Niger’s journalists won praise from international observers for maintaining objectivity in a volatile political environment. Following the April 9 assassination of strongman Ibrahim Bare Mainassara by soldiers under the command of Maj. Daouda Mallam Wanke, local independent media joined forces with nongovernmental organizations, political parties, and international bodies to urge an immediate return to democratic…
Following national and presidential elections in February, decades of military rule ended with the installation of a new civilian government on May 29, headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Both in Nigeria and abroad, expectations ran high that the dark days of repression under former dictator Gen. Sani Abacha were finally over. However, the transition to…
Despite North Korea’s professed commitment in 1999 to pursuing a course of modernization, the country remained as isolated as ever, maintaining a stringently controlled system to restrict freedom of speech, the press, and any form of unregulated cultural activity. As a result, there was almost no independent scrutiny of Communist leader Kim Jong Il’s stern…
Former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to muzzle the press, and bring the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government under his personal control, earned him the reputation of a tyrant and badly discredited Pakistan’s democracy. His slide toward authoritarianism ended abruptly with a bloodless coup on October 12, in which army chief Gen.…
A roller-coaster year for the Panamanian press began with a flurry of prosecutions under the country’s infamous “gag laws.” After the outgoing government tried to strengthen the gag laws under the pretense of reforming them, the year ended with the new government repealing some of the gag laws’ most onerous provisions. In the 20 years…
Among many Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, the optimism that accompanied the establishment of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian National Authority (PNA) six years ago appears to have given way to disillusionment. Widespread corruption within the PNA, its perceived failure in negotiating a just peace, and worsening economic conditions for much of the population…
The Paraguayan press was deeply divided by a constitutional conflict between Congress and the president that polarized the entire country and threatened to undermine Paraguay’s fragile democracy. The political crisis began in 1998, when Gen. Lino Oviedo, who led an unsuccessful 1996 coup against then-president Juan Carlos Wasmosy, emerged as the leading presidential candidate to…
President Alberto K. Fujimori continued his efforts to suppress critical reporting in a year that ended with the long-anticipated announcement that he would seek a third five-year term, a move widely considered unconstitutional. The Fujimori government’s systematic campaign to discredit Peru’s independent press earned him a place on CPJ’s list of the top 10 enemies…
Despite enjoying one of the freest presses in Asia, a number of Filipino journalists critical of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada found themselves in bitter conflict with the presidential palace in 1999. Those conflicts led to renewed fears that the media could find themselves under official assault, despite constitutional guarantees protecting a free press. In July,…
Poland became a member of NATO in April 1999 and looks forward to further integration with the West, including European Union membership in the next few years. The country has free and relatively professional media, but Poland’s positive press freedom record is marred by the government’s retention of criminal- libel statutes despite President Alexander Kwasniewski’s…