(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: New York, N.Y., May 3, 1999 The leaders of Yugoslavia, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia head the list of the top 10 Enemies of the Press, named today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Singled out for their unrelenting and often […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release:
New York, N.Y., May 3, 1999
The leaders of Yugoslavia, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
and Ethiopia head the list of the top 10 Enemies of the Press, named today
by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Singled out for their
unrelenting and often brutal suppression of the press as documented by CPJ,
they were identified on World Press Freedom Day today, May 3.
Yugoslavia’s president, Slobodan Milosevic, was named the press’ worst
enemy. Also cited were Jiang Zemin of China, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Laurent
Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, and
Zine Abdine Ben Ali of Tunisia. Also in CPJ’s annual ranking: Mahathir
Mohamad of Malaysia, Alberto K. Fujimori of Peru, Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine,
and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
“These 10 individuals have been disastrous for independent journalism,” said
Ann K. Cooper, CPJ’s executive director. “A free press informs, but their
regimes have knowingly acted to suppress information through countless
violations against journalists, including censorship, imprisonment, physical
attack, and even murder.”
The 1999 Enemies of the Press:
1.Yugoslavia’s President Slobodan Milosevic. Suppression of the press
through intimidation, assault, crippling fines, and license denials -all
codified in a draconian media law imposed in October- is a prime weapon in
Milosevic’s arsenal of control. Intensified with the onset of the NATO
bombardment, Milosevic’s repression of all independent media has quelled
every opposition voice, imperiled journalists’ lives, and filled the
airwaves with hate speech.
2.China’s President Jiang Zemin. The confluence in 1999 of the 10th
anniversary of the government-ordered massacre of pro-democracy
demonstrators in Tiananmen Square and the 50th anniversary of the founding
of the People’s Republic led Jiang to renew Beijing’s hard-line attitudes
toward the press. He presided over worsening conditions for politically
independent journalists in the last year as the Communist Party’s propaganda
department shut down several newspapers, magazines, and book publishing
houses and threatened many others for challenging party orthodoxy. Jailing
of journalists continues, and, in an ominous development, an Internet
entrepreneur was imprisoned for providing e-mail addresses to a dissident
online magazine.
3.Cuba’s President Fidel Castro. A crackdown by Castro on independent press
eroded any hope for improvement generated by Pope John Paul II’s visit last
year. Castro represses independent journalists to the point of extinction,
forcing them to flee the country to avoid detention and arrest seemingly for
even thinking about covering a trial of dissidents or a public demonstration
that would reflect unfavorably on his complete control. Since January, at
least 28 independent journalists were detained, and one was sentenced to
four years imprisonment, bringing the number of jailed journalists to four.
A new press law criminalizes free speech and imposes harsh sentences on
anyone deemed guilty of serving U.S. interests against Cuba, which precludes
any contact with foreign media.
4.Democratic Republic of Congo’s Laurent Kabila. Expectations that Kabila
would bring greater freedom to the country formerly known as Zaire vanished
once he seized power and unleashed an unremitting barrage of attacks on the
press. No journalist is immune from Kabila’s intolerance for opposing views.
Using the threat of a rebel takeover to justify his actions, he has created
a reign of terror for scores of journalists through his penchant for blaming
his military failures on the independent press. Since his takeover, more
than 70 journalists have been detained without charge, imprisoned, attacked,
or harassed.
5.Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Retaining his title as Africa’s
leading jailer of journalists -there were 12 in prison at the end of 1998,
and another 20 incarcerated during the year- Meles repeatedly employs his
technique of decimating the press by arresting and imprisoning any
independent journalist, often without charge. His tactics, encoded in a
press law that provides broad means for silencing the media, drive
independent-minded journalists from the profession, and from the country.
Those persevering in their craft suffer dire consequences.
6.Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma. Using tax and libel laws as instruments
of his hostility to journalists, Kuchma runs roughshod over any expression
of opposition. His tacit acceptance of violence against the press has
encouraged bombings of newspaper offices, assaults on reporters and editors,
and a general climate of fear and self-censorship. His tax policies force
print and broadcast outlets without foreign support to seek financial aid
from businesses and politicians who then extort favorable publicity.
Crushing fines forced three newspapers to shut down in recent months.
7.Tunisia’s President Zine Abdine Ben Ali. The climate of fear created by a
decade of rule by this dictator who masks his actions with a veneer of
purported human rights achievement has transformed what was once a
respectable press into one of the most restricted in the Arab world.
Tunisian journalists who dare to veer from a path of strict self-censorship
face swift reprisal in the form of dismissal from jobs, severing of phone
and fax lines, restrictions on travel, and intimidation by state agents. Ben
Ali brooks no dissent in his self-styled police state, banning foreign
publications and blocking access to websites -including CPJ’s- offering
information critical of the country’s dismal rights record.
8.Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Like a master puppeteer,
Mahathir
pulls the strings of the major media, mostly owned or controlled by his
ruling coalition, to perpetuate his power. Strict licensing requirements are
in force, self-censorship by journalists of news deemed negative or
derogatory is rewarded, and foreign press are closely monitored and
frequently harassed. Despite journalists’ valiant attempts at free
expression through the Internet and efforts by opposition newspapers to
report on public outrage over the imprisonment of Anwar Ibrahim, his
reform-minded former deputy, Mahathir continues to manage the flow of
mainstream domestic news coverage.
9.Peru’s President Alberto K. Fujimori. A systematic state-run campaign to
discredit Peru’s independent press bears the stamp of Fujimori’s
“infotatorship.” Fujimori’s intelligence arm has engaged in assassination
plans, death threats, wiretapping, surveillance, and smear tactics to harass
and imperil journalists, often forcing or ordering them into exile.
Investigative reporters looking into government corruption and collusion
between drug traffickers and the military have been hit with charges of
espionage, treason, and terrorism invoked to discredit and deter their work.
10.Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. A siege of jailings under the provisions
of the Mubarak-approved press law and the censorship and closure of
newspapers marked a sharp deterioration in the climate for press freedom in
his one-man 18-year rule. In 1998 CPJ documented the first cases of
journalists imprisoned in Egypt for libel, including two for reporting on
profiteering by the family of a government official. Dozens more face
imprisonment on pending libel charges. Government censorship of publications
registered abroad elicited this endorsement from Mubarak: “Any newspaper
published from outside Egypt can be banned if it does not abide by Egyptian
social values and seeks to stir up sectarian rift.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world. Its
annual survey, Attacks on the Press in 1998, is available at
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