Monique Hepburn, deputy Star editor (centre) and Iana Seales, reporter at Stabroek News in Guyana, listen to Marc Nathanson, former chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 25. - Photo by Monique Hepburn

Monique Hepburn, Deputy Star Editor

Most journalists in Jamaica simply do not know or appreciate the relative ease we have in fulfilling our role as 'watchdogs' of society.

Members of the Fourth Estate can access information secure in the knowledge that we are protected and can use the Access to Information Act. Information from the police is usually readily available, and we can sit at our desks in peace knowing that we will not be attacked because of the work we are doing.

Yes, we are subject to onerous libel laws, which at times hamper our ability to expose the truth. But we do have an open avenue to challenge these laws on the pages of our newspapers and through the spoken word on electronic media.

Challenges there are, of course, but we should be grateful for the freedoms enjoyed by our press.

This is certainly not the case in many other countries where journalists are frequently challenged, beaten, abused and even killed in their quest to have a free press and to promulgate the principles of democracy. This reality struck me with force when I represented The Gleaner as the Edward R. Murrow fellow for Jamaica from April 7-April 28.

Arriving in Washington D.C., I joined the Multi-Regional Programme (MRP) of 19 other journalists from across the globe. Separate from the obvious invitation by the U. S. State Department, who brought a total of 180 journalists together, we were there to learn how the media operates in our respective countries as well as to exchange ideas on the future of operational practices and institutions of media.

Edward R. Murrow, for whom the programme is named, died in 1965 and is regarded as one of America's esteemed journalists and a pioneer broadcaster. He was a firm believer in democracy and saw that a free press, an essential feature of democracy, is judged by a government's tolerance of its dissent or criticism.

The MRP participated in various seminars organised by the State Department, the American University's School of International Service, in Washington, D.C., the Institute of International Education, Denver, and the Colorado Springs Committee for International Visitors in Colorado.

Fellow participant, Fatoumatta Drammeh, a reporter and broadcaster at Radio 1 FM in The Gambia, in West Africa, lamented that there is hardly anything that can be classified as a free press in her country.

Ongoing attacks

She said' "In The Gambia there is no such thing as press freedom.

Journalists are attacked all the time or they simply disappear. No one can freely write about the Government and to report on certain matters you would need its written permission."

Drammeh commented that her radio station was burned by individuals, who did not take kindly to criticism of the Government.

In The Philippines the situation is much the same - media plagued by repressive libel laws and violence directed against journalists.

Gemma Mendoza, online editor at The Philippines' Newsbreak magazine was taken from her desk in her newsroom and detained because the police could not find a staff member they came to arrest.

"There are stories that I would want to work on. There are politicians who are known murderers, but I dare not write about them because they are so powerful and can use the law against us," she said.

"It is really difficult to be a journalist in The Philippines because you can be arrested at any time. As a result, we have to have lawyers checking the system for warrants, so that we are not caught off guard."

Gibson 'Chief' Jerue, managing editor of the award-winning Public Agenda in Liberia, had to be rescued by U.S. Embassy officials following scathing criticism of the Government.

"I am not deterred by the opposition I get. Right now the Government has pulled all advertising from my paper and I have had to hide in bushes for weeks at a time as a result of threats on my life," he explained. "But, while there is no civil society in Liberia, I will continue to do what I do until the government does the right thing by the people."

While I was hearing first-hand accounts from my colleagues of the trials and tribulations they face in hostile environments, the stark reality of life on the frontline of journalism came when Jelena Grujic, a journalist with Vreme, a weekly magazine in Serbia, burst into tears during one of our sessions at the American University.

Grujic was just finding out that of one her colleagues at Vreme and members of his family (wife and young child) were injured after a grenade was placed on the window sill of their apartment.

A tearful Grujic commented, "This is a most terrible deed. It is something that we have to live with, but it will not dent our resolve to fight for press freedom."

Most Jamaicans supported the Independence struggles of Zimbabwe and their leader Robert Mugabe. Who can forget Bob Marley's rousing endorsement of Zimbabwe and Mugabe at their first Independence celebrations? But the tide has turned and Mugabe's change to almost despotic leadership has been accompanied by serious erosions in press freedoms.

Policy failures

Dumisani Muleya, news editor at Zimbabwe Independent says, "Press freedom in Zimbabwe is in the intensive care unit owing to political repression and an economic meltdown. Media tyranny has intensified dramatically in the past years when the embattled Government became more unpopular owing to poor leadership and policy failures."

Muleya, who has been arrested on several occasions, still vigourously pursues the quest for press freedom.

"Over the past couple of years, four private newspapers have been closed down by the government and dozens of independent media journalists have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown on dissent targeting opposition parties, judges, lawyers and ordinary citizens," he said.

"One journalist was recently killed by unknown thugs, suspected to be state agents, while the other was tortured in police custody. Another one has been in jail for over a month for allegedly being involved in a petrol bombing incident, which is just a pretext for the ongoing clampdown on the media."

The experiences of my colleagues were, to say the least, harrowing and I could not help but think how, despite the many pressures and challenges we face here on 'The Rock', there is much to be thankful for. Certainly in how media are allowed to operate in search of the truth.

This is aposition we should not take for granted but cherish. And while cherishing this freedom we have to ensure its continuance by being vigilant and by jealously guarding one of the fundamental pillars of democracy - press freedom.