[September 15, 2011] BBG Condemns Violence and Threats Against Journalists Tweet Sep 15, 2011 (Radio Free Europe Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- BBG Condemns Violence and Threats Against Journalists September 15, 2011 In a public session during today's meeting of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Chairman Walter Isaacson paid tribute to journalists whose work for U.S. International Broadcasting (USIB) puts them at peril. Isaacson's remarks drew from the following statement that cites conspicuous threats and attacks against USIB journalists over the past several weeks, and which is included in the minutes of the meeting. Statement of the Broadcasting Board of Governors: Threats to the Press September 15, 2011 The BBG takes the opportunity of this open meeting to shine a spotlight on efforts to thwart media freedom and intimidate our journalists in countries where we work. We'll provide updates on the status of our reporters and operations as a standard part of subsequent Board meetings. The Board expresses profound concern about Iran, where Internet access to reporting by VOA's Persian News Network and RFE's Radio Farda is blocked, websites are aggressively hacked, shortwave broadcasts are jammed and persons associated in any way with our programs are arrested or worse. We learned recently that the Iranian government is jamming satellite transmissions of the BBC's Persian service TV. Taken together, these practices amount to the construction of an "electronic curtain" isolating the Iranian people from the rest of the world. We protest the August 31 abduction and expulsion to the Iranian border of a correspondent with RFE's Azerbaijani service who was reporting a story. We have raised the case with the State Department and local officials and have requested an explanation from the Azerbaijani government. We reject a legal warning issued in connection with VOA coverage of the U.N.-backed tribunal in Cambodia that has been investigating atrocities committed by the former Khmer Rouge regime. The Board insists on the journalistic and legal responsibility of all our broadcast services to provide balanced coverage of important issues, and objects to the chilling effect the warning may have on independent media inside the country. We also object to a recent pattern of intimidation towards RFA and VOA reporters in Nepal, who have been physically threatened because of their reporting on Tibet. Finally, the Board condemns the routine violence that our journalists in many countries face simply for doing their jobs. On September 3, Alexandre Neto, a VOA reporter, was assaulted by plain-clothed police who also confiscated some of his equipment while he was covering a pro-democracy rally in the Angolan capital of Luanda. A cameraman with Alhurra TV was attacked on August 10 in Yemen by several unidentified men who tried to stab him with daggers. The Board welcomes the news that Abdumalik Boboyev, a correspondent for VOA, has finally been permitted to travel to Germany to study. Boboyev was arrested and charged with 'libel' last year for his broadcasts. He managed to avoid prison but was fined $11,000 for 'insulting the Uzbek people.' Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]