2006年VOA标准英语-New Report Finds Journalists Facing Greater Ris

By Peter Fedynsky
Washington
11 December 2006

It is said that information is power. To stay in power, corrupt¹ individuals and groups around the world censor², jail, and even kill journalists who reveal information about criminality and abuse of office. As VOA's Peter Fedynsky reports, journalists today face a wide range of risks - from legalized harassment³ to outright⁴ murder.

 
Protesters in Philippines (March 2006 file photo)
Journalist Madi Ceesay has challenged the rulers of his native Gambia to understand that power is not about the privilege of riding in a limousine⁵, but the responsibility of serving ordinary people.

Ceesay was in the United States recently to receive a Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, a non-governmental watchdog group. He says Gambian authorities view independent reporters as agents of political rivals, rather than advocates for the oppressed. Ceesay says his imprisonment⁶ in 2000 and 2006 sent a warning to other journalists.

"The message is fear … fear and fear and fear," Ceesay said. "Because, actually, when I am arrested and I am badly treated to the point of torture, and my colleagues get to know about it, they think twice about what they do."

Iraqi journalist Atwar Bahjat was also honored with the Press Freedom Award -posthumously. She was one of about 80 journalists killed in Iraq since 2003. And Hayatullah Khan of Pakistan was one of nearly 600 journalists murdered worldwide since 1992. Khan died in June after his report about the death of a senior al-Qaida figure contradicted the government's account.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says 85 percent of journalist killings⁷ are not prosecuted⁸, and the perpetrators - autocrats⁹, warlords and drug dealers¹⁰ - remain at large.

CPJ's executive director, Joel Simon, says journalists today face a new challenge from what he calls "democritators," authoritarian¹¹ rulers, who adopt a democratic façade to subvert¹² democracy.

"It means that we have to expend¹³ considerable energy documenting these more sophisticated and subtle kinds of abuses, publicizing them and explaining to the world and to our constituents¹⁴ what is actually going on," Simon said. "These abuses are more hidden."

Simon applies the term "democritator" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government has passed new laws that restrict the activities of the media, non-governmental organizations and human rights groups.

 
Vladimir Putin (file photo)
Mr. Putin has also been criticized for what many see as a belated and lukewarm reaction to the shooting death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of the Russian leader and the war in Chechnya. At her funeral, the British ambassador to Moscow, Anthony Brenton, said the Kremlin is aware that Politkovskaya's murder was not an isolated¹⁵ incident.

"They know the death of journalists of this kind is a sickness of Russia, which they need to deal with to turn Russia (in)to the sort of democracy and the society, which they and we want to see (it) to become," he said.

The last journalist murdered in the United States was Manuel de Dios Unanue, a reporter for Spanish-language daily, El Diario, in New York City. He died in 1992 while revealing Colombian drug cartel activity in New York. The last English-language journalist in the United States to be silenced was Donald Bolles. He died in a 1972 bomb blast during a mafia investigation¹⁶ in Arizona. Nearly 40 journalists flooded the state to continue his investigation, resulting in the murderer's conviction.

 
Protesters in Manila demonstrate against press killings, intimidation¹⁷ (July 2006 file photo)
Christopher Simpson, a journalism¹⁸ professor at American University in Washington, attributes the relative safety of American journalists to the absence of systemic corruption¹⁹ in the United States. But Simpson says it is dangerous to expose individual politicians in countries where most or all officials are corrupt.

"The others know this, and so the system, as such, will turn against that reporter," he noted²⁰. "That's dangerous, and that is how and why literally²¹ hundreds of reporters in the last few years have lost their lives."

The names of those journalists are inscribed²² on a memorial in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac river from Washington, Gambia's Madi Ceesay is aware that his name could someday be added. Nonetheless, he says he risks his life, because, as he puts it, "someone has to speak on behalf of the speechless."

1 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

2 censor   

n./vt.审查，审查员；删改

参考例句：

• The film has not been viewed by the censor.这部影片还未经审查人员审查。
• The play was banned by the censor.该剧本被查禁了。

3 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

4 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

5 limousine   

n.豪华轿车

参考例句：

• A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
• We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。

6 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

7 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

8 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

9 autocrats   

n.独裁统治者( autocrat的名词复数 )；独断专行的人

参考例句：

• Still, the widespread pessimism doesn't explain the relatively high scores enjoyed by the autocrats. 不过，普遍的悲观情绪并没有解释为何独裁者得到相对较高的分数。 来自互联网

10 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

11 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

12 subvert   

v.推翻；暗中破坏；搅乱

参考例句：

• The rebel army is attempting to subvert the government.反叛军队企图颠覆政府统治。
• They tried to subvert our state and our Party. This is the crux of the matter.他们是要颠覆我们的国家，颠覆我们的党，这是问题的实质。

13 expend   

vt.花费，消费，消耗

参考例句：

• Don't expend all your time on such a useless job.不要把时间消耗在这种无用的工作上。
• They expend all their strength in trying to climb out.他们费尽全力想爬出来。

14 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

16 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

17 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

18 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

19 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

20 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

21 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

22 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》