Imprisoned journalists in
Cuba . . . and the United States
By Eduardo Bertoni, ebertoni@oas.org.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005 in The
Miami Herald.
A good yardstick for evaluating a country's
freedom of speech is the presence of journalists
in jail as a result of their work. When
press freedom around the globe is analyzed
from this vantage point, it is possible
-- at first glance -- to conclude that this
freedom has fared much better in the Americas
than in other hemispheres.
Reports issued by many nongovernmental
organizations show that a number of high-profile
journalists languish in detention in some
countries of Africa and Asia. Yet in the
Americas there have been only isolated cases
of journalists going to jail since the end
of the region's dictatorships. In this hemisphere,
however, there are many laws that could
be used to threaten journalists, and some
of these laws are in fact used for such
an end. Public officials often use the phrase,
''If you say this or that, you can be put
in jail.'' Still, there are only two countries
in our hemisphere where journalists are
now in prison. One is Cuba. The other is
the United States of America.
It is difficult to understand how these
two very different countries came to share
this sad situation. Freedom of the press
is a fundamental component of any democratic
regime and Cuba is not a democracy. Cuba
does not have independent judges, so the
decisions of the judiciary follow the wishes
of the totalitarian regime. Since its creation,
the Office of the Special Rapporteur for
Freedom of Expression at the Organization
of American States has highlighted that
Cuba is the only country of the hemisphere
in which one can state categorically that
there is no freedom of expression.
Evidently the United States is on the other
side of the political spectrum. The country
has a long tradition of democratic elections,
an independent judiciary and a uniquely
strong constitutional commitment to freedom
of speech. It is perhaps for these reasons
that the rest of the Americas has viewed
the incarceration of The New York Times
journalist Judith Miller, now in prison
for more than two months because of her
refusal to reveal confidential sources,
with particular concern and alarm.
While it is easy to explain why an independent
journalist could end his or her days in
jail under a totalitarian regime, it is
hard to see how the same could happen to
a journalist in a democratic regime -- where
freedom of expression is a cornerstone value
-- simply because of his or her work.
At the same time, the significant differences
between Cuba and the United States have
led to very different government responses.
Since 2003, Cuba has been increasing its
efforts to block any possibility of an independent
press within its borders: Not one, but many
journalists are in jail in Cuba, and the
government is tightening its position against
the independent media. In the United States,
meanwhile, legislators from both parties
-- including Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,
Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Mike
Pence, R-Ind. -- are pushing for a law to
protect journalists' sources. This law could
be used to reverse Miller's imprisonment
and decrease the ''chilling effect'' on
investigative and independent journalism
created by this case.
In a democratic system, people can -- and
should -- raise their voices to call on
democratic institutions to correct deviations
that might undermine democracy. But the
presence of even one journalist in jail
because of what he or she does is always
bad news, whether it occurs in a society
with a firmly rooted democracy or in one
that is still striving to be free.
Don't abandon hope
In the United States, we should follow
cases such as Miller's from the hopeful
perspective that the country will not abandon
its long tradition of protecting a broad
range of freedom of expression and the press.
In Cuba, we should not abandon the hope
that, sooner or later, the country will
join the group of democratic countries in
the Americas, and freedom of expression
and the press will flourish for the benefit
of Cuban society.
Eduardo Bertoni is special rapporteur for
freedom of expression at the Organization
of American States' Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights.
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