Press freedom in Turkey has been impaired and threatened by the actions of PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government

The Committee to Protect Journalists has published a report detailing the jailing and intimidation of journalists.  The full report, Turkey's Press Freedom Crisis, is downloadable here.

Fitting remembrance of Marie Colvin from Jim Muir

The dauntless Marie Colvin falls in Baba Amr, Homs after filing yet another no holds barred report--“a complete and utter lie that they are only targeting terrorists…the Syrian army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians.”

Links to Marie Colvin's last TV interview on February 22, just hours before she and Remi Ochlik were felled by Syrian fire.  Other pertinent connections are found in the Telegraph piece.  On February 21, 2012, she was featured on the BBC giving a first hand and trenchant account of persistent, indiscriminate Syrian tank and artillery fire.

Remi Ochlik, the 28-year old French photojournalist, was killed at Colvin's side.  His photographs from Libya were honored last month with a first prize from World Press Photo and much of his work may be viewed at his website.

Reports from the scene suggest a purposeful efforts by the Syrian forces to target anyone--whether seasoned correspondent or citizen-journalist attempting to get news out of the city.  "Abu Abdu al-Homsi, an opposition activist, said the Syrian Army had cut phone lines into the city and were bombing any buildings where they detected mobile phone signals."

Just the day before, Rami el-Sayed the Syrian blogger whose videos regularly gave lie to Syrian government claims that its forces were not targetting civilians or pursuing a scorced earth strategy.



"He was killed because his pictures portrayed truth..."  Allah yirhamu.

In a tribute on Bambuser, his call for action was posted:

"Babaamr is facing a genocide right now. I will never forgive you for your silence. You all have just give us your words but we need actions. However our hearts will always be with those who risk their life for our freedom. I know what we need! We need campaigns everywhere inside Syria and outside Syria, and now we need all people in front of all embassies all over the world. In a few hours there will be NO place called BabaAmr and I expect this will be my last message and no one will forgive you who talked but didn't act."

Devastating, horrible news--Anthony Shadid dies with his boots on in Syria

I have been reading Anthony's House of Stone, his pitch perfect and beautifully wrought chronicle of his struggle to bring his ancestral home in Marjayoun back to life.  The last phone conversation I had with him was a couple of years ago in Lebanon.  I reached him in south Lebanon and he described himself captured by the challenge of restoring his great grandfather's house.  I will have more to say about the book shortly, but for now I must simply express my profound sadness about Anthony's death.  So many who crossed paths with him will be pained by the loss of this gifted, brave and astounding man.

After the rose petals fall, the scent remains...

Earlier posts here on Anthony Shadid's work.

Egypt's President corrupt? Never even think the thought.

Ibrahim Issa, the publisher of the weekly al-Dustur, has been sentenced to a year in jail for publishing story reporting a citizen's complaint that the head of state has benefitted from the privatization of state companies. Issa is unrepentent and intends to continue his courageous reporting.

Thomas Friedman: "Education"=killling of innocent people

John K. Cooley--R.I.P.

One of the great old hands has died. Younger readers will not know this, and older readers may have forgotten, but there was a time when the Christian Science Monitor was a giant of a paper for its foreign coverage. More than three decades ago, the paper was a broadsheet published six times weekly. In those pre-Internet days, people in the U.S. interested in following events in far away places would have a mail subscription to the Monitor. The paper never rivaled the NYTimes in circulation, but it had a loyal readership of informed readers.

I remember walking through the corridors of the State Department in 1975, when I was there on a fellowship, and outside every office you would see the discards of the day's papers for recycling. There would typically be copies of the Monitor right there in the pile with the Times and Post. One reason the paper was so popular was that the paper had great correspondents of the caliber of John K. Cooley. He was a Middle East hand, and wrote fairly and honestly about a range of topics, especially developments in the Arab-Israeli zone. His "Green March, Black September" is a seminal account of the fedayeen (to use his spelling), but his old Monitor accounts of the some of the marking moments of the 1970s also remain invaluable.

He deserves a moment of quiet thanks for his contributions.

Appreciation for John K. Cooley | csmonitor.com: "We're sorry to report that longtime Monitor correspondent John K. Cooley has passed on. John distinguished himself in the Middle East, where from the 1950s onward he reported on virtually every movement and conflict in that region – from Algeria to Afghanistan, from the rise of Arab nationalism to the Sept. 11 attacks. He later worked for ABC News and as an opinion writer. He's the author of several books, including 'Green March, Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs,' and his latest, 'Currency Wars.'"

A 2002 piece by Cooley.

Pulling the shades down in Gitmo.

Whenever any journalist is given access to a news site, then all journalists must be given access. Imagine that rule were applied when Judith Miller was given privileged access.
Guardian | Journalists ordered out of Guantánamo: "He blamed the decision to order the reporters home on the complaints of other media organisations that had demanded access to the camp since last Saturday's suicides.

'It was determined that all the media had to be allowed in or none of them,' he said."

Johnny Burns and Dexter Filkins--a fan rave

NYO - News Story 1: "This Odd Pair Is the Most Excellent Buddy Team in Journalism: Biblically Bearded John Burns, Cocoa Beach, Fla.'s Speedy Dexter Filkins, Two Brave Timesmen Serving You�Different Styles, Mutual Regard"

Election season in Egypt

Egypt's Mubarak Launches Re-Election Bid

Anthony Shadid's characteristically informed reportage is necessary reading. He provides a fascinating glimpse of the opposition.

In his speech today announcing that he will a fifth term in office, Mubarak promises to follow the path to democracy, but he offers no slackening of the Emergency Law--a major focus for opposition protests. To my ears, it sound pretty much as business as usual with a few curtsies to "democracy" and "freedom".

The emergency law has, to a great extent, minimised terrorist threats and helped preempt many terrorist plans during the past years. Many country’s have recently passed comprehensive laws to combat terrorism. Time is ripe for us to follow suite during the upcoming period. There is a need for a firm and a decisive law that eliminates terrorism and uproots its threats. A law that protects national security and ensures stability. A law that provides a legislative substitute to combat terrorism and replace the current emergency law.

Israeli JAG decides not to prosecute officer for Journalist's death

Print: "The army's military advocate general, Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, had recently decided not to try the officer on criminal charges due to a lack of evidence directly tying him to Miller's death.

Miller was killed on the Philadelphi route that runs the length of the Gaza-Egypt border while wearing markings identifying him as a journalist."

Reportage in a class by itself

Anthony Shadid has been doing superb reporting from Baghdad since 2002, with a couple of interruptions. This set of reflections on the resilience and despair of Iraqis is very finely drawn. It bears noting the Shadid speaks Arabic and has been able to penetrate Iraqi society in a way that is beyond the ability of most western reporters.