Attacks on the Press 2001: Liberia
President Charles Taylor remains the single greatest threat to press freedom in Liberia. As global pressure mounted on his government to improve its bleak human rights record, Taylor responded with his usual mix of paranoia and brutality, jailing reporters for “espionage,” shutting down newspapers for unpaid taxes and imposing a news blackout on an armed…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Malawi
Officials and ruling party supporters intensified a campaign of intimidation against critical voices in Malawi following revelations of widespread government corruption and amid growing speculation that President Bakili Muluzi would run for an unconstitutional third term in office. Members of opposition parties are often denied coverage in the state media, which is almost entirely controlled…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Swaziland
Absolute ruler King Mswati III learned just how small the global village can be when he signed a June 22 media decree that was immediately denounced by human rights organizations and governments worldwide. Decree No. 2 made it a seditious offense, punishable with a 10-year jail term, to “impersonate, insult, ridicule, or put into contempt”…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Journalists in Prison
There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.
Government bars Indian journalists
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned by your government’s apparent refusal to process visa applications from journalists of Indian descent. Indian journalists, as well as journalists of Indian origin holding citizenship from Western countries, have told CPJ that visa applications submitted in mid-September are still awaiting approval. Officials at Pakistan’s High Commission in London have informed journalists of Indian origin that the Information Ministry office in Islamabad must clear their applications before they can be approved. Meanwhile, non-Indian journalists typically receive visas within days, if not hours, of submitting their applications.
CPJ testifies before U.S. Congress on press freedom conditions in Central Asia
New York, July 19, 2001–A CPJ representative testified before a joint congressional subcommittee yesterday about the terrible state of press freedom in Central Asia. [Read the transcript] “Repression and violence, or the threat thereof, are ever present for many reporters, encouraging self-censorship as a survival mechanism,” CPJ Washington representative Frank Smyth told the joint hearing…
CPJ concerned about recent decline in press freedom
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the latest deterioration in Angolan press freedom. While Angolan journalists have long faced official hostility and harassment, CPJ has documented a deplorable surge in government interference with the independent press in recent weeks.
2000 prison census: 81 journalists jailed
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…