Attacks on the Press in 2010
A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists Table of Contents Preface by Riz Khan International Institutions Fail to Defend Press Freedom by Joel Simon Exposing the Internet’s Shadowy Assailants by Danny O’Brien Journalists Killed Journalists in Prison Regional Analyses AFRICA: Governments Criminalize Investigative Reporting by Mohamed Keita AMERICAS: In Latin America, a Return…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Iraq
Top Developments • New press court, politically motivated lawsuits raise alarm. • As instability festers, five journalists, three support workers are killed. Key Statistic $1 billion Damages sought by the Kurdistan Democratic Party from a newspaper that detailed alleged political corruption. Instability festered throughout the year as political parties wrangled to form a new government…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Top Developments • In West Bank, Gaza, journalists face obstruction from all sides. • Israeli fire kills Lebanese reporter during border clash. Key Statistic 18: Journalists detained when Israeli forces raided a Gaza-bound aid convoy. The press operated in a highly polarized environment as Israeli, Hamas, and Fatah officials, all intent on controlling international news…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Lebanon
Top Developments • Tensions rise, media polarized as U.N. special tribunal closes in on indictments. • Technology bill includes several provisions that could restrict press freedom. Key Statistic 0: Arrests made in the murders of two journalists and a bomb attack against a third journalist in 2005. Political tensions grew sharply in late year as…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Morocco
Top Developments • Government pressures advertisers, uses courts to punish critical media. • Authorities obstruct Spanish and other foreign reporters in Western Sahara. Key Statistic 2: Leading independent weeklies that closed under government pressure. A daily facing harassment moved online. The government continued using the judiciary to settle scores with critical journalists and pressuring private…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Turkey
Top Developments • Authorities use anti-terror, defamation, security laws to prosecute journalists. • EU criticizes press record, citing prosecutions, insufficient legal guarantees. Key Statistic 0: Convictions obtained in the 2007 slaying of editor Hrant Dink. Authorities paraded journalists into court on anti-terror, criminal defamation, and state security charges as they tried to suppress critical news…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Yemen
Top Developments • Special press and security courts are used to silence probing journalists. • Redlines bar critical coverage of civil unrest, terrorism, corruption. Key Statistic 29: Days that reporter Abulelah Shaea was held incommunicado after being seized by security agents. The government pursued a widening array of repressive tactics, prompting many journalists to say…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Middle East and North Africa Developments
ATTACKS ON THE PRESS: 2010 • Main Index Middle East and North Africa: • Suppression Under the Cover of National Security Country Summaries • Egypt • Iran • Iraq • Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory • Lebanon • Morocco • Sudan • Tunisia • Turkey • Yemen • Other nations ALGERIA In September, police…
In African hot spots, journalists forced into exile
By Tom Rhodes High numbers of local journalists have fled several African countries in recent years after being assaulted, threatened, or imprisoned, leaving a deep void in professional reporting. The starkest examples are in the Horn of Africa nations of Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, where dozens of journalists have been forced into exile. Zimbabwe, Rwanda,…