Journalism in Times of War
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Chapter 1 A Struggle Within a Struggle: Media Coverage and Censorship in Yemen Interview with Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel
Yemen has a long history of internal and external struggles and conflict. It is a country marred by civil wars and insurgencies. Dozens of journalists have been jailed since 2001, in direct reprisal for their work.1 Since 2015, airstrikes and street-by-street fighting have further intensified, endangering both journalists and civilians. Media workers in rebel-held areas risk abduction and censorship. For decades, the rule of law has been absent. The authorities at any given time and place dictate every detail in people’s daily reality. In the following interview, we explore some of the struggles faced by Bashraheel Bashraheel, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of al-Ayyam, Yemen’s largest national daily newspaper. His experience is discussed in the context of his experience working in the tenuous political climate Yemen faces.2 Given the difficulties of the ongoing war in the country, it was not possible for Bashraheel to actually write his own words conveying his experience. Living in fear for his life and that of his family, Bashraheel is constantly on the move to avoid those seeking to silence the voice of independently minded media in the country. Yemeni authorities have repeatedly closed al-Ayyam newspaper alongside others.3 His first reporting job was during the war in the former Yugoslavia. He was an intern at a major western newspaper. “The paper decided to put me there because basically I was expendable”, he told us with a laugh. However, Bashraheel descends from a family with a long and proud tradition of running newspapers in Yemen.
1
Committee to Protect Journalists. “Yemen.” CPJ.org. https://cpj.org/killed/mideast/yemen/ (accessed June 23, 2017).
2
Al-Ayyam official website: al-Ayyam.info (accessed June 23, 2017).
3
In 2009, security officials confiscated every copy of the newspaper from newsstands in the capital Sanaa and other cities according to human
rights organisations: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/yemen-fears-safety-imprisoned-newspaper-editor-and-his-two-sons