CELEBRATIONS OF A QUARTER CENTURY OF COMMUNIST RULE, a wave of bomb attacks, and signs of internal dissent all contributed to foreign media interest in Laos in 2000, which in turn spurred the government to reassert its control of information and the press. In July, Laotian viewers were able to tune in live Thai television…
USING INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS AND THE PRINTING PRESSES and Publications Act of 1984, which requires annual relicensing of all publications, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s deeply entrenched ruling party and its allies maintained a stranglehold on the press. Virtually all mainstream newspapers in Malaysia are owned or controlled by parties allied with the ruling Barisan National…
ANOTHER YEAR OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY kept the Nepalese government from doing much of anything. Fortunately for local journalists, that included following through on a number of ominous proposals designed to curb press freedom. Shortly after a new government came to power in March, led by third-time prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, it announced plans to…
THOUGH NORTH KOREA OPENED UP SLIGHTLY as its leader Kim Jong Il emerged onto the world stage, the country remained a totalitarian backwater with no independent local media and only limited access for foreign journalists. Reporters from South Korea and the West are viewed with particular suspicion and were generally refused visas until last year.…
THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE GEN. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF sought to create an impression of benign rule last year. In part, this meant avoiding the bare-knuckle tactics that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used to control the press. However, Musharraf’s patience with his critics seemed to be wearing thin toward the end of 2000, and…
THE RAUCOUS PHILIPPINE PRESS TOOK CENTER STAGE as President Joseph Estrada faced mounting scandals and a televised impeachment trial in the Senate. The crisis began after a one-time crony of Estrada accused the former movie actor of accepting millions of dollars in illegal gambling payoffs. Estrada’s predicament was a riveting media event, and press investigations…
STATE CONTROL OF THE MEDIA IN SINGAPORE IS SO COMPLETE that few dare challenge the system and there is no longer much need for the ruling party to arrest or harass journalists. Even foreign correspondents have learned to be cautious when reporting on Singapore, since the government has frequently hauled the international press into court…
SECURITY CONDITIONS FOR LOCAL JOURNALISTS COVERING ARMED ETHNIC CONFLICT in the Solomon Islands deteriorated markedly last year, as several reporters went into hiding after militants threatened them with physical violence. A coup attempted on June 5 by the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF), a rebel group representing emigrants from neighboring Malaita Island to the archipelago’s main…
DESPITE PRESIDENT KIM DAE JUNG’S INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION as a champion of democracy, capped with a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, he has an uneasy relationship with the domestic press. While South Korean media are generally far more free under Kim’s administration than at any time in recent history, they remain susceptible to government interference. Tensions between…
RI LANKA’S LIVELY AND COMBATIVE MEDIA FACED NUMEROUS CHALLENGES from a hostile government, with the most intense battle waged over the president’s tightening of censorship restrictions. Press coverage of the country’s 17-year-old civil war remained thin, due to intermittent censorship and because the government refused to grant journalists regular access to the conflict areas in…