The kidnapping of two French government security advisors in Mogadishu on Tuesday caused outrage among media workers and rights groups – after reports surfaced that they had been posing as journalists.
Two French government security advisors were kidnapped in Mogadishu on Tuesday, reportedly after having posed as journalists.
The French advisors were kidnapped from the Sahafi Hotel, in the safest part of the capital. While Somali officials are arresting people they say were involved in the incident, there has been very little outcry against the workers’ irresponsibility in posing as journalists and the implications this can have on media workers.
Six journalists have already been killed in Somalia this year. Reporters Without Borders’ 2008 press freedom index ranks Somalia 153rd out of 173 countries, calling it “Africa’s deadliest country for the news media.” Kidnappings of journalists and humanitarian aid workers have also become common in Somalia.
In Somalia, which has a history of Western interference, the choice to work as security personnel on behalf of the government is not without consequences. A journalist, on the other hand, is theoretically supposed to work on the ground, independent of governmental bodies. By posing as journalists the French workers blurred this line, and put media workers in more even danger, providing a justification for governments and armed groups to attack journalists.
Reporters Without Borders released a report condemning the move. “Being a journalist is not a cover, it is a profession. We hope these two advisers are freed quickly but we are shocked that they were passing themselves off as journalists. They were on an official mission and had no need of cover. Their behaviour endangers journalists in a region where media personnel are already in danger.”
Source: Socfex.org
No comments:
Post a Comment