ReportWire

Tag: Journalists

  • Entrepreneur | How to Make the Most of Your Public Relations

    Entrepreneur | How to Make the Most of Your Public Relations

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Public relations (PR) is essential to any successful strategic marketing plan, but is your business making the most of its PR efforts? An effective PR campaign not only delivers media coverage in your target publications. In addition, optimized PR feeds into all other analog and digital marketing efforts to help your business connect with its audiences, wherever they are.

    Why PR is so powerful

    Even in the age of digital marketing, public relations campaigns are based on pitching to the media. When just a few years ago, PR professionals focused on print and broadcast media only; they are now extending their efforts to include online-only publications and leading bloggers.

    The goal is simple: PR professionals are working with journalists and other content creators to add credibility to the brand they are representing. Media coverage not only creates exposure for the brand. It also adds a layer of credibility and trust that exceeds what other elements of a brand’s marketing strategy can provide.

    According to the Institute for PR, audiences consider so-called earned media to be more credible than other sources of information. This credibility is critical to brand development, whether you want to build brand awareness or establish thought leadership in your field. Earned media is the result of effective PR.

    The importance of PR is reflected in the industry’s continued growth. PR revenue is expected to grow worldwide from $88 billion in 2020 to $129 billion in 2025. PR agencies in the United States generated $14.5 billion in revenue in 2020. PR grew during the pandemic when advertising and the marketing industry as a whole contracted.

    Related: Need PR Wins? Think Into the Future First

    How to optimize the outcome of PR campaigns

    To optimize the results of PR campaigns and maximize the benefits of public relations for a brand, marketing and PR professionals need to recognize the strengths of PR. Although online and offline news coverage can support a brand in the short and the long term, PR thrives over time. In addition, PR campaigns have more impact when connected to other elements of a company’s marketing strategy.

    Focusing on the long term

    Establishing successful media relationships takes time. PR experts understand which publications are interested in covering which brands and consistently pitch relevant stories to their media contacts. They understand that not every journalist will pick up every press release or feature suggestion. Rather than blanket-emailing press releases, PR pros get to know the interests of the most relevant journalist and pitch stories that are likely to make the cut.

    The effort of relationship-building and consistency pays off when a brand receives attention in local and regional media outlets, eventually even getting the attention of national media. Industry-specific publications can also offer a great starting point for PR campaigns.

    PR is best used as a mid to long term component of a brand’s marketing strategy. Allowing time to establish and nurture media relationships plays to the strengths of PR. Of course, there may be situations when immediate crisis communications are critical to protecting a brand’s reputation. But in most cases, PR excels as part of a long-term strategy.

    Combining the strengths of PR with other marketing activities

    Despite its undoubted strengths, PR alone is not enough to achieve all of a company’s business goals. Expecting a single PR campaign to increase credibility, drive web traffic, establish thought leadership within an industry and drive foot traffic to local branches is unrealistic.

    Saying that, once marketing teams combine PR efforts with other strategic marketing activities, they will soon see the desired results. Combined with consistent brand messaging, for example, PR can improve brand perception among audiences.

    While public relations does not necessarily result in immediate sales, stories pitched to the media can effectively educate the public about specific products and services. Many online publications are happy to link to a company’s website, thus helping search engine optimization (SEO) and local search rankings.

    Related: Crafting The Best Public Relations Strategy For Your Business

    How PR, paid advertising and social media work together

    Where PR is ideal for improving a brand’s image in the long term and connecting with audiences through a third party, paid advertising offers short-term, data-driven opportunities.

    A strategically planned program of paid adverts can immediately increase brand or product exposure. Since the advent of digital marketing channels, it has become easier to reach highly targeted audiences, increasing the effectiveness of campaigns. Real-time campaign performance data allows marketers to iterate messaging and campaign design on the spot, further improving the effectiveness of their approach.

    High-quality visual content, including images and videos, can be compelling in local newspapers, broadcast outlets and online channels. By streamlining advertising and PR messages, paid and earned media start working hand in hand to reach users of publications they already enjoy and, more importantly, trust.

    Social media has been another fairly recent addition to a marketing team’s choice of channels where they connect with their audiences. Like traditional media, social media offers a range of opportunities, including paid, earned and owned coverage.

    While earned coverage continues to come with the highest level of credibility even on social media, a company’s owned media channels offer another opportunity to share the results of PR efforts. By sharing stories that have been published about the brand, marketers are allowing the third-party credibility of those stories to reflect on the brand.

    Existing followers will feel reassured in their choice of brand followership, and sharing stories from credible sources may catch the interest of new potential audiences.

    Related: How to Utilize Public Relations Without Sacrificing Your Own Narrative

    Bringing it all together

    Successful marketing relies on a solid strategy that joins the strengths of PR and other marketing activities. Combining PR with the power of branding, content creation, advertising campaigns, and social media outreach allows companies to generate the marketing results and overall business growth they are looking for. On its own, PR is powerful, but in combination with other marketing activities, public relations become unbeatable.

    [ad_2]

    Jessica Wong

    Source link

  • How to Send a Funding Pitch

    How to Send a Funding Pitch

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Funding round stories are imperative for a startup’s success, especially during an economic downturn. They show the world that there is trust in the business’s longevity as investors believe the company is likely to succeed and provide returns. These announcements also inspire excitement and further emotional investment in the company. However, with journalist response rates decreasing quarter by quarter, it’s getting increasingly difficult to get company news out, especially for funding.

    To determine what will make journalists more likely to open and respond to a pitch, my company, Propel, analyzed approximately 3,500 funding pitches and found three key insights to use in your company’s next pitching strategy:

    Related: Five Ways To Raise Money To Launch Your Own Startup

    1. Use short, attention-grabbing subject lines

    Journalists want to know precisely what they’re going to find when they open up a pitch email, and this is no different when it comes to funding announcements. In fact, out of all the data, we found that funding pitches with subject lines of no more than nine words were opened the most frequently, garnering a 7% response rate. This is huge, especially given that the industry average response rate across all pitching types is just 3.35%.

    One reason is that journalists are inundated with pitches, so the faster they understand a pitch, the better. Many journalists also look at pitch emails on their phones, and with only so much space for so many characters in the subject line, PR pros must be able to quickly and briefly tell the story from the subject line. I recommend putting the name of the company and the funding amount in the subject line so the journalist knows what they’re going to read.

    Related: 7 Headline Writing Formats That Get Journalists to Read Your Pitch

    2. Don’t make the pitch an epic novel

    The adage “short and sweet” also applies to the pitch’s body. We found that pitches between 50-149 words were getting the best response rates at 15%. However, for some reason, we saw that most PR pros were sending funding pitches between 500-1,000 words long. For context, that’s the length of 2-4 word pages double-spaced!

    Journalists don’t have the time or energy to read a novel about the company getting a funding round. Instead, a PR pro should provide enough background information on the company and the budget to get a journalist interested in the story, with the ultimate goal of having them request the press release. That way, they won’t be intimidated by facing a wall of text.

    Related: Why Your Marketing Team Should Be Journalists

    3. Pitch Friday, release mid-week

    As it turns out, the day of the week you pitch a journalist a funding story is just as important as the length of the pitch or subject line. To this end, we found that the days with the most journalist responses to funding pitches occurred on Wednesdays, with 24% of responses occurring on this day. However, we found that the day with the highest likelihood of a pitch getting opened is, perhaps counterintuitively, Friday. Most PR pros had gut feelings that these were the best days to pitch funding news, but now there are hard numbers to back it up.

    While Wednesdays are still great days to pitch and to have press releases released from the embargo, the fact that pitching on Fridays gives you such a high likelihood of getting a response came as a surprise. However, the data shows that only approximately 5% of pitches are sent on Fridays. This means that journalists aren’t inundated with new pitches, so they have the time to read your story idea. 15% of responses happened on Friday, making it the day with the best ratio of pitches to responses.

    Given the worldwide economic slowdown, getting the word out that your organization is stable is more important than ever. One of the best ways to do this is by putting out a funding release, which sends a signal of strength to potential customers and stability to future investors. And by using actionable, data-driven insights, you can enable your funding campaign to reach its maximum potential. I hope that these findings will be used as guideposts for other professionals in the PR industry to enable them to create better pitching strategies and get better results.

    [ad_2]

    Zach Cutler

    Source link

  • Saudi prince’s new title key to dodging lawsuit over killing

    Saudi prince’s new title key to dodging lawsuit over killing

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON (AP) — It raised eyebrows six weeks ago when Saudi Arabia’s aged king, Salman, named his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as prime minister. The kingdom’s laws designate the king as prime minister. King Salman had to declare a temporary exception to loan out the title, and at the same time made clear he retains key duties.

    But that move reaped dividends Thursday, when the Biden administration declared that Prince Mohammed’s standing as prime minister shielded him from a U.S. lawsuit over what the U.S. intelligence community says was his role in Saudi officials’ 2018 killing of a U.S.-based journalist. A judge will now decide whether Prince Mohammed has immunity.

    National Security Council spokesman John Kirby insisted Friday that the administration’s declaration of immunity for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was purely a “legal determination” that “has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the case itself.”

    Many experts in international law agreed with the administration — but only because of the king’s late September title boost for the crown prince, ahead of a scheduled U.S. decision.

    “It would have been just as remarkable for the United States to deny MBS’s head-of-state immunity after his appointment as Prime Minister as it would have been for the United States to recognize MBS’s head-of-state immunity before his appointment,” William S. Dodge, a professor at the University of California-Davis School of Law, wrote, using the prince’s initials.

    State Department spokesman Vedant Patel gave examples Friday of past instances of the U.S. recognizing immunity for heads of government or state — Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Narendra Modi of India, both in allegations of rights abuses.

    The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington by the fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi and by a D.C.-based rights group he founded. It accuses the crown prince and about 20 aides, officers and others of plotting and carrying out Khashoggi’s slaying at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

    The killing, condemned by Biden on the campaign trial in 2019 as “flat-out murder” that must have consequences for Saudi rulers, is at the core of a rift between strategic partners, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

    Before and immediately after taking office, Biden vowed to take a stand on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, as part of a presidency that would be based on rights and values. But Biden has since offered a fist bump and other conciliatory gestures in hopes — disappointed so far — of persuading the crown prince to pump more oil for world markets.

    Biden’s administration argues that Saudi Arabia is too important to the global economy and to regional security to allow the United States to walk away from the decades-old partnership.

    But rights advocates, some senior Democratic lawmakers, and Khashoggi’s newspaper, The Washington Post, on Friday condemned the administration’s move.

    “Jamal died again today,” Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted.

    Fred Ryan, publisher of the Post, called it a “cynical, calculated effort” to manipulate the law and shield Prince Mohammed. Khashoggi wrote columns for the Post that in his last months criticized the crown prince’s rights abuses.

    “By going along with this scheme, President Biden is turning his back on fundamental principles of press freedom and equality,” Ryan wrote.

    Cengiz and Khashoggi’s rights group, Democracy for the Arab World Now, or DAWN, had argued that the crown prince’s late September title change was no more than a maneuver to escape U.S. courts, without legal standing or any change in authority or duties.

    Saudi Arabia has not commented publicly on the administration’s decision. Spokespeople with the Saudi Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

    Saudi Arabia blames what it says were “rogue” officials for Khashoggi’s killing. It says the prince played no part.

    Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, as opposed to a constitutional one like the United Kingdom, where a prime minister rather than king or queen governs.

    “Pretty pathetic,” Sarah Leah Whitson, head of Khashoggi’s rights group, said Friday of the title change.

    “If anything, it just demonstrated how afraid Mohammed bin Salman was and has been of our lawsuit and actual accountability and actual discovery of his crimes,” Whitson said.

    The Biden administration appeared to dismiss her group’s argument that Prince Mohammed’s recent title change ran counter to Saudi Arabia’s governing law and should be disregarded.

    King Salman has continued making appointments and presiding over meetings of his council since the title change.

    But Prince Mohammed for years has been a key decision-maker and actor in the kingdom, including representing the king abroad.

    Some Western news outlets had presented the temporary transfer of the prime minister title as King Salman — who is in his late 80s — devolving responsibility to Prince Mohammed, who is 37.

    A federal judge had given the U.S. until Thursday to offer an opinion, or not, on the claim by the crown prince that his standing shields him from U.S. courts.

    Rights advocates had hoped up to the moment of filing that the administration would stay silent, offering no opinion on Prince Mohammed’s immunity either way.

    Sovereign immunity, a concept rooted in international law, holds that states and their officials are protected from some legal proceedings in other foreign states’ courts.

    Prior criminal and civil cases brought against foreign governments and leaders in which the U.S. has not intervened have generally involved countries with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations or does not recognize their heads of state or government as legitimate.

    Cases brought against Iran and North Korea seeking damages for deaths or injuries to American citizens are two prominent examples of instances where the executive branch has not weighed in with an opinion about sovereign immunity.

    By contrast, the United States has full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. The State Department stressed Thursday that honoring the principle for other governments’ leaders helps ensure that courts in other countries don’t seek to haul U.S. presidents before them to answer to lawsuits there.

    Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, said the U.S. decision had “absolutely nothing” to do with “tense” U.S.-Saudi relations over Saudi-led oil production cuts, and other matters.

    Biden has been “very, very vocal” about the “brutal, barbaric murder of Khashoggi,” Kirby said.

    But some of Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress expressed disappointment at the administration’s move.

    “Is the Administration casting aside its confidence in its own intelligence community’s judgment?” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said in a statement. “If the friends and family of Khashoggi are denied a path to accountability in the American court system, where in the world can they go?”

    Whitson, the official for Khashoggi’s rights group, said the lawsuit would continue against the others named in the lawsuit.

    __

    Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing

    US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration declared Thursday that Saudi Arabia‘s crown prince should be considered immune from a lawsuit over his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, a turnaround from Joe Biden’s passionate campaign trail denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal slaying.

    The administration said the senior position of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and recently named prime minister as well, should shield him against a suit brought by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

    The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.

    The State Department on Thursday called the administration’s call to shield the Saudi crown prince from U.S. courts in Khashoggi’s killing “purely a legal determination.”

    The State Department cited what it said was longstanding precedent. Despite its recommendation to the court, the State Department said in its filing late Thursday, it “takes no view on the merits of the present suit and reiterates its unequivocal condemnation of the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”

    Saudi officials killed Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are believed to have dismembered him, although his remains have never been found. The U.S. intelligence community concluded Saudi Arabia’s crown prince had approved the killing of the widely known and respected journalist, who had written critically of Prince Mohammed’s harsh ways of silencing of those he considered rivals or critics.

    The Biden administration statement Thursday noted visa restrictions and other penalties that it had meted out to lower-ranking Saudi officials in the death.

    “From the earliest days of this Administration, the United States Government has expressed its grave concerns regarding Saudi agents’ responsibility for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,” the State Department said. Its statement did not mention the crown prince’s own alleged role.

    Biden as a candidate vowed to make a “pariah” out of Saudi rulers over the 2018 killing of Khashoggi.

    “I think it was a flat-out murder,” Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. “And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power.”

    But Biden as president has sought to ease tensions with the kingdom, including bumping fists with Prince Mohammed on a July trip to the kingdom, as the U.S. works to persuade Saudi Arabia to undo a series of cuts in oil production.

    Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, and DAWN sued the crown prince, his top aides and others in Washington federal court over their alleged roles in Khashoggi’s killing. Saudi Arabia says the prince had no direct role in the slaying.

    “It’s beyond ironic that President Biden has singlehandedly assured MBS can escape accountability when it was President Biden who promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable,” the head of DAWN, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement, using the prince’s acronym.

    Biden in February 2021 had ruled out the U.S. government imposing punishment on Prince Mohammed himself in the killing of Khashoggi, a resident of the Washington area. Biden, speaking after he authorized release of a declassified version of the intelligence community’s findings on Prince Mohammed’s role in the killing, argued at the time there was no precedent for the U.S. to move against the leader of a strategic partner.

    The U.S. military long has safeguarded Saudi Arabia from external enemies, in exchange for Saudi Arabia keeping global oil markets afloat.

    “It’s impossible to read the Biden administration’s move today as anything more than a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics, including slashing oil output to twist our arms to recognize MBS’s fake immunity ploy,” Whitson said.

    A federal judge in Washington had given the U.S. government until midnight Thursday to express an opinion on the claim by the crown prince’s lawyers that Prince Mohammed’s high official standing renders him legally immune in the case.

    The Biden administration also had the option of not stating an opinion either way.

    Sovereign immunity, a concept rooted in international law, holds that states and their officials are protected from some legal proceedings in other foreign states’ domestic courts.

    Upholding the concept of “sovereign immunity” helps ensure that American leaders in turn don’t have to worry about being hauled into foreign courts to face lawsuits in other countries, the State Department said.

    Human rights advocates had argued that the Biden administration would embolden Prince Mohammed and other authoritarian leaders around the world in more rights abuses if it supported the crown prince’s claim that his high office shielded him from prosecution.

    Prince Mohammed serves as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler in the stead of his aged father, King Salman. The Saudi king in September also temporarily transferred his title of prime minister — a title normally held by the Saudi monarch — to Prince Mohammed. Critics called it a bid to strengthen Mohammed’s immunity claim.

    ——

    Eric Tucker and Aamer Madhani contributed.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Press Releases May Seem Old-School, But They Work. Here’s How to Use Them.

    Press Releases May Seem Old-School, But They Work. Here’s How to Use Them.

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Do you want to increase online mentions, create more backlinks and boost brand awareness? Who doesn’t? Digital PR can do just that, and one of the most overlooked digital PR strategies is creating and distributing press releases. Let’s see how to use the process within your SEO strategy.

    A press release is a written text about specific news or events within your business. Press releases are a proactive way to provide journalists and media outlets with important information about an organization so they can write their piece and publish it.

    Look at it like digital storytelling. You want your press release to be interesting and exciting enough to capture the attention of media outlets, blogs and other distributors.

    Related: Harness the Power of New Public Relations Technology

    Press releases and SEO

    So can press release distribution help your SEO? The short answer is yes. The goal of press release distribution shouldn’t necessarily be to gain a particular number of backlinks to your website, but it should be used as a distribution channel to share your brand’s content. The links you want are created by the journalists who have transcribed your story. They’ll likely be high-quality, natural, relevant and authoritative backlinks, and quality backlinks are a significant ranking factor.

    Every website wants these included within its backlink profile, so with press release distribution, you should aim to provide content that would get journalists and news publications to talk about your business and the information you’ve provided. They’ll write about the press release and put their natural spin on the story; when they do, they’ll link back to your website as a reference for their readers.

    They’re most likely to be linked to your homepage, making press releases an excellent brand-building exercise. Landing media coverage, both online and offline, is great for brand exposure and can generate a good range of natural backlinks to your website, as well as plenty of referral traffic from users who are reading and sharing the news publication.

    Related: How to Write a Press Release Reporters Will Actually Read

    Press release distribution

    Now let’s take a look at how press release distribution works. Firstly, don’t attempt to write a press release if you don’t have anything to write about. A journalist’s time is limited. So is the real estate on their websites. You want to make your press release about a potentially groundbreaking employee initiative or an innovative product you’ve just launched.

    It would be best if you instantly grabbed the media outlet’s attention. You don’t want to be mass selected and deleted before they’ve even had a chance to find out what your press release is about. This applies to the length of the press release too. Get to the point as quickly as possible, and if the journalist wants to know more, they’ll contact you directly. Because of this, stick to one topic. Now that you have your press release, it’s time to look at how you’re distributed.

    To start, it depends on whether you’re planning to distribute your press release or use a service to write and distribute it. If you choose to distribute your press release, you may find that the conversion rate is low. However, you could use a service where everything is done for you.

    Press release writers will craft an engaging press release to get your news across professionally. The benefit of using a service to write your press release is that you don’t need to spend time and resources researching the best way to craft one. You’ll have unlimited revisions, and it won’t be distributed until it’s just right.

    Related: Press Releases Aren’t Dead. Here are 4 Reasons they Remain a Valuable Tool

    Implementing press release distribution into your marketing strategy

    Firstly, you need to consider what your press release should be about. More and more brands are adopting a more personalized, human approach to press releases. People are craving reality now more than ever, so true meaningful stories could work best.

    There is differing research on when to issue press releases; many suggest issuing them on a Tuesday or Friday at 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. Remember that an average of over 1000 press releases are fired into journalists’ inboxes each day, so varying the time of your release could enable yours to stand out and encourage more visibility.

    It may be smart to share releases a few minutes before or after the usual bombardment. Alternatively, if you choose to share your press release on social media, you want to time this when your users are most active. Share on social media in the afternoon and over the weekend because this is when people are most active on these platforms and therefore are more likely to discover, engage with and share your content. Press release distribution can be a very beneficial tool for your SEO strategy and a proper strategy can change the user experience with your business.

    Related: 5 Things Not to Do When Pitching Journalists

    [ad_2]

    Jigar T

    Source link

  • Israel confirms US is investigating the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, says it will ‘not cooperate’

    Israel confirms US is investigating the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, says it will ‘not cooperate’

    [ad_1]

    Israel confirms US is investigating the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, says it will ‘not cooperate’

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Philippine prisons chief charged in journalist’s killing

    Philippine prisons chief charged in journalist’s killing

    [ad_1]

    MANILA, Philippines — Philippine authorities filed murder complaints on Monday against the top prisons official and an aide, accusing them of masterminding the killing of a radio commentator in an elaborate crime they said showed that the country’s prisons system had been turned into a “criminal organization.”

    The complaints were filed against Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, who has been suspended from his post, prisons security official Ricardo Zulueta and other key suspects in the Oct. 3 fatal shooting of Percival Mabasa. The journalist had fiercely criticized Bantag and other officials for alleged corruption and other anomalies.

    Mabasa, who used the broadcast name Percy Lapid, is among the latest media workers killed in a Southeast Asian country regarded as among the most dangerous for journalists in the world.

    A joint statement read at a news conference by top justice, interior and police officials said three gang leaders locked up in the country’s largest prison under Bantag’s control were tapped to look for a gunman to kill Mabasa for a 550,000-peso ($9,300) contract.

    After the killing, however, the gunman, who was identified by police as Joel Escorial, surrendered in fear after government officials raised a reward for his capture. He then publicly identified an inmate, Jun Villamor, who he said was assigned by detained gang leaders to call him and arrange Mabasa’s killing. The gang leaders later killed Villamor inside the prison by suffocating him with a plastic bag allegedly on orders of Bantag and Zulueta, officials said.

    “Bantag had a clear motive to effect the murders,” officials said in the statement.

    Mabasa was shot to death for his critical exposes against the prisons chief, and Villamor was killed by gang leaders as a cover-up after he was publicly identified by the gunman as the inmate who arranged the killing behind bars, they said.

    Bantag has denied any involvement in the killings. He and Zulueta have also been charged for the killing of Villamor. No warrants have been issued yet for their arrests, officials said.

    The investigation of the killings bared “the unfortunate transformation of a pillar of justice – the correction pillar – into a deep, large-scale and systematic criminal organization,” officials said in their statement.

    “This will be the cause of many reforms in government and the strengthening of current mechanisms to ensure that nothing of this nature will happen again,” they said.

    As suspicions grew over Bantag’s involvement in the two killings, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered him suspended indefinitely and replaced with a former military chief of staff, Gregorio Catapang Jr.

    A recent search of the maximum-security prison complex under Bantag’s control yielded more than 7,000 cans of extra-strong beer, bladed weapons, cellphones, laptop computers and suspected drugs in a discovery that deepened long-held suspicions of prison anomalies involving officials and guards, Catapang said.

    “There are many crimes that we have to look into,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told a news conference. He cited the beer, drugs and other contrabands smuggled into prison and the deaths of 18 detained drug lords supposedly of coronavirus infection followed by their cremation in a span of 75 days.

    Aside from Bantag, Mabasa had also strongly criticized former President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. Duterte ended his turbulent six-year term in June.

    Duterte appointed Bantag as Bureau of Corrections chief in 2019 despite pending criminal complaints. Bantag had faced charges for a 2016 clash that killed 10 inmates when he was the warden in another detention center. A court later cleared him.

    Media watchdogs have condemned Mabasa’s killing, saying the attack underscores how deadly the Philippines remains for journalists.

    Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986, when dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown, according to the journalists’ union. The group led a protest Tuesday night and called on the government to do more to stop the killings.

    In 2009, members of a powerful political clan and their associates killed 58 people, including 32 media workers, in an execution-style attack in southern Maguindanao province that horrified the world.

    The mass killing, linked to a political rivalry, demonstrated the dangers journalists face in the Philippines, which has many unlicensed guns, private armies controlled by powerful clans and weak law enforcement, especially in rural regions.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Protecting Journalists Is Protecting Freedom Of Expression For All

    Protecting Journalists Is Protecting Freedom Of Expression For All

    [ad_1]

    In October 2022, the European Parliament published its commissioned study concerning safety of journalists and media freedom globally which found the progressive erosion of media freedom around the world. The study concluded that “impunity remains unacceptably high, with most cases of killings remaining unresolved. Imprisonments are on the rise, while online spaces are becoming increasingly hostile and replete with gender-based hate speech.”

    The study cited data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists indicating that a majority of killings between 2012 and 2021 occurred in 11 countries, including Syria (137 killings), Iraq (39), Somalia (35), Mexico (33), Afghanistan (31), India (27), Pakistan (22), Brazil (21), Yemen (19), Philippines (16) and Bangladesh (11). The study found that a majority of fatalities was due to journalists being killed by way of reprisal for their work, while some were killed in a battlefield or in a military context. “Among those killed because of their work, 28.8% were working on political journalism, 23.8% were war reporters, 15.8% were human rights reporters, while 10.7% were investigating crime and 9.6% corruption cases.”

    Such killings are met with glaring impunity. The report refers to a data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists which states that “from 224 cases of complete impunity during 2012-2021, 185 (82.6%) were recorded in 12 countries (…): Mexico (26 cases); Somalia (25); Syria (22); India (21); Afghanistan (17); Iraq (17); Philippines (14); Brazil (14); Pakistan (12); Bangladesh (7); South Sudan (5); and the Russian Federation (5).”

    Apart from such targeted killings, journalists are also subjected to imprisonments and other methods to use and abuse law to silence journalists. In 2021 only, the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 293 cases of imprisonment. The mostly used charges in such cases included: “accusations of anti-state activities dominate (61.5%), ‘no charge’ (14.8 %), retaliatory action (11.7 %), false news (7 %) and defamation (3 %).”

    Other abuses of journalists include kidnappings and enforced disappearances. According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2021, at least 65 journalists and media workers were held hostage. Most hostage takings occurred in three countries: Syria (44); Iraq (11); and Yemen (9). One journalist was abducted in Mali. The Islamic State was responsible for 28 abductions, the Houthis in Yemen for 8 cases and the Syrian Jihadi group for 7 cases. According to Reporters Without Borders, 46 journalists disappeared between 2003 and 2021. The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 69 journalist disappearances between 2002-2021 with Mexico topping the list with 15 cases (followed by Syria (10), Iraq (9) and Russia (7)).

    Such targeting of journalists requires comprehensive responses.

    On November 2, the U.N. marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, a day that the U.N. General Assembly established to urge states to “prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability through the conduct of impartial, speedy and effective investigations into all alleged violence against journalists and media workers falling within their jurisdiction and to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.” It calls upon member states to promote a safe environment, accommodating journalists in their work through legislative measures, raising awareness, carrying out adequate investigations, monitoring and reporting attacks committed against journalists, and by publicly condemning attacks.

    2022 also marks the 10th anniversary of the U.N. Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, the first concerted effort within the U.N. to address attacks and impunity of crimes against journalists.

    However, despite some steps done in this direction, it is clear that the promises to provide better protection for journalists is still unfulfilled. Unfortunately, as in many cases, state actors are the perpetrators of such attacks against journalists, there is little, if any, hope that the situation will ever be addressed. However, protecting journalists we must as protecting journalists is protecting freedom of expression for all.

    [ad_2]

    Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Contributor

    Source link

  • Journalist crushed to death at ex-Pakistan PM Khan’s march

    Journalist crushed to death at ex-Pakistan PM Khan’s march

    [ad_1]

    LAHORE, Pakistan — A female journalist was crushed to death Sunday in Pakistan while covering a political march led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a senior police officer said.

    Sadaf Naeem, 36, a television journalist with Channel 5 in Lahore, was crushed to death after she slipped from the container truck Khan was traveling in, said Salman Zafar, assistant superintendent in Kamuke, one of the towns on the march’s path.

    Khan’s convoy was making its way through Punjab province toward Islamabad on the march’s third day. The demonstrators were challenging Khan’s successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his government, demanding snap elections. It was the practice of Khan’s convoy team to invite a few journalists at a time onto the top of the truck to speak to Khan.

    “Shocked & deeply saddened by the terrible accident that led to the death of Channel 5 reporter Sadaf Naeem during our March today,” Khan said in a tweet. “I have no words to express my sorrow. My prayers & condolences go to the family at this tragic time. We have cancelled our March for today.”

    Sharif also expressed his condolences to Naeem’s bereaved family, announcing a roughly $20,000 donation to her relatives.

    “Deeply saddened by the death of reporter Sadaf Naeem after falling from a long march container,” Sharif said in a tweet. “Cannot feel sad enough over this tragic incident. Heartfelt condolences to the family. Sadaf Naeem was a dynamic and hardworking reporter. We pray for patience for the family of the deceased.”

    Naeem was the breadwinner for her family and had worked as a journalist for 12 years. Pakistani officials say they will bear the living costs and educational expenses of her two children, aged 17 and 21.

    About 10,000 of Khan’s supporters, many of them piled into hundreds of trucks and cars, left from Lahore on Friday.

    The convoy’s journey, expected to be capped with an open-ended rally in Islamabad, could present a significant challenge to the new administration. The rally could potentially also turn violent if police move in to disperse Khan’s supporters.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Malta marks 5 years since journalist killed, seeks justice

    Malta marks 5 years since journalist killed, seeks justice

    [ad_1]

    VALLETTA, Malta — Malta on Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of the car bomb slaying of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, with calls for justice and praise for the courage of a woman whose death shocked Europe and exposed a culture of impunity on the Mediterranean island nation.

    Over 1,000 Maltese residents joined Caruana Galizia’s relatives, activists and the Maltese president of the European Parliament in a nighttime march and vigil at a makeshift memorial opposite Valletta’s law courts. Also on hand was the sister of Italy’s crusading anti-Mafia investigator, Giovanni Falcone, who was himself assassinated by the mob in a highway bombing in Sicily in 1992.

    The anniversary came just two days after two key suspects reversed course on the first day of their trial and pleaded guilty to carrying out the murder. But other cases are still pending in Maltese courts and both the government and opposition leaders have called for justice to be delivered.

    Caruana Galizia had written extensively about suspected corruption in political and business circles in the EU nation, and was killed Oct. 16, 2017, when a bomb placed under her car detonated as she was driving near her home. The murder shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in Malta.

    A 2021 public inquiry report found that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for the murder because of the culture of impunity that emanated from the highest levels of government. But as recently as last month, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights had decried the “lack of effective results in establishing accountability.”

    During the nighttime vigil, one of Caruana Galizia’s nieces, Megan Mallia, read out a message on behalf of her family that said the assassination of an anti-corruption investigative journalist such as her aunt “robs people of their right to understand the reality in which they live.”

    The men who ended Daphne’s life knew this, she said. “They feared neither the country’s authorities, nor their own conscience. They feared the thousands of people who chose to light a candle to drive away the darkness.”

    Caruana Galizia, 53, was a top Maltese investigative journalist who had targeted people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. She also targeted the opposition. When she was killed, she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

    “Throughout her life, Daphne Caruana Galizia always followed one principle in her investigative stories: She always did what she was duty bound to do. Not what benefitted her. Not what was convenient. Not what was popular. But what was right,” the president of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, told those at the vigil.

    The anniversary came two days after the trial opened for brothers George Degiorgio, 59, and Alfred Degiorgio, 57, the alleged hitmen who were accused of carrying out the bombing. After several hours of the hearing, they reversed their pleas and pled guilty and were sentenced to 40 years in prison apiece. The sentencing brought to three the number of people serving time, after Vincent Muscat pleaded guilty last year for his part in the murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

    Yorgen Fenech, a top businessman with ties to the former government, is awaiting trial following his 2021 indictment for alleged complicity in the slaying and for conspiracy to commit murder. His arrest in 2019 sparked a series of mass protests in the country that culminated with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s resignation.

    Fenech had entered not-guilty pleas to all charges in the pre-trial compilation of evidence. Two other men have been accused of supplying the bomb and are currently undergoing a pre-trial compilation of evidence. They have pleaded not guilty.

    A self-confessed middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was granted a presidential pardon in 2019 in exchange for testimony.

    Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna opened Sunday’s anniversary commemoration by celebrating a Mass at Bidjna church near where Caruana Galizia lived, saying killing can never be “business as usual” and stressing the need for justice, even when it makes the powerful uncomfortable.

    Afterward, activists, family members and Metula presided over a silent gathering at the site of the bombing. They planted a banner reading “Justice” in the ground alongside a big poster of the journalist’s face and lay flowers in the shape of the number five. They were joined by Maria Falcone, whose brother Giovanni and his wife, as well as three bodyguards were killed by a bomb planted on a Sicilian highway on May 23, 1992.

    Falcone later thanked the crowd at the vigil for coming out in such big numbers, saying their presence showed that Caruana Galizia’s murder would not be in vain.

    She urged Maltese to keep it up, saying Italy had paid the price in dead because of its dreadful history of organized crime. “I want you to take our society as an example to understand what a tremendous evil the Mafia is, and the even bigger evil that is the relationship and the agreement between the Mafia and politics,” she said.

    “As Giovanni used to say: ‘Do your job at any cost,’” his sister said. “Giovanni and Daphne did this, but now our job is to remember them day after day.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Brothers reverse plea to guilty in car-bomb murder trial

    Brothers reverse plea to guilty in car-bomb murder trial

    [ad_1]

    VALLETTA, Malta — In a stunning reversal, two brothers who are on trial for the car-bomb murder of a Maltese anti-corruption journalist on Friday entered guilty pleas on the first day of trial.

    Only hours earlier at the start of the trial in a Valletta courthouse, George Degiorgio, 59, and Alfred Degiorgio, 57 had entered not-guilty pleas.

    They are charged with having set the bomb that blew up Daphne Caruana Galizia’s car as she drove near her home on Oct. 16, 2017.

    The trial judge retired to chambers immediately after the change of plea and he was expected to sentence both defendants later on Friday.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

    VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The trial of two brothers charged in the car-bomb assassination of a Maltese journalist who investigated corruption in the tiny island nation began Friday, nearly five years after the slaying that sent shockwaves across Europe.

    George Degiorgio, 59, and Alfred Degiorgio, 57, are charged with having set the bomb that blew up Daphne Caruana Galizia’s car as she drove near her home on Oct. 16, 2017.

    Prosecutors allege that they were hired by a top Maltese businessman with government ties. That businessman has been charged and will be tried separately.

    The Degiorgio brothers have denied the charges. A third suspect, Vincent Muscat, avoided a trial after earlier changing his plea to guilty. Muscat is serving a 15-year sentence.

    In a Valletta courtroom Friday, Alfred Degiorgio pleaded not guilty while his brother declared that he had nothing to say. The court interpreted that as a not-guilty plea.

    The brothers had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a pardon in exchange for naming bigger alleged conspirators, including a former minister whose identity hasn’t been revealed.

    The bomb had been placed under the driver’s seat and the explosion was powerful enough to send the car’s wreckage flying over a wall and into a field.

    A top Maltese investigative journalist, Caruana Galizia, 53, had written extensively on her website “Running Commentary” about suspected corruption in political and business circles in the Mediterranean island nation, an attractive financial haven.

    Among her targets were people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. But she also targeted the opposition. When she was killed she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

    The arrest of a top businessman with connections to senior government officials two years after the murder sparked a series of mass protests in the country, forcing Muscat to resign.

    Yorgen Fenech was indicted in 2019 for alleged complicity in the slaying, by either ordering or instigating the commission of the crime, inciting another to commit the crime or by promising to give a reward after the fact. He was also indicted for conspiracy to commit murder. Fenech has entered not-guilty pleas to all charges.

    No date has been set for his trial.

    A self-confessed middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was granted a presidential pardon in 2019 in exchange for testimony against Fenech and the other alleged plotters. Two men, Jamie Vella and Robert Agius, have been charged with supplying the bomb, but their trial has not yet begun.

    A deputy prosecutor, Philip Galea Farrugia, told the court that Theuma was asked by an unnamed person to find someone to kill Caruana Galizia. Theuma allegedly approached one of the Degiorgio brothers and a payment of 150,000 euros ($146,500) was negotiated, said Galea Farrugia.

    Galea Farrugia also said that a rifle was initially selected as the murder weapon, but that was later switched to a bomb. Prosecutors also said that a cell phone — one of three that George Degiorgio had with him on a cabin cruiser in Malta’s Grand Harbor — had triggered the explosion.

    A 2021 public inquiry report found that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for Caruana Galizia’s murder because of the culture of impunity that emanated from the highest levels of government.

    The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, has decried the “lack of effective results in establishing accountability five years later.”

    In a letter to the current prime minister, Robert Abela, the commissioner expressed the need for urgency in protecting journalists in Malta and cited ongoing defamation cases against Caruana-Galizia’s family.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 2 men get 40 years each for Malta reporter’s car-bomb murder

    2 men get 40 years each for Malta reporter’s car-bomb murder

    [ad_1]

    VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — A judge in Malta sentenced two brothers to 40 years in prison each after they abruptly reversed course and pleaded guilty Friday to the car-bomb murder of an anti-corruption journalist, which had shocked Europe and triggered angry protests in Malta.

    Hours earlier, at the start of the trial in a Valletta courthouse, George Degiorgio, 59, and Alfred Degiorgio, 57, had entered not-guilty pleas over the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia in the blast as she drove near her home on Oct. 16, 2017.

    Caruana Galizia investigated suspected corruption among political and business circles in the tiny European Union nation, which is a financial haven in the Mediterranean.

    “This is an important step forward, to deliver justice in a case that represents a dark chapter in Malta’s history,” a statement from the office of Prime Minister Robert Abela’s government said shortly after the sentencing.

    One of her sons, Matthew Caruana Galizia, told reporters: “I’m relieved that they have been convicted and sentenced. Now it’s about the remaining cases,” he said, referring to prosecution of other defendants.

    But he said the five years it took to reach this stage of justice for his mother was “far too long.”

    The trial judge, Edwina Grima, retired to chambers after the change of plea before announcing the sentences an hour later.

    The two defendants were also ordered to pay 50,000 euros apiece from the money they received as a result of the crime as well as court costs.

    They could have faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

    Prosecutors alleged that the brothers were hired by a top Maltese businessman with government ties. That businessman has been charged and will be tried separately.

    Bringing the trial to an abrupt close, the Degiorgio brothers entered guilty pleas to all of the following charges: willful homicide; causing an explosion which resulted in the death of a person; illicit possession of explosives; criminal conspiracy; promoting, constituting, organizing or financing an organization with a view to commit criminal offenses, and active participation in a conspiracy.

    In the run-up to the trial, the Degiorgio brothers had denied the charges. A third suspect, Vincent Muscat, avoided a trial after earlier changing his plea to guilty. Muscat is serving a 15-year sentence.

    But at Friday’s start of the trial Alfred Degiorgio pleaded not guilty while his brother declared that he had nothing to say which the court interpreted as a not-guilty plea.

    It wasn’t immediately clear why the defendants abruptly reversed themselves.

    During the prosecution’s opening arguments, the state argued they had evidence involving cell phones that would link the defendants to the bombing.

    The brothers had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a pardon in exchange for naming bigger alleged conspirators, including a former minister whose identity hasn’t been revealed.

    The bomb had been placed under the driver’s seat and the explosion was powerful enough to send the car’s wreckage flying over a wall and into a field.

    A top Maltese investigative journalist, Caruana Galizia, 53, had written extensively on her website “Running Commentary” about suspected corruption in political and business circles in the Mediterranean island nation, an attractive financial haven.

    Among her targets were people in then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s inner circle whom she accused of having offshore companies in tax havens disclosed in the Panama Papers leak. But she also targeted the opposition. When she was killed she was facing more than 40 libel suits.

    The arrest of a top businessman with connections to senior government officials two years after the murder sparked a series of mass protests in the country, forcing Muscat to resign.

    Yorgen Fenech was arrested in 2019 and indicted in 2021 for alleged complicity in the slaying, by either ordering or instigating the commission of the crime, inciting another to commit the crime or by promising to give a reward after the fact. He was also indicted for conspiracy to commit murder. Fenech has entered not-guilty pleas to all charges.

    No date has been set for his trial.

    A self-confessed middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was granted a presidential pardon in 2019 in exchange for testimony against Fenech and the other alleged plotters. Two men, Jamie Vella and Robert Agius, have been charged with supplying the bomb, but their trial has not yet begun.

    In the morning session before a lunch break, Deputy Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia told the court that Theuma was asked by an unnamed person to find someone to kill Caruana Galizia. Theuma allegedly approached one of the Degiorgio brothers and a payment of 150,000 euros ($146,500) was negotiated, said Galea Farrugia.

    Galea Farrugia also said that a rifle was initially selected as the murder weapon, but that was later switched to a bomb. Prosecutors also said that a cell phone — one of three that George Degiorgio had with him on a cabin cruiser in Malta’s Grand Harbor — had triggered the explosion.

    A 2021 public inquiry report found that the Maltese state “has to bear responsibility” for Caruana Galizia’s murder because of the culture of impunity that emanated from the highest levels of government.

    The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, has decried the “lack of effective results in establishing accountability five years later.”

    In a letter to Prime Minister Abela, the commissioner expressed the need for urgency in protecting journalists in Malta and cited defamation cases that are still ongoing posthumously against Caruana-Galizia’s heirs.

    ___

    Frances D’Emilio contributed from Rome.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Judge keeps slain Vegas reporter’s files protected, for now

    Judge keeps slain Vegas reporter’s files protected, for now

    [ad_1]

    LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas police, prosecutors and defense attorneys must wait to access a slain investigative journalist’s cellphone and electronic devices, over concerns about revealing the reporter’s confidential sources and notes, a judge said Tuesday.

    Clark County District Court Judge Susan Johnson said the pause will last until all sides craft a way for a neutral party to screen the records.

    The judge granted a Las Vegas Review-Journal request to block immediate review of the records, which are expected to include source names and notes by reporter Jeff German.

    Police and prosecutors say they need access to German’s records for evidence that Robert “Rob” Telles, a former Democratic elected county official, fatally stabbed German on Sept. 2 in response to articles German wrote that were critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

    The newspaper — with backing from dozens of media organizations including The Associated Press and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — maintains that confidential information, names and unpublished material are protected from disclosure under state and federal law.

    Telles, 45, the Clark County public administrator, was arrested Sept. 7 and remains jailed without bail on a murder charge. Authorities say surveillance video, Telles’ DNA on German’s body and evidence found at Telles’ home connect him to the killing.

    Johnson acknowledged that because it is rare for U.S. journalists to be killed allegedly because of their work, there was little legal precedent that could be followed to allow investigators to search German’s files.

    German, 69, was widely respected for his tenacity and confidential contacts in 44 years of reporting on organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings — first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Review-Journal.

    Attorney David Chesnoff, representing the Review-Journal, said the judge needs to balance First Amendment rights of the media with the interests of police and prosecutors. He also acknowledged Telles’ defense team’s constitutional right to access to information about German’s killing, including identities of other people who might have had a motive to attack him.

    “It will have a long-term and chilling effect on sources and journalists receiving information from sources,” Chesnoff said, “if it’s OK to kill a journalist so that then everything that journalist dedicated himself to” can be exposed. “That would be outrageous,” he said.

    The Review-Journal argues that police should never have seized German’s cellphone, computers and hard drive. It cites Nevada’s so-called “news shield law” — among the strictest in the U.S. — along with federal Privacy Protection Act and First Amendment safeguards.

    “We are dealing with something unique,” the judge observed from the bench. “Everybody in this room is probably on his phone as far as a contact, right? I may be in his contact list.”

    Johnson said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives should have access to relevant electronic information. She said German’s files and contact lists could first be reviewed by a three-person team appointed by the court.

    “I’m leaning toward two trusted Metro officers that are higher-ups,” along with a respected former U.S. magistrate judge, Johnson said. She set an Oct. 19 date for ruling and added that she “wouldn’t be horrified” if the seven-member Nevada Supreme Court reviewed her decision to provide guidance about how to proceed.

    Chesnoff, with Ashley Kissinger also representing the Review-Journal and media, said there was no way to know who in Las Vegas police ranks had ties to the slain reporter. Chesnoff urged Johnson to enlist police investigators from outside Las Vegas for the review panel.

    Attorney Matthew Christian, representing the police department, acknowledged the issue might need state high court review.

    But Las Vegas police “have a duty to run down a complete investigation, and the victim’s devices are always part of that,” he said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Memorial at New Hampshire church honors slain journalist

    Memorial at New Hampshire church honors slain journalist

    [ad_1]

    A stone memorial for slain journalist James Foley stands near flowers, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, outside St. Katharine Drexel Church, in Alton, N.H. Foley, a freelance journalist, was among a group of Westerners brutally murdered in Islamic State captivity in Syria in 2014. He grew up in Wolfeboro and attended St. Katharine Drexel Church in Alton, where the memorial was unveiled Sunday. (Photo/Rosemary Sullivan via AP)

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Prosecutors seek prison for rioter’s attack on AP journalist

    Prosecutors seek prison for rioter’s attack on AP journalist

    [ad_1]

    Federal prosecutors on Sunday recommended a prison sentence of approximately four years for a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to assaulting an Associated Press photographer and using a stun gun against police officers during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to sentence Alan Byerly on Oct. 21 for his attack on AP photographer John Minchillo and police during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot in Washington, D.C.

    Sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term ranging from 37 to 46 months. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least 46 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Byerly’s attorney has until Friday to submit a sentencing recommendation.

    The judge isn’t bound by any of the sentencing recommendations.

    Byerly was arrested in July 2021 and pleaded guilty a year later to assault charges.

    Byerly purchased a stun gun before he traveled from his home in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. Leaving the rally before then-President Donald Trump finished speaking, Byerly went to the Capitol and joined other rioters in using a large metal Trump sign as a battering ram against barricades and police officers, prosecutors said.

    Then he went to the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, where he and other rioters attacked Minchillo, who was wearing a lanyard with AP lettering. Byerly is one of at least three people charged with assaulting Minchillo, whose assault was captured on video by a colleague.

    After that, Byerly approached police officer behind bike racks and deployed his stun gun.

    “After officers successfully removed the stun gun from Byerly’s hands, Byerly continued to charge toward the officers, struck and pushed them, and grabbed an officer’s baton,” prosecutors wrote.

    Byerly later told FBI agents that he did just “one stupid thing down there and that’s all it was,” according to prosecutors.

    “This was a reference to how he handled the reporter and nothing more,” they wrote.

    Byerly treated Jan. 6 “as a normal, crime-free day, akin to the movie, ‘The Purge,’ when he could do whatever he wanted without judgment or legal consequence,” prosecutors said.

    “He was mistaken,” they added.

    More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol siege.

    Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses. Over 280 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly half sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from one week to 10 years.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Myanmar sentences Japanese journalist to prison on 2 charges

    Myanmar sentences Japanese journalist to prison on 2 charges

    [ad_1]

    BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-ruled Myanmar has sentenced a Japanese journalist to serve seven years in prison after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat and the Southeast Asian nation’s government said Thursday.

    Toru Kubota was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and three years for incitement, said Tetsuo Kitada, deputy chief of mission of the Japanese Embassy. The sentences are to be served concurrently, meaning that Kubota faces seven years of confinement.

    The military’s information office said in a statement that a separate trial is continuing on a charge of violating immigration law. A hearing on the immigration charge is scheduled for Oct. 12.

    The electronic transactions law covers offenses that involve spreading false or provocative information online and carries a prison term of seven to 15 years. Incitement is a catch-all political law covering activities deemed to cause unrest, and has been used frequently against journalists and dissidents, usually with a three-year prison term.

    Kubota was arrested on July 30 by plainclothes police in Yangon, the country’s largest city, after taking photos and videos of a small flash protest against the military’s 2021 takeover in which it ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Kubota was the fifth foreign journalist detained in Myanmar after the military seized power. U.S. citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, who worked for local publications, and freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan were eventually deported before serving full prison sentences.

    Since the military seized power, it has forced at least 12 media outlets to shut down and arrested at least 142 journalists, 57 of whom remain detained. Most of those still detained are being held under the incitement charge for allegedly causing fear, spreading false news, or agitating against a government employee.

    Some of the closed media outlets have continued operating without a license, publishing online as their staff members dodge arrest. Others operate from exile.

    The army’s takeover triggered mass public protests that the military and police responded to with lethal force, triggering armed resistance and escalating violence that have led to what some U.N. experts characterize as a civil war.

    According to detailed lists by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a watchdog group based in Thailand, 2,336 civilians have died in the military government’s crackdown on opponents and at least 15,757 people have been arrested.

    The military said soon after Kubota’s arrest that he was detained while taking pictures and videos of 10-15 protesters in Yangon’s South Dagon township. It said he confessed to police that he had contacted participants in the protest a day earlier to arrange to film it.

    A graduate of Tokyo’s Keio University with a master’s degree from the University of the Arts London, Kubota, 26 at the time of his arrest, has done assignments for Yahoo! News Japan, Vice Japan and Al Jazeera English.

    His work has focused on ethnic conflicts, immigrants and refugee issues, including the plight of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. The military is particularly sensitive about the Rohingya issue because international courts are considering whether it committed serious human rights abuses, including genocide, in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign that caused more than 700,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to neighboring Bangladesh for safety.

    Fellow Japanese Kitazumi, a freelance journalist, was arrested in April 2021 and freed and deported just under a month later, after being indicted but not tried.

    The military government said at the time it decided to release Kitazumi “in consideration of cordial relations between Myanmar and Japan up to now and in view of future bilateral relations, and upon the request of the Japanese government special envoy on Myanmar’s national reconciliation.”

    Japan has historically maintained warm relations with Myanmar, including under previous military governments. It takes a softer line toward Myanmar’s current government than do many Western nations, which treat it as a pariah state for its poor human rights record and undermining of democracy, and have imposed economic and political sanctions against its army rulers and their families and cronies.

    In Tokyo, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said Kubota is in good health, citing his lawyer who saw him on Wednesday.

    “The Japanese government continues to request the Myanmar authorities an early release of Mr. Kubota,” Isozaki said, adding that the Japanese government has been providing as much support as possible for him and his family.

    ——-

    Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link