Turkmen journalist brutally beaten in his Moscow apartment
New York, May 12, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled by the brutal April 30 attack on Mukhamed Berdiyev, a correspondent for the Turkmen Service of the U.S. government–funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who was beaten by unknown assailants in his apartment in Moscow. He was discovered lying unconscious three days later…
REUTERS JOURNALIST KILLED IN CHECHNYA BOMBING
New York, May 10, 2004—Adlan Khasanov, a cameraman working for the British news agency Reuters, was killed by a bomb yesterday morning in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya, according to local and international press reports. The powerful bomb exploded at approximately 10:35 a.m. in the Dynamo Stadium in the Chechen capital of Grozny, where Khasanov…
Fixer abducted in February has been released
March 18, 2004, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learned that Ruslan Soltakhanov, a fixer and driver working for Atlanta-based Cox Newspapers, was released from captivity on March 12 after being abducted in February. On February 13, several unidentified men abducted Soltakhanov from his home in Mozdok, just west of Chechnya in North…
Attacks on the Press 2003: Preface
By Ted KoppelThis is not a good day. As I write, pop star Michael Jackson has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor. His residence cum theme park, “Neverland,” has been invaded by police, sheriff’s deputies, and a team of forensic specialists. I am not empathizing with Michael Jackson, although this…
Attacks on the Press 2003: Introduction
By Ann CooperIn real-time images, the war in Iraq splashed across television screens worldwide in March, with thousands of journalists covering the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. The conflict and its aftermath had a far-reaching impact on the press and its ability to report the news, with the reverberations felt in some…
Attacks on the Press 2003: North Korea
North Korea’s goal in a global nuclear crisis put the country on the front page of international papers throughout 2003. But the regime’s absolute control over news and information ensured that the world continued to know little about what happened inside the country’s tightly fortified borders.
Attacks on the Press 2003: Russia
Russian president Vladimir Putin and his coterie of former intelligence officials pressed ahead in 2003 with his vision of a “dictatorship of the law” in Russia to create a “managed democracy.” Putin’s goal of an obedient and patriotic press meant that the Kremlin continued using various branches of the politicized state bureaucracy to rein in…