Burmese comedian and blogger Zarganar is serving a 59-year prison sentence after speaking to foreign news media.

Washington — Journalists and cyberdissidents in Burma, Cuba and North Korea are recipients of awards that not only recognize individuals for their courage and dedication to free expression, but also call public attention to the dismal state of press freedom in their countries.

The United States welcomes recognition by Reporters sans frontières (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders, of Burmese bloggers Zarganar and Nay Phone Latt, dissident journalist Ricardo González Alfonso of Cuba, and the staff of North Korea’s Radio Free NK, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters December 5.

RSF is a Paris-based nongovernmental organization that advocates press freedom worldwide. It monitors threats to journalists and free speech and raises public awareness of press freedom.

U.S. officials “applaud the efforts to honor extraordinary individuals and institutions that are working hard to promote … freedom and freedom of expression,” Wood said, adding “we will continue to be at the forefront of promoting freedom of expression around the world.”

BURMA’S CYBERDISSIDENTS

In Burma, citizens have attempted to use the Internet to post photos, videos, blogs and other material as a means of getting around the country’s strict censorship system.

The country’s military rulers have dramatically increased pressure on cyberjournalists, whose efforts provided some of the only publicly available information on the 2007 pro-democracy protests and the regime’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.

Bloggers Zarganar and Nay Phone Latt were RSF’s joint “cyberdissident” winners for 2008. Both have been incarcerated and sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their efforts to offer information that is critical of or differs from the official government view.

Zarganar, also a famous Burmese comedian and film director, was arrested in June after being interviewed by the BBC about the status of victims of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated parts of Burma in May. Zarganar had tried to distribute food to victims.

Reporters Without Borders wants its awards to inform the public about challenges to free expression worldwide.

In November, he was sentenced by a special court to 45 years in prison for “disturbing public order”; authorities later added 14 years to the sentence.

Zarganar had kept a blog since August 2007, when pro-democracy activists and Buddhist monks began their protests for greater political freedom. His entries denounced the military junta’s abuses and defended human rights.

Nay Phone Latt, who owns two Internet cafes in Rangoon, was arrested in January for possessing a video that had been banned by the junta. He had been blogging about the difficulties Burmese youth face in self-expression. The 28-year-old was sentenced by a special court in November to 20 years and six months in prison.

He was convicted of violating Burma’s 1996 Computer Science Development Law, which prohibits accessing the Internet without official authorization. He was the first to be punished under a law that gives Burma’s Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs the power to specify exactly what constitutes the lawful use of computers.

OTHER AWARDEES

RSF, which has been awarding annual prizes since 1992, said in a December 4 press release that its goal is to alert the public to “the wide range of violations of the right to be kept informed and to inform others, and to the need for a commitment to supporting press freedom.” Each winner receives a cash award of 2,500 euros ($3,225).

Cuban journalist Ricardo González Alfonso was recognized as “journalist of the year.” RSF said his long career has included establishing a training program for independent journalists, most of whom must otherwise be self-taught in his country, and launching De Cuba newspaper, which focused on topics largely ignored by the government and official news media, such as racism in Cuba and grass-roots efforts to encourage democratic change.

González Alfonso is one of 26 dissident journalists arrested in March 2003 for trying to promote peaceful change. The Cuban government has accused him of having a collection of books with “subversive subject matter.” The 58-year-old is reportedly in poor health and living in inhumane conditions as he serves a 20-year sentence.

The third prize, for members of a news media outlet, was awarded to Radio Free NK, North Korea’s first dissident radio station, which broadcasts shortwave programs into the country from South Korea. RSF says North Korea’s regime has threatened to suspend dialogue with South Korea several times unless the station is banned. The North Korean staff is often threatened; South Korean police uncovered a plot to kill Radio Free NK’s manager, Kim Seong-min.

According to RSF, most North Koreans have access to radios that can be tuned only to government radio stations, and police routinely check radio sets to make sure they have not been altered to receive other broadcasts. However, Kim and his staff have been able to break through the government’s information monopoly thanks to standard radio sets entering the country from China.

More information about Reporters Without Borders and its 2008 awardees is available on its Web site.