Silenced: International Journalists Expose Media Censorship - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 159102305X ISBN 13: 9781591023050

Publisher: Prometheus, 2005

Synopsis

What happens to journalists who expose uncomfortable truths? How far are journalists prepared to go in order to report a difficult story? Silenced provides answers to these questions with the stories of journalists who risked their careers so that the public might be informed.

From China, where Jasper Becker, formerly Beijing bureau chief of the South China Morning Post, fought a lonely and unsuccessful battle against owners willing to soften the newspaper's reporting of the Chinese government in the hope of protecting mainland investments, to Zimbabwe where the harsh treatment of the Guardian’s Andrew Meldrum led to him being arrested and forcibly deported from the country because he dared criticize President Robert Mugabe, Silenced is a forcible reminder of the risks – both personal and financial — accepted by the media on our behalf.

Elsewhere, in other parts of the world, journalists face more traditional problems, whether it is the pressure placed on journalists Gary Hughes and Gerard Ryle when highlighting police corruption in Australia, or the aggressive tactics employed by the Belgian authorities against Stern magazine's Hans-Martin Tillack for exposing a financial scandal at the heart of the European Union.

When faced with the threat of censorship, all of these journalists reacted in a similar manner — they chose to report and face the consequences. They decided to place the ethics of journalism above all other considerations. As such they are proof that press freedom cannot exist without those who are willing to uphold its fundamental principals.

Silenced is more than a book on the media; it is an expression of the bravery and persistence of journalists everywhere.

About this title

About the Author

David Dadge (Vienna, Austria) is the editor at the International Press Institute and the author of Silenced: International Journalists Expose Media Censorship. He writes frequently on the media and freedom of the press.

From Publishers Weekly

This hard-hitting collection shows that pressure and persecution are still inescapable aspects of a journalist's job description. Dadge (Casualty of War: The Bush Administration's Assault on a Free Press) gathers 14 mostly first-person stories from journalists about the obstacles and threats they have faced. Many of the reports concern underdeveloped countries-like Charles Arthur's account of the murder of Haitian radio journalist Jean Dominique, and Andrew Meldrum's portrait of Zimbabwe's campaign to demolish independent media-and follow the traditional, lamentable script of state repression. But Dadge also includes examples of the subtle but effective censorship imposed by private interests on Western journalists, including Tom Gutting's dismissal from the Texas City Sun for criticizing President Bush's handling of 9/11 in an opinion column, Stephen Kimber's account of the ideological strictures imposed by the Asper family on its Canadian newspaper chain, and Jasper Becker's story of the undermining of Hong Kong's once proud South China Morning Post by owners who toe the Beijing line to protect their Chinese investments. The journalists take on a range of targets, from bureaucrats to media conglomerates as well as their own colleagues' lazy collusion with official sources. The result is a vigorous defense of press freedoms by journalists who are unafraid to confront the powers that be. Photos.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 159102305X
• ISBN 13: 9781591023050
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 295
• Editor: Dadge David