More on the Murder of Anna Politkovskaya

A man lays flowers in front of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya's house where she was found dead in central Moscow October 7, 2006.

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian journalist known for her critical coverage of the war in Chechnya was shot to death Saturday in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow, in a killing prosecutors believe could be connected to her investigative work.

Anna Politkovskaya was a tireless reporter who had written a critical book on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his campaign in Chechnya, documenting widespread abuse of civilians by government troops.

Prosecutors have opened a murder investigation into her death, said Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for the Moscow prosecutor's Office. Investigators suspect the killing was connected to the work of the 48-year-old journalist, Vyacheslav Raskinsky, Moscow's first deputy prosecutor, said on state-run Rossiya television.

Politkovskaya's body was found in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building, a duty officer at a police station in central Moscow told The Associated Press. Raskinsky said a pistol and bullets were found at the site of the crime. The RIA-Novosti news agency, citing police officials, reported that Politkovskaya was shot twice, the second time in the head.

Oleg Panfilov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, said Politkovskaya had frequently received threats. A few months ago, unknown assailants had tried unsuccessfully to break into the car her daughter Vera was driving.

In 2001, Politkovskaya fled to Vienna for several months after receiving e-mail threats alleging that a Russian police officer she had accused of committing atrocities against civilians was intent on revenge. The officer, Sergei Lapin, was detained in 2002 based on her allegations but the case against him was closed the following year.

"Whenever the question arose whether there is honest journalism in Russia, almost every time the first name that came to mind was Politkovskaya," Panfilov said.

Politkovskaya began reporting on Chechnya in 1999, during Russia's second campaign there, and concentrated less on military engagements than on the human side of the war. She wrote long, empathetic stories about the Chechen inhabitants of refugee camps and Russian soldiers she found in hospitals -- until she was banned from visiting those hospitals, Panfilov said.

More than any other Russian reporter, Politkovskaya has chronicled killings, tortures and beatings of civilians by Russian servicemen -- reports that put her on a collision course with the authorities.

"There are journalists who have this fate hanging over them," Panfilov said. "I always thought something would happen to Anya, first of all because of Chechnya."

Politkovskaya fell seriously ill with symptoms of food poisoning after drinking tea on a flight from Moscow to southern Russia during the school hostage crisis in Beslan in 2004, where many thought she was heading to mediate the crisis. Her colleagues had suggested the incident was an attempt on her life.

She was one of the few people to have entered the Moscow theater where Chechen militants took hundreds of hostages in October 2002 and tried to negotiate with the rebels.

"Anna was a hero to so many of us, and we'll miss her personally, but we'll also miss the information that she and only she was brave enough and dedicated enough to dig out and make public, and that's a loss that I'm not sure can ever be replaced," said Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Politkovskaya's death is the highest-profile killing of a journalist in Russia since they July 2004 slaying of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.

Russia has become one of the deadliest places for journalists. Twenty-three journalists were killed in the country between 1996 and 2005, many in Chechnya, according to CPJ. At least 12 have been murdered in contract-style killings since Putin came to power, Simon said.

"None of those have been adequately investigated," he said. "We do know that record creates an environment where those who might seek to carry out this murder would feel that there would be few likely consequences."

In addition to her daughter, Politkovskaya is survived by a son, Ilya, Panfilov said.

During her career, Politkovskaya received more than 10 awards and prizes, including an award for human rights reporting from the London-based Amnesty International; a freedom of speech award from the Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders; and a journalism and democracy award from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The Danger of Telling the Truth

"“People sometimes pay with their lives for saying out loud what they think. People can even get killed just for giving me information. I am not the only one in danger. I have examples that prove it.”Anna Politkovskaya

Report: Russian reporter dead, police think she was murdered

MOSCOW (CNN) -- A Russian newspaper reporter who has criticized Russia's Chechnya policy has died and police think she was murdered, a Russian news agency reported Saturday.

Interfax reported the death of Anna Politkovskaya, who worked for Novaya Gazeta. A neighbor found her wounded by a bullet late Saturday afternoon in her building's elevator.

A handgun and four cartridge cases were also found.

Dmitry Muratov, the newspaper editor, theorized that she was being punished for stories. A law enforcement source said a young man might have been involved in the incident and police were looking for him. (Posted 10:55 a.m.)

2003 Time Europe Magazine Hero

Mighty Pen: Politkovskaya braves the hell of Chechnya to get the truth
Disquiet On The Chechen Front

BY YURI ZARAKHOVICH MOSCOW
Anna Politkovskaya, a correspondent for the Moscow biweekly Novaya Gazeta, was in Los Angeles last October, picking out her dress for a media awards ceremony, when some staggering news came from Moscow: Chechen terrorists were holding 850 hostages in a theater. The Russian authorities tried to send in negotiators, but the Chechens refused to see most of them. They asked for Politkovskaya.
And so Politkovskaya rushed back to cover yet another episode of one of the world's nastiest and longest wars, which this time had shifted to Moscow. The terrorists, she says, "wanted someone who would accurately report things as they were. My work in Chechnya makes people there feel that I don't lie. But there wasn't much I could do for the hostages anyway." She carried water and fruit juice to them, and reported their dejection and feelings of doom to the world. Two days later, Russian special forces stormed and gassed the theater, killing 41 terrorists and 129 hostages.
Politkovskaya, 44, made her name by writing detailed, accurate and vivid reports on the plight of the civilian population in Chechnya, caught in the horrors of war since 1994. She tells stories of people who are taken from their homes at night and never come back; about extrajudicial executions; about the hungry refugees in cold and damp camps. "It was the refugee problem that started it," she now recalls. When the second Chechen war began in 1999, tens of thousands of refugees began flooding the makeshift relief camps. "It was horrible to stand among the refugees in the field in October 1999, and see cruise missiles flying over your head," she recalls.
When those missiles hit a market in Grozny, it was only prompt coverage by journalists like Politkovskaya that forced the Russian commanders to let ambulances in and refugees out. "Our work is a lever to help people as much as we can," she believes. But it also causes trouble. In February 2000, the FSB (the former KGB) arrested Politkovskaya in the Vedeno district of Chechnya. They kept her in a pit for three days without food or water. "It was important not to let them kill me on the first day," she says. A year later, a Russian officer whose war crimes Politkovskaya had exposed threatened to kill her. Novaya Gazeta had to hide her in Austria for a while. The officer is now awaiting trial on charges of war crimes committed in Chechnya that Politkovskaya was the first to report. "But I don't feel victorious," she says. "I only feel that we're all involved in a great tragedy."
Her editors have had to stand up to pressure from the Kremlin, which is often infuriated by her reporting. Novaya Gazeta balances on the brink of forcible closure. "Well, it goes with the job," she shrugs. Politkovskaya has long since learned to keep her anxieties in check. As she arranges yet another trip to Chechnya, she may now be too famous to be targeted by the FSB. But she really doesn't think about such things. "If you don't have the strength to control your emotions, you're of no help to the people who are in such shock and pain. You only add to their burden," she says.
©TIME. Published April 28, 2003

FreakSpeaker Note:
During the September tragedy in Beslan, award-winning journalist Anna Politkovskaya, while attempting to report and mediate in the crisis, was silenced by what has become known as the Kremlin's poison politics. After her recovery, Politkovskaya continued to report on human atrocities in the war-torn region and speak on behalf of the thousands of victims of Russia's 10 year campaign in Chechnya. In her first visit to the United States since Beslan, Politkovskaya discussed the upsurge in civilian casualties and Vladimir Putin's unequivocal drive toward authoritarianism. As the West is reconsidering its rapprochement with Russia, commentator Dr. Michael McFaul, Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, addressed the Kremlin's post-Beslan policies, growing public discontent with the Putin administration, and the implications and opportunities for U.S. policy.

Hear her speech HERE

2 German journalists killed overnight in northern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two German journalists traveling in northern Afghanistan were killed overnight, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry and NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Saturday.

They were working for German news agency Deutsche Welle. The two -- who were on a road between Baghlan and Bamian province -- were killed by gunmen in Baghlan, said Zemari Bashary, Interior spokesman.

They had been spending the night in a tent by the road when they were killed around 1 a.m. Saturday. The location is north of the capital, Kabul.

Maj. Dominic Whyte, an ISAF spokesman, said they were operating independently of ISAF at the time of the incident.

It is not clear whether the perpetrators were Taliban, other militants or thieves. The area is not known for Taliban activity. But it does have some level of activity from a militant group called Hezb-e-Islami, led by Gulbeddin Hekmatyar, a renegade warlord. (Posted 10:20 a.m.)

Anderson's Partner in Snarky Crime

A view of the Hill: Is the CNN anchor the future of broadcast news?

In the end, it turns out that Katie Couric - the defection, the build-up, the hype, and the legs - is just another talented person reading the news.

Some credit her with investing the news with a bit of personality, but on that front, she’s not alone.
For the past few months, CNN Headline News has been broadcasting "Prime News with Erica Hill," a daily hour-long show of international and national news, noteworthy trend pieces, and a little bit of fluff to soften the edges.
Anchor Erica Hill, a summa cum laude Boston University graduate, performs with a style that may be the future of broadcast news. She doesn’t just read the news. She leans into the camera for emphasis; her eyebrows shoot up and down in either fascination or concern; she reveals a gallery of facial expressions, depending on the subject. She always shows a palpable interest in what she’s talking about, coming across as strictly serious on the straightforward stories, light and effervescent on the goofy ones.
And she defines "telegenic."
Earlier in the year, she came in at number 35 on People Magazine’s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" list.
"I found out about that from my husband’s cousin," she says with a giggle, from her home in Atlanta, which she shares with her lawyer husband David and their dog Jake. "She called me at work. She was freaking out. She said, ’You’re in "People"!’ It was very surreal, and no one knew it was happening. But my husband was pretty excited about it, and I was very flattered.
"I’d rather people see me as an intelligent woman," she adds. "But it’s not bad if I’m attractive."
Hill, 30, never had a plan to be a TV anchor. In fact, there weren’t any career thoughts of the news.
"I think broadcast journalism was my fourth or fifth major," she says of her B.U. days. "I had some writing professors who said I was doing well in writing, why not move into journalism. So I did."
While in Boston, she enjoyed the club scene - M-80, Avalon, the Paradise.
"Then on a different night I would like a good Irish bar," she says laughing. "You had to be well rounded."
But the journalism bug bit hard. She landed a post-graduation job at the fledgling technology-based cable TV station ZDTV in San Francisco, which morphed into Tech TV.
"I did everything there," she recalls. "I learned how to hone my writing skills, I learned better how to put together a package for television. I learned how to produce a story, how to produce a newscast. And I was allowed to grow a little bit more on air.
"I never started out with the goal of being on air," she adds. "I wanted to be a producer. Maybe it’s because I like to control things a little bit. But I never wanted to be just another girl on TV. I thought I was smarter than that. But they sort of threw me into it, and it was something that I felt comfortable doing."
After a friend got a job at CNN, he told everyone he knew to send him a tape to pass along. Two weeks after Hill sent hers, she got a call.

"They flew me out for this whirlwind 24 hours of interviews and audition," she says. " And a couple weeks later I got a job offer."
Hill’s answer is immediate when asked about the responsibility of TV news.
"To present people with the facts, to do it in an unbiased matter, and to let people make their own decisions. But to make sure they have the information that they need to make an informed, educated decision."
As far as her entertaining presentation of that news, she says, "I’m telling a story. I think that’s just me. I’m not acting. You’re just getting Erica, and that’s the way I happen to read the news."
Yet she knows that, as a news anchor, no matter how controversial a story might be, she has to suppress any of her own opinions on a subject.
"That’s my job," she insists. "If I can’t do that, maybe I need to find a job as someone who has an opinion, doing something else. It can be difficult, because everyone has an opinion on something. But you won’t know what mine is, if I’m doing my job well."
She does, however, take part in choosing - and sometimes nixing - stories.
"Because there’s that sort of controllable person inside of me - but in a good way - I like to be involved in the show. It’s important to me that I’m comfortable with what goes on the air because my name is on the show, and it’s my face on the air."
Things are going well personally as well. Hill and her husband are expecting their first child in mid-November. And she admits that the pregnancy has given her new reasons to reflect on the state of the world that she regularly reports on.
"It’s become something that my husband and I talk about a lot," she says. "But you realize that at any given time in the world there are always atrocities. That’s terrible, and I wish I could change that, but I can’t. I can do my small part by making people aware of what’s happening. And maybe spurring them to action in some way."
"Prime News with Erica Hill" is on CNN Headline News weeknights from 6-7 p.m.

Why FreakSpeakers?

Why FreakSpeakers? Is this just another Anderson Cooper fan blog and website?
by Christiane

WELCOME, BIENVENIDOS, BOA VINDA, BENVENUTO, WILLKOMMEN To FreakSpeakers!

Some people have asked us why this blog, and what is the purpose of our website? There are many reasons we could give you, but the biggest reason is our interest in journalism and respect for those who risk their lives in order to keep us informed. As of this date, 31 journalists have been killed in 2006. They either died in the line of duty or were deliberately targeted for assassination because of their reporting or their affiliation with a news organization. It is far from being a glamorous career.

In the past fifteen years, 580 journalists have been killed. Some have been victims of regimes that don't recognize freedom of speech, which is something many of us take for granted.

Speaking of freedom of speech...
The digital era has opened the floodgates of information. What used to be a 24 hour ordeal to air or publish a story, is now a matter of just seconds. The internet and the blogosphere have changed the rules of the game in many ways, but how is still a matter of speculation.

Andrew Kantor from USA Today stated that "Bloggers and other amateur journalists have some of the same problems any amateurs do: They make up the rules as they go, and they run the risk of screwing up and hurting someone. But because blogging isn't their day job, they have little risk — they aren't going to be fired."

Anonymous speculation, libelous information and misleading context are the norm. There are no ethical codes and even established blog entrepeneurs like Nick Denton (owner of Gawker and Wonkette among others) claims that "a blog is much better at tearing things down - people, careers, brands - than in building them up".

Unfortunately, this is an editorial line copied by many, even those blogs dedicated to public figures and published by "fans". Intrusion, speculation, invasion of privacy—they can be justified for celebrities like Paris Hilton or Anna Nicole Smith who sell their personal lives for public consumption, but a journalist? If it is already hard for them to work underground stories due to their visibility, how much more difficult is it with websites discussing their sex lives?

So you can be sure that you won't find that kind of information or discussion about Anderson Cooper on this blog or our website. But what can you expect from us? Facts, context, and complementary information of contemporary news. We have also scheduled a series of exclusive interviews with international journalists in order for you to access the other side of what you see and hear in your daily newspaper, radio or newscast from the people who live it every day.

And Anderson Cooper? We strongly respect Mr. Cooper; few people in the news industry have had as much obsessive attention placed upon them. He has the courage to focus on stories that are not ratings friendly, and although we can disagree with some of his coverage, he is not taking the safe route. And we believe this commands respect.

We'd also like to welcome our newest moderator, Jade Chaos, who as a journalist knows of what she speaks. Thanks for joining the team, Jade! Welcome aboard. Our dear friend and one of the founders of Freakspeakers, Marie, will be our resident health specialist. She will guide us in all scientific related topics, and of course, scrapbooking. We really appreciate her help despite her busy schedule.

For more information and features, please visit our website,

where you will find:
• Original Investigative Reports. This month: When the Search for Entertainment Crashes Against Constitutional Rights. Or in Plain English: Stalking Anderson Cooper
• Industry News
• Commentaries
• Journalism resources for the newsjunkie, newsjunkie in training or professionals
• Media Literacy Tools
• Legal Literacy Tools
• And sure, this blog. Because we want to read what you have to say about the topics.

Congress OKs $20 million for "Victory" Parties

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The military's top generals have warned Iraq is on the cusp of a civil war and that U.S. troops must remain in large numbers until at least next spring. But if the winds suddenly blow a different direction, Congress is ready to celebrate with a $20 million victory party.

Lawmakers included language in this year's defense spending bill, approved last week, allowing them to spend the money. The money for "commemoration of success" in Iraq and Afghanistan was originally tucked into last year's defense measure, but went unspent amid an uptick in violence in both countries that forced the Pentagon to extend tours of duty for thousands of troops.

Republicans have yet to claim responsibility for the provision. Democrats say it was likely added by the Senate's majority Republicans, and less than five weeks from congressional elections are pointing to it as another example of where the GOP has gone astray handling the war in Iraq.

"If the Bush administration is planning victory celebrations, Americans deserve to know what their plan is to get us to a victory in Iraq," said Rebecca Kirszner, spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

Carolyn Weyforth, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said, "Republicans are confident we will be victorious in the ongoing war in terror, and we look forward to a time when those funds can be used to honor the men and women who have risked and given their lives."

Under the language, the president could "designate a day of celebration" to honor troops serving in the two wars. The president also could call on the nation "to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities" and issue awards to troops who have served honorably.

The Pentagon could spend up to $20 million of its $532 billion budget in 2007 for the commemoration, minus any private contributions it might receive for such an event.

The money will be available for the 2007 budget year, which began October 1.

Some 140,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, with a drawdown not expected until at least early next year.

About 20,000 more are in Afghanistan. Last year, Bush administration and Pentagon officials had hoped thousands of troops could be brought home before the November 7 elections.

Proclaiming victory in the Iraq war has already proven to be tricky business.

President Bush was slammed by critics for delivering his "Mission Accomplished" speech in May 2003 aboard an aircraft carrier. While troops had successfully stormed Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad, the fight over control in the nation against a violent insurgency had just begun.

Vice President Dick Cheney also was ridiculed for suggesting last year that the insurgency was in its "final throes."

Dissecting the Foley Investigation

Former Representative Mark Foley in Washington, 2005.

Dissecting the Foley Investigation

It's journalism's version of Monday-morning quarterbacking. Whenever we hear of a newsroom that had its fingers on a great story and let it go, only to get scooped, we love to imagine how we would have changed things.

I'm talking about the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times (the newspaper owned by The Poynter Institute) and The Miami Herald, which have both revealed that last year they had copies of the e-mails a 16-year-old Louisiana boy received from Florida Rep. Mark Foley and then forwarded to his own congressman's office.

Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler says his paper was not aggressive enough. St. Petersburg Times Executive Editor Neil Brown says his newsroom did what it thought was appropriate.

The reporter in me knows that, in a perfect world, journalists dig until they are satisfied they know the truth. The realist tells me reporters and editors make daily decisions about which stories to publish, which stories to pursue and which stories to hold off on. Making that choice is sometimes an educated guess, other times a lucky gamble and often a decision made by default -- something else comes up.

Let's break it down.

It was an orchestrated leak that landed the e-mails into the hands of a few journalists. That's becoming clear. Not only did the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald get the e-mails, so did Fox News, according to The Associated Press. I'm going to bet other newsrooms had the e-mails in question, too.

Veteran political reporters will tell you they sort through dirty information every day, trying to figure out what's true and newsworthy and what isn't. A tip that comes from the other side isn't always worthless, but you view it with skepticism because you know the guy who sent it wants to make someone else look bad. A tip that is widely shopped around gets a double dose of doubt.

The original e-mail from Foley to the boy was not obviously inappropriate. The first journalists to check it out were waved off by congressional staffers who dismissed it as "overly friendly." Several Poynter Ethics Fellows have been discussing the case.

Barbara White Stack, a veteran children's reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, points out that this is typical for teens who raise red flags:

Adults don't believe teenagers as a general case, and specifically, the word of an adult is almost always taken over that of a teen. ... I think we must examine our own biases carefully when using our shit detectors.

Skip Foster, editor of The Star in Shelby, N.C., raises the question that editors raise all the time: How far should we go to check this out?

There was only a whiff of evidence that something improper was going on here -- basically, all the paper had was a mostly innocuous e-mail. ... I think the St. Pete Times showed a strong willingness to get to the bottom of the story -- a paper afraid to speak truth to power wouldn't have even made the initial allocation of resources to pursue the story. Bottom line: They just didn't have a publishable story.

Raul Ramirez, director of news and public affairs at KQED in San Francisco, agreed that there was no story with only the e-mail. But he would have pushed his staff to keep digging.

Given the nature of this potential story -- the possibility of a powerful public official using his public access to inexperienced, impressionable young people with questionable potential motives -- I think other steps would have been warranted. For instance, contacting the congressional page oversight office and asking whether other parents or pages had complained about questionable behavior directed at pages. Also contacting congressional leaders about past or pending complaints and past or pending investigations. As with any investigative story, I would want to know what mechanisms exist for dealing with complaints, which would enable us to assess whether there were any questions of unusual or special treatment in instances involving powerful individuals.

That's one approach. The other is simply to publish a small story and a copy of the e-mail, hoping that something else will surface. That's what ABC News did, in a blog.

The first story, appeared at 3:06 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, in Brian Ross' "The Blotter." The short story was based on the e-mail and nothing else. Here's the lede: "A 16-year-old male former congressional page concerned about the appropriateness of an e-mail exchange with a congressman alerted Capitol Hill staffers to the communication. Congressman Mark Foley's office says the e-mails were entirely appropriate and that their release is part of a smear campaign by his opponent."

The next entry in the blog at 3:40 p.m. had Foley's Democratic opponent calling for an investigation. The explicit instant messages surfaced over the next 26 hours.

It was an educated gamble on ABC's part. In many cases of sexual abuse, more victims come forward after the first story is told. It's happened in stories about teachers, doctors, clergy and scout leaders.

But it was risky. Accusing someone of being a child predator without substantial evidence could lead to horrible consequences. An innocent man would certainly suffer. The newsroom would be vulnerable to an expensive legal suit. And the public would condemn the news media as sensational, irresponsible, anti-Republican stooges.

Even knowing the outcome, it's not a risk many journalists would feel comfortable taking.

As murky as the newsroom decisions are in the Foley case, journalists looking back over the story point out that our watchdog role should be the guiding force.

Raul Ramirez:

"The alternative -- potentially allowing even more young people to be manipulated by a powerful man -- could not be easy to just accept. The notion of holding the powerful accountable is central to the role the American press ascribes to itself. The apparent facts in this situation pointed at potentially extreme forms of cynicism, hypocrisy and abuse of power."

There are many lessons in the Foley saga. Perhaps the most important one is that we learn to take children seriously, to respect their judgment and opinion. That can't be license to print anything they say. But history shows us that children are often the first to complain about inappropriate adult behavior. As adults and as journalists, we have to listen.

Posted by Kelly McBride 12:41:37 PM
--from Poynter Online

When News Just Isn't Enough

CNN is seeking to bring its brand to life beyond the TV, PC and cellphone screens by forming a division devoted to event marketing.

The CNN Inspire Summit will salute women for achievements in fields like politics, medicine and philanthropy.

The new CNN Events division, under the auspices of the advertising sales department, will put on panels, conferences and meetings on newsmaking and newsworthy subjects. Although the events will not be televised on CNN, the network’s reporters and anchors will serve as speakers and moderators.

The events will be sponsored by CNN advertisers, who will be acknowledged on invitations and at the conferences. But CNN executives say sponsors will have no control over the content of the events.

The initial effort of CNN Events, called the CNN Inspire Summit, is Tuesday at the Time Warner Center. The event, sponsored by the L’Oréal Paris brand sold by the American unit of L’Oréal, will salute women for achievements in fields like politics, medicine and philanthropy.

At the event, L’Oréal Paris plans to announce the first recipients of an honor the company is sponsoring: the Women of Worth Awards.

A second CNN event, planned for next month, will focus on small business and will be sponsored by United Parcel Service. Awards will also be presented, as part of a United Parcel campaign that carries the theme “Out of the box.”

•The start-up of CNN Events is indicative of the growing popularity of experiential marketing, giving brands tangible form to help them forge closer, more emotional ties with consumers.

“Consumption of media is changing as we speak,” said Greg D’Alba, chief operating officer at the advertising sales and marketing unit of CNN in New York, part of the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner.

“Digital media, over the past year, has extended the relevancy of our television brand,” Mr. D’Alba said, referring to initiatives like podcasts and video-on-demand. “Event marketing is giving us an opportunity to extend the breadth of the brand.”

Marketers have sponsored newscasts since the early days of radio and television. Some consumers still recall when “NBC Nightly News” was known as the “Camel News Caravan,” or when the Gulf Oil logo appeared on the desks of news anchors covering space shots and political conventions.

Today, “The News Hour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS receives financing from Archer Daniels Midland, an agricultural conglomerate, and radio newscasters like Paul Harvey and Charles Osgood continue to read commercials. Also, many news organizations, including The New York Times, have marketing divisions that offer events sponsored by advertisers.

Nevertheless, the practice of inviting marketers to take part — for a price — in events produced by the news media raises some eyebrows.

“It’s a slippery slope,” said Todd Gitlin, a professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. “Think about how much that goes on in public life, and that includes on campuses, has been privatized. It raises legitimate questions about who’s calling which tune.”

Mr. Gitlin added, however, that many of the people attending events sponsored by marketers are sophisticated enough to be “making allowances” for the sponsorships.

Even so, they may wonder if they “are getting the ‘lite’ version” of a contentious or provocative subject, he added, or if the advertisers influence who appears on a panel or the topic the panelists discuss.

Mr. D’Alba said CNN was taking steps to make sure that did not happen: “Like any program, like any platform, we decide what an event may be and then it’s open to advertisers. It’s how we’ve always conducted our business.”

Carol Hamilton, president and general manager for the L’Oréal Paris division of L’Oréal USA in New York, said the event her company was sponsoring “is not commercial at all” and its participation is “contextually appropriate.”

The CNN Inspire Summit is to begin with remarks by Paula Zahn, a CNN anchor, and be moderated by Zain Verjee, a CNN correspondent. The participants are to include Susan Dell, chairwoman of the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation; Eve Ensler, the author and playwright; and Jeannette Kagame, the wife of the president of Rwanda.

The U.P.S. panel, to be at the Time Warner Center on Nov. 9, will be called “On the Rise,” after a weekly segment on small business on the CNN network that the company also sponsors. It is to be moderated by Ali Velshi, a CNN business anchor, and will be devoted to subjects like employee health care and expanding overseas.

“The event allows us to extend our communications into the experiential realm and interact with some of our small-business customers,” said Larry Bloomenkranz, vice president for brand management, advertising and sponsorships at U.P.S.

U.P.S. took part in what Mr. Bloomenkranz called a test of the CNN events, sponsoring a similar panel in New York last October, which, he said, “went really well.”

•Asked what would happen if a panelist at the event next month recommended that small-business owners use FedEx or the Postal Service, Mr. Bloomenkranz laughed, then likened the sponsorship to that of news programs on CNN.

“Obviously, we can’t control the news content on television, or the content of events,” he said, but “you weigh all that” against the benefits of sponsorship, which include “the capabilities, the resources, the credibility, that CNN brings to the party.”

“This says the event is bringing real knowledge about small business to our customers,” he added, “and it’s not some U.P.S.-controlled shill event.”

Asked about cost, Mr. D’Alba said he “could not put a price tag” on the sponsorships because they were sold as part of packages that marketers like L’Oréal and United Parcel are buying across CNN, including television, the Internet, news provided through cellphones and podcasts.

Anderson Cooper's initiative brings reality of Congo to our living rooms.

CNN initiative helps get the most difficult news out of Africa Updated

Since Tuesday, CNN 360 anchor Anderson Cooper has reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where war and disease have killed more than 4 million people since 1998. And CNN's Sanjay Gupta and Jeff Koinange are in Darfur for a two-pronged look at crises affecting millions of people.
"I don't know another network that would let us cover not one but two humanitarian crises and say, 'Let's devote three nights to it,' " Cooper said Wednesday from Rutshuru, Congo, where he visited a hospital that treats rape victims.
CNN's initiative adds to the media attention that Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have helped focus on the continent's troubles.
NBC Today's Ann Curry interviewed Jolie from Nambia in April and reported earlier from Chad and Sudan's Darfur region. In May, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams traveled to Nigeria, Ghana and Mali and talked to singer Bono about his humanitarian efforts.
Lara Logan reported from Darfur this summer on TheCBS Evening News, and Scott Pelley has an upcoming piece on Darfur for 60 Minutes. Two weeks ago, ABC's Martin Seamungal reported on World News Tonight on efforts to improve life expectancy in Tanzania.
Nonetheless, in 2005, network newscasts devoted less than one-half of 1% of their newscasts to sub-Saharan Africa, says network news analyst Andrew Tyndall. That number is up this year — to 0.9% through August, he says.
Reporting from Africa "is challenging and difficult, and I wish we did more. I wish we had more time to report from a lot of different places in the world," says Evening News chief Rome Hartman.
Cooper is in Africa as top-rated Fox News Channel celebrates its 10th anniversary with a 400,000-viewer lead. According to CNN, his trip is part of an overall plan to differentiate the network from others and showcase international reporting. (Fox and MSNBC also have reported from Africa at times.)
For Cooper, this is one in a line of humanitarian stories — Somalia, Rwanda, the Asian tsunami — that he has covered. He won an Emmy for his reports from Niger last summer, a story he locked onto while on vacation in Rwanda.
His last report airs tonight at 10 ET/7 PT. "The Congo is not on the top of people's list of things they'd like to watch," he says. "But if you can tell an interesting story and take people on a journey and introduce them to people they wouldn't otherwise have met, people are interested. They do care."

This is not a fairy tale, by Anderson Cooper

This is not a fairy tale
by Anderson Cooper

There are some things you see, some things you hear that simply are unspeakable. In a hospital in the eastern Congo city of Goma, we met a little girl. She never said a word to us, she could barely look us in the eyes. When she did, her eyes told the story.

"She never says anything to men," one of the hospital counselors explained, and then she told us why.

The little girl was raped. Gang-raped. It was allegedly done by soldiers engaged in a complicated regional war that has claimed millions of lives. The war officially ended in 2003, but outbreaks of violence and rape continue. The girl is now five years old. She was raped when she was three.

I wish I could tell you this was an extraordinary event. I wish I could tell you she was the only child attacked. The hospital was full of rape victims, and the doctor had seen other small children victimized.

Because the rapes are so violent, women often develop fistulas -- ruptures in their vaginas or rectums that make it impossible to control bodily functions. A charity called Heal Africa was running this hospital, and the doctor said he was able to fix about 70-80 percent of the fistula cases, but of course some wounds never heal.

Heal Africa has opened up a residence for women with fistulas that can't be surgically fixed, at least not here in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The women can't go home. Often they've been rejected by their husbands because they were raped. The stigma here is strong.

I met a woman named Angela. I can't stop thinking about her. She was raped by three men in front of her children. Afterwards they shot her, and she says they burned her baby girl. The girl is four now and has a massive scar all over her chest.

Angela's fistula was fixed, but her arm remains injured from the gunshot. Pscyhologically she's still devastated. To make matters worse, her husband kicked her out of the house.

"He heard I was raped," she said whispering. "And he just said, 'Go on your own, I don't need you anymore. If we lived together, you now might have HIV so you might infect me.'"

I didn't ask Angela her HIV status. I didn't think it was any of my business. Perhaps I should have asked, but she didn't volunteer it, and I felt like I'd already asked her too much.

The funding for the Heal Africa house comes from an NGO, but their funding ends in April. It's not clear what will happen then.

"The only thing I need is some land so I can build a house," Angela said to me before I left. "I might die and I want my kids to have that castle. I'm hoping for a miracle."

There aren't many miracles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is not a fairy tale, some stories don't have happy endings. Here the men who rape with impunity are rarely brought to justice. Women like Angela are expected to simply bear the pain.

If you would like to help Heal Africa in the work they are doing, you can log onto their website

These Kids deserves a chance, I hope the team of Anderson Cooper 360 do a story on them

Over 30,000 children are involved with fighting forces in Democratic Republic of Congo. They work as soldiers, porters, cooks, spies and 'wives'.

Although I did love the gorillas story, I stiell believe the war children need coverage and HELP. Probably a story on Anderson Cooper 360 will bring some light and hopefully attention to them.



And please take a look at our video sidebar for another piece of the Children Soldiers.

Find more about them HERE

Bleak future for Congo's child soldiers
By Karen Allen
BBC News, Masisi, Democratic Republic of Congo

He looks not much older than 10.

But the boy in the baggy green uniform, eyeing us up suspiciously as we move through the village, represents one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's ugliest of legacies - the use of child soldiers.

Estimates put the number at 30,000.

Easy to train and even easier to hide, these children are too young to vote but old enough to carry a gun.

With historic elections just around the corner, these boys and girls - a third of those recruited are young girls - represent the enormous challenge that lies ahead, to stabilise a region that's long been rebel territory.


Soldiers' wives

Many militia groups have nothing to gain from these elections and uncertainty about the future is making it harder to persuade them to surrender the young back to the community.

Only last month a minibus was ambushed as it tried to take demobilised youngsters home; some of the victims of that incident are now in hiding.


They asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do - I didn't want to die.
Ndungutsa, former child soldier

In Masisi, in eastern DR Congo's north Kivu region, a range of militia, including remnants of Rwanda's Hutu patrol the hills around here and despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, the recruitment of children into armed groups continues with impunity.

Most of the children who have swollen the ranks of the militia and the fragmented Congolese army have been abducted from their villages.

Ndungutsa was taken when he was just 13 years old, forced to make a choice between the militia or death.

"When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia.

"He was just 17 and he said no; they shot him in the head.

"Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do - I didn't want to die".

The youngsters are either taken on as fighters, porters or guards.


For the girls, many end up as "soldiers' wives" or sex slaves, some as young as 10.

Try to speak to them and they respond in monosyllabic hushed tones.

These are youngsters who had their childhood innocence knocked out of them.

Quite literally.

A third of DR Congo's child soldiers will never be reintegrated back into their communities.

In some cases because of the shame, others simply because their families can't afford to take them on, but there are also the ever-present threats and intimidation.

Fresh hope

I accompanied 12 year-old Innocent as he made his way back home.

He was a fighter battling against the Mai Mai militia.

In his village, his mother and siblings embrace him but on the fringes of the celebrations the same militia that abducted him are looking on.

In a part of DR Congo where virtually all Innocent's fellow children are severely malnourished and in tattered clothing, a life with the rebels offers food, power and some status.

A sad reality is that all too often children like Innocent return.


So do elections bring fresh hope?

"Not at all" says Simon Muchanga from a Catholic mission in Masisi which seeks to rehabilitate child soldiers.

"The rebel groups are unlikely to alter their position because of the election.

"Maybe if a real, responsible government is elected with the capacity to bring about change and improve the prospects of these people, maybe then we can see some real progress".

It's an issue that has been largely ignored - recruiting juveniles is a breach of international law.

The world's biggest peacekeeping force has made some inroads into trying to disarm the rebels.

The vast scale of the country and years of insecurity makes it a painfully slow task.

With elections just days away, there is little incentive for the militia to hand over their children, not least because most armed groups will see their power eroded.

The Women of the Congo And why they need our help

The Women of the Congo And why they need our help

Everyday women of the Congo are brutally gang raped, tortured, and taken into sexual slavery. Often they are left to carry their assailant's child and/or STD. Their husbands typically abandon them for fear of catching an STD or because they are overwhelmed with shame.

According to Women for Women International (an aid organization in the region) this is happening because of "a complex web of local, regional, and national conflict has devastated much of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; formerly Zaire) for the past several years. Ethnic strife and civil war began in 1997, but had been brewing since 1994, sparked by a massive inflow of refugees from the fighting in Rwanda and Burundi. Rebel groups from neighboring countries entered the conflict in 1998.

The country's most recent conflict, which has been called "Africa's First World War," has roots in a struggle for power and resources, both among domestic and foreign interests. Mortality surveys estimates that 3.3 million people have died as a result of this war since 1998. The majority of these deaths were due to preventable causes such as infectious disease and malnutrition. Involving seven African nations and many groups of armed combatants, this is the deadliest war in documented African history, with the highest civilian death toll in a war since World War II. The war has been marked by gross human rights violations, with a particular toll upon women who face epidemic levels of sexual violence. An estimated four-fifths of rural families have fled their homes at least once during the conflict, and more than 2 million people are currently displaced within the DRC's borders. Despite the country's enormous mineral wealth, several years of war, on the heels of thirty-two years of corrupt, dictatorial rule under Mobutu Sese Seko, (1965-1997), has shattered the country's infrastructure, economy, and ability to provide basic services such as health and education.

A fragile transitional government of national unity has been in operation since June 2003, with the hopes of holding general elections in 2005. This fragile peace agreement was undermined by renewed clashes between government and militia troops in late May and early June of 2004, resulting in a number of civilian deaths, rapes, and the departure of thousands of refugees for Rwanda and Burundi."

PLEASE JUST DON'T SIT THERE WATCHING ANDERSON COOPER, DO SOMETHING!

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More information about the violence in Congo. For more info Watch Anderson Cooper 360

Media Fanning Election Violence

The East African (Nairobi) ANALYSIS

September 26, 2006 Posted to the web September 26, 2006 Nairobi

AS CONGO WAITS FOR the final leg of its presidential elections, new lessons have been learnt about how a partisan press can be detrimental to peaceful electioneering.
Indeed, the Congo elections have given new insight into what happens in an environment where most of the media outlets are owned by players in the same elections.
The Congolese press has been a major contributing factor to the tense security situation in the country, particularly Kinshasa.
Despite various agreements the candidates signed before the campaigns to ensure peaceful elections, many of the media resorted to personal attacks against other candidates and at times resorted to ethnically-slanted hate commentary.
Observers now say that if no intervention is made to introduce new standards to contain crass partisanship in the media - especially the electronic media - violence might erupt after the final results are announced in November 2006.
There are a 119 radio stations, 52 television stations, and 176 newspapers and magazines in the country, most of them operating in Kinshasa and owned by the major politicians or their close associates.
President Joseph Kabila has strong influence over Digitalcongo, Radio Television Groupe l'Avenir and the national television company, while Vice-President and presidential hopeful Jean-Pierre Bemba owns Canal Kin TV, Canal Congo TV and Radio Liberte.
Most of the news is, therefore, presented with a strong bias in favour of a political party or a candidate. The presidential elections held in June attracted a total of 32 candidates.
Even the national radio and TV station, which has the widest reach, is subject to influence mainly because under the terms of the transitional government, its management was divided among the various political factions.
For example, the station's director was named by Kabila and the station's political bias was evident during the first round of elections.
The media have been used extensively to rally support often with ethnically-tinged invective or insults.
For example, Bemba's official campaign slogan is 100% Congolese, and he often brands Kabila as a Tanzanian or Rwandese national, depending on what is expedient.
Under the peace deal that ushered in the transition, a media watchdog was set up to ensure the press does not resort to hate commentary and promote conflict.
The watchdog is supposed to implement the various press laws, including the 1996 Press Law and a code of conduct for media during the elections.
But during the six months before the first round of elections, the media watchdog sanctioned several media companies many times, suspending them for short periods for inappropriate programming and hate speech.
It also called repeatedly for broadcast media to provide equal time to presidential candidates and for the state-run media to eschew bias in its programming.
Despite the sanctions against various media, however, the media watchdog was often unable to prevent politicians from manipulating the press.
The watchdog does not have the power to shut down broadcasting signals and has to rely on the good faith of the media to voluntarily shut down their operations for the designated period.
Where the media refuses to obey, the watchdog has to resort to drawn-out judicial proceedings that bear fruit long after the infraction took place.
WHILE THE MEDIA have played an essential role in the electioneering process - providing information to the public and allowing candidates to engage in constructive debate about their political platforms - it has also shown that it can instigate unrest if not used properly.
In late August, 40 broadcast and print media in Kinshasa signed an agreement to abstain from defamation and hate speech during the second round of the elections.
Whether this will work this time around remains to be seen because they had signed a similar agreement during the first round of elections.
Congo faces a crucial time in its history. If the final part of the elections ends peacefully, it will have far-reaching implications for democracy and peace in the region.
But for now, the situation remains dicey.
On August 20, several hours before the electoral commission was due to announce the results of the presidential elections, fighting broke out around Bemba's Canal Kina TV station in Kinshasa.
The station had been broadcasting programmes critical of President Kabila, at times attacking him personally and accusing him of having rigged the elections.
Canal Congo Television (CCTV), another station belonging to Bemba, announced that there would be a run-off between Bemba and Kabila even before the official results had come out.
As it turned out, these broadcasts prompted units of the integrated police Ð which is close to Kabila - to deploy around the two TV stations, which were protected by about a dozen of Bemba's soldiers.
Around six o'clock in the evening, an altercation between the police units and Bemba's guard degenerated into a shootout that left two dead.
Shortly afterwards, the Office of the Presidency ordered a reinforcement of the police units by the presidential guard, who arrived on the scene heavily armed.
Bemba reacted by deploying more troops to protect his stations.
Heavy fighting then ensued, leaving at least another four dead, but the presidential guard was unable to enter or significantly damage the offices of the television stations.
After the fighting had calmed down, some of Bemba's troops reportedly attacked some traffic policemen and beat them up without any provocation.
Troops from the UN Mission in Congo (Monuc) had to be deployed to secure the nearby Electoral Commission offices and escort its president, Abbee Malu-Malu, to the national television station to announce the results.
Soon afterwards, and after diplomatic pressure on Bemba and Kabila, both sides backed down and the fighting ended.
Kabila, whose close advisers had been sure of a first-round victory, fell short of an absolute majority - with around 45 per cent of the vote - while Bemba won 20 per cent. Malu-Malu announced that there would be a run-off election between the two on October 29.
The battle over the airwaves then intensified. The following day, Bemba and Kabila's respective media continued to trade blame about the events of the day before, with each accusing the other of initiating the fighting.
In the afternoon, Kabila gave instructions to his security service to shut down the broadcasting signal of Bemba's two TV stations in Kinshasa's suburbs. Shortly thereafter, troops from the presidential guard moved to attack Bemba's two residences as well as his office.
According to eyewitnesses, several hundred troops deployed, along with tanks, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Their attack coincided with a visit to Bemba by 14 ambassadors along with the head of Monuc. The diplomats were stuck in Bemba's residence for over six hours. Soon after the fighting began on Monday, the European Union Force (Eufor) and Monuc troops deployed in town and escorted the diplomats out of Bemba's beleaguered residence.
The presidential guard destroyed Bemba's personal helicopter, with the fighting lasting into the night and sporadic shooting continuing until noon the following day.
According to the official tally, 23 civilians and soldiers were killed and 43 wounded.
Various international figures, including South African President Thabo Mbeki and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, intervened by calling Kabila and Bemba on August 21, urging them to end the fighting.
Two days later, delegates from both sides met at Monuc headquarters in Kinshasa to discuss the way forward. They decided on garrisoning the troops that had been deployed during the fighting and set up two joint commissions - one to investigate the events of the past few days and the second to decide on how to proceed with the second round of presidential elections.
In addition, joint patrols with officers from both sides were set up by Monuc and Eufor to investigate allegations of troop deployment and rearming.
During the week following the fighting, most of the additional troops that Kabila and Bemba had called on as reinforcements had returned to the barracks along with the tanks and heavy weaponry.
The situation, therefore, returned to the status quo before the violence.
In September, Mbeki and EU Foreign Minister Javier Solana visited Kinshasa. These visits, along with pressure by other leaders, led to a meeting between Kabila and Bemba under the auspices of the Defence Council on 13 September.
However, despite promises made by both candidates to abstain from violence during the second round of elections, no mechanism has been put in place to prevent the troops redeploying from the barracks during another escalation.
What caused the fighting? Opinion is still divided but the manner in which troops have been deployed is clearly a major factor.
Indeed, one of the major reasons for the rapid escalation of violence in Kinshasa are the security arrangements in town.
In retrospect, the peace deal signed by the parties in South Africa did not conclusively solve the problem of how the security of the capital city would be maintained and managed during the transition.
Under the arrangement, the vice-presidents - including the main rebel leaders Azarias Ruberwa of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) - were allowed up to 35 bodyguards .
But the agreement did not place a limit on the size of the presidential guard. It was only later that the transitional parliament in 2004 passed a law limiting the guard to 4,500 troops.
Thus, Kabila was allowed to command over a hundred times the number of troops that his former enemies on the battlefield had.
According to the agreement, Monuc was supposed to act as a stabilising force in the capital, assuring the safety of all leaders of the former warring factions.
As soon as the international community had trained a professional and neutral police force, they were supposed to take over the protection of the vice-presidents and all other state institutions.
As it turned out, none of these promises were kept, giving Kabila a military advantage.
According to most estimates, Kabila's presidential guard still numbers around 14,000 throughout the country - which is why the vice-presidents and leaders of the former rebel groups have been reluctant to scale down the sizes of their own bodyguards.
Bemba has around 2,000 troops at his two residences and office, while Ruberwa has around 1,500.
Under the South Africa peace deal, these personal protection forces and militias were supposed to be sent to army integration camps.
BUT THEIR LEADERS HAVE said that they will wait until after the elections to disband them.
Only around 800 soldiers from the various personal bodyguards have been sent to the Kibomango integration camp in Kinshasa.
A quick look at the geography of downtown Kinshasa shows how volatile the situation is.
Bemba's residences are within a kilometre of both Kabila's residence as well as his office. Presidential guards are deployed within 500 metres of Bemba's troops.
In the build-up to the elections, the international community accelerated the training of the police in Kinshasa in the hope that they would take over the job of protecting leaders such as Bemba and Ruberwa.
French, South African, Angolan and European Union officers trained Congolese police for this purpose.
But the plans did not work out, mainly because the vice presidents did did not trust the police to protect them.
In fact, the police units were simply added on to the bodyguards of Bemba and Ruberwa.
The events of August 20, when an integrated police patrol appears to have been dispatched to confront Bemba's guard at his TV station, confirmed that some police units are still beholden to political interests.
According to international security experts, the integrated police trained by Angola - whose government was an ally of Kabila during the civil war - may be aligned to the president.
During the unrest of June 30, 2005, members of the Angolan-trained units were guilty of killing several members of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, which opposed the postponement of elections.
A further problem has been the procurement of weapons and ammunition for the national army.
According to the current arrangement, the Congolese government cannot procure arms without notifying Monuc in line with an arms embargo on the country, that has been in force for the past two years.
Only demobilised and integrated brigades can receive these supplies. There are currently 12 integrated brigades in the country, while an estimated 30,000 soldiers are still in the same formations they were in during the war.
Last August, a delivery of 21 tanks and several tonnes of ammunition arrived at the port of Matadi.
Although Monuc later confirmed that it had been notified, other sources say the Congolese government had not followed the right procurement procedures.
At the end of August, some of the material was brought to Kinshasa, ostensibly to equip one of the two integrated brigades based there.
However, Monuc has not been able to confirm the destination of this equipment, and there have been reports of the presidential guard benefiting from these supplies.
The skirmishes which erupted after the elections also served to demonstrate the weaknesses of Eufor and Monuc forces in the country.
Although there are both Monuc and Eufor troops deployed in Kinshasa, neither was able to stop the escalation of violence.
After the fighting at the television station on August 20, international troops should have moved to deter further fighting, in particular by creating a buffer between Bemba's and Kabila's forces.
Monuc troops in Kinshasa comprised South African, Uruguayan and Tunisian battalions.
These troops are committed to protecting UN installations and personnel, according to the memorandum of understanding their countries signed with the UN. They are, therefore, and unlike the Monuc forces deployed in the east of the country, not equipped to engage in combat situations.
This was one of the reasons the UN sought EU troops during the election period.
Eufor deployed troops in Kinshasa in the run-up to the elections to boost Monuc's capacity to deal with violence in the west of the country.
Before the violence broke out, they had 1,200 troops in the capital, with a reserve of 1,200 based in Gabon and another group based in Germany.
However, of the troops in Kinshasa, there are only two companies of combat troops of around 130 soldiers each - a Spanish special forces unit and Polish military police. The latter protect EU installations. This means there are only 130 Spanish troops available for forcible intervention in case of violence.
When fighting broke out in Kinshasa, Eufor called on reinforcements from Gabon. A task force of around 220 soldiers arrived after most of the fighting had already ceased, to help with patrolling. The bulk of the combat troops were left in Gabon.
International forces in the Congo have had a hard time intervening once fighting has broken out because such intervention requires the use of force against one or the other sides, a step the UN is often hesitant to take given the possible political repercussions.
THE MOST EFFICIENT USE OF peacekeeping troops has proved to be as a deterrent, deploying troops in such a way as to prevent an escalation.
Although it was difficult to predict the large-scale attack on Bemba's installations on August 21, the events of the previous day should have led to a more robust UN deployment in the area around the presidential and vice-presidential residences.
Still, the motives of the attacks on Bemba's house remain unclear.
While slander in the media and a tense security situation provided the backdrop to the fighting, Congolese leaders are responsible for the escalation of violence after the elections.
In particular, Kabila's order to launch a large-scale attack against Bemba was entirely disproportionate to the threat his rival posed.
It is difficult to establish who initiated the fighting at the TV station on August 20. Nonetheless, at that point talks between the two sides could have calmed tensions.
As it turned out, Kabila's order to attack Bemba's various compounds in town led to a dramatic escalation of the violence and pushed the electoral process to the brink of collapse.
As results from the west came in, Kabila slipped in the polls, and the returns from Kinshasa - where he got only a small percentage of the vote - pushed the incumbent below the 50 per cent he needed for an outright win.
"This made it seem like Bemba's smear campaign was responsible for Kabila's poor showing in the west, said one diplomat.
When the attack was launched on Bemba's residence, Kabila claimed he was not aware of the offensive.
But he later stated that he had ordered the presidential guard to launch an operation to free their captured colleagues.
Although some diplomats in Kinshasa believe Kabila does not entirely control his guard, military experts and advisers to the president alike said it is impossible that such an important operation could have been launched without his approval.
The biggest challenge facing Congo now is how to secure the second round of the presidential election.
Observers in the country have made several suggestions on the shape of a possible political agreement between Bemba and Kabila on the deployment of forces:
(a) The number of bodyguards deployed in their immediate vicinity must be kept to a proportional minimum, with troops that do not belong to personal bodyguards, including troops of the national army, being confined to military barracks until the announcement of the elections results;
(b) The locations where troops and weapons belonging to Kabila and Bemba, including heavy weapons and ammunition stockpiles, are located, must be clearly designated;
(c) Eufor and Monuc must be given unconditional access to all military facilities, including those of the presidential guard;
(d) The protagonists must abstain from personal attacks in the media during the second round of elections, with sanctions such as a ban from appearing in the press for individuals who break this agreement;
(e) Eufor troops in Kinshasa should be reinforced with troops from Gabon in order to have at least 1,000 combat troops in the city;
(f) Eufor and Monuc troops must be allowed to use force to create buffer zones in Kinshasa between the two sides;
(g) Eufor's mandate should be extended to cover the entire election cycle, including the formation of a new government, effectively to the end of January 2007;
(h) The media watchdog must be ampowered be able to take swift action against media who violate the code of conduct. In particular, Kinshasa courts should give the watchdog preferential treatment and grant swift injunctions to suspend media when provided with proof of indiscretion by the watchdog; and,
(i) There must be a guarantee of equal access to presidential candidates on state-run media.
Copyright © 2006 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

ONE by ONE, We Can Make a Difference

U2's Bono kicking off a ONE rally in Philadelphia

With the focus on Africa this week, I thought I'd mention a group that has done a lot to raise awareness of the issues that plague Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the ONE campaign...

What is ONE?

ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans – ONE by ONE – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is students and ministers, punk rockers and NASCAR moms, Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life, united as ONE to help make poverty history. ONE believes that allocating an additional ONE percent of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE also calls for debt cancellation, trade reform and anti–corruption measures in a comprehensive package to help Africa and the poorest nations beat AIDS and extreme poverty.


What does ONE aim to do/change?

ONE aims to help Americans raise their voice as ONE against the emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty, so that decision makers will do more to save millions of lives in the poorest countries.


Who supports ONE?

ONE is a broad movement of Americans from every state and walk of life–more than 2 million people have lent their voices to ONE by visiting ONE.ORG and signing the ONE Declaration. More than three million Americans are also wearing white bands as a show of support for ending extreme poverty and global AIDS. ONE is Americans spreading the word in churches, coffee shops, on television, college campuses and the Internet.


Who is behind ONE?

ONE is a coalition of 2 million people and over 70 non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. ONE was founded by 11 of America's most well-known and respected aid groups: Bread for the World, CARE, DATA, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Oxfam America, Plan USA, Save the Children US, World Concern, and World Vision. For the complete list of all coalition partners, please visit our partners page.


ONE is supported by Americans from every state, different ages, many religions and all walks of life, including such notable people as: Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Pat Robertson, Kate Hudson, Rick Warren, Jamie Foxx, Jars of Clay, Penelope Cruz, Dave Matthews, Salma Hayek, George Clooney, Bill Gates and many, many others.

For more info, go here

(outside of the US, visit the Make Poverty History website)

Another group dedicated to helping Africa is DATA. DATA stands for Debt, AIDS, and Trade for Africa.

"The organization was founded in 2002 by Bono, the lead singer of U2, along with Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign. At the core of DATA's mission is a view that these issues are not about charity, but about equality and justice."-- the DATA website

Don't forget to watch 360 this week!

In Congo it won't be business as usual for Anderson Cooper and the CNN Crew

The fragile state of press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo was shattered when the eastern city of Bukavu fell briefly to Rwandan-backed rebels in early June. State-imposed restrictions and imprisonment, as well as rebel-backed threats and attacks, limited independent reporting. With the flow of information constricted, rumors flourished and apprehension spread throughout this central African nation of 53 million.

In a two-month period surrounding the unrest, the government issued at least three directives restricting coverage, authorities imprisoned at least four journalists, and attackers allegedly led by an army officer severely beat another journalist, an investigation by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found.During that same time, CPJ found, rebels forced Bukavu's three main community radio stations to close and threatened at least four journalists, forcing them to flee. Rebels were also blamed for killing the brother of radio station director Joseph Nkinzo, whom they mistakenly believed was the journalist.A CPJ delegation traveled to the DRC in June, confirmed the deteriorating conditions for journalists, and met with government officials and press leaders. The new attacks against the press, CPJ found, reflect ongoing and fundamental obstacles to press freedom in the DRC. They are:

• The government continues to issue edicts to restrict and censor press coverage.
  Continuing violence and insecurity, especially in eastern parts of the country, threaten the safety of journalists.


• Abusive and outdated laws—the legacy of the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko—are still used to imprison and silence journalists who dare offend government officials.


• The profession is chronically beset by economic problems and a lack of training.

Government tightens gripJust weeks before the unrest, optimism had marked World Press Freedom Day (May 3) in the DRC, where journalists had been frequent targets for violence, harassment, and imprisonment during two civil wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003. Media groups noted that no DRC journalist was in prison and that reporters were working more freely and safely. Press conditions had gradually improved, they said, since the Kinshasa government of President Joseph Kabila and the main rebel groups signed an agreement in December 2002 to end years of civil war.Their optimism soon evaporated. Two groups of Rwandan-backed rebels in the east, led by dissident army commanders Col. Jules Mutebusi and Gen. Laurent Nkunda, joined forces to take control of Bukavu on June 2 and hold the city for a week. The rebellion prompted violent demonstrations in Kinshasa and elsewhere against the United Nations, which had been unable to prevent Bukavu's fall, and political parties participating in the transition. And on June 11, the government had to turn back an attempted coup by Maj. Eric Lenge, a member of the presidential guard. Lack of official information about the coup and Lenge's whereabouts helped fuel more rumors and speculation.

With fighting around Bukavu in the east and political tensions running high elsewhere, the government sought to restrict the press and warned of sanctions against those who did not follow the government line. A May 27 communiqué signed by Vital Kamerhe, the press and information minister at that time, said that all TV and radio stations were "strictly forbidden to broadcast messages likely to aggravate the situation."On June 5, Kamerhe summoned editors of media outlets in Kinshasa and issued further warnings. According to CPJ sources, Kamerhe told them the country was on a war footing, that there should be no speech or images to discourage the population or the army, and that editorial lines should be patriotic. This was followed by a June 12 circular in which he cautioned the media against "words that might demoralize the Congolese Armed Forces" or "treating lightly the unfortunate events that threaten the peace process." He again warned of sanctions.Saying the minister's note contained "barely veiled threats," the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) denounced "repeated attempts to muzzle the press or dictate the editorial line of press outlets." JED said that since no state of emergency had been declared, the minister had no right to issue circulars that contravened articles 27, 28 and 29 of the transition constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression and of the press.In a June 13 meeting, Kamerhe told CPJ that the directives were necessary because of the crisis and his belief that the press was capable of "inventing anything" to sell newspapers. As examples, Kamerhe said media reports had accused Vice President Azerias Ruberwa, head of the former rebel RCD party, of conspiring with Rwanda, and had accused the United Nations of plotting with rebel commander Mutebusi.

We are a young democracy to trust journalists 100 percent to censor themselves," Kamerhe said. Under the 2002 peace accord, Kabila will remain in power until 2005 with four vice presidents from both the armed and unarmed opposition. In 2005, the DRC is to hold its first democratic elections since independence in 1960. For now, dissent is not easily tolerated. On July 19, Lumbana Kapassa, director-general of private TV station RTKM, was summoned to the government security services office in Kinshasa and questioned for three hours. The focus of the interrogation: an RTKM broadcast showing Honoré Ngbanda Nzambo ko Atumba, former defense minister and special security adviser to Mobutu, addressing exiled officers of the dictator's former army. In his speech, shown in a recorded broadcast from Brussels, Ngbanda criticized the current regime in Kinshasa but urged the exiled soldiers to return to the DRC and join a new integrated army being created under the peace agreement, according to JED.Interrogators threatened Kapassa and confiscated tapes of the broadcast, JED reported. Kapassa was told that RTKM should never again broadcast anything featuring Ngbanda. Threats and assaults from rebelsThreats have come from rebels as well. Rebel forces that took Bukavu in June threatened and attacked three of the city's main radio stations—Radio Maria, Radio Maendeleo, and Radio Sauti ya Rehema—forcing them off the air until government forces retook the town a week later. Joseph Nkinzo, director of Radio Sauti ya Rehema (Voice of Mercy), narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when rebels came looking for him and murdered his younger brother Mukamba Mwanaume, whom they thought was the journalist.Ben Kabamba, director of Radio Maria; Kizito Mushizi, director of Radio Maendeleo; and Nkinzo had been receiving death threats by telephone since May 29. CPJ sources said the rebels began hunting for the three station directors shortly after taking the town. The rebels accused the stations of "genocidal ideology" against Congolese Tutsis known as Banyamulenge, but JED and other independent observers said they found no evidence of this. Nkinzo, Kabamba, and Mushizi took refuge in the U.N. compound in Bukavu and were then temporarily evacuated to Kinshasa, with the help of JED, CPJ, and others.

Although the rebels withdrew from Bukavu on June 9, there were continuing reports of clashes in eastern parts of the DRC and of rebel elements targeting journalists. Soldiers close to rebel army commander Laurent Nkunda began hunting for Déo Namujimbo, the Goma (North-Kivu Province, eastern DRC) correspondent for the France-based news agency Syfia, after an article he wrote denouncing a "reign of terror" by Nkunda's men appeared on Syfia's Web site on July 15. In his article, Namujimbo claimed that "for the last month and a half, the population of Minova, not far from Goma, has been living in terror because of harassment by soldiers of Nkunda encamped in the region. Racketeering and rape are frequent." His article was reprinted in newspapers in Kinshasa, including the July 17 edition of the daily Le Potentiel. Namujimbo's neighbors told JED that soldiers came looking for him on the night of July 17, asking when the journalist would return home. The next day, Namujimbo was forced to flee with his family to Bukavu and go into hiding. At least one attack is allegedly linked to a government soldier. On June 20, 2004, Modeste Shabani, director of the community radio station Sauti ya Mkaaji (Voice of the Farmer) in Kasongo, eastern DRC, was severely beaten and later hospitalized in intensive care, according to JED. An army officer from the former rebel movement RCD, Col. Bokeone Alumba Okoko, allegedly led the attackers, according to JED. Sauti ya Mkaaji had broadcast reports denouncing alleged human rights abuses by Bokeone in Kasongo. The armed men stormed Sauti ya Mkaaji's studio and threatened its staff before attacking Shabani. JED reported that Shabani suffered hip and rib fractures and acute pain at the base of his neck. The day of the attack, a commission of inquiry launched by Maniema Provincial Governor Koloso Sumahili suspended Bokeone from his army post. Human rights activists are calling for the colonel to be prosecuted.Outdated laws, new abusesDRC legislation, notably the 1996 Press Law and the Penal Code, criminalizes a wide array of "press offenses" and allows journalists to be prosecuted under vague and outdated statutes introduced under Mobutu. The charge most frequently invoked is defamation, which carries prison sentences of up to five years. The penal code defines defamation as attributing "maliciously and publicly" to a person "a precise fact which is of a nature to damage the honor or standing of that person or expose him to public humiliation." It does not specifically say the "precise fact" must be untrue.

In a recent report, the local press freedom group African Media Institute (AMI) wrote: "By sentencing [journalists] systematically on the basis of defamation charges, the courts are in fact asking the press to avoid any words that could damage the honor and reputation of the politicians." And JED President Donat M'baya Tshimanga told CPJ: "I think that wanting to protect people's reputation over and above the public's right to know, especially in the case of those in posts of public responsibility, is a violation of freedom of expression. I think it is a violation of the principles of transparency which should characterize the functioning of the state."Journalists in the DRC are often placed in so-called preventive detention—imprisonment without due process—as soon as charges are brought against them.When the CPJ delegation arrived in the DRC, three journalists had been imprisoned on defamation charges in Kinshasa. Another was imprisoned on spying and trespassing charges related to filming for a story. And a fifth journalist had been sentenced to six months' imprisonment, although he was free on appeal, for defaming a businessman. CPJ and JED visited the four jailed journalists in Kinshasa Prison on June 6. The prison was overcrowded, and inmates complained of bad food and unsanitary conditions.
Lucien-Claude Ngongo, deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Fair Play, was detained May 19 on defamation charges brought by wealthy expatriate businessman William Damseaux. Local journalists said he was questioned about articles denouncing Damseaux's actions in a court battle with Berge Nanikian, another expatriate businessmen. Ngongo was released on July 28, after paying bail, according to JED. His trial began on August 2.
Albert Kassa Khamy Mouya, former publication director of the weekly newspaper Le Lauréat, was imprisoned on May 27, after Damseaux's lawyer brought defamation charges in connection with a March article, according to JED. The article also related to the legal battle between Damseaux and Nanikian. Kassa, who is diabetic, appeared to be in fragile health at the time of CPJ's visit. CPJ and JED pressed for his release on health grounds. He was released on June 29, pending further proceedings, after being hospitalized a week earlier.
Rakys Bokela, editor of newspaper Le Collecteur, was imprisoned on May 21 on criminal defamation charges. The former president of the Congolese boxing federation, Aimé Luvumbu, filed the charges in connection with a February 18, 2004, article in Le Collecteur that accused him of malfeasance when he was head of the federation. Bokela was released on June 13, pending further proceedings.
Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, editor and director of the independent weekly La Flamme du Congo, was arrested on June 7 at his home in Kinshasa. He was jailed on charges of filming illegally at the Gemena residence of Jean-Pierre Bemba, one of DRC's four vice presidents, after Bemba accused him of spying and trespassing. Gemena, in Equateur Province, northern DRC, is a stronghold of Bemba's former rebel movement, the MLC. Kalenga had led a team of seven Congolese journalists who visited Gemena from May 29 to June 5. The journalists filmed plantations and property belonging to the Bemba family, including a luxurious new residence being built by the vice president. Kalenga was released from Kinshasa Prison on June 26 after paying bail.

• Lucien-Claude Ngongo, deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Fair Play, was detained May 19 on defamation charges brought by wealthy expatriate businessman William Damseaux. Local journalists said he was questioned about articles denouncing Damseaux's actions in a court battle with Berge Nanikian, another expatriate businessmen. Ngongo was released on July 28, after paying bail, according to JED. His trial began on August 2.
• Kassa Khamy Mouya, former publication director of the weekly newspaper Le Lauréat, was imprisoned on May 27, after Damseaux's lawyer brought defamation charges in connection with a March article, according to JED. The article also related to the legal battle between Damseaux and Nanikian. Kassa, who is diabetic, appeared to be in fragile health at the time of CPJ's visit. CPJ and JED pressed for his release on health grounds. He was released on June 29, pending further proceedings, after being hospitalized a week earlier.
• Rakys Bokela, editor of newspaper Le Collecteur, was imprisoned on May 21 on criminal defamation charges. The former president of the Congolese boxing federation, Aimé Luvumbu, filed the charges in connection with a February 18, 2004, article in Le Collecteur that accused him of malfeasance when he was head of the federation. Bokela was released on June 13, pending further proceedings.
• Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, editor and director of the independent weekly La Flamme du Congo, was arrested on June 7 at his home in Kinshasa. He was jailed on charges of filming illegally at the Gemena residence of Jean-Pierre Bemba, one of DRC's four vice presidents, after Bemba accused him of spying and trespassing. Gemena, in Equateur Province, northern DRC, is a stronghold of Bemba's former rebel movement, the MLC. Kalenga had led a team of seven Congolese journalists who visited Gemena from May 29 to June 5. The journalists filmed plantations and property belonging to the Bemba family, including a luxurious new residence being built by the vice president. Kalenga was released from Kinshasa Prison on June 26 after paying bail.

On June 19, Nicaise Kibel-Bel-Oka, publisher and editor of the private weekly Les Coulisses in the northeastern town of Beni, was convicted of defamation, sentenced to six months in prison, and ordered to pay US$5,000 in damages. Intelligence agents arrested him that same day. The charges stemmed from a December 2003 Les Coulisses article that accused local businessman Jacques Kiangu of failing to pay taxes on goods he imported from Uganda, according to JED. On July 10, Kibel-Bel-Oka was granted a provisional release on appeal.

Kamerhe, who was information minister at the time of CPJ's visit, told CPJ that the government's policy was "zero journalists in prison." Asked about the frequent jailing of journalists as soon as they are accused, he said it was an anomaly, and that the government would reform the 1996 Press Law. "You are right," Kamerhe told CPJ. "You shouldn't start immediately arresting and locking up journalists without a legal hearing, just because they have been accused." Yet changes in government leadership threaten such assurances. In July, Kamerhe became secretary-general of the presidential party PPRD and was replaced at the Information Ministry by Henri Mova Sakanyi, who was until then the deputy minister of foreign affairs. Journalists and independent groups are still assessing the new minister's positions.Low standards and payEarly this year, journalists in DRC launched a campaign for the removal of criminal sanctions for press offenses. Kamerhe told them that he supported this in principle but said he believed that it should be done in stages. "That should not be the starting point," he told CPJ, "because if you decriminalize completely in an environment where the culture of the journalist and his level of training are not the same as in the countries which have decriminalized, that might open the door to abuses."

Poverty, he said, was a factor. "People are always saying that we have huge natural resources, that we are a potentially rich country, but the reality is that people are living in poverty comparable to that of Somalia," Kamerhe said. "And somebody who lives like that, he might be using his pen just to get something to eat and will not hesitate to violate the rules of the profession."And though journalists believe that poverty is no excuse for keeping criminal sanctions for press offenses on the books, many who spoke with CPJ also expressed concerns about the quality of journalism in the DRC. They cited the weak economy, low salaries, and poor working conditions as threats to the independence of journalists and media outlets. According to Kabeya Pindi Pasi, president of the Congolese Press Union UNPC, most journalists do not have work contracts, and many lack training. Some of these problems were evident during the crisis in Bukavu. Anti-Rwanda and anti-U.N. articles were particularly prevalent following the fall of Bukavu. For example, the daily newspaper L'Avenir ran an unsubstantiated claim that the U.N. escorted Rwandan troops into Bukavu. This same article appeared at least twice on the paper's front page, on June 3 and 7. The June 7 edition also carried an article on inside pages reporting unsubstantiated claims that Rwandan women had infiltrated Kinshasa to seduce and poison Congolese men. A front-page headline in the June 3 edition of daily Le Palmarès claimed that Rwandan President Paul Kagame had sent 4,000 troops to help the rebels in Bukavu but gave no source for this information.

For some, the answer to these problems lies in professional regulatory groups, three of which have been created recently (see box above). JED Secretary-General Tshivis Tshivuadi said the need to raise standards has been readily acknowledged and is being addressed. Now, he said, it is time for the government to ensure that journalists can report freely and safely."All the conditions have been fulfilled for the government to take a political step," he said, "to give a signal to say that it wants to let the press work freely, instead of working always under the shadow of that fear, that pressure, of knowing you could go to prison at any moment." Julia Crawford is CPJ's Africa program coordinator.