The Dangers of Sports Journalism
05.01.2008
By Kirsten SparreDoing sports journalism may not be as dangerous as being a war correspondent in Iraq. Yet, a list compiled by Play the Game over journalists who have been assaulted, killed or endured legal actions for their reporting on sport clearly show that safety is an issue for sports journalists too.
There are many stakeholders in sport who threaten journalists and freedom of expression in different ways. Below you will find stories about journalists beaten up or killed by fans, athletes, paramilitaries, and police. There are also disturbing evidence of the legal system being employed to silence sports journalists - most notable among them the case of the Burmese sports editor, Zaw Thet Htwe, who was sentenced to death for publishing critical articles about sport in Burma.
The list is not complete and only covers the period from 2000. If you know of any assaults or legal actions against sports journalists that should be included on the list, please e-mail us at michael@playthegame.org. Provide a brief description of the incident and preferably also a link to a written source for the story.
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ASSAULTS & THREATS |
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| Somalia | 17 April 2008 |
Sports journalists Muse Mohamed Osman and Shafici Mohyaddin Abokar, president and first vice president of the Somali Sports Press Association (SSPA) respectively, were detained by Mogadishu police officers last week and threatened with their lives. The two were detained with four other journalists: Ibrahim Abdi Hassan, Abdi Kamil Yusuf, Mohamed Abdullahi and Mohamed Kafi Ali. All six were taken away by heavily armed men on Thursday 17 April at noon and released at 9 pm that evening. They were held at the criminal investigation department in Mogadishu. The six were reportedly arrested for their radio station's coverage of fighting between militants and government forces the day beforehand.
For more information click here
Source: SSPA and IFJ |
| Peru | 24 April 2007 |
The director of Peru's Sports Institute, Hugo Catalán Loayza, punched journalist Hernán Farfán Cruzado, director of Inti Radio, in the face and kicked him as revenge for accusations broadcasted by Farfán Cruzado. The accusations implicated Catalán Loayza in the misappropriation of funds and describe him as inefficient. The journalist explained that the official is threatening the region's sports journalists, telling them that if they accuse him of irregularities, their children will suffer the consequences.
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| Liberia | 31 March 2007 |
Julu Johnson, a sports editor for the Liberian newspaper News, was physically attacked by the deputy secretary general of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), Mr. Napoleon Jaeploe, when he went to cover LFA’s recent extra-ordinary congress. The attack took place in full public view of all the delegates.
For more information, click here
Source: allAfrica.com
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| Brazil | 17 January 2007 |
Radio Gaucha reporter Rafael Serra was assaulted by Gremio football team fans and hit in the face when he was covering the arrival of the team's new goalkeeper at a local airport. The reporter suspects the attack was a reaction to criticisms made by the radio stations about acts of vandalism carried out by fans of the team.
Source: IFEX
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| Argentina | 12 November 2006 | Sports journalist Juan Manuel Allan of "Olé" newspaper and Osvaldo Fanjul from the television station TyC were assaulted by group of football fans at a stadium in Argentina. The fans beat them in a corridor near the changing rooms and the reporters only escaped when doors were opened to the locker rooms. Source: IFEX |
| Honduras | 19 August 2006 | Sports reporter Heribaldo Lainez who works for the newspaper Diario Tiempo and Radio America was struck in the face when he approached football player Jairo Martinez for an interview. The football player was upset by articles written by Lainez and believed his words had been twisted by the reporter. Source: IFEX |
| Swaziland | 16 July 2006 | Sports reporter Ntokozo Magongo from Times of Swaziland was attacked by fans attending a football match as he attempted to take pictures of violence between fans. Source: IFEX |
| Swaziland | 15 July 2006 | Sports reporter Sabelo Ndzinisa from Times of Swaziland was punched several times by football player Dumisa Masika who claimed he had been defamed in a satirical sports column published in the newspaper every weekend. Source: IFEX |
| Croatia | 17 June 2006 |
Journalist Stipe Pudja of the Croatian newspaper, Vercernji List, recieved death threats on SMS after reporting on a World Cup ticketing fraud affair where Croatians living in Germany had been cheated. The messages threatening the journalist and his family came from a mobile phone belonging to a man who allegedly was behind the scam.
Source: Dawn.com
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| Peru | 2 May 2006 | A group of professional football players from Club Sport Ancash and the owner of a discotheque in the Ancash region of Peru assaulted four television journalists who had followed the football players into the discoteque. The journalists lost their camera and were beaten up. Source: IFEX |
| Bangladesh | 16 April 2006 | 25 police officers attacked a group of 20 sports journalists and photographers covering a cricket match between Bangladesh and Australia. The journalists and photographers had stage a sit-down-strike on the pitch in protest against an unmotivated attacked by police on a photograhper earlier that morning. The govenment has set up an independent inquiry into the incident. Source: International News Safety Institute |
| Denmark | 26 March 2006 |
A sponsor of the Danish handball club, Aalborg DH, made death threats against sports editor Mikkel B. Ottesen, Nordjyske Medier, after a handball match. The sponsor accused the sports editor of writing lies about the club's economic affairs. The sponsor has now been charged by the police.
Source: Nordjyske Medier
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| Guatemala | 22 January 2006 | Frustrated local soccer fans are believed to behind the armed attack on the home of sports journalist Manuel Gilberto Garcia. Bullets were fired at his house but luckily no one was injured. Garcia has been receiving threatening phonecalls for the past five years. Source: IFEX |
| Sweden | 20 December 2005 10 January 2006 |
Reporter Fredrik Persson of Swedish Radio Bleking received death threats after publishing a speculative story about the possible purchase of a new player for local football club, Mjällby AIF. He received a new threat a couple of weeks later.
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| Guatemala | 18 December 2005 |
Two reporters and a photojournalist were insulted and attacked by players of the football team Communicacions. The journalists were trying to interview the players who had just lost 2-0 to rivals from the Municipal Club.
Source: AP Spanish news service
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| Swaziland | 16 October 2005 | Douglas Dlamini, sports journalist with Times of Swaziland, was assaulted by a soccer player for publishing a court report in which the player was charged with drinking and driving. Source: IFEX |
| Greece | 30 September 2005 |
Periklis Stellas, sports journalist and director of the Thessaloniki branch of the sports daily newspaper, Goal News, was attacked by an unknown man who hit him several times in the head and face. Stellas was left with a concussion, a fractured jawbone and other minor injuries.
Source: International Press Institute
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| Malta | 8 September 2005 |
A tv-crew from Croatian Television was attacked by group of Maltese policemen after a football match.
Source: HRT1 TV, Zabreb, in Croatian, 8 September 1730 gmt
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| Botswana | 31 August 2005 |
Mmegi sports journalist, Tshepo Molwane, was attacked by a football player who was unhappy with a story the journalist had written about him.
Source: AllAfrica
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| Brazil | 3 June 2005 |
After an indoor soccer game, Josè Carlos Forner and camera man Robson Xavier from CaTV tried to interview the losing team. The team had complained about officiating, and the police began beating up the team as well as the TV-crew that was following the team to the locker room. The camera man was shot in the knee with a rubber bullet.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
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| Greece | 7 May 2005 |
Sports journalist Kostas Nikolakopoulos was brutally beaten by four hooded men with ironbars and knuckeldusters. The four men are believed to be football hooligans, and Nikolakopoulos had been receving threats for three months.
Source: Reporters sans frontières
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| Peru | 6 December 2004 | Carlos Alberta Navarro, a sports commentator for Panamericana Television station, was assaulted by Flavio Maestri, a professional football player for the Alianza Lima football club. Maestri was unhappy because Navarro refused to publicly apologise for negative comments he had made about Maestri's professional performance. Source: IFEX |
| Greece | 18 October 2004 |
Sports editor, Phillipos Syrigos, was attacked by two unknown men wearing helmets. He was beaten and stabbed. Syrigos had received threats prior to the attack and calls protesting his relevations.
Source: Reporters sans frontières
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| China | 7 August 2004 |
Police officers attacked two photographers, Han Guan Ng and Frederick Brown, who were taking pictures of a crowd outside a football stadium in Beijing after the Asian Cup soccer final
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
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| Kazakhstan | 11 March 2004 |
Sports journalist Maxim Khartashov was attacked and beaten by two unidentified assailants in the capital, Almaty. The journalist believes the attack was linked to his exposure of drug scandals, match-fixing and embezzlement in the sports sector.
Source: Reporters sans frontières
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| Uruguay | late 2003 |
Ricardo Gabito Acevedo, a sports reporter with a newspaper and tv station, was shot in the leg because of his extensive reporting on corruption in Uruguayan soccer.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
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| Mozambique | 8 October 2003 | Luis Dionisio, a sports journalist with Radio Mozambique, was attacked by chairperson Anteje Buanar of the Desportiva Football Club. Buanar also tried to confiscate the journalists' equipment. Source: IFEX |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 22 June 2003 |
At a national soccer match between Congo and Libya, a sports photojournalist was punched in the face by the Libyan national goalkeeper, as the goalkeeper was leaving the field after receiving a red card.
Source: International Freedom of Expression eXchange
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| Argentina | 3 October 2002 | Journalist Catherina Gibilaro of the daily Uno was assaulted by a Mendoz Provincial Police officer, while she was reporting on events at a sports club in the city of Mendoza. The police officer's superiors later refused to reveal her attackers identity. Source:IFEX |
| Botswana | 7 July 2002 | Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe, sports reporter at Botswana Gazette, was assulted at the newspaper's offices by prominent Botswana national football team player seabo Gabanakgosi. The football player was unhappy about how the reporter had described him in articles in the newspaper. Source:IFEX |
| Zimbabwe | 2 May 2002 | Ignatius Pamire, the interim secretary of Zimbabwe's leading football team, Dynamos, threatened to kill sports writers writing negative stories about his administration. A number of individual journalists were singled out specifically. Source:IFEX |
| Uruguay | 6 January 2001 | Fernando Arias, an Argentine photojournalist with the weekly Gente, was assaulted by football player Martin Palermo, after Arias photographed Palermo dancing wiht his girlfriend at a health resort. Source:IFEX |
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DEATHS |
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| Iraq | 31 May 2006 |
TV sports presenter Jaafar Ali from the tv-station Al-Iraqyia was shot by gunmen a he left his home in neighbourhood in south Baghdad.
Source: IFEX
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| Colombia | 18 October 2003 |
William Soto Cheng was gunned down near a local television station. Cheng exposed corruption including corruption in the world of sport.
Source: Reporters sans frontières
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| Swaziland | 23-24 October 2002 |
A sports reporter, Zweli Mabila, was stabbed to death a few yards from his home by unknown assailants.
Source: Reporter sans frontières
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| Colombia | 3 May 2001 |
Yessid Marulanda, a sports reporter for Notipacifico TV News, was shot six times in the head in the city of Cali, Colombia, by unidentified gunmen. The murder was blamed on right-wing paramilitaries.
Source: International Federation of Journalists
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| Colombia | 30 April 2001 |
Sports reporter Carlos Alberto Trespalacios Yali was killed in Medellín
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
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LEGAL ACTION |
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| Liberia | 9 April 2007 |
The Liberian Football Association (LFA) suspended its secretary general, Napoleon Japloe for one month for assaulting Julu Johnson, sports editor of the independent Monrovia-based the "News" newspaper.
Source: IFEX
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| Brazil | 28 April 2005 |
Brazilian sports commentator, Jorge Kajuru, was sentenced to 18 months in jail on criminal defamation charges because of comments he made on a radio station in 2001, where he alleged that a tv-station had won the rights to broadcast Goias state soccer championship because of its close relationship to the government. The owner and the president of the tv-station filed the charges against Kajuru.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists
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| Burma | 17 July 2003 |
Zaw Thet Htwe, editor of sports magazine First Eleven, was arrested and later convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. The death sentence was commuted to first three, then two years in jail and he was released in January 2005. The whole affair is believed to be linked to critical reports on Burmese sport in First Eleven.
Source: Reporters sans frontières
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| Democratic Republic of Congo | 7 May 2002 |
A sports journalist with Congo’s national radio and television was arrested and accused of broadcasting propaganda for a candidate for the presidency in the republic when he reported from a football match between teams from Congo and South Africa. In the background it was possible to see football supporters with t-shirts carrying a picture of the candidate who is also a former director of the football club.
Source: Reporters sans frontières |