PRESS CONFERENCE BY WINNERS OF 1998 CPJ PRESS FREEDOM AWARD

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY WINNERS OF 1998 CPJ PRESS FREEDOM AWARD

Where freedom of the press was threatened, exposure was perhaps the most important defence to protect journalists, Gustavo Gorriti, an investigative reporter with the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa said this morning at a Headquarters press conference of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which was sponsored by the United States. The media spotlight could not only shed light on a situation, but could also expose threats against journalists while acting as a powerful deterrent against any future threats, he added.

Also taking part in the press conference for the 1998 Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ) Press Freedom Award Winners were Gremah Boucar, the founder of Radio Anfani in Niger, and Bambang Harimurty, an editor for Tempo news magazine in Indonesia, who was representing his co-worker and Tempo magazine founder, Goenawan Mohamad. Mr. Gorriti, Mr. Boucar and Mr. Mohamad are winners of the 1998 CPJ awards. The moderator was Ann Cooper, CPJ's Executive Director.

Mr. Gorriti, a native of Peru who Ms. Cooper said fled his homeland after extreme pressure and constant death threats, added that Latin America still remained one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. In most of the countries there, legislative and judicial institutions could not give an adequate counterweight to the powerful executive. It therefore fell to the press to fulfil that role.

He said the most corrupt individuals craved respectability even more than wealth, and worked hard to succeed at "image laundering" even more than at money laundering. Journalists no longer needed to rely on a passive bravery and fear from the inevitable government reprisals to do their work. Today, because of globalization and the attention given by international organizations, governments worldwide knew that wrongdoings would be exposed and the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Mr. Boucar, after imprisonment and repeated harassment in his native Niger, said he sometimes doubted his work had made a difference and at times felt he was fighting a losing battle. He said his radio station had been broken into and the equipment destroyed, but that the interest shown in his plight by the CPJ and others had made him feel more hopeful about the future.

Responding to a correspondent's question on how receiving the CPJ award would make a difference, Mr. Boucar said journalists in Niger had in the past hesitated to do their job because they had feared the Government. However, he hoped that they could now look to him as a beacon and someone who had stood up against the dictatorship. Maybe now some of his colleagues would not feel as pressured into practising corrupt journalism by always advocating the government line.

Press Freedom Award Briefing - 2 - 23 November 1998

Mr. Harimurty, who would receive the CPJ award on behalf of Mr. Mohamad, answered the correspondent's question by saying that the heightened exposure would help to level the playing field. Journalists in third world countries did not have any power against their own Government, he explained. But now the authorities knew that such prizes could bring bigger problems down upon the Government than just a critical view in the media. Worldwide exposure threatened a stronger reprisal than was worth their while.

He added that Mr. Mohamad had regretted that he could not come to New York to receive the award himself, but that the current situation in Indonesia demanded that he stay at home. Mr. Harimurty said that Mr. Mohamad had grown in stature and no longer was seen as a mere journalist in his home country. Mr. Mohamad, he said had become an important figure in making sure Indonesia would survive as a peaceful society.

The three journalists and two others will receive the CPJ award tomorrow evening, 24 November, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

One of the two others is Pavel Sheremet of Belarus, a bureau chief for ORT Russian television and editor for a Belarusian newspaper, who was denied a travel visa by his Government. Ms. Cooper cited an Associated Press report that quoted Mr. Sheremet as saying, "this is a logical conclusion to what has been going on in Belarus ... I feel the authorities are trying to block me all the way. I'm used to that. The fact that I wasn't allowed to go to New York is far from being the most horrible thing that could have happened in this country where people are detained for 15 days just for taking part in innocent trade union demonstrations."

The other journalist is Ruth Simon, a correspondent for Agence France Presse who has been imprisoned in her native Eritrea for nearly two years. She would also not be present, but would nonetheless be honoured with the CPJ award.

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