New York, April 22, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decision to veto a controversial media bill passed by both chambers of Kazakhstan’s Parliament earlier this year. In a speech today at the Third Eurasian Media Forum—a three-day summit of about 400 journalists, analysts, politicians, researchers, and scientists from more than…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan, including the politicized legal prosecution of independent journalists.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev continued his intense persecution of Kazakhstan’s independent media in 2003, silencing government critics and sidelining opposition to his autocratic policies and control over the country’s billion-dollar oil and gas industries. Anyone who criticizes the president, his family, and his associates can be criminally prosecuted, and the government’s growing persecution of the media…
There were 138 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2003 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is the same as last year. An analysis of the reasons behind this is contained in the introduction on page 10. At the beginning of 2004, CPJ sent letters of inquiry to…
Dear Senator Abdykarimov: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is very concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan and government efforts to strengthen legal restrictions over the independent media ahead of parliamentary elections due later this year.
Many reporters find themselves in a dilemma when the press comes under attack. Our pride, our institutional and tribal loyalties, all clamor for a retort. We may be the bearers of bad tidings, but we are not their cause. If the truth is inimical to you, we want to argue, assailing us will not alter…
December 11 Jonathan C. Randal, The Washington Post The U.N. International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) ruled to limit compelled testimony from war correspondents. The decision, announced at the tribunal’s Appeals Chamber, came in response to the appeal by former Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal, who had been…
Press freedom conditions deteriorated significantly ýn Kazakhstan during 2002. Direct criticism of the president, his family, and his associates is considered seditious, and the government’s growing persecution of the media has increased self-censorship. Furthermore, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has consolidated his control over the airwaves and newsstands ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled for 2004…
Emboldened by the growing number of U.S. troops in the country, President Askar Akayev has used the threat of international terrorism as an excuse to curb political dissent and suppress the independent and opposition media in Kyrgyzstan. Compliant courts often issue exorbitant damage awards in politically motivated libel suits, driving even the country’s most prominent…