Attacks on the Press in 2011: Regulating the Internet
Legislation for Internet security can quickly turn into a weapon against the free press. Cybercrime laws are intended to extend existing penal codes to the online world, but they can easily be broadened to criminalize standard journalistic practices. By Danny O’Brien
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Evolution in Journalist Security
The danger of covering violent street protests has become a significant risk for journalists, alongside combat and targeted killings. Sexual assault, organized crime, and digital vulnerability are also hazards. The security industry is struggling to keep up. By Frank Smyth
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Middle East & North Africa
Analyses and data track press freedom conditions throughout the region. Mohamed Abdel Dayem examines five trends to watch from the Arab uprisings. María Salazar and Sheryl Mendez describe the fear and uncertainty facing doens of Iranian exiled journalists. And Robert Mahoney details Turkey’s assault on free expression.
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Turkey’s Legal Problem
With the aid of anachronistic legislation and a rigid judiciary, Turkish officials and politicians have curbed free expression by subjecting journalists to endless court proceedings and legal costs. The EU and the U.S. are no help. By Robert Mahoney >> Türkçe
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Eritrea
No independent press has operated in this Red Sea nation since a September 2001 government crackdown on dissent that led to the imprisonment of 11 leading journalists without charge or trial and the enforced closure of their publications. President Isaias Afewerki’s administration consistently refused to account for the whereabouts, legal status, or health of the…
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Uzbekistan
Authoritarian leader Islam Karimov marked Media Workers Day by calling for an independent domestic press, the state news agency UzA reported, but his long-standing policies of repression belied such statements. The regime is a persistent jailer of journalists, often ranking among the worst in the region. Embattled reporter Abdumalik Boboyev faced official obstruction when he…
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Belarus
After a rigged December 2010 presidential vote, authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko unleashed two waves of repression against critics and political opponents, one in early year and one in summer. The KGB and police raided independent newsrooms and journalists’ homes, confiscated reporting equipment, and jailed independent reporters. Politicized courts handed suspended prison terms to prominent journalists…
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Mexico
Criminal groups exerted extraordinary pressure on the press as they extended their control over virtually every sector of society. Journalists were killed or disappeared, media outlets were bombed and threatened. Pervasive self-censorship was a devastating consequence of this environment. In an information vacuum, journalists and citizens increasingly used social media to inform their communities. The…