by Ann CooperWith its myriad dangers and devastating death toll, Iraq remained the worst place to practice journalism throughout 2004, and one of the most dangerous media assignments in recent history. Twenty-three journalists and 16 media support workers were killed on the job in Iraq during the year. An insurgent kidnapping campaign also posed severe…
New York, October 1, 2003—The Second District Court in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius yesterday ruled that the State Security Department overstepped its authority when it shuttered the pro-independence Chechen Web site KavkazCenter on June 20. The State Security Department disconnected and confiscated KavkazCenter’s server at the private Vilnius-based Internet provider Elneta on June 20…
New York, September 18, 2003—Lithuanian border guards detained and expelled a film crew from the independent, Moscow-based national television station NTV on Sunday, September 14, after they filmed a protest on a train near the Lithuanian-Russian border. According to Russian and Lithuanian press reports, NTV journalist Vadim Fefilov, cameraman Vladimir Chervyakov, and sound technician Aleksey…
With his sights set firmly on integration with Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko has intensified his efforts to stifle the independent and opposition media in Belarus. In the days surrounding the April 2 signing in Moscow of the second treaty on integration with Russia in two years, Lukashenko reached new heights, even by his own standards,…