Freedom of the press in East Timor

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Reporter in East Timor

According to the press freedom ranking, the situation of press freedom in East Timor is better than in the other countries of Southeast Asia. However, according to Reporters Without Borders , the situation has worsened in recent years.

East Timor was under Indonesian occupation until 1999 and then until 2002 under the interim administration of the United Nations .

rating

Compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, the press freedom situation in East Timor is significantly better. It ranks 78th, Indonesia 119th, Singapore 158, Brunei 152 and Malaysia 101 (as of 2020). East Timor also tops the table on the democracy index in Southeast Asia (as of 2019).

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
rank 30th 57 58 83 94 65 72 93 86 90 77 103 99 98 95 84 78
value 5.50 13.50 13.50 18.50 27.00 13.75 16.00 25.00 30.00 28.72 29.04 32.63 32.02 32.82 30.81 29.93 29.90

Incidents

Murders of foreign journalists by the Indonesian army

At the beginning of the invasion there were several killings by Indonesian armed forces of foreign journalists. On October 16, 1975, the Balibo Five were executed by Indonesian soldiers. The same fate befell the Australian Roger East on December 7, 1975 in Dili .

While withdrawing from East Timor, Indonesian soldiers of Battalion 745 shot dead the Dutch reporter Sander Thoenes on September 21, 1999 .

Alkatiri government 2002-2006

Prime Minister Marí Alkatiri (2006)

In early 2006, the East Timorese government passed a new law punishing defamation of public persons with up to three years in prison. Article 173 threatens prison sentences of up to three years, Article 176 even doubles the sentence if the defamations are spread through the media. However, President Xanana Gusmão did not sign the law and sent it back to the Justice Department for review in February . Since it remained there, the previous Indonesian law remained in effect until a new law was passed in this area.

In April 2006, the Suara Timor Lorosa'e (STL), East Timor's oldest daily newspaper, received a notice of termination for its premises because the government was no longer renewing its use of the newspaper. The STL had previously reported starvation in remote villages in the country. In addition, there had been tensions between the newspaper and Prime Minister Marí Alkatiri from FRETILIN for years . Alkatiri ordered all government institutions to boycott the newspaper. She should not receive government advertising contracts and statements from officials and government officials. 50 East Timorese journalists signed a petition criticizing the actions against the STL as an unconstitutional violation of the freedom of the press. In the same year serious unrest broke out in the country , which led to the resignation of the Alkatiri government. During the unrest, the newspapers and several radio stations in the country had to temporarily shut down.

The public broadcaster Radio-Televisão Timor Leste (RTTL) has repeatedly been the target of pressure from the ruling party FRETILIN . During the presidential and parliamentary elections in East Timor in 2007 , there were also threats and attacks on journalists from around FRETILIN. Even so, the party lost the elections and lost power.

Gusmão government 2007-2015

Training of radio presenters

After the election of Xanana Gusmão as the new prime minister, as leader of the ruling coalition Aliança da Maioria parliamentarian , the situation of the press improved somewhat, especially since it initially wanted to abandon the prosecution of defamation. Legislation was delayed, however, so that José Belo, editor of Tempo Semanal, faced charges of defamation at the end of 2008 ( see below ).

The attack on Gusmão and President José Ramos-Horta on February 11, 2008, and the subsequent declaration of a state of emergency did not have any negative consequences for freedom of the press. However, Prime Minister Gusmão had threatened journalists who spread “false information” with imprisonment in January after newspapers published interviews with rebel leader and later assassin Alfredo Alves Reinado .

In February 2008, Timor Post editor Agostinho ta Pasea was beaten by military police . Following the newspaper's complaint, the government apologized for the "unjustified violence". In June 2010, several police officers beat João da Silva, a reporter for the Diário Nacional , while he was taking pictures of the government palace.

Press Council logo

In October 2013, after a long announcement, the Press Council (Conselho de Imprensa) was set up to punish misconduct by journalists, and the draft of the code of honor for journalists was published. The Press Council also accredits and registers foreign correspondents. The council consists of two elected representatives of journalists, one representative of media companies and two members appointed by Parliament. The chairman is Virgílio Guterres . In 2014, the introduction of the new press law followed, which provides for the compulsory licensing of journalists by the press council and criminal penalties for violations of the press code. In addition, depending on their previous education, journalists now have to complete six to 18 months of training. The law also sets out a number of duties and functions of the media, such as “promoting national culture”, “encouraging and supporting high quality economic policies and services” and “promoting peace, social stability, harmony and national solidarity”. The law was passed by parliament in May but referred to the Tribunal de Recurso de Timor-Leste for review by President Taur Matan Ruak in July . The Associação de Jornalistas de Timor-Leste (AJTL) and international press freedom lawyers criticized the law. The Supreme Court found the proposed law unconstitutional and therefore declared it invalid. Parliament passed a new version in October and the President signed it in late December. Nevertheless, according to Reporters Without Borders, the law is said to have led to greater self-censorship , which is why East Timor experienced a crash in the ranking of press freedom.

additional

On September 27, 2018, Francisco Belo Simões da Costa was laid off as news editor by his employer GMN . This was justified with his commitment to the press council. Costa could not concentrate on his work when he was also working for the press council. The International Federation of Journalists and TLPU protested against the dismissal and demanded reinstatement.

Criminal proceedings against journalists

The case of José Belo 2008/2009

In December 2008, José Belo, editor of Tempo Semanal, was charged with defamation under Articles 310,311 and 312 of the Criminal Code. The newspaper published research after Justice Minister Lúcia Lobato awarded government contracts to friends and business partners. In 2009 the charges were dropped. In 2012, Lobato was sentenced to prison for mismanagement.

Charges against Oki and Salsinha in 2012/2013

In October 2012, reporters Raimundos Oki from Jornal Independente and Oscar Maria Salsinha from Suara Timor Lorosa'e were placed under temporary house arrest under the Defamation Act for publishing a critical report on the trial of a fatal road accident. They accused a public prosecutor in Oe-Cusse Ambeno of taking a bribe. The Dili District Court saw no evidence of defamation in March 2013, but sentenced the two reporters to one year probation and payment of US $ 150 each for "causing mental disorders."

The Oki case 2015-2017

Timor Post building in Dili (2009)

An article in the Timor Post by Raimundos Oki on November 10, 2015 caused a scandal. The article dealt, citing internal government documents, with possible bid rigging for a private company to install new computers in the Treasury . The company was recommended by the advisor to the ministry Rui Maria de Araújo (who later became Prime Minister). Oki and his editor Lourenço Martins received a subpoena from the Attorney General for violating Section 285 of the Criminal Code. They have been accused of defamation. International Federation of Journalists , South East Asia Journalist Unions , Committee for the Protection of Journalists and Freedom House called on Prime Minister Araújo to drop the defamation charges against Oki. In fact, the journalists had made mistakes in their research. The newspaper apologized and printed a reply on the front page. Martins resigned from the editorial office. Nevertheless, there was an indictment. On May 17, 2017, in his closing speech, the prosecutor called for one year in prison for Oki and one year in prison and two years on probation for Martins. The municipal court of Dili acquitted both of the defendants on June 1st because they had not willfully published a false report and the content was corrected quickly.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b World press freedom index . In: RSF . ( reporter-ohne-grenzen.de [PDF; accessed on April 21, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Democracy Index 2019 , accessed April 21, 2020.
  3. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2003
  4. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2004
  5. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2005
  6. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2006
  7. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2007
  8. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2008
  9. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2009
  10. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2010
  11. ^ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2012
  12. ↑ Reporters without borders: 2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed hopes after spring ( Memento from February 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ a b Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2014
  14. ↑ 2015 World Press Freedom Index , accessed February 13, 2015.
  15. ↑ Reporters without borders: Press Freedom Index 2016
  16. ↑ World press freedom index . In: RSF . ( rsf.org [accessed December 2, 2017]).
  17. ↑ World press freedom index . In: RSF . ( reporter-ohne-grenzen.de [PDF; accessed April 14, 2019]).
  18. ↑ World press freedom index . In: RSF . ( reporter-ohne-grenzen.de [PDF; accessed on April 22, 2019]).
  19. ↑ a b Reporters without borders: Country report 2006 , accessed on June 3, 2017.
  20. ↑ a b c Reporters without borders: Country report 2007 , accessed on June 3, 2017.
  21. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2008 , accessed June 3, 2017.
  22. ↑ a b c d Reporters without borders: Country report 2009 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  23. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2011 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  24. ↑ Reporters Without Borders: World Press Freedom Index 2015: decline on all fronts , February 12, 2015 , accessed February 13, 2015.
  25. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2015 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  26. ↑ Timor Leste: Editor dismissed over role on Press Council , October 10, 2018 , accessed September 13, 2018.
  27. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2010 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  28. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2013 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  29. ↑ Reporters without borders: Country report 2014 , accessed June 4, 2017.
  30. ↑ Jim Nolan: Muzzling Timor's media , New Mandala, April 21, 2016 , accessed May 6, 2016.
  31. ^ Committee to Protect Journalists: Journalist faces criminal defamation threat in East Timor , February 29, 2016 , accessed May 6, 2016.
  32. ↑ Asia Pacific Report: Global media groups urge Timor-Leste PM to drop defamation case , April 22, 2016 , accessed May 6, 2016.
  33. ↑ ABC news: East Timor journalists face defamation trial after story on Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo , October 6, 2016 , accessed October 9, 2016.
  34. ↑ Asia Pacific Report: Timor-Leste journalists facing jail for defamation over PM criticism , May 18, 2017 , accessed May 20, 2017.
  35. ↑ LUSA: Tribunal de Díli absolve jornalistas de denúncia caluniosa por artigo sobre primeiro-ministro , June 1, 2017 , accessed on June 1, 2017.