Iraq

PREFACE By Ted Koppel INTRODUCTION  by Ann Cooper REGIONAL ANALYSES Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe and Central Asia | Middle East and North Africa AFRICA Africa Analysis | Angola | Burundi | Cameroon | Central African Republic | Democratic Republic of Congo | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | The Gambia | Ivory Coast |…

By Ted KoppelThis is not a good day. As I write, pop star Michael Jackson has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor. His residence cum theme park, “Neverland,” has been invaded by police, sheriff’s deputies, and a team of forensic specialists. I am not empathizing with Michael Jackson, although this…

By Ann CooperIn real-time images, the war in Iraq splashed across television screens worldwide in March, with thousands of journalists covering the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. The conflict and its aftermath had a far-reaching impact on the press and its ability to report the news, with the reverberations felt in some…

While violence and repression against the press continued unabated and even increased in some countries, public trust in journalists and the press suffered in much of the Americas, jeopardizing support for reforms of archaic press laws and opening the door for governments to take a more confrontational approach with the media.

War and political violence drew hundreds of journalists to the Middle East in 2003 for what proved to be a series of relentlessly dangerous assignments. The U.S.-led war in Iraq was one of the most heavily covered conflicts in modern history–and one of the deadliest for journalists. Thirteen reporters died from hostile acts, both during…

New York, March 11, 2004–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today released its annual survey, Attacks on the Press in 2003, during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Copies of the book are available through The Brookings Institution Press [click here to order the print edition]. The entire text of…

Press freedom conditions have improved dramatically since the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime in December 2001. However, Afghanistan’s rocky transition to democracy has not removed all obstacles for the media, and local journalists remain under threat.

Corruption and political chaos in Bosnia and Herzegovina gave journalists many scandals to cover in 2003, from massive fraud at state power companies to illegal weapons sales to Iraq. Journalists endured a wide array of harassment and abuses, including threatening phone calls, politically motivated tax inspections, retaliatory lawsuits, and physical attacks, most of which were…

With the commercialization of the press, the rapid spread of the Internet, and international condemnation of a government cover-up of the SARS virus, the new administration of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao faced a series of tests over government censorship policies in 2003. Although Hu initially called for the press to take on…

Unlike previous years, when Cuban authorities were mostly content to merely harass and threaten independent journalists and their families, in 2003, authorities launched an all-out assault against the opposition and the independent press. Officials jailed 29 journalists–about one-third of the island’s independent press–and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms. Those who continue to work face…