By Chrystyna Lapychak Wars in Yugoslavia and Chechnya dominated regional and international headlines in 1999. The conflicts raised the journalists’ death toll in the region and prompted crackdowns, as governments blocked access to war zones and engaged in propaganda campaigns.
After securing reelection in a hastily arranged January snap poll, President Nursultan Nazarbayev continued to consolidate his grip on the press by harassing independent and opposition media, covertly buying out some outlets, and attempting to put others out of business. Nazarbayev boasts that his regime privatized state-run media but generally fails to mention that most…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by recent harassment and blackmail attempts, apparently initiated by the Kazak State Security Service (KNB), against Bigeldin Gabdullin, editor-in-chief of the XXI Vek (21st Century) opposition newspaper in Almaty.