Mick Stern

Top Developments• Repressive media law takes effect, sets limits online.• Politicized lawsuits threaten independent newspapers. Key Statistic 2010: Year that Kazakhstan assumes chairmanship of OSCE. The authoritarian government of this central Asian nation brazenly defied international standards for freedom of expression even as it prepared to assume chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in…

Top Developments• Saipov murder case unsolved and beset by questions.• Four journalists badly beaten; no arrests made. Key Statistic 76: Percentage of vote won by Kurmanbek Bakiyev in flawed presidential election. The press climate deteriorated in this mountainous central Asian nation that once offered promise for democracy and free expression. The government’s erratic investigation into the…

Top Developments•  Regime pursues defamation cases in Morocco and other countries.•  Qaddafi nationalizes the nation’s sole private television station. Key Statistic 3: Moroccan newspaper ordered to pay damages for “injuring the dignity” of Col. Muammar Qaddafi. Col. Muammar Qaddafi marked in September the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power and led to the…

Top Developments• Rival leaders use media empires to pursue political goals.• Partisan attacks target journalists, news outlets. Key Statistic 1: Journalist killed in 2009, the first Malagasy media fatality ever recorded by CPJ. Malagasy journalists faced censorship, threats, and arrest as former president Marc Ravalomanana and new head of state Andry Rajoelina used their partisan…

Top Developments• Amid threats and attacks, self-censorship becomes more pervasive.• Congress stalls on reforms to combat violence against the press. Key Statistic 9: Journalists missing since 2005. Most had covered crime and corruption. The deepening influence of organized crime and the government’s inability to curb worsening violence left the news media wide open to attack.…

Top Developments• Authorities censor, jail journalists to silence coverage of the royal family. • Politicized courts issue heavy defamation awards. Key Statistic 100,000: Copies of two weeklies destroyed by authorities because they carried a poll about the king. As King Mohammed VI marked his first decade on the Alawite throne, his government moved aggressively to censor coverage…

Top Developments• Ortega administration marginalizes private media.• Authorities use legal harassment, smears against critics. Key Statistic 0: Number of press conferences held by Ortega since taking office. Three decades after a revolution swept the Sandinistas into power, the government of President Daniel Ortega still cast private media as enemies and moved forcefully to curtail their influence.…

Top Developments• Government fails to investigate press freedom abuses. • Reporter slain after covering Maoist land seizures. Key Statistic 8th: Ranking on CPJ Impunity Index, making it one of world’s worst for press. Nepal’s news media entered 2009 in a state of crisis. Attacks on the press had escalated in late 2008 amid a climate…

Top Developments• Tandja tightens grip on power, media through constitutional changes.• Journalists reporting on corruption face government reprisals. Key Statistic 3: Years beyond his elected term that Tandja can serve, according to a constitutional change. In an audacious bid to maintain power, President Mamadou Tandja pushed through constitutional amendments repealing presidential term limits and tightening his control…

Top Developments • Local operatives of the ruling PDP assault journalists with impunity. • Editor slain at his home outside Lagos. Wife pledges to continue his work. Key Statistic 21: National dailies, a number reflecting Nigeria’s robust media climate. With 21 national dailies, 12 television stations, and several emerging online news sources, Nigeria continued to…