NFCB Resolution condemns attacks on journalists
This resolution was passed unanimously at the National Federation of Community Broadcaster's Annual Meeting in Portland Oregon USA on April 4, 2009. Redwood Community Radio is a member of the NFCB.
The following resolution is presented to the board of National Federation of Community Broadcasters by AMARC North America representatives Jim Ellinger, Elizabeth Robinson and Norman Stockwell with the request that it be adopted by the organization:
Attacks on journalists from all media and proponents of the rights of freedom of expression have risen precipitously in recent years. During the week of the NFCB's annual conference the following serious assaults have occurred or been discovered:
* Gladys Monterroso, a well-known Guatemalan lawyer, professor and politician, was abducted and tortured following the release of a landmark human rights report by her husband, Sergio Morales.
* Honduran radio journalist Rafael Munguía Ortiz was killed after being shot seven times by unknown assailants Tuesday night in the northern city of San Pedro Sula.
* Gerardo Flores Rodríguez, a reporter for "Diario del Sur" and the Exa radio station, was detained and assaulted by private security guards while reporting on the death of a patient at a public hospital.
* Zimbabwean freelance journalist Kudzai Musengi was abducted by three unknown men and subjected to intense interrogations.
* In the past month, Malaysian authorities arrested six bloggers, denied several
news organizations access to the dominant political party's general assembly, and banned two opposition newspapers.
* Guatemalan television reporter Rolando Santiz de León, of the Canal
13 news program "Telecentro Trece", was killed and his cameraman, Juan
Antonio de León Villatoro, was shot three times by unidentified individuals
on 1 April 2009 as they were returning from covering a story.
* Radio Pakistan Wana, a state-owned radio station in South Waziristan, part of the Tribal Areas adjoining the Afghan border was destroyed by explosives.
In addition to these attacks, three US journalists are currently being detained for their journalistic activities. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters with San Francisco-based Current TV, were arrested on March 17 and accused of illegally entering North Korea by crossing the border from China. They were making a documentary. Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has been held in Evin Prison in Iran since January 2009 without charges.
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, a member organization of over 250 community radio stations and practitioners in the United States condemns these attacks and other similar ones and calls on the Obama Administration to do so and to insist on the immediate release of Laura Ling, Euna Lee and Roxana Saberi to the governments responsible. Further, we as community radio journalists and activists, call on our government and all governments to support the rights of a free and independent press as guaranteed under the UNDHR article 19 and the US constitution.