 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
The question that many people ask is why are the journalists being targeted? And who is behind the series of killings of these journalists? Over the past years Somali media was working in a relatively calm environment, although there were no protection being offered to them and the conditions for the media was better and less affected with unrest in the country, still there was a growing concern over the situation of the media particularly the freedom of expression. Somalia, being an unstable country, journalists are careful and vigilant, and the world is concerned over the fate of journalists and journalism in this country, and the growing level of abuses toward journalists, although the increase of fighting and violence in Somalia has made it a very difficult country for journalists to work still Somali journalists risk their lives working for the society. Over the last two years, media have been a victim of many abuses, killing and hurting of the journalists have increased significantly. In light of the evidence gathered by reporters without borders , Somalia is currently ranked 159 (out of 169 countries) in its index of press freedom , in 2007 nearly 10 journalist were deliberately killed, many others were arrested and several radio stations was shut down by those authorities who blamed the media to support other sides. In 2009 the series of killing of journalists have continued, 5 journalist including prominent editors in radio stations ware killed while others were kidnapped and tortured by unknown gunmen, the continuation of fighting in the country have had a huge impact on the life of the journalist where they do not have enough freedom to express, report or comments on a single news that is happening inside Somalia. The journalists are unable to freely report on the situation and the authorities on various regions have direct intervention in journalism where every function may imposes its own rules on the media. What is particularly striking is that many of those killings have taken place areas controlled by either warring sides and no group had yet managed to carry out an investigation to a single murder case. We can say journalists have lost their lives between those who are fighting each other; the freedom of expression is totally annulled and the media is muted! So why are the journalists risking their lives in this unprecedented situation? Blaming the media Since the journalists are among members of society who have the right to express freely, they have rights and the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal are defended and protected by the international laws and campaign groups. Some local people believe that while fighting continues for nearly two decades, the Somali media is fuelling this inter-fighting that claims the lives of many people. There is a wide-spread public view that media is indirectly involved in the fighting. if the journalist and the media airs and exaggerate the views and propaganda of one group, this will anger the other group and vice versa. Journalists contrarily propagate each one's views against the other and this bad-word spread by the media have a substantial impact on the Somali society, consequently this will pose a threats to the life of journalist and eventually he/she will be targeted by an angry group. The airing and spreading of this contrary views will only worsen the situation and fuells the fighting One expert did argue “media in Somalia indirectly takes part the fighting and deeply divides the society in various ways; the question is, why the media stresses talking about the fighting? Why the media supports and advocates or is against one party? Can you rule out that media is one of the major stumbling block to peace in Somalia?” Indeed media give a huge share of their time reporting and talking about inter-fighting which makes the journalists being a target of killing, how? We usually see commentaries and reports by journalist about the situation in Somalia in which they are either supporter or opposed to one group or individual. in Somalia where killing is rampant, imagine how a journalist will survive if he regularly reports on fighting, Journalists should immediately halt reporting on such situations like the war in Somalia which costs their livse, why journalist is killed or hurt is that he/she reported a news bulletin in such a way that this news article depresses or disappoints a certain group, therefore is targeted by that group who is not delighted with the news. Abdulfattah Elmi Osman _______________________________________________________________________________ We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com So please email your article today Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of WardheerNews |
