An Egyptian blogger who has broken news of official abuse and a Burmese investigative reporter who bravely covers stories few others would touch shared their stories at the National Press Club Nov. 12 during “Breaking Barriers,” a panel discussion presented by ICFJ and the Press Club’s International Correspondents Committee.
Wael Abbas and May Thingyan Hein were in Washington to accept the 2007 Knight International Journalism Awards at ICFJ’s annual Awards Dinner. The two talked about the difficulties they face as working journalists in environments that pose challenges to free expression. ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan moderated the discussion.
“It’s not the best time for media and bloggers in Egypt,” Abbas told the audience at the National Press Club. Several editors of print newspapers were recently jailed by the government, and one of Abbas’s fellow bloggers is serving a prison sentence after he was convicted of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak. The government has sought to shut down websites like Abbas’s and launched campaigns to tarnish the bloggers’ reputations. Being a blogger in Egypt isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme, either; Abbas has tried to draw advertisers to his site, but many are leery of drawing official wrath and steer clear.
Still, though, “bloggers in Egypt have created some kind of credibility,” Abbas said. On his blog, Egyptian Awareness, he posts video and photos of police brutality, street demonstrations and other events the government would prefer to have kept quiet. “When I am supporting my story with pictures, it makes people really believe what’s going on,” he said. “Nobody can deny what happens.” Young Egyptians have responded, and a community of citizen journalists relies on digital cameras and cell phones to help gather news and share it with bloggers they trust.
One of Hein’s biggest problems as a journalist, meanwhile, is getting her investigative stories past Burma’s strict media censor board. Journalists must submit articles three times, she said, and many details end up being removed. As for electronic media, it isn’t easy to come by – cell phones and Internet access are mostly reserved for supporters of Burma’s military regime, and they can be disconnected at any time.
But Hein was proud, she said, to have persisted in getting several important public health stories published – reports on the spread of bird flu into Burma, the real statistics on the rate of HIV infection there, and a corruption scandal in which NGOs were selling condoms that were meant to be given away to citizens.
What drives both journalists is a hope of improving the situations in their nations. “I want my country to be better,” Abbas said. “The public should know the truth.”
Hein said she has hope that the political conflicts of her country will also be resolved. Of the Buddhist monks imprisoned after recent demonstrations, she said, “I hope they will be freed.” |