Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility Escalating the Cost of Free Expression
Statement on the conviction for libel of Ninez Cacho-Olivares

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility views with alarm the conviction for libel and sentencing to a prison term as well as payment of fines of Daily Tribune publisher and editor Ninez Cacho–Olivares.

The six months to two years' imprisonment sentence imposed by Judge Winlove Dumayas of Branch 59 of the Makati Regional Trial Court ignores a Supreme Court memorandum urging the imposition of fines rather than prison terms on journalists convicted of libel.

Legal experts, journalists, press freedom and human rights advocates attend international conference on press freedom and impunity in Manila

Just three months after scores of journalists and media practitioners were arrested after covering the Manila Peninsula siege, over a hundred legal experts, judges, journalists, press freedom and human rights advocates from all over the world along with some local government officials gathered at the same site, this time to address a problem that has besieged the Philippines: journalist killings.

Read more here.

Legal experts, press freedom advocates flying in from Asia, US, Europe, and
Latin America to address the killing of journalists in the Philippines

MANILA - Legal experts and press freedom advocates from Asia, Europe, the US, and from as far as Latin America are flying into Manila this week to help find solutions to a long-festering crisis in the Philippines: the unabated and unsolved killing of journalists throughout the country.

Prosecutors, judges, human rights advocates and even high-level justices from such countries as Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Spain, the US, Indonesia, and the rest of Southeast Asia, are expected to meet with Philippine media, rights advocates, and members of the national legal community to address the topic of and to attend a conference on "Impunity and Press Freedom" in the Philippines from Wednesday, February 27 to Friday, February 29.

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Wanted: Journalists!

As presented by Atty. Harry Roque during a media briefing last Nov. 22 at the University of the Philippines Law Center, a class civil suit is set to be filed against Presidential spouse Juan Miguel Arroyo for the latter’s apparent of abuse of his rights and violation of freedom of expression. Arroyo has used libel to harass and stifle the journalists, thus creating “a chilling effect” on the Philippine media.

For the class civil suit to be effective and successful, all journalists and media organizations are invited to join as additional plaintiffs in the case. Please read the copy of the Complaint for further details.

Read more here.

CMFR holds training the trainors workshop on safety and alerts reporting

Around 30 journalists and citizen press council representatives from various parts of the country have been trained on work safety and reporting on press freedom attacks and threats by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility‘s (CMFR) last Sept. 28 to 30 in Davao City.

The workshop, “Training of Trainors: Safety and Alerts Reporting,” was organized to train a network of alerts writers in the country to complement CMFR’s efforts in its press freedom protection work. CMFR sends out alerts, or reports on attacks against and threats to press freedom in the country, not only to local media organizations but also international press freedom organizations such as the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, the Reporters Sans Frontieres, Article 19, and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).

CMFR also presented its latest study on the journalist killings under the Arroyo administration in the workshop.

More details about the roundtable discussion on citizen press councils in the October 2006 issue of the PJR Reports.