John Emerson

With the commercialization of the press, the rapid spread of the Internet, and international condemnation of a government cover-up of the SARS virus, the new administration of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao faced a series of tests over government censorship policies in 2003. Although Hu initially called for the press to take on…

Colombian journalists continued paying an extremely heavy price for practicing their profession amid a 40-year-old civil war pitting two major leftist guerrilla groups against the Colombian army and right-wing paramilitary forces. At least four journalists were killed in reprisal for their work in 2003, and CPJ continues to investigate the deaths of three others.

While outdated media laws that encourage self-censorship among journalists remain on the books in Costa Rica, the decision by the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Court of Human Rights to hear a criminal defamation case involving a Costa Rican journalist may have a profound impact on the region’s press. A ruling could set a…

Gradual political stabilization in the western Balkans and the implementation of political reforms required for Croatia to join the European Union by 2007 have led to greater press freedom and media pluralism in the country. However, rivalries in the ruling reformist coalition, a powerful far-right opposition, politicized media owners, and a judiciary in need of…

Unlike previous years, when Cuban authorities were mostly content to merely harass and threaten independent journalists and their families, in 2003, authorities launched an all-out assault against the opposition and the independent press. Officials jailed 29 journalists–about one-third of the island’s independent press–and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms. Those who continue to work face…

President Joseph Kabila’s transition government was inaugurated in June, after warring parties signed a power-sharing deal in December 2002 that ended a devastating four-year civil war. The peace accord keeps Kabila in power until 2005, with four vice presidents from both the armed and unarmed opposition. In 2005, the country will hold its first elections…

Government efforts aimed at punishing critics led to a deterioration of press freedom in the Dominican Republic in 2003. Moreover, news coverage of scandals involving private financial institutions that own many Dominican media outlets seriously damaged citizens’ confidence in the press.

Despite widespread poverty in this island nation, a fledgling press has developed out of the destruction that followed the territory’s vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999. Since May 2002, East Timor has been sovereign, with only a small U.N. presence remaining until 2004 to provide defense and security assistance.

Egypt boasts many national, party, independent, and opposition publications that feature some of the Arab world’s best-known commentators. But over the years, the government has alternated between crackdowns on the media and periods of relative openness. For Egyptian journalists, self-censorship is the norm because violating the country’s stringent press laws can land them in prison.…

With 17 journalists in prison in 2003, Eritrea was Africa’s leading jailer of journalists. CPJ named the country one of the “World’s Worst Places to Be a Journalist” for the second consecutive year. Despite jubilant celebrations in the capital, Asmara, honoring the 10-year anniversary of the country’s independence on May 24, Eritrea’s development has been…