The shaky coalition of reformist parties elected in 2000 after the death of the nationalist President Franjo Tudjman pressed ahead with political and economic reforms in 2001 and pushed to join the European Union. As a result, press freedom conditions in Croatia continued to improve. The government and the Parliament made some tentative efforts to…
Some 35,000 Turkish troops are stationed in the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which only Turkey recognizes as legitimate. The island remains divided into a more prosperous ethnic Greek sector in the south and an isolated and impoverished ethnic Turkish sector in the north. Cyprus’ capital, Nicosia, sits in the middle of the island…
Despite the Czech Republic’s status as a leading candidate to join the European Union, local journalists continue to face significant risks for criticizing politicians and government policies, while political interference in the media inhibits the expansion of press freedom.
(NO COUNTRY SUMMARY) June 17 Nicolas Giudici, Nice-Matin and Corse-Matin KILLED (motive unconfirmed) Giudici’s body was found in some bushes on the edge of a dirt track near the village of Piedriggio in northern Corsica on the morning of June 17. Giudici, 52, had been shot three times, in the left arm, chest and right…
Rife with corruption, organized crime, and political instability, Georgia is full of stories that are dangerous to tell. Journalists who dare to report on them risk reprisals, often from President Eduard Shevardnadze’s strong-armed government. Most chilling for journalists was the July murder of Georgy Sanaya, a popular, 26-year-old reporter for the Tbilisi-based independent television station…
Even as Hungary moved closer to joining the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party (Fidesz-MPP) continued to bully Hungary’s public service broadcasters and retaliate against unfavorable coverage in the independent media.
Israel’s Hebrew-, Arabic-, and English-language media are extremely lively and, despite some military censorship, mostly free. Yet, journalists covering the second intifada, which began in September 2000 in Gaza and the West Bank, faced a variety of restrictions and hazards from the Israeli army and militant Jewish settlers, including bullets, tear gas, shrapnel, and physical…
Because press freedom is generally respected in Italy, CPJ does not routinely monitor conditions in the country. However, CPJ did protest brutal attacks by police officers and demonstrators on journalists during the July 20-22 Group of Eight (G-8) summit of the world’s industrialized nations in Genoa.
On January 8, President Laurent Gbagbo’s government thwarted an attempted coup by mercenaries whom the ruling Popular Front (FPI) accused of being in the pay of Burkina Faso and other countries bordering Côte d’Ivoire. The rebels occupied the compound of the official RTI broadcasting network and aired communiqués saying that the elected government had been…
On May 3–World Press Freedom Day–President Nursultan Nazarbayev approved restrictive amendments to Kazakhstan’s already burdensome Mass Media Law. Under the law, organizations designated as members of the “mass media” are subject to a host of harsh provisions. But Nazarbayev’s amendment widened the legal net by designating Web sites as “mass media” as well. This change…