"Don’t wait to be deprived of news to stand up and fight for it"
Investigate, expose and support
Reporters Without Borders:
defends
journalists and media assistants imprisoned or persecuted for doing
their job and exposes the mistreatment and torture of them in many
countries.
fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom.
gives financial aid
each year to 100 or so journalists or media outlets in difficulty (to
pay for lawyers, medical care and equipment) as well to the families of
imprisoned journalists.
works to improve the safety of journalists, especially those reporting in war zones.
Before taking action, Reporters Without
Borders researchers, who each handle a region (Africa, the Americas,
Asia/Pacific, Europe and the former Soviet bloc, Middle East/ North
Africa) or a topic such as the Internet, compile reports of press
freedom violations. After checking the information, the researchers and
the organisations’ correspondents send protest letters to the
authorities to put pressure on governments which do not respect the
right to inform and to be informed, and send releases to the media to
drum up support for the journalists under attack.
Sometimes gathering information is not
enough. A Reporters Without Borders fact-finding mission is then sent
to investigate on the spot the working conditions of journalists, as
well as cases of imprisoned or murdered journalists, and also to meet
with the authorities in the country concerned.
Publicity campaigns conducted with the
help of public relations firms aim to inform people and try to give
countries which do not respect this basic right a bad name in the eyes
of international institutions, the media and governments that have ties
with them.
Reporters Without Borders is funded by
the sale of its twice-annual albums of photographs as well as
calendars, by auctions, small and large donations, member dues, public
grants and partnerships with private firms.
An international organisation
Reporters Without Borders is present in all five continents through
its national branches (in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland), its offices in Bangkok, London,
New York, Tokyo and Washington, and the more than 120 correspondents it
has in other countries. The organisation also works closely with local
and regional press freedom groups that are members of the Reporters
Without Borders Network, in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burma,
Colombia, Democratic Congo, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Peru,
Romania, Russia, Somalia, the United States and Tunisia.
Reporters Without Borders is registered in France as a non-profit organisation and has consultant status at the United Nations.
In 2005, the organisation won the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
A constantly-updated website
All the organisation’s press releases and publications are available
online in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Persian)
at its website www.rsf.org which keeps a daily-updated list of
journalists killed or imprisoned around the world. It also contains
detailed reports on special cases and invites the public to sign online
petitions for the release of jailed journalists.
