John Emerson

CUBA Facing intense international interest in President Fidel Castro’s hospitalization and the transfer of power to his brother, the Cuban government severely restricted information about Castro’s illness in the name of state security and selectively blocked foreign journalists’ entry into the country. In a July 31 proclamation aired on Cuban television without advance notice, Castro…

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO The murder of freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba in the weeks before historic national elections cast a deep chill over the media, whose members were already subject to frequent attacks and intimidation. Mwamba was the second journalist to be shot to death in his home in eight months. Attacks on the press…

EGYPT The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate mounted a widespread campaign to pressure President Hosni Mubarak to fulfill a February 2004 promise to decriminalize press offenses. More than 20 newspapers went on strike for a day in July as part of the campaign, which many journalists credit with the last-minute deletion of a controversial amendment to the…

ETHIOPIA As it launched cross-border attacks in support of a shaky transitional government in Somalia, Addis Ababa maintained a repressive media climate at home by jailing some journalists, intimidating other reporters, and forcing still others into exile. CPJ’s annual census found 18 journalists jailed for their work in Ethiopia, at least 15 of whom were…

Attacks & Developments Throughout the Region

THE GAMBIA The government’s announcement in March that it had foiled a coup plots was followed by a wave of arrests and an unprecedented crackdown on the independent press in the run-up to presidential elections in September. President Yahya Jammeh was declared the winner with 67 percent of the vote, giving him a third term…

GEORGIA Television news, which had rallied support for Georgia’s pro-democracy revolution three years earlier, suffered serious blows from government harassment, business takeovers, and, as many saw it, self-inflicted scandal. President Mikhail Saakashvili’s administration took an aggressive approach in managing television coverage by pressuring and harassing critical TV reporters. Georgia’s largest television company, with holdings that…

HAITI Attacks on Haiti’s press dropped significantly, even as its streets were ravaged by violence—but journalists said the decline was attributable to widespread self-censorship. Haiti’s media continued to operate in a polarized environment, which both skewed and limited coverage of the government and street gangs. René Préval, an agronomist who served as president of Haiti…

IRAN With world attention focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned the screws on press freedom and intimidated critical journalists into silence or self-censorship. Ahmadinejad, who has pursued the conservative parliament’s policy of relentlessly stifling independent journalism since his election in August 2005, used the nuclear debate to deflect…

IRAQ For the fourth consecutive year, Iraq was the most dangerous reporting assignment in the world, exacting a frightening toll on local and foreign journalists. Thirty-two journalists and 15 media support staffers were killed during the year, bringing to 129 the number of media personnel killed in action since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.…