Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders, or RWB (Template:Lang-fr, Template:Lang-es, or RSF, Chinese: 無國界記者,Template:Lang-fa, Template:Lang-ar Template:ArabDIN) is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985 by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud.^[1] Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008.^[2]

RWB was founded in Montpellier, France in 1985. At first, the association was aimed at promoting alternative journalism, but before the failure of their project, the three founders stumbled on disagreements between themselves.^[1] Finally, only Robert Ménard stayed and became its Secretary General. Ménard changed the NGO's aim towards freedom of press.^[1]

Reporters Without Borders states that it draws its inspiration from Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to which everyone has "the right to freedom of opinion and expression" and also the right to "seek, receive and impart" information and ideas "regardless of frontiers." This has been re-affirmed by several charters and declarations around the world. In Europe, this right is included in the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Reporters Without Borders is a founding member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a virtual network of non-governmental organisations that monitors free expression violations worldwide and defends journalists, writers and others who are persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

In 2005, Reporters Without Borders shared the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought with Nigerian human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim and Cuba's Ladies in White movement.^[3]

Over the years, RWB has published several books to raise public awareness of threats to press freedom around the world. A recent publication is the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents,^[4] which was launched in September 2005. The handbook provides technical tips on how to blog anonymously and avoid censorship. It includes contributions from well-known blogger-journalists Dan Gillmor, Jay Rosen and Ethan Zuckerman.

Reporters Without Borders publishes the Predators of Press Freedom list.^[5]

According to the annual accounts, its total budget is of €4,000,000, which is mostly financed by sale of photo-albums (of which the authors freely grant copyright, and which are freely distributed by the Nouvelles Messageries de la presse parisienne, NMPP ^[6]), as well as extras such as T-shirts, etc ^[6].

More than 20% of its funding comes from private groups, such as Sanofi-Aventis (€400,000, 10% of its budget ^[6]), François Pinault, the Fondation de France, the Open Society Institute of George Soros, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, Benetton, or the Center for a Free Cuba (which donated €64,000 in 2002).^[6][7]. Furthermore, Saatchi & Saatchi has realized various communication campaigns of RWB for free (for instance, concerning censorship in Algeria^[8]).

Some of its funding (12% of total in 2007) comes from governmental organisations.^[9] According to RWB president Robert Ménard, the donations from the French government account for 4,8% of RWB's budget; the total amount of governmental aid being 11% of its budget (including money from the French government, the OSCE, UNESCO and the Organisation internationale de la francophonie).^[10] Daniel Junqua, the vice-president of the French section of RWB (and also vice-president of the NGO Les Amis du Monde diplomatique), states that the NED's funding, which reachs an amount of €35,000 ^[6], does not compromise RWB's impartiality.^[10] RSF's Chinese website credits support from Taiwan Foundation for Democracy,^[11] a quasi-government organization funded by the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[12]

Reporters Without Borders books are sold by the French leisure chains and supermarkets Fnac, Carrefour, Casino, Monoprix and Cora, the websites alapage.com, fnac.com and amazon.fr, as well as A2Presse and over 300 bookshops throughout France.^[13]

On August 23, 2007, RWB condemned the continuing threats and violence against Philippine radio commentators who report on organized crime and corruption, following a death threat on RGMA Palawan station manager Lily Uy.^[14] On December 27, 2007, RSF appealed to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration to forthwith arrest the killers of radio broadcaster Ferdinand Lintuan, 51, the 5th journalist killed in 2007 in the Philippines. As first president of the Davao Association of Sports Journalists he was murdered in Davao City on December 24.^[15]

Reporters Without Borders launched the first International Online Free Expression Day on March 12, 2008.^[16] UNESCO, who initially had granted patronage to that event, withdrew its patronage on March 12 giving as reasons that RWB "published material concerning a number of UNESCO’s Member States, which UNESCO had not been informed of and could not endorse" and that "UNESCO’s logo was placed in such a way as to indicate the Organization’s support of the information presented."^[17][18]

On several years, Reporters Without Borders has awarded a cyber-dissident prize. Winners have included Guillermo Fariñas (Cuba), Zouhair Yahyaoui (Tunisia), Huang Qi (China), and Massoud Hamid (Syria).^[19]

RWB compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. Small countries, such as Malta and Andorra, are excluded from this report. The 2008 list was published on 21 October 2008.

The report is based on a questionnaire ^[20] sent to partner organizations of Reporters Without Borders (14 freedom of expression groups in five continents) and its 130 correspondents around the world, as well as to journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists.^[21]

The survey asks questions about direct attacks on journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press. RWB is careful to note that the index only deals with press freedom, and does not measure the quality of journalism. Due to the nature of the survey's methodology based on individual perceptions, there are often wide contrasts in a country's ranking from year to year.

Template:Reporters Without Borders/Worldwide press freedom index

The 2008 Predators of Press Freedom are:^[22]

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A Rue89 post says that in an interview with France Culture in 2007, whilst speaking about the case of the kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, RWB ex-president Robert Ménard discussed the ethics of torture.^[23] Menard told France Culture:

Where do we stop? Shall we accept this logic that consists of… since we could do it in some cases, ‘you kidnap, we kidnap; you mistreat, we mistreat; you torture, we torture …?

What justifies…? Perhaps in order to free somebody, can we go there? It is a real question.

That is real life, it is that, what François just said: we are no longer in ideas, it is war, we are no longer dealing with principles. I don’t what to think. Because this happens to Marianne Pearl, I’m not saying, I’m not saying that they made a mistake because she thought that it was appropriate to do it, that it was necessary to do that, that her husband had to be saved, she was pregnant… for the sake of the baby that was going to be born, everything was permitted.

And it was absolutely necessary to save him and if it was necessary to attack a certain number of people, they had to attack a certain number of people, physically attack them, you understand, threatening them and torturing them, even though we might have to kill some.

I don’t know, I am lost. Because sometimes I don’t know where you have to stop, where you have to put on the brakes. What is acceptable and what is unacceptable? And at the same time, for the families of those that were kidnapped, because many times they are the people we talk to first, in Reporters without Borders; legitimately, I, if my daughter were kidnapped there would be no limit, I tell you, I tell you, there would be no limit to torture.^[23]

An article by John Cherian in the leftist magazine Frontline accused Dalai Lama's groups of having connections to CIA and stated that RWB, which Cherian claimed to support Tibetan protesters, "is reputed to have strong links with Western intelligence agencies" and "Cuba has accused Robert Meynard, the head of the group, of having CIA links".^[24] The organization has denied the allegation made by Cuba.^[25]

A post by self-described freelance journalists Diana Barahona and Jeb Prague on Counterpunch^{[unreliable source?]} said: “Following the Feb. 29, 2004 ouster of Aristide, RSF ignored nearly all of the violence and persecution against journalists critical of the foreign-imposed Latortue government, instead claiming that press freedom had increased. RSF's 2005 and 2006 reports failed to condemn the extrajudicial execution of community journalist and radio reporter Abdias Jean, whom witnesses say was killed by police after he had snapped shots of three youngsters the police had killed. It also ignored the arrests of journalists Kevin Pina (Pacifica Radio) and Jean Ristil, and failed to properly investigate several attacks on pro-Lavalas radio stations.” ^[26]

According to an article by Diana Barahona and Jeb Prague on Counterpunch^{[unreliable source?]}, Haitian journalist Kevin Pina, who was imprisoned under Latortue:

It was clear early on that RSF and Robert Menard were not acting as objective guardians of freedom of the press in Haiti but rather as central actors in what can only be described as a disinformation campaign against Aristide's government. Their attempts to link Aristide to the murder of Jean Dominique and their subsequent silence when the alleged hit man, Lavalas Senator Dany Toussaint, joined the anti-Aristide camp and ran for president in 2006 is just one of many examples that expose the real nature and role of organizations like RSF. They provide false information and skewed reports to build internal opposition to governments seen as uncontrollable and unpalatable to Washington while softening the ground for their eventual removal by providing justification under the pretext of attacks on the freedom of the press.^[27]

Maurice Lemoine in Le Monde diplomatique has criticized RWB's attitude towards Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, in particular during the 2002 coup attempt.^[28] In a right of reply, Robert Ménard declared that RWB had also condemned the support of Venezuela media to the coup attempt.^[10]

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Tensions between Cuban authorities and RWB are high, particularly after the imprisonment in 2003 of 75 dissidents (27 journalists) by the Cuban Government, including Raúl Rivero and Oscar Elías Biscet. RWB describes the Cuban regime as "totalitarian" and engages in direct campaigning against Castro's regime.^[29] RWB has been described as an "ultra-reactionary" organization by the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, Granma.^[29]

Diana Barahona claims that Lucie Morillon, RWB's Washington representative, said in an interview on 29 April 2005 that the organization receives money from the Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba ($50,000 in 2004), and that a contract with the US State Department's Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, requires them to inform Europeans about repression against journalists in Cuba. However, the organisation has denied that its campaigning on the issue of Cuba—in declarations on radio and television, full-page ads in Parisian dailies, posters, leafletting at airports, and an April 2003 occupation of the Cuban tourism office in Paris—were related to the payments.^{[30][unreliable source?]} 1.3% of total funding came from this source.^[31]

A Paris court (tribunal de grande instance) ordered RWB to pay 6,000 Euros to the daughter and heir of Alberto Korda for non-compliance with a court order of 9 July 2003 banning it from using Korda’s famous (and copyrighted) photograph of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in a beret, taken at the funeral of La Coubre victims. RWB said it was "relieved" it was not given a harsher sentence.^[29][32] The face had been superimposed by RSF with that of a May 1968 CRS anti-riot police agent, and the postcard handed out at Orly Airport in Paris to tourists boarding on flights for Cuba. Korda's daughter declared to Granma that "Reporters Without Borders should call themselves Reporters Without Principles."^[33] Headed by Robert Ménard, RWB also burst into the Cuban Tourism Office in Paris on 4 April, 2003, obstructing the running of the office for nearly four hours.^[34][35] On April 24, 2003, RWB organized a demonstration outside the Cuban embassy in Paris.^[34]

RWB stated it has been the target of hostility from the Cuban authorities since the arrest of 75 dissidents in March 2003. Cuba’s representatives have called for the withdrawal of its consultative status with the United Nations. RWB lost its UN approved NGO status for one year in July 2003 at the request of Cuba and Libya, as a result of protests against Libya receiving the chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, during the committee's opening session.^[36]

An article by freelance journalist Diana Barahona^{[unreliable source?]}, published in Counterpunch newsletter, Lucie Morillon, RWB's Washington representative, confirmed in an interview on 29 April 2005 that the organization has a contract with US State Department's Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, who signed it in his capacity as a trustee for the Center for a Free Cuba, to inform Europeans about the repression of journalists in Cuba.^[37]

Diana Barahona states that another freelance journalist Salim Lamrani has estimated that RSF would have to sell 170200 books in 2004 and 188400 books in 2005 to earn the more than $2 million in the income statement. ^{[38][unreliable source?]} In fact, Reporters Without Borders book sales were 230,000 in 2007.^[39]

• List of indices of freedom
• Chilling effect
• Media transparency
• OSCE countries statistics
• Committee to Protect Journalists
• Without Borders

• Reporters Without Borders
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2002.
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2003.
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2004.
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2005;
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2006.
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2007.
• Reporters Without Borders. Worldwide press freedom index 2008.
• RSF Press Freedom Index: Independent Assessment or EU Propaganda?, John Rosenthal, Nov 6, 2007
• Coups d’Etat sans frontières, Le Monde, August 2002

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