Lebanese media feature diverse opinions, aggressive question-and-answer television programs with government officials, and lively criticism of authorities and policies. In addition, the prevalence of satellite dishes gives Lebanese citizens access to other Arab and international TV stations.
In 2003, Mauritania’s press remained subject to the whims of the Interior Ministry, which continued to use the country’s broadly defined, restrictive press law to stifle independent reporting. For years, Article 11 of the law has been the state’s strongest weapon against the press. The article grants the Interior Ministry the power to suspend any…
The multiple suicide bombings that rocked Casablanca on May 16, killing 44 people, triggered a government clampdown on the local media and further dimmed hopes that 40-year-old King Mohammed VI would institute greater press freedoms. In the aftermath of the attacks, the government ordered at least four newspapers closed and detained or imprisoned five journalists.…
The overwhelming issue facing the Philippine press in 2003 was the increasing number of journalists murdered with impunity. In the last year alone, at least five journalists were slain in the course of their work–a toll surpassed only by war-related killings of journalists in Iraq. But in the Philippines, this violence is not a temporary…
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, , ATTACKS ON THE UNITED STATES, Saudi Arabia’s rigid press has exhibited spurts of uncharacteristic independence, reporting on once taboo topics such as crime, unemployment, and even the problem of religious militancy in the kingdom. However, these welcome displays of openness in one of the…
With more than a dozen private dailies and one government daily, Sudan’s print press is surprisingly diverse. Though some private papers are pro-government, many report aggressively on government policies. The state controls all television and radio stations. Rebel leaders and the Sudanese government moved closer in 2003 to an agreement to end their bloody 20-year…
Although Syrian officials continued to pay lip service to their support for more open media discourse in the country, in practice they failed to exhibit a willingness to tolerate independent news outlets in 2003. President Bashar al-Assad’s first months in office in 2000 witnessed important press freedom gains that included the launching of private and…
Since President Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali seized power in 1987, Tunisian authorities have crafted a nearly perfect system to censor and suppress the media. The few courageous voices remaining in the country succeed in circumventing these controls mainly by publishing on the Internet, but Tunisian authorities do not hesitate to block their Web sites, harass…
In an effort to meet European Union criteria for membership, Turkey continued in 2003 to rewrite laws that restrict press freedom. That effort has improved the country’s spotty press freedom record, but many impediments remain. Journalists continued to face criminal prosecution for their work, although the number of jailed journalists has drastically declined in recent…
The U.S. media went to war in 2003, with both embedded and independent reporters pouring into Iraq to cover the U.S.-led invasion and its aftermath. U.S. officials called the invasion the best-covered conflict in history, but it was also one of the most deadly for journalists. All told, 19 reporters died while working in Iraq,…