OPPOSITION LEADERS CONTINUED TO CHALLENGE THE JUNE 1999 ELECTION results, which saw President Bakili Muluzi elected to a second five-year term. The opposition’s claims of election fraud were bolstered in March, when the British anticensorship group ARTICLE 19 released a report claiming that the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) had set up two disinformation teams…
USING INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS AND THE PRINTING PRESSES and Publications Act of 1984, which requires annual relicensing of all publications, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s deeply entrenched ruling party and its allies maintained a stranglehold on the press. Virtually all mainstream newspapers in Malaysia are owned or controlled by parties allied with the ruling Barisan National…
THE GOVERNMENT CONTINUED TO PROSCRIBE OUTSPOKEN PUBLICATIONS under Article 11 of the 1991 Press Ordinance, which gives authorities power to ban any newspaper deemed detrimental to Islam or state authority, threatening to public order, or defamatory to foreign heads of state. During 2000, several independent newspapers were confiscated or suspended for long periods. Victims included…
IN A WATERSHED YEAR FOR MEXICAN DEMOCRACY, the dissolution of ties between much of the media and the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) helped foster a more professional and competitive press in 2000. The election of National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vicente Fox to the presidency on July 2 ended the PRI’s 71-year hold on…
STATE PRESSURE ON MOLDOVAN MEDIA REFLECTED broader political tensions between the country’s Romanian- and Russian-speaking citizens. This linguistic conflict, and related questions of sovereignty and identity, motivated government attempts to impose far-reaching restrictions on Russian- and Romanian-language media. Also, the state continued to impose large fines in libel cases, and several newspapers and journalists were…
WHEN THE FORMERLY COMMUNIST PARTY THAT RULED MONGOLIA for seven decades returned to power in July, there were fears of renewed government interference with the media. These fears were heightened by a state morality drive that kicked off in September. During the campaign, the Justice Ministry reviewed all media outlets to check their compliance with…
CENSORSHIP, PROFESSIONAL BANNINGS, AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS were among the official acts that eroded press freedom in Morocco in 2000, reversing gains seen in the final two years of the late King Hassan II’s reign, and following the 1999 coronation of his son, the liberal-minded King Muhammed VI. In December, the government permanently banned the weekly…
ALTHOUGH MOZAMBIQUE IS NOT KNOWN FOR VICIOUS ATTACKS on press freedom, the cold-blooded execution of editor Carlos Cardoso on November 22 came as no surprise to his colleagues and friends. Cardoso was known for his open criticism of political leaders. Shortly before his death, Cardoso’s fax newsletter, Metical, aggressively covered financial scandals, anti-government demonstrations, and…
NAMIBIA, REGARDED AS A MODEL OF DEMOCRACY, peace, and stability in southern Africa over the past decade, celebrated its 10th anniversary of independence last year, along with the inauguration of President Sam Nujoma to an unprecedented third term in office. The celebrations were marred, however, by the country’s involvement in several armed conflicts and by…
ANOTHER YEAR OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY kept the Nepalese government from doing much of anything. Fortunately for local journalists, that included following through on a number of ominous proposals designed to curb press freedom. Shortly after a new government came to power in March, led by third-time prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, it announced plans to…