It had all of the hallmarks of a major news story except the date light. Nigeria, hundreds of school girls abducted by glands glands, t boka haram, it has been blamed for 1500 deaths this year alone. Its name translates to western education is forbidden. Its members arent crazy about the foreign media either since b boka haram sees the media as carriers of the values it opposes. Coverage has been limited plus access is restricted and visuals are hard to come by. There is the governments attempts to control the story because of the serious questions over the president s efforts to restrict boka haram. Its not getting the coverage it warrants. Our starting point this week is chibook in northeast earn nigeria. I wouldnt say its a failing of the media because the story has benefiterred through drips by drips. 139 girls were abducted. And complicated because of the terrain in which we are dealing with. Its very difficult to get to the area without backpacking. They have let journalists in the past but kept them on a tight rein. Good luck jonathans administration found itself on the back, trying to control a story for which they had very little control to start with. The true story of the boka haram crisis and especially of the victims has not yet been told. Consider for a moment what we dont know about this story. We still dont know exactly how many school girls have been abducted by boka haram. We dont know how many of them, if any, are still alive or what condition they are in. The information vacuum has sent the nigerian rumor mil into overdrive with some reports suggesting the students may have been taken across the border. More than two weeks into this story, we dont really know where the hostage are in a part of Northern Nigeria beyond the north governments droll and most of the medias reach. Journalists are working with this very difficult and dangerous environment. Firstly, moving into the north which predominantly is not very safe anyway. And to be able to carry out a story which when it does break out is already a war zone and for that reason, a lot of information has got to be filtered or sense ordered, pick the right boxes and give you assurance you can give out a particular story. To that extent, the media and nigerian journalists find it frustrating to be able to carry out these stories effectively. You cannot blame the nigerian journalists, reporters because they are not equipped to face that kind of challenge. I know the advance group, bbc, al jazeera, do give Para Military train to go their staff in case of covering crisis zone but the nigerian journalists on the ground, how do they get that kind of training . Most have never touched flack jacket, helmet, and whathaveyou. The my year january journalists continue to work cautiously. Thats why the coverage of this crisis is not extensive. What i am talking about is not specific to nigeria but when you consider the terrain in which the journalists are trying to gather information, when there is a lot of speculation, rumors, where there is no clarity in terms of what actually happened to the girls, the numbers that were involved. It didnt help, also, that the government, itself, officially wasnt being clear about the fate of these girls. Complicated the story. We tried various government offices in abuja for comment. No one was made available. However, if there is any co herns in the governments communication strategy on this story, it is difficult to detect. Its approach has seemed to rec oshea between misinformation and outright denial. The government have really treated this as if it hasnt happened. President jonathan has continued with his daytoday schedule. He hasnt really made any public announcements so that their tactic is not really to oppress or to man handle the stories after the media. Its to lockdown and not say anything and hope that eventually it will blow away and everybody will forget about it. The fact the government, itself, when the story emerged hadnt provided information as to the fate of the girls and saying they had been rescued when they hadnt, the fact that the government, itself, has repeatedly said that we have this situation under control and when the families, themselves, challenged the government on this, has exposed the governments own communication strategy and shows you that the government is playing catchup for crisis. The government doesnt speak most times when the nigerian expects the leadership of the country to speak. You can imagine if this thing had happened in the United States kingdom or United States of america or france. You will see that country coming out to speak, going to the place with the families. They have not gone there. And, of course, we are talking about Public Relations disaster. It began attacking journalists and media outlets, accused of parroting the governments line one who worked for state ownedt and a private channel were shot dead while covering the insurgency in the north. Then, in a coordinated attack of boka haram bombed multiple newspaper offices killing another nine people and threatened to go after International News outlets as well. In think you days, the group did talking through videos posted on youtube like another group on the other side of africa, somalias al shabaab, boka haram used social media to tell its own story but as its war with the media escalated, they rolled back the clock for reasons of security. Why it was doing. Tried to express its own tear of any. However, the government has come down extriesly hard on the terrorist group as they see it. There is only one single narrative from the government currently. Any other narrative to do boka haram is difficult to capture because boka haram and its inner circle are very, very difficult to find right now. Their ability to communicate with the media is hammered by their now do you knowed a communicationsing, they stopped uploading things to youtube which they did at one point and now, they hand over Video Communications to certain intermediataries who pass it on to journalists. So they their strategy has changed over time and its become more sophisticated. One of the things before may have boka haram may have learned is sometimes silence speak louder than words. The government hasnt said much but done most of the talking. Boka haram hasnt said a thing, and its controlling the narrative. Our Global Village voices with their take on the coverage of the story in nigeria. Some information is misrepresented. Its wrong and a lot of times, there is no information. Everything in Nigeria Today is in the pretext. Soo negative information. You see issues like these. The reality increasing the outrage with protests of the country. We think the media will be forced to report this issue. Clush clooer how old are you . 9 child labor in america in any other industry, kids need to be 16 years old to be able to work. You dont see any of that in agriculture low cost food how many of you get up at 4 or 5 oclock in the morning to go out to the fields . Whos paying the price . Fault lines. Al jazeera americas hard hitting. Ground breaking. Truth seeking. They dont wanna show whats really going on. Award winning, investigative, documentary series. Children at work only on Al Jazeera America time now for news bites with four al jazeera journalists still languishing in egyptian prisons as a court slowly hear the alleged case against them. The qatar based network wants to go to another court, suing for 150 million. Al jazeera is basing its legal claim on a 14yearold treaty between egypt and qatar that stipulates the mutual promotion and protection of investments. Since last years coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood, al jazeera has had its channel kicked out of the country and says its other networks have been subjected to harassment, intimidation and the jamming of transmissions. According to al jazeera, the interim government has also breached its treaty operation of the right for the news to be freely what in the current climate and under todays egyptian legal system are the chances of al jazeera winning its lawsuit given at that judge has sentenced 683 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death over the killing of one policeman last year, you would have to say not great. Ethiopia has a dismal record on Media Freedom. The latest series of arrests there is disturbing even by its standards. Last weekend, three journalists and six bloggers were detained for, according to the prosecution, working with foreign human rights organizations and using social media to create instability in the country. One ngo, the new york based committee to protect journalits calls it a crackdown on freedom of expression. Those arrested are members of an online forum, zone 9, after a section of a jail where Political Prisoners were held. It was formed by writers who felt the manystream media in ethiopia were unable to report on political oppression and social injustice. The government has used a vaguely worded antiterror law against media workers says they are not journalists. They were engaged in criminal acts and ethiopia doesnt take its orders from human rights groups. The case goes to trial later this month. Turkey expelled another journalist and sentenced another to jail time after both reported critically on the government in ankora. A reporter for the independent azerbijani newspapers based in turkey cincinnati 2010. He went there after being threatened over his work. From turkey, he reported on human rights issues in both countries. According to his lawyer,tie cancelled his press credentials on april 9th, just three days after Prime Minister returned to a trip to azebijan. A report remainnded him on espionage charges. According to human rights watch, his case and the role of government in ankora and baku holds the hallmarks of violating international law. The leading jailer of journalists has convicted a writer and columnist for tehrat. He has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for, according to the court, insulting president erdiwan on twitter. We are going to look at the media in the philippines now where it can be a murderous place to be a journalist. The exuberant free press that fell after the fall of the marcos regime is shadowed by political killings and attacks waged through the courts. Violence reached a dreadful peak in 2009 when 34 journalists and 24 other victims were kidnapped and shot to death as part of a political blood feud. The killers escape pretty goods. The man ill a based center for Media Freedom and responsibility says there have been more than 150 media workers killed since the markos regime fell and only 13 convictions. The listening posts minaksh minakshi rabi on the dangers of being a reporter in the philippines and what that means for journalism there reporter if one were to guess where the worst case of a mass murder of journalists took place, kuntz trees like iraq, somalia and syria might come to mind. It its philippines. In late 200958 people traveling as part of a politicians convoy were killed. 34 of them were journalists. At the time, president Gloria Arroya made a promise. The perpetrators will not escape justice. The law will haunt them until they are caught. Nearly five years on, there have been no convictions. In the last year along, at least 11 journalists were murdered. Among them, a newspaper editor, radio journalists, two tabloid journalists in manilla and a photographer in the province of south quatabato. The most recent was on the 6th of april, tabloid reporter and talk show host, rubilita garcia covered corruption in the local police force. , in the philippines, is the kind of reporting that can get you killed. Stories about criminal acts. I will leg acts, can put you in danger, being a journalist. Sometimes, journalists have been killed just for criticizing a person. In january, a law came into force allowing journalists to carry guns if they are in imminent danger due to their profession. Law enforcement bodies have offered advice to journalists on personal security and even trained them to use weapons. The self protection law came too late for fernando solihon in denau. During one of his radio shows, he read out Death Threats he hadded received and confront callers who expressed anger at his coverage. He was killed in a driveby shooting that night. The case remains unsolved. Nino iii says his government is working overtime to protect journalists but the justice systems track record is so poor some filipino journalists are not waiting for authorities to solve their problems. The university of philippines or up is doing more than the president , at least up three years ago has introduced an elective course for wouldbe or aspiring journalists that trains them how to do hostile coverage how to protect yourself in the explosive story. The president , yes, at the end of the day, cases about killings of media men are still largely depend event on the lawyers. And the judges. The disappointment has come from a position that the add miles per hourstration has taken that is a case after violation against press freedom or against the life of a journalist has been taken to court. It is now must leave it to the judicial process to bring that to its conclusion. Unfortunately, our court system is not built for quick justice. Its not that journalists never see their day in court. Its often they are the ones in the dark. Linel label laws are vague and breaking them may be 6 years imprisonment. A commentsator for the Program Radio alerto was con sprithd of convicted for reporting a politicians extramarital affair. He spent two years in jail. In 2012, the United NationsHuman Rights Committee ruled his conviction violated the universal declaration of the human rights. Filipino journalists are feeling the legal chill. I have been sued by a big businessman, former first gentleman, mike arroyo, politician in the province, Supreme Court justice. So, libel is a tool to make you stop writing about them or to intimidate journalists. Not so that you stop or you get scared and you stop writing about these figures. It used to be in the past that journalists thought that if they had a libel charge, like wearing a purple heart. I got somebody to file a libel charge against me because in the past, most of the court, most of those cases always ended favoring journalists. This has changed. In 2013 alone, we had 11 journalists. Thats a big number that is supposed to have doctorine of press freedom. It wasnt meant to be this way. In 1986, after 20 years of the thorthane Fernando Marcos government, a coalition overthrew the president. The authoritarian led came off. Parts of the country boiled over in the decades since the days of dictatorship, the philippines have enjoyed greater freedom but like other post thortarianal states, the country suffers from less stability. There is a need nor introspection. Media marcos had a growth spurt but quantity hasnt guaranteed quality. The development of the press postmarcos became a problematic issue. You had a press getting used to its freedom and taking to it with degree of exuberance that swung the pendulum over to the extreme where everyone felt that nobody can tell me what is right or wrong. The man i will a Broadcasting Company recently held a conference and we did a journalism 101 seminar. Always bear in mind you treat a person with dignity. You accompany your accusation or your commentaries with substance. So, if that story puts you in a bad light or you know how or the network will know how to defend you. Right . The crimes against journalism, the occasional miss demeanors that philippinep pino Journalists Committee dont compare to the crimes committed against them. The courts, the liable cases and media murders that go unpunished, they are the big stories when it comes to journalism in the philippines. More Global Village voices on the state of journalism in the state of the philippines. Filipino journalists are at their most vulnerable when they are covering corruption, hotly contested elections, the trade in Illegal Drugs and abuses in the expectation of natural resources. Many of the killings of journalists happen in the provinces where the rule of law is traditionally week, where there is a thin line dividing crime and governments. I think the add may i hopestration should do more in addressing the problem of journalists being killed in this country. When he became president. He vowed to address this problem. Until now, there has been no conviction of, say, a mastermind behind a killing of a journalist unt. Until this happens, it will be Just Lip Service on his part. News hour. An informed look on the nights events, a smarter start to your day. Mornings on Al Jazeera America were here in the vortex. Only on Al Jazeera America r. Finally, last week we brought you cartoons. This week, graffiti, chapmaning chalk drawings. A gun fight between. 2 feels using chaublingdrawn weapons. They sketch the weapon on a wall, pull it off the wall and use it to pound on their enemies. The ideas idea comes out of an American Special effects studio in South Carolina which is run by a couple of 17yearolds, sam wickert and eric lee called chalk warfare 3. 0. Already had more than 2 million hits. We have made it our web video of the week. We will see you next time at the list listening post. Audiences are intelligent and they know that their needs are not being met by american tv news today. Entire media culture is driven by something thats very very fast. There has been a lack of fact based, in depth, serious journalism, and we fill that void. There is a huge opportunity for Al Jazeera America to change the way people look at news. We just dont parachute in on a story. Quickly talk to a couple of experts and leave. One producer may spend 3 or 4 months, digging into a single story. At al jazeera, there are resources to alow us as journalists to go in depth and produce the kind of films. The people that you dont see anywhere else on television. We intend to reach out to the people who arent being heard. We wanna see the people who are actually effected by the news of the day. Its Digging Deeper its asking that second, that third question, finding that person no one spoken to yet. You cant tell the stories of the people if you dont get their voices out there, and Al Jazeera America is doing just that. An angry crowd attacks the Police Station in odessa. The ukrainian city where 42 people died on friday. Hello. This is al jazeera live from doha. Also ahead, a string of explosions rock the kenyan cities of mombasa and nairobi. No hope for thousands buried under a landslide in afghanistan. Those who survived are in desperate need of help. And sky scrapers and highways, panama gets