Attacks on the Press 2000: Middle East and North Africa Analysis
ALTHOUGH RIGHTS TO FREE EXPRESSION AND PRESS FREEDOM are enshrined in national constitutions from Algeria to Yemen, governments found many practical ways to restrict these freedoms. State ownership of the media, censorship, legal harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment of journalists were again among the favored tools of repression and control. In Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria,…
Attacks on the Press 2000: Israel and the Occupied Territories
THE EXPLOSION OF VIOLENCE THAT BEGAN IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES on September 29 has been unsparing of journalists, reinforcing the West Bank and Gaza Strip’s reputation as among the world’s most hazardous beats. Reasons why included the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli security forces, and militant Jewish settlers. While no conclusive evidence exists that the…
Attacks on the Press 2000: Lebanon
LEBANESE JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN NOTED FOR THEIR FREEWHEELING STYLE, but the freedom and independence that characterized Lebanon’s media before the 15-year civil war have yet to return, for reasons that include censorship, self-censorship, archaic media laws, and occasional state intimidation. Nevertheless, an important taboo was breached in March, before Israel’s anticipated withdrawal from south Lebanon,…
Freedom and Captivity: Terry Anderson Interviews Andrei Babitsky
July 17, 2000– Earlier this month, CPJ Vice Chairman Terry Anderson visited Moscow as a member of an international delegation of press freedom advocates. The delegation met with a consortium of Russian journalists and officials to voice concern over the increasing number of attacks on the Russian media. On July 12, Anderson spoke with Russian…
Lebanon: Repected journalist’s passport revoked
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to strongly protest the Lebanese authorities’ recent decision to annul the passport of Raghida Dergham, the New York bureau chief for the London-based daily Al-Hayat and a widely respected commentator on Arab affairs.
Local journalist freed as Israeli forces withdraw from South Lebanon; BBC driver killed by shellfire
Read an account of the shelling incident in The Financial Times and in the BBC New York, May 23, 2000 — A Lebanese free-lance reporter was freed today after nine months in detention, as Israeli troops pushed ahead with their accelerated withdrawal from occupied southern Lebanon, Lebanese sources told CPJ today.
Attacks on the Press 1999: Middle East Analysis
By Joel CampagnaRoyal succession and rubber-stamp elections set the tone for a year in which Middle Eastern and North African governments continued to restrict press freedoms through a combination of censorship, intimidation, and media monopoly. Ballots in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen produced few surprises as longtime rulers stayed in power and maintained formidable obstacles…
Attacks on the Press 1999: 1999 Death Toll: Listed by Country
[Click here for full list of documented cases] At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. In 1999, journalists in Sierra Leone witnessed rebels’ atrocities against civilians in the streets of Freetown. In the Balkans, journalists watched ethnic Albanians fleeing the deadly menace of Serbian police and paramilitaries. In…
Attacks on the Press 1999: Israel and the Occupied Territories
Since Israel began turning over parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) six years ago, its repression of the local press has noticeably declined. The censorship, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests of Palestinian journalists that marked full-fledged Israeli occupation are now practiced by Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and…