New York, March 6, 2000 — CPJ has confirmed the early release of Lin Hai, the Shanghai software entrepreneur who was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on subversion charges in January 1999, for providing 30,000 e-mail addresses to VIP Reference, a pro-democracy online magazine. Lin was quietly released on September 23, 1999, six months ahead…
Mahathir wins election, stifles media Also in this report: A. Lin Neumann discusses the Malaysian press on the eve of elections in a news analysis. In an exclusive essay for CPJ, Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent Murray Hiebert recounts his ordeal at the hands of the Malaysian legal system.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the implications of this week’s abrupt transfer of Cheung Man-yee from her post as director of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Cheung has been a staunch defender of press freedom during her 13-year tenure as director of RTHK, a publicly funded broadcast agency with a long tradition of editorial autonomy.
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual identification 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. Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria was…
“Journalists covering the violent political convulsions that gripped East Timor this spring found themselves the targets of pro-Indonesia militias angered by press coverage of their activities. In the run-up to August’s United Nations-sponsored vote on the territory’s future status, political instability in East Timor escalated, prompting fears of a full-scale civil war. Jakarta’s surprise announcement…
“When Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States in April on a nine-day, six-city tour designed to cultivate support for China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), he was so media-friendly that he deflected serious attention from his country’s abysmal press freedom record. He started his public relations campaign almost as soon as…
Washington, D.C., March 25 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported today in its annual worldwide study of press freedom that at least 118 journalists were in prison in 25 countries at the end of 1998, and 24 journalists in 17 countries were murdered during the year in reprisal for their reporting.
New York, N.Y., Feb. 16, 1999 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomed the release of Chinese journalist Gao Yu on Monday after five years’ imprisonment in Beijing, while cautioning that China’s press freedom climate has worsened in recent months. At least 11 people remain in prison there on journalism-related charges. CPJ called on…
The Asian economic turmoil of the last eight months struck many international observers as a sudden calamity–trouble that seemed to drop from the sky like an alien invader. But in fact, the signs of structural weakness and the cracks in the veneer of financial robustness were in plain view for those in a position to…