(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an announcement of CPJ’s report on Attacks on the Press in 1998: 118 Journalists Imprisoned in 25 Countries, New CPJ Report Shows 24 Journalists Murdered in 1998; Killings of 12 Others Under Investigation ‘Attacks on the Press’ Spotlights Algeria, Latin America, Nigeria, Southeast Asia Washington, D.C., March 25 – The […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an announcement of CPJ’s report on Attacks
on
the Press in 1998:
118 Journalists Imprisoned in 25 Countries, New CPJ Report Shows 24
Journalists Murdered in 1998; Killings of 12 Others Under Investigation
‘Attacks on the Press’ Spotlights Algeria, Latin America, Nigeria,
Southeast
Asia
Washington, D.C., March 25 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
reported
today in its annual worldwide study of press freedom that at least 118
journalists were in prison in 25 countries at the end of 1998, and 24
journalists in 17 countries were murdered during the year in reprisal
for
their reporting.
CPJ released the 400-page Attacks on the Press in 1998, the 12th in the
series, at a 10:30 a.m. news conference at the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C. The book contains analyses of press freedom issues in
118
countries, four special reports, and compelling accounts of 500 attacks
aimed to intimidate and silence journalists and news organizations
through
assault, wrongful imprisonment, censorship, and legal harassment.
Peter Arnett, a member of CPJ’s board of directors who joined CPJ on a
fact-finding mission to Algeria last year and reported from the country,
said of conditions for media in Algeria and Yugoslavia, “These are all
reminders that our colleagues abroad do not enjoy the privileges that we
do.”
Addressing the latest media crackdown in Yugoslavia that has targeted
foreign press as well as independent media, CPJ’s Executive Director Ann
K.
Cooper said, “What’s happening with the foreign press now is what the
independent media have lived through for years, yet they have survived
because of their courage, and because of the support given to them by
their
colleagues in the U. S. and elsewhere.”
Among ominous trends of 1998 noted in CPJ’s report card on press freedom
around the world were the explosion of violence against journalists in
war-torn Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and onerous
new
press laws in Jordan and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Colombia,
where
43 journalists were murdered in the past 10 years, was the most lethal
country for journalists. CPJ confirmed the assassinations of four
journalists, targets of ongoing civil war and pervasive criminal
violence,
and continues to investigate murders of five other Colombian
journalists.
For the fifth consecutive year, Turkey held more journalists in prison
than
any other country, 27, down from 29 in 1997. Most are victims of the
government’s continued criminalization of reporting on the 14-year-old
conflict with Kurdish insurgents in Turkey’s southeast. China and
Ethiopia
each held 12 journalists in prison at year’s end. One of the newly
imprisoned in China was jailed for sharing e-mail addresses with a
dissident
online magazine. Ethiopia persisted in flouting the rule of law by
jailing
journalists on unspecified charges.
Sylvia Poggioli, senior correspondent in Europe for National Public
Radio,
writes in the book’s preface of “the incredibly high price the press has
paid in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia,” where state-run media
fomented
ethnic hatred that led to the Croatian and Bosnian wars and then to
Kosovo.
“What makes ill-treatment of the media in the former Yugoslavia
particularly
disturbing,” she says, “is that this region has been the object of
intense
diplomatic involvement and scrutiny by the international community, yet
Western diplomacy has focused mainly on regional stability at the
expense of
freedom of information and free speech.”
Three journalists freed from prison in 1998 were subjects of CPJ
campaigns
and recipients of CPJ International Press Freedom Awards – Chris Anyanwu
of
Nigeria, Doan Viet Hoat of Vietnam, and Ruth Simon of Eritrea.
At least 24 journalists were killed as a direct result of their
professional
work in 17 countries during the year. In addition to the Colombia
murders,
two journalists were murdered for their work in each of four countries –
Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. Assassination claimed the life of
a
journalist in each of 12 other countries – Afghanistan, Angola,
Bangladesh,
Burkina Faso, Canada, Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Philippines, Rwanda,
Sierra
Leone, and Thailand. CPJ continues to investigate the deaths of 12 other
journalists where there is reason to suspect the killings were in
retribution for the journalists’ work. The book includes a chart of the
more
than 470 murders of journalists in the past 10 years by region and
country.
In Nigeria, where the June death of military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha
brought
long-awaited freedom in 1998 to all but one of 17 imprisoned
journalists,
unease persists that press freedom cannot be achieved without the repeal
of
laws used to punish journalists who criticize government officials. In
Algeria, embroiled since 1992 in brutal civil conflict with Islamic
extremists, the assassination campaign that claimed the lives of at
least 58
journalists between 1993 and 1996 has left a press diminished in number
and
dependent on state protection. In Peru, a scare campaign against a
reporter
who revealed that the army was wiretapping phones of journalists and
government opponents led to a united effort by international journalist
groups to confront President Alberto K. Fujimori and an improvement of
conditions for Peruvian journalists. In Indonesia, the fall of President
Suharto, triggered by Asia’s economic downturn, nationwide protests, and
international pressure, led to a lifting of almost all restrictions on
the
press by B.J. Habibie, his hand-picked successor.
Of the 25 countries at year’s end holding journalists in prison, the
third
highest in number was Sierra Leone with 11. Burma and Syria each held 8,
Peru, 5, Cuba, 4, and Gabon, 3. Countries with two imprisoned each were
Algeria, Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Russia, South
Korea, Togo and Tunisia. CPJ documented one imprisoned in each of
Cameroon,
Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Four reports by CPJ’s regional specialists focus attention on leading
indicators for press freedom worldwide:
Nigeria-“Outliving Abacha, Six Nigerian Journalists’ Prison Stories”
points
out that systemic change is needed to restore press freedom in Nigeria
and
presents the vivid personal accounts of six journalists who endured
brutal
imprisonment under the Abacha regime.
Latin America-“Banding Together” recounts how, with the help of CPJ and
other international press organizations, newly empowered journalists in
Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico are uniting to
protest abuses against the press.
Asia-“Freedom Takes Hold: ASEAN Journalism in Transition” pinpoints how
journalists in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia allied to
monitor
press freedom conditions in the region.
Algeria-“Siege Mentality: Press Freedom and the Algerian Conflict”
reports
on CPJ’s fact-finding mission to the country where journalists have long
feared for their lives.
Compiled from the first-hand research of CPJ’s professional staff,
Attacks
on the Press in 1998 is the single most authoritative and comprehensive
source of information on the status of press freedom around the world.
The
book describes CPJ’s actions on behalf of hundreds of journalists
through
emergency response and fact-finding missions, personal appeals by CPJ
board
members and staff, grassroots efforts, diplomatic channels, and media
campaigns.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. To order
copies of Attacks on the Press in 1998, call 212/465-1004 or write to
the
Committee to Protect Journalists, 330 Seventh Ave., 12th Floor, New
York, NY
10001. Attacks will be available on CPJ’s website at http://www.cpj.org
