On October, 31, Globe International NGO introduced its report on press freedom in Mongolia, with the purpose of illustrating the current situationo Mongolian press freedom.
Globe International has registered 35 violations during Free Expression Violation Monitoring conducted between October 2005 and October 2006.

Even though censorship is banned and the interruption of the professional activities of journalists is a crime in accordance with law, it does not work in Mongolia. The various violations of the journalists’ rights are evidence that Mongolian journalists work in difficult conditions and complicated situations.

Some journalists do not want Globe International raise attention to their cases. They are highly self-censored and they are afraid from further possible attacks and assaults. Globe International is investigating a case in which a journalist was raped by those who were affected by her critical article.

• Attacks against Journalists
Attempts to pressure, influence and intervene in journalistic activities are evidence that censorship is a reality in Mongolia.
Attacks against journalists occur in many ways, such as threats, insults, detainment, arrests and assaults. Statements and public denial in newspaper publications and on broadcast programmes are common ways that the Mongolian authorities create confusion in society.
Even the private sector and ordinary citizens are trying to interrupt news gathering and the reporting of public events.
We are concerned that foreign businessmen are pressuring journalists through high officials. For example, while a female TV producer was producing a documentary on child sexual exploitation and was shooting in the Korean-invested Seoul restaurant, she was threatened by Korean businessmen. Later the TV managers forced her to clean up her edited tapes. A female television reporter produced a news story on an automobile incident committed by rich Koreans who were returning from the Golf Course. She was threatened and forced to remove her story.
• Denial of Information
Journalists are acting on behalf of the public in order to disseminate information to them. Unfortunately, denial of information by the public officials in Mongolia is very common.
• Protection of Sources
In Mongolia, it is normal to demand the journalists to reveal their information sources.
The first question asked by complainants affected by critical materials, advocates, and judges is ‘Who gave you this information?’ In most cases the journalists are threatened with arrest, imprisonment, bringing a case before the court, and calling the police. There are cases in which journalists are pressured to reveal their information sources. Usually the journalists are afraid from reporting or alerting their cases.
• Safety of Journalists
Journalists receive threats to their personal safety. We are deeply concerned that intolerance towards journalists appears to have increased. The majority of journalists do not want to report or alert their cases because of possible future assaults. Unfortunately, none of the incidents have been investigated by the police.
At Globe International, for example, a male journalist from Erdenet provincial newspaper was beaten by unknown people and his photo camera broken. His kidney and liver were seriously damaged, but he has refused to raise attention to this incident. He reported his case to the police next morning.
On the night of December 19th, 2005, an unknown individual vandalised the vehicle of television journalist G. Batjav near his home in Ulaanbaatar. All of the windows were broken, both mirrors were torn apart and the interior of the car was destroyed. However, no valuables or car parts were taken. Previously, on November 9th, three individuals assaulted Batjav while he was having lunch in a small restaurant in the Sukhbaatar district of Ulaanbaatar.
On July 6th, 2006, B.Tsevegmid, the editor of Nomin television station in the northern Mongolian province of Orkhon, was beaten at the entrance of her building and had to be hospitalized for treatment. Before being attacked she had received many threats by telephone concerning an investigative television program, "Forbidden to Watch," which covered the Erdenet mining industry employees' privatization vouchers.
On June 11th, "Forbidden to watch" aired the fate of privatization vouchers for 9,000 employees of the Erdenet mining industry. After the television program, unknown people threatened her over the phone. The director of the Erdenet brokerage company, which held the vouchers, also warned the journalist, "It is a very complicated issue, you could be killed".
Use of Defamation Laws
Mongolian public officials efficiently use the criminal and civil defamatory legislation to censor the media.
The latest study of the use of the defamation laws by Globe International covered the period between 2001 and 2005. The Courts reviewed 187 defamation cases in total. Of the 178 civil cases and 9 criminal defamation cases, 151 cases were against media and journalists. 146 of those were civil and 5 were criminal cases.
In comparison, a previous study by the Mongolian Foundation for Open Society (1999- 2001) found an average of 31.5 civil and 1.6 criminal cases that were brought forth as defamation cases per year. The results of our study show an average of 29.2 civil and one criminal case that were brought for defamation per year. The number of defamation cases has slightly decreased at 0.9%.
The media won 9.6% of the cases and in 59.6% of the cases they lost. In 31.5 % of the cases the plaintiffs and media reconciled.
According to the study 92 or 63% of the cases occurred because elected bodies, public officials or public institutions sued (4).

Civil cases:

Information containing public interest and public concern 45
Information accusing the politicians, high officials and public
officials in wrong-doings, corruption and bribery 32
Information affecting personal lives 10

Criminal defamation

From 5 criminal cases, MPs were plaintiffs for 4 cases and one case was brought forth by a doctor working in the state-owned hospital. As a result of the courts decisions, two female journalists were arrested and detained from 23 days to 6 months, one case was dismissed and one case which involved 4 journalists resulted in a sentence of a fine. Another case was still ongoing at the end of 2005.

According to a Press Institute study, there are 325 media outlets operating by the end of 2005. Today, there are 9 daily newspapers and 10 television channels.
Source: Globe International NGO