(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 7 June 2003 WAN press release: Dublin, Ireland, 7 June 2003 Press Freedom Deteriorates World-Wide: WAN Barring a few isolated improvements, press freedom has worsened internationally in the past six months, with an alarming number of journalists killed and repression increasing in a number of countries, the World Association […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 7 June 2003 WAN press release:
Dublin, Ireland, 7 June 2003
Press Freedom Deteriorates World-Wide: WAN
Barring a few isolated improvements, press freedom has worsened internationally in the past six months, with an alarming number of journalists killed and repression increasing in a number of countries, the World Association of Newspapers said Saturday in its annual half-year review of press freedom world-wide.
“Vigorous government clampdowns, ongoing and renewed conflict, and premeditated attacks on journalists and their publications signal a widespread deterioration of conditions for media, and a bleak outlook for press freedom in 2003,” WAN said in a report to its Board, meeting Saturday in Dublin, Ireland.
It was a deadly start of the year for journalists covering conflict, with the war in Iraq killing at least 13 journalists. Five journalists have been murdered in Colombia since January in the civil conflict that has killed over 30 journalists in the last decade.
In addition, 13 journalists have been killed elsewhere since November 2002 — Armenia (1), Kuwait (1), Thailand (1), India (2), Ivory Coast (1), Nepal (1), the Philippines (2), Pakistan (1), the Palestinian Authority Territories (2), and Russia (1) — bringing the total during the period to 31 journalists killed.
Details of all cases can be found on the WAN web site at http://www.wan-press.info/pages/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=220. The press freedom review can be found at http://www.wan-press.info/pages/article.php3?id_article=1307
“Creative measures to reduce press freedom continue to be employed by leaders intent on stifling a free press in many countries,” said the report. “Gross violations of freedom of expression in the form of national security laws, terrorism acts and criminal defamation laws have landed scores of journalists in prison and resigned many more to practising self-censorship.”
The WAN Board put a special focus on two causes for concern by issuing resolutions condemning wholesale arrests and long-term jail sentences imposed on journalists in Cuba, and on the potential danger to press freedom on the internet emerging from the UN-backed World Summit on the Information Society. The full resolutions can be found at http://www.wan-press.info/pages/article.php3?id_article=1296 and http://www.wan-press.info/pages/article.php3?id_article=1297
A Regional Review
From economic pressures in Argentina, to the murder of journalists in Colombia, to the mock one-day trial and jailing of scores of journalists in Cuba, Latin America faces many challenges to free press in 2003.
The April jailing of 28 journalists in Cuba signals an abrupt turnaround of press freedom gains on the island. Accused by the state of “working with a foreign power to undermine the government,” the journalists, including renowned writer Raul Rivero, received sentences between 14 and 27 years.
In Asia, press freedom has shown both improvement and deterioration in the past six months. Imprisonment remains the biggest threat to free media in many parts of the region, with China topping the list with at least 40 journalists known to be in jail.
New press laws criminalizing defamation and the development of a government-dominated Press Council in October 2002 were setbacks for press freedom in Pakistan.
India and the Philippines remain stalwarts of free media in the region, though they are still dogged by sporadic violence against journalists and must contend with simmering ethnic and religious tension. In Nepal, conditions for journalists have improved following the peace accord between the government and Maoist rebels in January. Scores of journalists remain in prison, however, and many more continue to be subjected to intimidation and violence.
The Middle East and North Africa continue to rank dismally in the field of press freedom. Criminal defamation laws appear to be the weapon of choice against the media in Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt.
Hard-liners and reformers in Iran continue to clash in a country lodged between tradition and modernity, revealing a press freedom situation which reflects its many internal contradictions. An active and critical press is victim to lengthy prison sentences and exorbitant fines for insulting Islam or criticising the Islamic Revolution and its supreme leader.
In Iraq, 13 journalists are confirmed dead and two remain missing. The eradication of Saddam Hussein’s despotic rule opens a window to a brighter future for press freedom in the country, though until political stability is reached it is difficult to assess the potential for press freedom.
In Europe, press freedom problems are to be found in the former Soviet Union: in Russia, where intimidation, threats and assaults, mainly from criminal elements, against journalists, and the ongoing war in Chechnya have meant setbacks for press freedom; and in Belarus, which continues to provide an extremely hostile environment for independent media.
In the Central Asian states, politically motivated prosecution, libel suits, official harassment and intimidation, and economic strangulation continue to cripple independent media.
In Africa, civil war, authoritarian rule, arbitrary press laws and economic obstacles constrict many media enterprises, and underline the ongoing uphill battle for press freedom spanning much of the continent.
President Mugabe’s stranglehold on the media in Zimbabwe worsens and independent and state-controlled media alike are exposed to official harassment, detention and assault.
Journalists in Eritrea continue to suffer gross violations of their rights, with 18 known media professionals jailed since 2001 at undisclosed locations.
Press freedom in Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Ghana and Togo is strictly limited by government censorship, arbitrary closure of independent newspapers, and menacing criminal libel laws. The April introduction of a censorship policy in Swaziland banned all national television and radio stations from covering anything that has a negative bearing on the government.
WAN has launched more than 85 protest campaigns in over 50 countries since the beginning of the year. The complete list of protests can be found on the WAN web site at http://www.wan-press.info/pages/protests.php3
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
