New Advocacy Site Maps and Tracks Journalists in Peril
ICC Note:
New website tracks journalists and bloggers under threat—potentially useful in persecution work
By Alexis Matsui
11/5/09 USA (BivingsReport)–New media journalists around the globe face technological barriers and increasing dangers when reporting from within the boundaries of protective governments. A new site by Global Voices Advocacy maps and tracks journalists who have been threatened or arrested and aggregates the information into a robust map database with real-time statistics and details of each case.
The site, Threatened Voices, aims to raise awareness to the growing number of bloggers and other online journalists being persecuted across the world. While both traditional and new media reporters have faced recent danger, the site acknowledges the growing importance and number of online journalists in the global media.
“Online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide,” Global Voices says in a press release.
The captures of high profile journalists abducted in Iraq and North Korea have called attention to the dangers of the profession, while “the harshest consequence for many has been the politically motivated arrest of bloggers and online writers for their online and/or offline activities, in some tragic cases even leading to death,” Global Voices reports.
The site allows users to enter their own location and anecdotal details, drawing from the international community of journalists to fill the site’s map content.
The site was also built in collaboration with the BBC, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among others.
