Free as a bird part two

The latest deaths brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023 to nearly 200, and according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the war has been the deadliest conflict for journalists ever documented.

It says that more members of the media have been killed there in the past two years than were killed worldwide in the previous three years.

These were mainly (although not exclusively) news reporters, although the kind of investigative journalism I pursue is also at risk.

International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering Gaza independently since the start of the war.

Some journalists have been taken into Gaza by the IDF but this is ‘controlled access’, so the international media rely on local reporters for much of their coverage in Gaza.

The attack came two weeks after six journalists were killed in an Israeli targeted attack near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

There has been swift condemnation of the strike.

“These latest horrific killings highlight the extreme risks that medical personnel and journalists face as they carry out their vital work amid this brutal conflict”, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned.

He demanded “a prompt, and impartial investigation” in addition to “an immediate and permanent ceasefire”.

Philippe Lazzarini, who heads Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, expressed outrage at the killing of more journalists, which he said was “silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine”.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy declared that he was “horrified” by the deadly strike, which French President Emmanuel Macron called “intolerable”.

From the Middle East let’s turn our attention to China.

Regrettably China (like many others) is not a signatory of the International Criminal Court (ICC) so it can do nothing about the country’s persecution of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and the details of rape, torture as well as mass imprisonment had to be revealed by brave underground journalists.

China has tried to cover up all these abuses, and, for example, blanked out the prison camps on online maps only for diligent researchers to find them again by looking at the empty spaces.

According to Kenneth Roth, a former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW), China has become the greatest “threat to the global human-rights system”.

Chinese authorities claim they have dealt with transgressions firmly and have responded to pressure from ordinary people, but the importance of independent journalism cannot be denied.

A free and independent media does not exist in China and it is emphasised by what has happened in Hong Kong (HK) where stiff jail sentences have been handed down (with more expected).

Among those who received lengthy prison sentences was Gwyneth Ho.

She is a journalist-turned-politician who rose to fame when she live-streamed gangs attacking protesters in 2019 while the police looked on.

Ms Ho was sentenced to seven years in jail (like her, most of the activists had already spent four years behind bars while awaiting trial).

The punishments, though, drew swift criticism from abroad.

America said the activists were “jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity”, while the EU called the sentencing “another unprecedented blow against fundamental freedoms, democratic participation and pluralism” in HK.

Still, there are those who think the activists got off lightly. Chris Tang, HK’s security chief, suggested the Chinese Government was considering whether to appeal against some of the punishments in the hope of making them stiffer still, because the ‘principal offenders’ in a national-security trial could have been given a life term.

But this is only the latest action taken by China in attacking media freedoms, as well as minorities.

The huge country has NO democracy or an independent judiciary, the media outside state control is EXTREMELY limited, and it does NOT respect human rights.

The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of China (which was deemed an “illegal organisation”) has highlighted the reality of what is happening inside it.

Their report, said that journalists faced physical assault, hacking, online trolling and visa denials, as media freedom in China declined at a “breakneck speed”.

Censorship has been implemented and mandated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Government officials censor content for largely political reasons, such as in order to curtail opposition (as has happened in HK), as well as to block information about events which are unfavourable to the CCP, like, for instance, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, but also so that officials can maintain control over the populace.

Related to these outrageous events is what has happened to the media publisher and pro-democracy campaigner 77 year old Jimmy Lai.

Mr LaI (a UK citizen) was arrested four years ago, and held in solitary confinement for more than two of them. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion, and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mr Lai’s publications cheered the millions who marched against Hong Kong’s (HK’s) government in 2019.

The charismatic billionaire could have fled. But Mr Lai stayed, and now stands accused of sedition and collusion with foreign forces. Few observers doubt that he will be found guilty. Already serving another jail term, he could face a sentence of life in prison.

So it can be seen that in China, Gaza and, I’m afraid, elsewhere, media freedom is under threat.

Fine words from the authorities that it is “vital” are all very well, but the reality is rather different…

The memories of Phil’s astonishing, decades long award-winning career in journalism (when he was lucky enough to operate in a largely free environment!) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.

‘Free as a bird part three’ comes soon, where he looks at another book by a journalist which shows how media censorship today is becoming worse.

Tomorrow – how disturbing news that the BBC have been hit by yet another scandal over ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, once again shines the spotlight on their REFUSAL to answer The Eye’s questions about others.