Monday, April 02, 2007

MEDIA STARS BACK AD. FOR BBC MAN !


Nothing has been heard from Mr Johnston for three weeks. Leading media personalities in the UK have joined an appeal to boost efforts to free BBC reporter Alan Johnston, believed to have been abducted in Gaza.
David Dimbleby, Sir David Frost, Jon Snow and Christiane Amanpour of CNN are among 300 people backing a full-page advert in Monday's Guardian newspaper.
The move comes three weeks to the day that Mr Johnston, 44, disappeared.
Palestinian journalists plan a rally and a boycott in coverage of government activities to press for his release.
The BBC has had no contact since 12 March with Mr Johnston, who has lived and worked in Gaza for the past three years.
He is widely believed to have been kidnapped, but no demands have been made public.
The Guardian advert, signed by dozens of Mr Johnston's friends and colleagues, calls on everyone with influence to increase their efforts "to ensure that Alan is freed quickly and unharmed".
Other signatories include:
BBC Director-General, Mark Thompson
Director of channels at Channel 4, Kevin Lygo
Editors of several London newspapers
Wadah Khanfar, editor-in-chief of Arabic TV network al-Jazeera
Palestinian journalists are due to start a three-day boycott to press Palestinian authorities to do more to secure Johnston's release.
The head of the Palestinian Journalists' Union, Naim Tubasi, told the BBC that the boycott was necessary as the Palestinian authorities were doing little to help secure the journalist's release.
During the boycott, the union leader said no Palestinian media outlet would cover stories on the activities of the presidency or the new unity government.

Palestinian journalists plan to step up action for Alan Johnston.
Simultaneous demonstrations would also be staged on Monday in Ramallah and Gaza City.
He said the protests would continue until Mr Johnston was freed.
Intensive international efforts have been going on to secure his safe return.
These include appeals from the Arab League and the European Union and non-government groups such as Amnesty International and Reporters Without Frontiers.
Senior BBC colleagues of Mr Johnston have appealed to Palestinian leaders including President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
Both have said everything possible is being done to free Mr Johnston.
The BBC describes him as a highly experienced and respected reporter.
He joined the BBC World Service in 1991 and has spent eight of the last 16 years as a correspondent, including periods in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

BBC NEWS REPORT.

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