, and media ethics after the fallout of Rupert Murdoch. It also saw CJA United Kingdom chairman Rita Payne taking over the helm from Hassan Shahriar, the executive editor of Bangladesh's Daily Ittefaq, as the new CJA International president while CJA Sarawak chairman Caroline Jackson was re-elected into the executive committee. CJA Sarawak represented Malaysia. Suggestion was also made for CJA delegates to call on the Commonwealth Secretariat to appoint a Commonwealth Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and to set a criteria for media freedom for CHOGM and the conduct of member states. It also adopted the WAN-IFRA Table Mountain Declaration (2007) against curtailment of media rights in some African member countries. The delegates were also asked to draw the attention of Commonwealth member states to the International Day of Impunity on Nov 23. CJA further asked Commonwealth member states and civil society bodies to renew and strengthen the organisation so that it becomes a more meaningful global player in the 21st century as broadly outlined in the Eminent Persons Group report (2011). Meanwhile touching on the conference theme “Journalism and Democracy in the New Media Age,” Maltese minister of Tourism, Environment and Culture Dr Mario de Marco said the Arab Spring, more than any other political or cultural upheaval, has amply demonstrated that citizen journalism has come of age. "The dictators controlled the tanks, the common people controlled the smart phones and the social networks," he said, adding that they used these new media to communicate, to congregate and to inform the world about what was happening as well as to expose "the feet of clay of the regime." Unfortunately, he said, there were still too many instances where journalism was a matter of life and death, with almost 900 journalists had been killed since 1992, including 46 last year. For Pakistan's Dawn newspaper editor, Zaffar Abbas, who has reported on the insurgency and civil war in Afghanistan since the Soviet occupation, life changed after the September 11 incident. He said among the most vulnerable journalists in Pakistan were Pakistanis working for local news channels, whose activities were monitored by militants. A keen follower of Pakistani and regional politics, he had joined the BBC World Service in Islamabad as a correspondent in 1992. -- BERNAMA