Reporters without borders

Reporters without borders (RSF) is a Governmental organization (ONG) international, giving itself for objective the defense of the Freedom of the press. It was rested by its current general secretary, the French Robert Ménard in 1985. Other names officiels : in English Reporters Without Borders or RWB , in Spanish Reporteros Sin Fronteras .

In its press releases and publications, RSF is defined ainsi :

Reporters without borders defends the imprisoned journalists and freedom of the press in the world, i.e. the right to inform and be informed, in accordance with article 19 of the Universal declaration of the human rights.

Its slogan in 2005 est :

do not wait until one deprives to you of information to defend it.

Operation

RSF is a community of organizations stating to wish to act jointly with broad shared interests but in an overall independent way.

In 2005, Reporters without borders counts nine national sections in Europe (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and Suisse), of the representations in Asia (Bangkok, Istanbul, Tokyo), in America (Montreal, New York, Washington), with Moscow and Abidjan, like more than one hundred twenty correspondents in the world.

RSF is also member of the International Freedom off Expression Exchange (IFEX), a world virtual network of ONG which are supposed to supervise the violations with the freedom of expression and which organizes, federates or relays the campaigns joint or organized by its members, for the defense of the journalists, writers and other persecuted people whereas they exert their right to the freedom of expression. Many reports/ratios of RSF contain or are founded on elements collected via this network.

RSF estimates to preserve its independence thanks to the international offices which can publicly make their own analysis independently of the pressures that could undergo the representatives of RSF or other organizations members of the IFEX in a country donné ; RSF profits from the support of representatives of the press in many countries of the world, nonexposed with the same inevitable pressures locally.

RSF is financed with 40 % by the European Union, but constitutes the most significant part of its financing by actions of promotion, the sale of books, the call to the gifts and donations of private individuals, the recourse to voluntary of the profession.

RSF receives also subsidies of the press agencies which support its action.

Actions

Actions of RSF for the defense of freedom of the press sont :

to denounce the breaches of liberty of the presse ;
to help the journalists and their collaborators who are persecuted because of their professionnelle activity; ;
to support the families of the journalists persécutés ;
to help to continue in front of justice, the guilty criminals of persecutions against the journalists and of their collaborateurs ;
to gather personal petitions of support for its actions, to publish them and present them near the competent authorities in term of action justiciaire ;
to promote its action near the international public community and to publish the results of its action.

However the actions of association take place within a restricted framework, relating especially to developing countries. According to Robert Ménard (in its book: These journalists whom one wants to conceal from the editions Albin Michel): “ We decided to denounce the breaches of liberty of the press in Bosnia-Herzégovine or with the Gabon and ambiguities of the media Algérie NS or Tunisia NS… but not to occupy us of the French drifts . ”

Annual report

RSF publishes each year a report on the state of freedom of the press in the world for which it forged the concept of Prédateurs of freedom of the press for the Heads of State, war leaders and Dictateur S, which deprives the journalists of freedom necessary to their work. And which, not only does not protect them, but maltreat them, persecute them, until the assassination. Among those, one can quote:

the president Libya N, the colonel Mouammar Kadhafi,
the president Syria N Bachar el-Assad
the president Iran IEN Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
the president Chinese Hu Jintao
the general secretary of the Party of the work of North Korea Kim Jong-Il
the Russian president Vladimir Poutine
the president Cuba in Fidel Castro

Damocles network

Because of the impunity of which certain persons in charge of crimes committed against the journalists enjoy, RSF decided to create, in January 2002, the Damocles network.

Its goal is to help the victims and to intervene with the various qualified legal authorities so that the persons in charge are judged.

The network also helps to finance the legal assistances, lawyers and detectives, allowing the defense of imprisoned or condemned journalists, or wounded or killed for which the legal actions delay or refuse to judge the authors of them.

It also negotiated an insurance mission intended for photo-reporters, journalists or freelance journalists independent, ensuring to them (or with their family) a guarantee of assistance in the event of accidental death, physical damage or permanent disability which has occurred during their mission in the whole world.

Lastly, it gracefully lends bullet-proof jackets to the journalists and photo-reporters independent clearly indicating their membership to the press.

Internet

RSF denounces also the filtering of Internet, follows the worrying evolutions of the technical solutions implemented in various countries of the world, and alarms the public on the fact that Internet is controlled more and more by the States and can in certain objective countries distort the presentation of the events, by preventing any checking by the general public, deprived of the normal access to the information sources, contravener with their plurality, or while being involved in the private life of the residents.

Publications and events

Reporters without borders creates or updates each year of the publications, diffused free on Internet as well as books, booklets or magazines, thanks to the contest of personalities of the world of arts and the profession. Ainsi will be found;:

the Tour de France for freedom of the press , album published on June 27th, 2005, created thanks to the images of Press Sports, the Agency France-Press and Reuters, this album, sold with the profit of Reporters without borders, is a homage to a whole profession paid by the profession itself.
the Round the world tour of freedom of the press , approaches the principal breaches of liberty of the press listed in 2003 on the five continents, and is based on many testimonys.
Guides pratiques :

the Handy guide of Bloggeur and Cyberdissident , appeared on September 22nd, 2005, free. Contains technical practical advices and easy ways to help the bloggeurs to preserve their anonymity and to circumvent the censure.
the Handy guide of the journalist , listing rules to be followed on a ground of war, to help the casualties, the adviser out of legal matter in an armed conflict, on the way of carrying out the surveys related to the attacks of freedom of the press and of writing the reports/ratios of investigation well, as well as legal references.
the Charter on the journalists in zone of conflict , essential to the journalists.

Series of the books noirs :

the War in Iraq, the black book , published on December 2nd, 2004 draws up an inventory of fixtures worrying of the violations of the human rights made since the beginning of the war.
China, the black book , collection of new testimonys on repression against the dissidents, to the ethnic minorities, the Net surfers, the patients of the AIDS or the journalists shows the back of the decoration of Chinese economic success.
Cuba, the black book , gathers reports/ratios of defense organizations of the human rights which describe the extent of the repression launched by Fidel Castro in spring 2003, with 75 dissidents stopped and condemned to heavy sorrows.
Algeria, the black book , draws up the reality of the hundreds of thousands of died and disappeared since 1992 and the thousands from people tortured during arrests or of detention to the secrecy, through reports/ratios of various defense organizations of the human rights.
Israel / Palestine, the black book , gathers investigations of eight Israeli, Palestinian and international organizations into the violations of the human rights made since 2000 in Israel and Palestine.
Tunisia, the black book , a compilation of their report/ratio respective on the situation of the human rights in the country.

biannual Series (May and November) of magazines of photographs, intended for the large-public (on sale with the profit of the actions of RSF) :

Jean-Wolf Sieff for freedom of the press , album created with the profit of the imprisoned journalists.
Jean Dieuzaide for freedom of the press , magazine created with the profit of the actions of RSF in favor of freedom of the press.
Helmut Newton for freedom of the press , photographs of people on bottom of city.
Philippe Plisson for freedom of the press , photographs on the maritime world.
Edouard Boubat for freedom of the press , photographs artistic.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand for freedom of the press , a selection of the most beautiful photographs of the Earth seen of the sky, high colors.
William Klein for freedom of the press , hard and contrasted photographs of the crowd and the chaos of the cities.
100 photographs of the festival of canes for freedom of the press

RSF sponsors also spectacles intended to sensitize the public on the oppression of fundamental freedoms, of which the freedom of access to information. Spectacles of charity are also organized regularly per many artists who want to contribute by their action to support RSF financially and to ensure promotion of it.
In addition, RSF continuously carries out ten simultaneous petitions intended to collect the support of the public in the defense of certain imprisoned journalists or families of journalists victims of criminal acts, and to require the intervention of the authorities in their favor so that justice their is returned in an equitable way.

RSF also takes part in various living rooms and demonstrations on the occupation of journalist, and the infringements of the human rights in the world. It takes actions of promotion and press campaigns in different media with the support from the news agencies or of publicity. In 2005, the countryside has as a slogan Nobody should not be able to prevent a journalist from being expressed .

RSF diffuses on Internet a bulletin of general current events translated into language Persian starting from dispatches of international news agencies, intended for a public which has only one official news agency in its language.

Lastly, RSF publishes in France Qui-vive! , a newspaper of mural information.

Criticisms of RSF

Reporters without borders and the Caribbean

Recently, Reporters without Frontières is shown by associations altermondialists to be associated with the cuban extreme-right-hand side with Miami, and to conduct a campaign against Cuba and the Venezuela, with a political aim in favor more than of defense of freedoms.

Venezuela

In the case of the Venezuela, according to these associations (in 2003) :

the majority of the media are held by the opposition to the government (in 2002) ;
in spite of the coup d'etat missed by Pedro Carmona in 2002, no measurement of censure was taken against the press (in 2002) ;
moreover, the government finances or encourages at the local level the creation of alternative and local media.

In spite of these the last two points Venezuela was classified 96e (on 166 classified countries) in 2003 by RSF in its classification of the respectful countries of freedoms of the press. However classification of 2003 included/understood clearly more country than in 2002 (year of the first report/ratio where only 139 countries were classified), even if the note of 2003 were more unfavourable than in 2002 (because of the measurements taken in 2003 following the coup attempt of State). Since 2003, these notes improve slowly, but Venezuela remains now classified 90e (on 167 classified countries) in 2005.

Cuba

RSF classified Cuba in 2004 in the ten worse countries as regards freedom of the press, in particular preceding the China, the Iraq and other countries (Brésil, Haiti, Mexico, Peru) where however more crimes (in particular assassinations) would have been committed, whereas no assassination of journalist would have taken place in Cuba since several years, even several tens of years reason called upon for this classification being blackjack imprisoned journalists, shown by the cuban government to be with the pay of the the United States.

RSF however states to take into account other variables in its classification, such independence of the press with respect to the capacity in place.

Financings of Reporters without borders

These same associations criticize the financing of RSF by certain American funds, of the press groups, the Open Society Institute of Georges Soros or the Center for Free Cuba, whose director Franck Calzon was the first president of the Cubano-American Fondation National (FNCA), and one of the leaders in the Seventies of the Abdala group, related to the Front of National Release of Cuba, person in charge of terrorist attacks in several countries, of which France, Portugal and Canada. However, the United States moves back in annual classification. Also, RSF receives subsidies of the merchants of weapons Dassault and Lagardere (indirectly by the press agencies which they control). And of the recent revelations (May 2005) showed that RSF was also financed by the State Department of the the United States via the National Endowment for Democracy, association which finances quasi completely the Center for Free Cuba.

The International federation of the journalists complained about the lack of cooperation about RSF on certain subjects without giving more details.

It would seem that the dispute between RSF and the altermondialists are important, RSF having criticized the participation of Ignacio Ramonet in a living room of the book in Cuba, as being likely to consolidating the cuban mode, which in addition ridicules freedom of the press regularly and regularly condemns journalists or persons in charge of publications.

Another criticized aspect of RSF is the fact that ONG practically does not condemn:

practices of Self-censorship S or censures related to the economic pressure.
drifts of the information or nonrespect of the journalistic deontology in the Western countries.

But this dysfunction of Parisian association is fully assumed by its general secretary. Thus Robert Ménard in his book These journalists whom one wants to make conceal explains that a disagreement of importance opposed it to its predecessors, of which Jean-Claude Guillebaud. This last, supported by most of the militants of association, estimated that association was to denounce, in France even, the deontologic, financial and economic drifts which characterize the evolution of the media world (concentrations and the restriction of pluralism, for example).

Not question, answered Ménard. Because according to lui : “ Because, by doing this, we are likely to dissatisfy certain journalists, to put to us at back big bosses of press and to direct the economic capacity. However, for us médiatiser, we need the complicity of the journalists, the support of press barons and the money of the economic capacity. ”

Expenditure of Reporters Without Borders

According to certain sources, RSF would devote only 7% of its budget to the tracking of its declared target, the defense and the support of the journalists and the freedom of information, by the means of legal support, of material support to their families and others.

The remainder of the budget would be generally used for the launching of “political campaigns against given targets” which not only would corrupt the neutrality of RSF, but would engage even the organization in solved standpoint and resolutely politiques : it is reproached in particular that these campaigns and subsequently most of the gifts and financings of RSF are or were directed against a whole of governments - Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, reflecting a fortiori the interests and sights states-uniennes (according to the Réseau Voltaire).

Defenses

According to RSF, the financial supports criticized are only not very representative, adding that it remains to be shown that pressures were exerted on behalf of the private groups criticized which hold the press agencies members of RSF, likely to modify the relations between these bodies and RSF.

A big part of the financings and activities of RSF does not depend on these subsidies, and are supported directly by the voluntary independent ones in many countries of the world. RSF as pleads for the bona fide of the press groups in their objective of freedom of the press, and considers as each one of its members has a freedom of your characteristic, and does not call into question their right to criticize the limited action or the insufficiencies of RSF.

Moreover support of RSF is regarded as asset important and positive for number of journalists, absence of support official in other case being able to be badly lived (absence which means neither approval nor judgment), RSF which can be carried out to give an opinion later (or not having managed until now to define a consensual position clearly exprimable), and being able to have to temporarily lay down top priority of action, more effective and with the tangible and verifiable result.

RSF is stated also impotent to fight against the self-censorship, because it cannot force any journalist to publish on his behalf of information which they do not want or cannot publish. Also the decision of self-censorship belongs only to those which apply it, and whose reasons to do it can be legitimate. On the other hand RSF actively supports the journalists subjected to pressures of censure, which they are interns with their drafting, or due to the external political pressures (national or international). And for this reason, RSF provides to all the journalists of the world of the channels enabling them to be expressed more freely (see the guide of the dissenting journalist).

In the same way, RSF cannot fight directly against the drifts of information or the journalistic non-observance of deontology in the democratic same countries. RSF believes that this problem can be solved by the active promotion of the diversity of the sources and means of diffusion, and it militates actively for the plurality and the free exercise of competition, including between supports of different nature (written press, broadcast, Internet, posting…), and against the excessive concentrations of these means (for example concentration of the television channels in Italy, directly by an head of government which can control all the most important sources private and public, one of the reasons of the retrogradation of Italy in its world classification) and for the free access to the foreign mediums and the development of networks of exchanges.

External bonds

; Officielles sources;:

Official site of Reporters without borders.

annual report 2007,2006,2005,2004.
Details of the financing of RSF
On the caesura of Wikipédia in China: Chinese version censured in 2004; all wikipédia blocked in 2005.
the Iranian topicality into Persan.

Official site of the network Damocles (International justice, safety and protection of the journalists) by RSF.
International Freedom off Exchange Expression.

; Problems of neutrality and the connections of Robert Menard :

Diana Barahona and Jeb Sprague, '' Reporters without Borders and coups d'etat of Washington: financing by the International Republican Institute revealed '', August 1st, 2006
“freedom of the press according to Reporters without borders”, a critical file of the actions of RSF on the Venezuela and Cuba, of the review in line RISAL.
“the media prism Venezuelan”.
“alliance between Otto Reich and RSF”.
“the USA finance Reporters without borders”, by Diana Barahona.
“the silence of Reporters without borders on the tortured journalist with Guantanamo”.
large soir.info

“RSF, Giuliana Sgrena and US Army”.
“the nobellisable, Reporters Without Borders and Tayssir Allouni the imprisoned journalist”.
“Europe: complaint against Reporters without borders. and hot potato”.
“Washington and Reporters without borders against Cuba”.
“For Europe, all goes well to Latin America, except in… Cuba! The politization of the Sakharov price”.
“Reporters without borders or art to clear the USA”.

Polemic: RSF paid by the CIA and the multinationals?
voltairement.net:

Open letter of RSF, in answer to its detractors, September 12th, 2006.
Reporters without borders and its contradictions, response of Salim Lamrani, the Network Voltaire, to the open letter, September 27th, 2006.

; Vidéo :

“journalism in zone of conflict”, video online of a conference of the general secretary of Reporters without borders, Robert Ménard, in May 2005.

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