By Ann CooperIN THE COMMUNITY OF JOURNALISTS WHO HAVE CHRONICLED the past decade’s worst wars, the news last May was devastating. Two of the world’s most dedicated war correspondents, Kurt Schork of Reuters and Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of The Associated Press, were killed in a rebel ambush in Sierra Leone, a country where…
PRESS COVERAGE OF ARMED CONFLICTS CONTINUED TO STIR THE HOSTILITY of governments and rebel factions alike and claim reporters’ lives, but the prominent role of the press in the often-volatile process of democratization also brought unprecedented challenges to journalists working in Africa. CPJ confirmed that in 2000, five journalists were killed specifically because of their…
In North Korea, listening to a foreign broadcast is a crime punishable by death. In Colombia, right-wing paramilitary forces are suspected in the murders of three journalists in 2000. Meanwhile, paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño was formally charged with the 1999 murder of political satirist Jaime Garzón.
AS ANGOLA’S AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUED ITS LONG SIEGE against all forms of dissent last year, independent journalists received special attention from the repressive apparatus of the state. Although most private media outlets are weekly newspapers that reach no more than a few thousand people, the hypersensitive regime of President José Eduardo dos Santos has routinely…
AS THE MAJOR POLITICAL COALITIONS CAMPAIGNED VIGOROUSLY in anticipation of the 2001 presidential elections, independent journalists enjoyed relative freedom in reporting on issues of national importance, breaking stories of rumored coup plots, and allegations of corruption and financial misappropriation by members of President Mathieu Kerekou’s administration. Government and opposition parties enjoyed equal access to state-run…
TWO YEARS OF CIVIL UNREST SPARKED BY THE 1998 MURDER of a popular journalist have galvanized the independent press and forced President Blaise Compaoré to broaden his government. On November 12, Compaoré announced a new cabinet that included members of at least 10 opposition parties. The move followed widening protests, including general strikes in April…
IN 1996, MAJ. PIERRE BUYOYA SEIZED POWER and promised a quick end to Burundi’s murderous civil war, which has taken more than 200,000 lives since 1993 and now consumes 50 percent of the national budget. His promises remained unfulfilled last year, leaving local journalists victims of and sometimes actors in a poisonous communal conflict. Amid…
NOVEMBER 4 MARKED PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA’S 18TH YEAR as leader of a regime that has persistently been accused of human rights violations. Cameroonian law enforcement officials make “widespread and systematic” use of torture, according to a March report by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The pompous anniversary celebrations failed to impress Cameroonian journalists,…
ALL YEAR, FIGHTING RAGED BETWEEN GOVERNMENT TROOPS and the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJT) in the mountainous Tibesti region. But because of restrictions on the press, there was little news from the battlefront. International reporters were barred from Tibesti all year, according to the BBC. Chad’s independent media, clustered in the southern capital…
INSTABILITY PLAGUED THE THREE-ISLAND ISLAMIC REPUBLIC after the military government of Col. Azali Assoumani tried unsuccessfully to reintegrate the island of Anjouan, which had seceded from the federation in 1997. There were several attacks on journalists after a January referendum in which Anjouan rejected a settlement brokered by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Violent…