Top Developments• Reporters attacked, harassed during Kampala unrest.• Criminal cases pile up as high court considers constitutional challenge. Key Statistic 22: Criminal cases pending against Andrew Mwenda, a top political editor.Violent protests broke out in Kampala in September when security forces blocked leaders of the traditional kingdom of the Baganda, Uganda’s largest ethnic group, from visiting…
Top Developments• Broadcast media face strong political pressure.• Ex-Interior Ministry official arrested in Gongadze murder. Key Statistic 5: Years since the Orange Revolution. Optimism has since dimmed. A deep recession, tensions with neighboring Russia, and a coming presidential election placed greater stress on the country’s already weak and fractured political leadership. While the media remained freer and…
Top Developments • Authorities hold Iraqi journalist without charge or due process. • Obama, Congress send encouraging messages on press freedom Key Statistic 10: Days that U.S. immigration officials detained a VOA reporter during a visa dispute. The administration made encouraging statements in support of press freedom—including remarks by President Barack Obama on World Press…
Top Developments• Nation is a persistent jailer of journalists.• Security agents enforce rigid censorship. Key Statistic 4: Years EU human rights sanctions were in place before being lifted in 2009. President Islam Karimov’s authoritarian government held at least seven journalists in prison, retaining its notorious distinction as the region’s leading jailer of journalists. Authorities harassed independent…
Top Developments• Regulators strip licenses from critical broadcasters.• Government wages politicized investigation into Globovisión. Key Statistic 34: Private radio and television stations pulled from the air. After scoring a major victory in a February referendum that granted indefinite presidential re-election, President Hugo Chávez Frías and his government intensified their years-long crackdown on the private media. The government’s…
Top Developments• Bloggers face regular harassment and detention.• Government conducts extensive online censorship. Key Statistic 300: Number of cybercafés outfitted with software tracking visits to banned Web sites. While maintaining its tight grip on traditional news media, the government intensified its already significant controls over the Internet with new restrictions on content and heightened monitoring of…
Top Developments • Government censors newspapers, establishes new press court. • Two journalists jailed without charge; one missing after being abducted. Key Statistic 8: Newspapers banned for periods beginning in May due to their coverage of unrest in the south. Continuing a steady years-long decline, Yemen became one of the most repressive countries in the…
Top Developments• Ruling party supporters behind assaults against journalists.• Government wages politicized prosecutions against The Post. Key Statistic 400: Estimated turnout at a demonstration protesting anti-press attacks. Press freedom deteriorated in the first full year of Rupiah Banda’s presidency. Tensions mounted between Banda’s government and the leading independent daily The Post. Politicized criminal charges were…
Top Developments• Government fails to implement reforms allowing private media to operate.• Two international broadcasters allowed to resume operation. Key Statistic $32,000: Application and accreditation fees imposed on international journalists. In a measure of the deplorable state of press freedom in Zimbabwe, a year marked by harassment and obstruction was considered a small step forward. “Journalists…
ATTACKS ON THE PRESS: 2009 • Main Index AFRICA Regional Analysis: • In African hot spots, journalists forced into exile Country Summaries • DRC • Ethiopia • Gambia • Madagascar • Niger • Nigeria • Somalia • Uganda • Zambia • Zimbabwe • Other developments BOTSWANA A media law was enacted in January requiring government…