John Emerson

In November, the Islamist-oriented Justice and Development Party won parliamentary elections in Turkey. The new prime minister, Abdullah Gul, and influential party head Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that joining the European Union would be a top government priority. To that end, they promised greater democratic reform, including an easing of long-standing restrictions on freedom of…

The magnitude of President Saparmurat Niyazov’s cult of personality might even astonish the Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin. A golden statue in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, honors Niyazov, who is called “Turkmenbashi,” or “the Father of All Turkmen,” and his portrait graces the country’s currency. In 2002, Niyazov’s birthday was declared a national holiday, and he renamed…

Uganda was the only country in Africa where a journalist was killed in 2002. Jimmy Higenyi, a student at the private journalism school United Media Consultants and Trainers, was shot by police while covering a rally of the opposition party Uganda People’s Congress in the capital, Kampala, on January 12. The government had banned the…

During 2002, President Leonid Kuchma’s relationship with the United States hit an all-time low over suspicions that he sold a sophisticated radar system to Iraq. At home, his presidency was threatened by court rulings that opened a criminal case against him (and that were later overturned) for alleged involvement in the 2000 murder of journalist…

In the autocratic city-states that comprise the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), local media face both the promise of new technology and the burdens of long-standing state restrictions.

Press freedom is generally respected in the United Kingdom, but CPJ was alarmed by a legal case in which Interbrew, a Belgium-based brewing group, and the British Financial Services Authority (FSA), a banking and investment watchdog agency, demanded that several U.K. media outlets turn over documents that had been leaked to them. The case threatened…

The U.S. government took aggressive measures in 2002 to shield some of its activities from press scrutiny. These steps not only reduced access for U.S. reporters but had a global ripple effect, with autocratic leaders citing U.S. government actions to justify repressive policies.

While press freedom is generally respected in Uruguay, the current economic crisis has damaged the media’s diversity and independence. Journalists also continue to struggle to obtain government information, even as lawmakers consider legislation to expand access to it.

Increased international aid and the presence of U.S. troops who use Uzbekistan as a base for the “war on terror” inspired President Islam Karimov to pay lip service to press freedom. With much fanfare, Karimov’s government ended prior censorship of newspapers–one of the few systems in the world that required papers to submit copy to…

During 2002, a worsening political crisis brought Venezuela to the brink of collapse and threatened to derail democracy there. As the degradation of state institutions continued, society’s extreme polarization and intolerance multiplied the risks for journalists.