DESPITE PRESS FREEDOM ADVANCES ACROSS ASIA IN RECENT YEARS, totalitarian regimes in Burma, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos maintained their stranglehold on the media. Even democratic Asian governments sometimes used authoritarian tactics to control the press, particularly when faced with internal conflict. Sri Lanka, for instance, imposed harsh censorship regulations during the year in…
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.
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…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the murder of Olimpio Jalapit, Jr., a radio broadcaster killed on November 17 in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. We urge Your Excellency to ensure that the investigation into this murder is conducted in a thorough and impartial manner, so that Jalapit’s killers may be brought to justice.
Press freedom conditions in the PHILIPPINES | Map of Philippines | Previous coverage of the Jolo hostage crisis | Hostage to the News: A journalist’s first-hand account New York, September 20, 2000 — French journalists Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and Roland Madura escaped last night from their rebel captors on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in PHILIPPINES See map of Philippines New York, September 18, 2000—As Philippine military forces pursue rebels on the island of Jolo, Der Spiegel correspondent Andreas Lorenz, who spent much of July as a hostage on Jolo, examines the ethical challenges journalists face when they pursue extremely…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in PHILIPPINES New York, September 11, 2000 — The release of two France 2 television journalists, cameraman Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and sound engineer Roland Madura, has been delayed due to factional fighting within the ranks of the Philippine rebel group that kidnapped them, according to news…