Enemies of the Press: The 10 Worst Offenders of 1997
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual choices of the top 10 Enemies of the Press worldwide. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal for the ruthless suppression of journalists. For the second consecutive year, the…
Press Freedom Under the Dragon: Special Report on Hong Kong
Six journalists–from Croatia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Russia, Taiwan, and the United States–who have risked their freedom and their lives to report the news will receive the 1997 International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists. The recipients are Christine Anyanwu, imprisoned editor in chief of the independent Nigerian news weekly The Sunday Magazine;…
Two Nigerian Journalists Released as Abacha Bends to International Pressure
Three weeks after exiled Nigerian journalist Dapo Olorunyomi spoke of his imprisoned wife’s plight at an April CPJ roundtable on Gen. Sani Abacha’s media crackdown, she was released. Nigerian authorities had held Ladi Olorunyomi, a journalist and women’s rights advocate affiliated with the Independent Journalism Center in Lagos, for 68 days without criminal charges. Within…
Press Freedom Proves Elusive in Sierra Leone
The promise of a democratic society was fleeting in Sierra Leone, a country that ushered in an elected government under President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in March 1996. After a grace period when newspapers began to be published, the state launched a campaign of intolerance against the print media, attempting to cow them into self-censorship or…
Solidarity works: Helping to clear the path to freedom.
Letters to CPJ CPJ comes to the aid of journalists who have been attacked, imprisoned, censored, or harassed. The Committee fights to get journalists out of jail and lets those who are being persecuted for their reporting know that CPJ and others are working on their behalf.
CPJ Names Ten Worst “Enemies of the Press” on World Press Freedom Day, May 3
NEW YORK –The leaders of China, Nigeria, and Turkey are among 10 world figures identified by the U.S. based Committee to Protect Journalists as “Enemies of the Press.” All are responsible for brutal campaigns against journalists and press freedom, as documented by CPJ in its ongoing monitoring of press freedom violations worldwide. The Enemies of…
Press Faces Hard Times in Africa: Repression Persists in Many Countries
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Jan. 13–When this country opened the way for an independent press at the turn of the decade, the blossoming of newspapers of nearly every political persuasion was widely hailed as a critical stepping stone toward true multiparty democracy. But here, as elsewhere in Africa, rather than marking a clean break with an…
More journalists jailed than ever: CPJ’s 1995 report surveys 101 countries
Independent Nigerian journalist Nosa Igiebor has been languishing in prison since his arrest in December 1995. He was jailed for his critical coverage of the country’s military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. Though he was placed in solitary confinement, Igiebor was hardly alone. In fact, a record 182 journalists around the world were in jail at…