John Emerson

Despite some modest media-related reforms implemented by Parliament in 2002, Albania’s contentious political scene and economic underdevelopment continue to make the country a relatively chaotic and difficult place for the independent press. Journalists face government harassment, criminal libel lawsuits, arbitrary dismissal by politicized owners, and limited access to basic government information, particularly when investigating official…

Algeria’s private press has survived a brutal, extremist-led assassination campaign that lasted from 1993 to 1996 and took the lives of 58 journalists. Since the early 1990s, it has also weathered government interference. Nevertheless, the private press has earned a reputation for tough criticism of the government and politicians.

On February 21, Angola’s government announced that its troops had killed Jonas Savimbi, who led the UNITA rebel group’s fight for power in oil-rich Angola for more than 30 years. That same day, state television ran a special news program featuring Savimbi’s corpse filmed from several angles with repeated close-ups of his neck, where the…

Despite a catastrophic economic crisis in Argentina during 2002–including the default of US$141 billion in foreign debt, a sharp currency devaluation, and the banking system’s collapse–the media remain free to report on matters of national importance.

In the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for 2003, President Robert Kocharian, who is seeking another term, muzzled dissenting voices in the press and called for more compliant media coverage of government policies. As a result, journalists continued to face criminal prosecution, attacks, and censorship. Meanwhile, poor economic conditions drove some members of the press…

Despite proclaiming a commitment to democracy and offering some financial aid to the beleaguered press, President Heydar Aliyev’s relationship with the media remained tense in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for October 2003. During 2002, independent and opposition outlets struggled to overcome official harassment and economic hardship, while the government passed flawed media legislation.

In 2002, Bahrainis went to the polls for the first time in three decades. Municipal and parliamentary elections, held in May and October, respectively, were the result of King Hamed Bin Issa al-Khalifa’s much anticipated political reforms, which are aimed at bringing limited democracy to this tiny Persian Gulf archipelago. Although the elections represented a…

For Bangladeshi journalists, covering crime and corruption can be as dangerous as reporting in a war zone. Journalists regularly endure vicious attacks, and since 1998, five Bangladeshi journalists have been killed in reprisal for their work.

In May 2002, CPJ named Belarus one of the world’s 10 worst places to be a journalist, highlighting the stifling repression of Europe’s most authoritarian regime. The rest of the year brought more bad news for the country’s besieged but strong-willed private media, with President Aleksandr Lukashenko tightening his grip on power while the economy…

Millionaire mining executive Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was sworn in as president on August 6 and immediately announced emergency actions aimed at lifting South America’s poorest nation out of an economic slump. But despite a four-year recession and widespread protests during 2002, the Bolivian press was able to cover the news with no major obstacles.