Mick Stern

Top Developments• Broadcast media controlled by government or its allies.• Numerous assaults reported, but police do little. Key Statistic 12: Broadcast license applications filed by independent outlet A1+. None approved. The nation remained polarized by the fraud-marred 2008 presidential election won by Serzh Sargsyan, with large public protests and violent government reprisals continuing well into 2009. The…

Top Developments• Critical reporters jailed for defamation, “hooliganism.”• CPJ honors imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev. Key Statistic 68: Novruzali Mamedov’s age when he died in prison after being denied medical care. Using imprisonment as a crude form of censorship, the authoritarian government of President Ilham Aliyev remained one of the region’s worst jailers of journalists. Authorities allowed one…

Top Developments• Authorities block Web sites critical of the government, the king, and Islam.• Officials pursue politicized court complaints against critical reporters. Key Statistic 1,040: Web sites that the Ministry of Information ordered censored in September. Bahrain has made significant strides in improving its human rights record since political reforms enacted in 2001, particularly concerning universal suffrage…

Top Developments• Restrictive law requires media obtain government registration.• Administration eases some repressive tactics to gain EU favor. Key Statistic 13: Independent papers blacklisted by state-controlled distributors. Authorities eased their heavy-handed tactics of repression for much of the year even as a restrictive new media law took effect. The change in tone coincided with the European Union’s…

Top Developments• Judges in defamation cases issue sweeping censorship orders.• Ex-police officers convicted in abduction, torture of O Dia journalists. Key Statistic 44: Defamation lawsuits filed by a single congressman. Complaints target dozens of journalists for critical coverage. In a major advance for press freedom, Brazil’s highest court struck down a repressive 1967 law that criminalized broad…

Top Developments• Some political prisoners freed, but eight journalists still held.• Government censors all print publications, controls broadcasters. Key Statistic 1st: Ranking on CPJ’s Worst Countries to Be a Blogger. Throughout the year, Burma’s ruling junta emphasized its plans to move toward multiparty democracy after decades of military rule, a long-promised transition that dissidents and others…

Top Developments• More access for foreign reporters, tighter rules for local assistants.• As online use grows, government censors sites, jails critics. Key Statistic 24: Journalists jailed as of December 1, 2009. While China’s ruling communist party celebrated 60 years in power in 2009, its critics commemorated antigovernment movements in Tibet in 1949 and Tiananmen Square…

Top Developments • Provincial journalists face threats from all sides in civil conflict. • Convictions gained in one journalist murder; progress reported in other cases. Key Statistic 2003: Year that national intelligence agents began spying on journalists and other critics. The strained relationship between the government and the Bogotá-based independent press worsened after news media…

Top Developments • Government makes progress on reforms, but press freedom lags. • Ruling HDZ gains influence with some media outlets.Key Statistic 8: People indicted in a car bombing that killed two media executives. Croatia’s efforts to join the European Union by 2011 did not yield major improvements in press freedom. While the EU said…

Top Developments • Vibrant blogging culture emerges despite severe Internet restrictions.• Jailed journalists suffer amid inhumane conditions. Key Statistic 22: Reporters and editors in jail as of December 1. Cuba was hit hard by the global economic crisis and endured an upheaval in its highest offices, but state-controlled news media delivered superficial and skewed coverage.…