Reporters Borders Media Quotations

We fear this 'obstruction of justice' procedure is a judicial device for the government to yet again settle some scores with the privately-owned media and at the same time subject them to state censorship.

History is repeating itself because the calls for military protection for the state media were not heeded. C?te d'Ivoire's state media have again fallen into the hands of the proponents of violence, and no time should be lost in taking energetic measures. The installations of RTI and RCI should be made secure or, failing that, they should be taken off the air.

Journalism is based on a code of conduct and professional ethics that clearly exclude telephone espionage but the concept of express permission of the parties could be used unfairly against the media if, for example, a source later retracts.

The security services should not be obstructing the work of the independent and opposition media in this fashion, as it is contrary to the pledges which the government gave in its recent road map to democracy.

As a matter of principle, the media should never be subject to constraint by the police or the courts, even when limited to a criminal investigation.

If nothing is done to ensure the press is free to do its work, these elections will take place in a climate of intimidation. If the government wants the world to say the elections were free, fair and transparent, it should heed our call for a change in attitude. The Media Centre recently set up to monitor and punish the foreign press is utterly illegitimate and should be disbanded.