There were 138 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2003 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is the same as last year. An analysis of the reasons behind this is contained in the introduction on page 10. At the beginning of 2004, CPJ sent letters of inquiry to…
New York, July 25, 2003—Taiwan’s High Court today sentenced reporter Hung Che-cheng to one and a half years in prison on sedition charges for allegedly revealing military secrets. Though the court granted Hung a three-year suspended sentence, the threat of imprisonment remains. The sedition charges stem from a July 29, 2000, article that Hung wrote…
The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. “war on terror,” yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, reporters covering crime and…
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
New York, October 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on the Taipei offices of Next (Yi Zhoukan) magazine. At about 1 p.m. on October 6, at least 10 men stormed the Next offices in Taipei, destroying office equipment and carrying away two computers, according to Taiwanese and international news reports. Three…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) appreciates your rapid response to our protest letter about the Taiwanese government’s recent attempt to censor news reports on the basis of national security concerns.
In 2001, the Chinese government finally achieved two long-standing goals that brought the country closer to full integration in the international community. In July, Beijing won a bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, and in November, the World Trade Organization officially accepted China as a member. These developments helped secure the legacy of President…
An independent and lively press remains a bedrock of Taiwan’s democratic society, though debates over the limits of free expression persist. The media’s penchant for covering scandals was checked by a high-profile lawsuit lodged by the vice president and by an attack on the racy tabloid Taiwan Next. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s acute concern about safeguarding national…