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Outrage Over Torture-Killing of Pakistani Journalist

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Reporter Felt Threatened by Intelligence

Another Reporter Tortured, This One in Bahrain

Christopher Farley to Edit Wall St. Journal Blogs

“Pool” Photographer Will Shoot White House Speeches

GOP’s Herman Cain Deserves Coverage as a Good Story

In Farewell, NPR Ombudsman Urges More On-Air Diversity

Short Takes

Saleem Shahaz had said in past months he felt threatened by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, colleagues said. (Credit: Times of Pakistan)

Reporter Felt Threatened by Intelligence Agency

“Hundreds of mourners turned out Wednesday for the burial of a Pakistan journalist who was tortured and said he was threatened by the country’s intelligence services, as his colleagues demanded protection,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.

“Saleem Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, vanished after leaving home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue elements of the navy and al Qaeda.

“His grief-stricken relatives have demanded a full investigation but have not apportioned blame for his killing, which came five years after he was briefly kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan and accused of being a spy.

“Shahzad’s body was found Tuesday, about 150 kilometres southeast of Islamabad. Police said it bore marks of torture.

Shahzad was Pakistan bureau chief of Asia Times Online, a Hong Kong-based news website, columnist Zoha Waseem wrote for the Exoress Tribune in Pakistan. He disappeared from Islamabad on May 29, “just days after publishing an article for the Asia Times which implicated that officials in the Pakistani Navy had links with al Qaeda (The second part of Saleem Shahzad’s report, ‘Recruitment and training of militants’, is yet to be published on Asia Times Online).

“For those not familiar with Shahzad, he was an investigative reporter who wrote extensively on issues pertaining to global security, especially Pakistani armed forces and religious movements in the Muslim world.”

The Dawn report continued, “Around 300 people, mostly relatives and journalists, attended the funeral prayers and Shahzad was buried in a local cemetery in his home town of Karachi.

“. . . The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists announced two days of mourning and a spokesman said members would organise protests nationwide on Friday.”

ABC News added, “Though militants are often suspected in the deaths of journalists in Pakistan, after Shahzad’s death both a colleague of his and a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Pakistan came forward to say Shahzad had said in past months he felt threatened by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

“A spokesperson for the ISI told The Associated Press any alleged link between the ISI and Shahzad’s death was ‘absurd’ and Shahzad’s brother-in-law said ‘never was there any threat,’ according to a report by National Public Radio. Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, visited Shahzad’s home to offer his condolences and told reporters it was possible the journalist was killed over a personal matter.”

The Voice of America said, “Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010, with at least eight killed in the line of duty, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six died in suicide attacks, the group said in a report late last year.

“CPJ’s Asia program Coordinator, Bob Dietz said he showed Pakistani President Asaf Ali Zardari a long list of killed journalists just a month ago. But little was done in response.”

“. . . U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also strongly condemned Shahzad’s killing and welcomed Pakistan’s probe. She said the journalist’s reporting on terrorism and intelligence issues exposed the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan’s stability.”

Another Reporter Tortured, This One in Bahrain

“When Nazeeha Saeed, the Bahrain correspondent of France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, was summoned to a police station in the city of Rifa’a for questioning at midday on 22 May, she expected to be back home two hours later and had no inkling of the nightmare awaiting her,” Reporters Without Borders reported on Monday.

On arriving at the police station, she took a seat and waited calmly. Other women, mainly nurses, were also waiting, sitting on the floor.

“An hour later, she was called. She entered an office where there was a male officer. In a quiet but unsettling voice, he told her to answer the questions that would be put to her. He then left her with a female officer, who accusing her of ‘lying’ in her reports and told her to admit her links with the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar and the Iranian Arabic-language TV station Al-Alam. ‘You must confess,’ the woman kept repeating, going on to accuse her of participating in the pro-democracy demonstrations that have taking place in Bahrain since March. . . .”

The piece goes on to detail her torture and humiliation and says, “She is currently in France receiving medical care and is due to return to Bahrain tomorrow.”

Reporters Without Borders concluded, “This young woman’s case gives a glimpse of the treatment of journalists by security forces in Bahrain. The list of detained reporters, photographers and cyber-dissidents keeps on getting longer amid complete indifference on the part of the international community.”

Christopher Farley to Edit Wall St. Journal Blogs

Christopher Farley, who has edited the Speakeasy section of the Wall Street Journal website, has been promoted to editorial director for the Wall Street Journal blogs, Managing Editor Robert Thomson announced to the staff on Tuesday.

“Over the past 18 months, Chris has built Speakeasy into one of the most popular destinations on WSJ.com, thanks to clever posts, puckish essays and ceaseless creativity,” Thomson wrote in a memo.

“As editorial director for the blogs, Chris, who will continue to edit Speakeasy, will work with our bloggers to maximize the quality and impact of their efforts. He will serve as their representative in discussions with our technology and business colleagues, and bring new blogs blinking into the world.

“Chris’s appointment comes amid ongoing efforts to improve our platform and to expand our use of blogging and liveblogging. Readership of WSJ blogs continues to expand rapidly, with traffic up well over 50% from last year.

“Prior to editing Speakeasy, Chris was an editor for the Marketplace section and Weekend. Along with members of the video team, he helped launch the WSJ Cafe, an acoustic music series that has featured performances by Adele, Jakob Dylan, Sarah McLachlan, John Legend and others. Chris is the author of two novels and a number of non-fiction books (including ‘Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley‘ and the bestseller ‘Aaliyah: More Than a Woman’). He was also the co-author and co-editor of the ‘The Blues’, the companion volume to the Martin Scorsese documentary series. A former senior editor and pop music critic for Time magazine, Chris is a graduate of Harvard.”

 

After President Obama’s May 1 speech announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden, the White House caption reads, “President Obama praises the men on the mission against Osama bin Laden, honors the victims of 9/11 and their families, and calls on Americans to remember the unity of that tragic day.” Some newspaper captions were unclear on whether the photos they used were from the speech or were taken immediately afterward. (Credit: Chuck Kennedy/White House)

“Pool” Photographer Will Shoot White House Speeches

“The White House and news photographers have agreed to a new plan for shooting presidential speeches,” the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

“The agreement, hammered out quietly last week between the White House’s press office and the White House Correspondents’ Association, ends the long-standing but little-known practice of presidents posing for news photos after making important announcements. The images were then passed off in newspapers and on Web sites as photos taken during the speech rather than the re-creations they actually were.

“. . . news photographers will now be permitted to designate a single representative to act as a ‘pool’ for the entire press corps.”

GOP’s Herman Cain Deserves Coverage as a Good Story

“Herman Cain’s probably not a serious candidate. That doesn’t mean the press shouldn’t cover him.

“If you headed out early for the Memorial Day weekend, you probably missed an interesting bit of blogosphere back-and-forth about how seriously to take Herman Cain’s run for the White House — and, more broadly, about how the press should cover presidential campaigns,” Greg Marx wrote Tuesday for Columbia Journalism Review.

“Cain, for people who haven’t heard of him — which means most people — is an African-American pizza chain CEO-turned-conservative talk show host who has mounted a seemingly quixotic but, to date, surprisingly successful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. A Gallup poll released Thursday had him attracting 8 percent of the vote in the GOP field. A CNN survey out the next day gave him 10 percent, and Talking Points Memo reports that a PPP survey of Ohio Republicans puts his support there even higher, at 12 percent.

“. . . So why does Cain’s campaign merit press coverage? For one thing, even on weighty issues — and issues don’t get much weightier than presidential elections — journalists should be alert to good stories, whether or not they are likely to ‘matter’ in a conventional sense. And, as Jason Horowitz has just shown with a profile in The Washington Post, Herman Cain is a good story. The son of a [chauffeur], he became the first college graduate in his family and went on to a very successful business career. He is, with some justification, entertainingly self-confident. (From Horowitz: ‘Being an overachiever, Cain said, “is an understatement.” ‘) He refers to himself in the third person, and goes by THEHermancain on Twitter.

“More substantively, a campaign like Cain’s, even if not a real threat to win, can provide a window to important issues.”

In Farewell, NPR Ombudsman Urges More On-Air Diversity

In her farewell column as NPR’s ombudsman Wednesday, Alicia Shepard included this among her “laundry list of areas I perceive NPR could improve on:

“. . . Work harder to get more voices of women and people of color (including academics and other experts) on the air. They ARE out there; you have to work harder to find them. Margaret Low Smith, now the acting vice president for news, said last September in Current (the public broadcasting newsletter), that ‘public radio needs to sound more like a party where everyone is included.’ I agree.

“But the invitation list is still pretty much limited to highly educated white folks with money. Why would Hispanics or African Americans (each only about 8 percent of the audience) listen to NPR if they don’t hear themselves represented on the air? It frustrates me to hear endless white males quoted in stories and not more women in positions of authority.”

Short Takes

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