By Ann CooperOn May 2, when the Committee to Protect Journalists identified the Philippines as the world’s most murderous country for journalists, the reaction was swift. “Exaggerated,” huffed presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, who was practiced at dismissing the mounting evidence. He had called an earlier CPJ analysis of the dangers to Philippine journalists “grossly misplaced…
Lessons in Democracy, Pressure, and the PressBy Julia CrawfordZimbabwe and Burundi, countries with very different histories, were among the dozen states in sub-Saharan Africa that held elections this year. In Burundi, the local media played a significant role in informing the public about the democratic process and signaling abuses by those in power. In Zimbabwe,…
All the News That Can’t Be PrintedBy Carlos LauríaGood investigative reporters know more than they can write. The problem in some Latin American countries is that good reporters are barely writing anything. From Brazil to the U.S.-Mexico border, journalists are looking over their shoulders before sitting down at their computers or going on the air.…
As Radio Grows Powerful, Challenges EmergeBy Abi WrightAt home, in the car, and even in the fields, more people across Asia are getting their news on the radio than ever before. Increasingly, this accessible and affordable medium is bringing real-time information to remote areas of Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Thailand, parts of which…
Free Expression Takes a Back SeatBy Alex Lupis To gain military footing and access to energy resources in the former Soviet empire, the United States has diverted its attention from human rights and press freedom issues in Eurasia. The U.S. policy of close cooperation with the region’s authoritarian leaders has undermined free and independent reporting in…
In the Crosshairs, Journalists Face New Threat By Joel Campagna The bomb that ripped through Samir Qassir’s white Alfa Romeo on June 2, 2005, silenced Lebanon’s most fearless journalist. For years, Qassir’s outspoken columns in the daily Al-Nahar took on the Syrian government and its Lebanese allies when few reporters dared do so. The assassination sent shockwaves…
AFGHANISTAN The number of news outlets grew yet again, continuing an expansion of the media that began with the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2001. With journalism’s higher profile, however, came increases in threats, attacks, and detentions targeting the press. These cases had a chilling effect on the news media, leading to greater…
ALGERIA Authorities continued to use legal harassment as the primary means of intimidating the private press, wielding a penal code that criminalizes defaming the president, the judiciary, Parliament, and the military. Emboldened by his re-election in 2004, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, together with his political and business allies, registered hundreds of legal complaints against private newspapers…
ARGENTINA The Argentine press continued to work freely and largely without fear of physical attacks. But several provincial administrations and the national government have manipulated the allocation of state advertising to punish critical reporting and reward supportive media. Two new studies determined that the politically based distribution of government advertising undermines the free press in…