The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists who have courageously provided independent news coverage and viewpoints in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, and threats of death. The following five journalists will receive the 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in ceremonies…
Executive Director William A. Orme, Jr., who was interviewed on CNN International, Fox News “In Depth,” MSNBC “Online,” and numerous radio shows about Attacks on the Press in 1997, traveled to California for the April 6 launch of the book at a program at the Freedom Forum in San Francisco. He also addressed the regional conference…
For some delegates, just getting to the West African Journalists Association (WAJA) regional conference in Dakar, Senegal, was an impressive achievement. While his colleagues used more conventional modes of transportation, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) president Frank Kposowa navigated his way out of the country by night in a hired motorized dugout canoe. The…
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual choices of the top 10 Enemies of the Press worldwide. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal for the ruthless suppression of journalists. For the second consecutive year, the…
For the second time in less than a year, a group of Palestinian reporters covering clashes in Hebron between Palestinians and Israelis were fired upon with rubber-coated metal bullets by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Eight journalists were wounded in the March 13 attack, which witnesses have characterized as the IDF’s intentional targeting of the…
Ruth Simon Correspondent, Agence France-Presse Imprisoned Journalist Ruth Simon, a correspondent for the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), has been in detention since April 25, 1997. Simon, an Eritrean citizen, was arrested after reporting that President Isaias Afewerki told participants at a seminar in Asmara that Eritrean soldiers were fighting alongside rebels in neighboring Sudan.…
Minister of Press and Information: Siruz Khudat ogli Tabrizli, born 1942 in Tabriz, Iran. A writer, poet, former journalist. Holds democratic views but is a strong supporter of President Heidar Aliyev. Member of parliament and a leader of Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party. Serves as minister under the “List of 18” exception which allows 15 percent…
There are two views of the press in Armenia today. The first holds that the press is entirely free to report as it chooses. The second is that the press is irresponsible. One thing is certain: In the absence of censorship, Armenian officials resort to verbal pressure and sometimes physical retribution, to knock journalists into…
A 1993 censor’s log book, revealing the interplay between censors and the cuts they made, has been circulating among Baku editors. Some extracts from the purloined document: ³24/VIII/93 ³An article cut from Azadliq. It said that S. Husseinov demanded the resignation of President Aliyev at his press conference at Ganja. If you see such information…