The following article, which references CIMA’s report Libel Tourism: Silencing the Press Through Transnational Legal Threats, was originally published in the EUObserver. To view the article in its original context, click here.

January 12, 2010 

East European criminals and politicians taking ‘libel tourism’ trips to UK

Leigh Phillips

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Organised criminals, businessmen and politicians, particularly from eastern Europe, are flocking to the UK courts to file libel cases to punish and scare off journalists who ask too many awkward questions, threatening the very existence of publications in the east that engage in investigative journalism.

English and Welsh courts, where the burden of proof is borne by the accused rather than the complainant, have become the jurisdiction of choice for oligarchs and mafiosi. Saudi billionaires and even totalitarian governments regularly take advantage of UK laws that say that a journalist is guilty until proven innocent, according to a report by an editor with the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina (CIN), Drew Sullivan.

The report, published last week by the US-based Center for International Media Assistance, says that while the problem of “libel tourism” is an old one, in recent years as daily newspapers, which to a greater or lesser extent had the funds to stand up for their reporters in court, have abandoned investigative reporting, the baton has been taken up by smaller, non-profit web-publishing outfits that are in a much more precarious situation.

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The following article, which reference CIMA’s event The Role of New Media in the Iranian Elections, was originally published in the Jerusalem Post. To view the article in its original context, click here.

July 16, 2009

Experts tout role of new media in Iranian protests

WASHINGTON – Twitter’s role in the recent Iranian protests has been exaggerated, but new media were crucial in enabling an online community within and beyond Iran to convey information to protesters otherwise shut off from independent news sources, according to new media experts.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in Iran’s controversial presidential election, supporters of rival Mir Hossein Mousavi organized their opposition using many online tools that helped coordinate rallies and provide coverage about the events in their country and the response around the world, noted members of a panel on Tuesday. The panel was hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Center for International Media Assistance.

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The following article, which contains an interview with CIMA Consulting Manager and Editor Don Podesta, was originally published on America.gov. To view the article in its original context, click here.

Attacking Journalists Hurts All Society, Democracy Advocates Say

Media rights activists comment on World Press Freedom Day

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Staff Writer

Washington – If journalists are persecuted, imprisoned or killed, society as a whole is the victim, say media and democracy advocates speaking in advance of World Press Freedom Day. Read more »

CIMA Consulting Manager and Editor Don Podesta spoke at a special meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., April 23, 2009. Podesta, who is also the author of CIMA’s report Soft Censorship: How Governments Around the Globe Use Money to Manupulate the Media, discussed the issue of soft censorship within Latin America.

The speech (which is in Spanish) is available on the OAS Web site here.

This article was originally posted on IJNet. To view this posting in its original location, please click here.

By Jessica Weiss, IJNet Editor

ICFJ’s Director of Science and Environment Programs Rob Taylor, in a panel discussion on environmental reporting in developing countries, pointed out some of the challenges facing environmental reporters and the need for training and information to help them do better jobs. 

Taylor, speaking in Washington, D.C., at the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy, discussed ICFJ’s . Speaking with him were three other media professionals working in international environmental reporting and training. Read more »

To view this blog posting in its original context, click here.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

By Stephen Kaufman, Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, 7 march 2009

Washington – The issue of climate change has gained prominence in the Western press, but in many developing countries the topic rarely appears in headlines, and citizens remain relatively uninformed about the risks they face from environmental degradation.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing problems for reporters to cover in the developing world and is something that is being largely neglected,” said Oren Murphy, regional manager for Southeast Asia at the nonprofit Internews Network.

“There is a huge … information gap we found between people who are most likely to suffer from the impact of climate change and their access to information.”

Murphy and journalists spoke in Washington on March 4 at an event hosted by the Center for International Media Assistance, an initiative by the nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy.

For many developing countries, improving their economic well-being through fast development is an overriding imperative, but Murphy said climate change and environmental damage can cause a country’s years of economic growth to be undone – by rising waters, decreasing drinking water supplies, crippled fishing industries and other environmental disasters.
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The following is an Op-ed by CIMA Senior Director Marguerite H. Sullivan published in the Washington Times Sunday, January 25, 2009. To view the article on the Washington Times Web site, click here.

As President Obama and his foreign policy team assess America’s proper role in a troubled world, they would do well to consider a predicament that afflicts 4 out of 5 people on the planet – and that Washington can go a long way toward alleviating.

That affliction is the absence of fully free, wholly unfettered media. According to a survey of press freedom last year by Freedom House, just 18 percent of the world’s population lives in countries whose media can be considered fully free. Another 40 percent lives in countries judged to have partially free media, but 42 percent – a plurality of the world’s population – lives in countries where the media are not free.

This has clear implications for the new Obama administration as it looks at its approach to democracy assistance. Free and independent media are the backbone of any true democracy. The free flow of news and information is essential to ensuring fair elections, fighting corruption, enabling economies to thrive, and fostering a diversity of voices. Whether the new president chooses to spread democracy aggressively or with restraint, with a high profile or a low one, his efforts would be bolstered significantly by recognizing free media as a fundamental building block of democracy.

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The following is an Op-ed by CIMA Conslutant Don Podesta published in the Washington Post Monday, February 2, 2009. To view the article on the Washington Post Web site, click here.

Among the accusations swirling around ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is one that touches on his relationship with the most important newspaper in his state, the Chicago Tribune. Blagojevich reportedly threatened to withhold state assistance from a deal involving the sale of Wrigley Field, owned by the Tribune Co., if the paper didn’t fire members of the editorial board whom he viewed as highly critical of him.

Thus Illinois joins a growing list of places across the globe where media-government relations are often ruled by money. Or, more specifically, money used as a tool to manipulate news coverage. This is a serious problem in countries where democracies are fragile and there is no culture of strong, independent news media.

Traditionally, authoritarian regimes have exercised control of media through direct censorship — forcing media outlets to submit news reports for review before publication or broadcast. Physically taking over media outlets or intimidating and arresting journalists and media owners are also familiar methods of controlling the press. But in recent years, as once authoritarian regimes have moved toward more open societies, or at least their appearance, a more insidious type of censorship has arisen.

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