IraqFor the second consecutive year, Iraq was the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist, and the conflict there remained one of the most deadly in recent history for the media. Twenty-three journalists were killed in action in 2004, along with 16 media workers.
Israel and the Occupied Territories, including the Palestinian Authority TerritoriesWith Iraq dominating media security concerns in the Middle East, journalists covering the region’s other main flash point quietly faced a familiar array of hazards on the job. The occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip remained two of the most dangerous and unpredictable assignments for journalists…
JordanGovernment promises of modernization and reform have not led to greater press freedom in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In a May survey by the local Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists, 70 percent of responding reporters and editors said media liberties had remained static or had deteriorated. Sixty-five percent believe that the media do…
KuwaitKuwait’s press is widely recognized as the freest among the Gulf states. Newspapers frequently give voice to the country’s political opposition, and columnists do not spare government officials guilty of corruption or mismanagement. But criminal press statutes remain on the books, and several journalists faced prosecution in 2004.
Lebanon Lebanon’s press corps is among the Arab world’s most spirited, with opinionated political debates and fiery TV talk shows. Yet while a wide array of newspapers and radio and TV stations often criticizes government policy in general, journalists avoid direct criticism of President Emile Lahoud and government and business corruption. The government monitors the…
Morocco The government eased a crackdown against independent journalists launched after multiple suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003. But Moroccan journalists—among the most outspoken in the region—were still saddled with onerous press laws and a meddling government. In January, the day before Prime Minister Driss Jettou visited Washington, D.C., King Mohammed VI issued a general…
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia’s press is among the most heavily censored in the Arab world, but it has shown occasional signs of life since September 11, 2001. Some Saudi newspapers have demonstrated unusual boldness, publishing tough critiques of religious militancy and low-level government mismanagement and calling for reform.
Sudan Sudan garnered international headlines in 2004 due to widespread atrocities and ethnic cleansing in Darfur, an impoverished region in the west of the country. Since February 2003, government-backed militias, known as janjaweed, have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced close to 2 million in a counterinsurgency campaign against rebel groups.
Syria An ongoing state crackdown on political dissent further dulled hopes that President Bashar al-Assad would loosen the shackles on the country’s news media. Bashar promised greater media openness four years ago when he assumed power following the death of his father, the ironfisted Hafez al-Assad. In his first months in office, he injected new…
TunisiaFor nearly two decades, Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has quietly run one of the region’s most efficient police states, stifling the media with an array of Soviet-style tactics. Even allies of Ben Ali, such as U.S. President George W. Bush, expressed concern in 2004 about the troubling lack of press freedom. On World…