Bogotá, October 5, 2001—Leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) harassed seven journalists on September 28 while the reporters were on their way to cover a protest march sponsored by Liberal Party presidential candidate Horacio Serpa. Eight FARC fighters erected a roadblock and stopped the journalists around noon outside the southern village…
New York, October 4, 2001—In a major step backward for press freedom in Argentina, the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court ruling against the weekly newsmagazine NOTICIAS. According to the judgment, NOTICIAS violated former president Carlos Saúl Menem’s right to privacy by reporting on his extramarital relationship with Martha Meza, a former schoolteacher…
New York, October 4, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by reports that U.S. officials pressured Qatar in an attempt to influence the news coverage of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel. Following a meeting yesterday in Washington, D.C., with U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani…
New York, October 3, 2001—In an unprecedented decision, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued provisional measures granting a Costa Rican newspaper relief in a freedom of expression case. On September 7, the court, which is based in San José, Costa Rica, issued “provisional measures” ordering Costa Rican authorities to stay certain sections of a…
New York, September 27, 2001—After a barrage of criticism from the local media and civil society, the Paraguayan government repealed a controversial new access to information law that restricted the ability of journalists to obtain public records. On September 24, President Luis González Macchi repealed Law 1728 on Administrative Transparency and Free Access to Information.…
New York, September 27, 2001—Under pressure from the U.S. Department of State, the Voice of America (VOA) recently delayed airing a story containing parts of an exclusive interview with the leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The federally funded broadcaster’s decision came after Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and senior National…
New York, September 20, 2001—An American free-lance news photographer is among the 233 confirmed dead in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Several other media workers have been reported injured or missing. As of today, CNN reported, the confirmed death toll in the World Trade Center attacks stands at 233, with…
New York, September 18, 2001—Guatemalan radio journalist Jorge Mynor Alegría Armendáriz was murdered at around 10 p.m. on the evening of September 5, CPJ has confirmed. Alegría was shot at least five times outside his home in Puerto Barrios, a port city located on the Caribbean coast in Izabal Department. His personal effects were untouched,…