Media: Reporters without borders: 20 years of action defending press freedom

Reporters Without Borders is celebrating 20 years of action: two decades of informing the international public about press freedom violations, defending journalists and other media professionals under abuse, lending support to media publications in difficulty and providing legal advice. Since 1985, the association has intervened several hundreds of times every year and at many different levels to defend press freedoms worldwide with relentless commitment and unwavering courage - even in the face of regular threats.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) is celebrating 20 years of action. For two decades, the association has led a daily battle to defend freedom of the press and denounce those who infringe the liberty of media expression around the world. The anniversary was a joyful celebration, of course - what greater gift than the long-awaited release of Florence Aubenas and her guide Hussein Hanoun after several months of captivity in Iraq. But the date also served as a poignant reminder of the countless painful losses endured over the years, and the level of sheer determination that has epitomized the association from the very beginning. Since early this year, 46 journalists have already lost their lives while going about their work and over a hundred are still imprisoned today, all in the name of information - the quest for information and the daring courage to inform. Meanwhile, the fight is far from over: in over half of the United Nations member states, violations against press freedom are still a regular occurrence.

RWB began its relentless fight for freedom in 1985, spurred on by its determined courage, which has prevailed even in the face of threats, and the conviction that has underpinned the association from the outset: there is no freedom without freedom of the press. Or further still: an independent, pluralistic and wholly transparent press is a requisite for democracy. The work conducted by the organization to achieve its goals takes many different forms: informing international public opinion on attacks against freedom of the press through regular research and inquiries; defending media professionals who have been imprisoned or abused; providing moral and financial support to journalists and their families, threatened just for doing their jobs; fighting legal battles against censorship and laws that ignore or attempt to reduce press freedom, and donating money and equipment to media organizations that have been dismantled or weakened by conflict.

Reporters Without Borders is now an international operation bolstered by the support of a global network. Since 1985, the organization has established nine national sections (in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland), offices in Abidjan, Bangkok, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington, many local and regional partnerships and 110 correspondents worldwide to sustain and coordinate the action taken worldwide by its permanent members in Paris. The association’s website, available in French, English and Spanish (www.rsf.org), is a vital instrument for the entire network, serving as a full-fledged information agency on press freedom violations and a forum for censored press. The website rallies mass support in the event a journalist is taken hostage or imprisoned, for instance, by collecting signatures on petitions, and also offers journalists the opportunity to publish articles banned in their country of origin.

And the key to its success? RSF certainly owes a great deal to its network, but also to the moral and financial backing of supporters: money is raised through membership dues, private and public contributions and the generosity of patrons - artists, and photographers for the most part.

Photography is neither the “member” of a national section, office or partner association, nor a local or permanent correspondent (or perhaps it is all of these things at once?), but photos have nevertheless played an active role in the association from the outset and today undoubtedly constitute the organization’s strongest backing and most trusted ally. Images can speak, bear witness and inform just as much as words. As such, photos are sources of information that have always been placed by the association on the same level as news articles. We needn’t be reminded that, in some countries, a journalist can be kidnapped and abused for merely publishing or posting online a “simple photo”. What’s more, as well as a testimony to global news, photos have enabled RWB to accomplish its missions and guarantee autonomy for the association. Twice yearly since 1992, Reporters Without Borders publishes and sells albums of outstanding photos to the general public. Renowned photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Helmut Newton, Robert Doisneau and Jeanloup Sieff have donated some of their most striking work as their own personal contribution to the daily fight for press freedom.

Not surprisingly, the association has turned to photography to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. From 1 June to 31 August, the French Senate presented an exhibition of the works of 20 photographers, all different in many respects - a mixture of French, American, British, Brazilian, Iranian, Russian, Dutch and Belgo-Tunisian artists, young and old (aged between 32 and 95), known and little known, exhibiting different styles - yet all driven by the same passion for photojournalism. The exposition serves as a visual display of solidarity for all the colleagues who have disappeared, been imprisoned, harassed or tortured for refusing to keep quiet and, in the words of Robert Ménard, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, is a tribute from the association to photojournalists the world over who have chosen to show us the truth, regardless of the price to pay.

Anne Sophie Faullimmel

Robert Ménard, Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders, agreed to answer our questions at the occasion of the association’s 20th anniversary:

1. Actualité en France: Robert Ménard, your association is celebrating its 20th anniversary. You have been the Secretary General since the very beginning. How did RWB come about in 1985?

R.M.: Reporters Without Borders was founded in Montpellier in June 1985 by four journalists: Rémy Loury, Jacques Molénat, Emilien Jubineau and myself. At the start, our intention was to report on the news of underprivileged populations and raise public awareness about third-world problems. To achieve this, we organized reports in Uganda, Malaysia, Zaire, Western Sahara, Honduras, Pakistan, etc. In doing so, our organization realized just how poor the level of news was in the third world: local journalists were subject to terrible constraints coming mainly from dictatorships, but also various militia and insurgent groups. In the face of such repression, Reports Without Borders decided then and there to concentrate its efforts on defending the freedom to inform.

2. A. en F.: What have been the highlights in your fight for press freedom over the past twenty years?

R.M.: There have been so many it would be impossible to list them all here. I’d have to mention the time I met colleagues from the publication Oslobodenje during the siege of Sarajevo, to whom we’d sent equipment on several occasions so they could provide news worthy of the name. Or the humanitarian radio we set up in the refugee camps of the Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan massacres. And I’ll always remember the smiles on the faces of the Peruvian family whose son I visited in prison at the peak of the Fujimori regime. Without forgetting that the release of every journalist imprisoned for doing theirjob, or every reporter taken hostage, is a highlight for every single member of Reporters Without Borders, from Professor Doan Viet Hoat’s arrival in France following twenty years captivity in Vietnam’s re-education camps to the release of Florence Aubenas.

3. A. en F.: Has the association changed in 20 years?

R.M.: Certainly. Thanks to our national sections established in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland, and offices in Abidjan, Bangkok, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington, Reporters Without Borders has become an international organization that works in collaboration with countless local and international associations to defend the freedom of the press and human rights. We also have a network of over 100 correspondents around the world, which has boosted our credibility, reputation and therefore influence and efficacy. International recognition has enabled us to multiply our activities. Now we can handle more and more cases. In 2004 alone, Reporters Without Borders launched over 700 campaigns.

4. A. en F.: Photography has always held an important place in the organization. Why is that?

R.M.: In 1992, Reporters Without Borders put its first album up for sale, entitled 100 Photos for Press Freedom. Since then, 18 other albums have been published with the generous support of celebrated photographers such as Sebastiao Salgado, Raymond Depardon, Marc Riboud, Henri-Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis, William Klein, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Edouard Boubat, Philip Plisson, Helmut Newton, Dominique Issermann, Jean Dieuzaide and Jeanloup Sieff. These photo albums are the primary source of revenues that guarantee the independence of Reporters Without Borders. Their sale enables the

5. A. en F.: What are the goals of Reporters Without Borders today?

R.M.: To defend our freedom to inform every inch of the way!

Interview conducted by Anne-Sophie Faullimmel for Actualité en France (September 2005)

Last updated: 23.11.2005