Annual Report on State of Press Freedoms Worldwide: 34 Journalists Killed for their Work; 87 Imprisoned at Year's End
Committee to Protect Journalists
Washington, March 22, 2000 -- In countries where democracy remains an elusive goal, press freedoms are dismayingly precarious, according to Attacks on the Press in 1999, the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), released today at a press conference at the National Press
Club in Washington.
The book contains detailed reporting on more than 500 cases of journalists fined, assaulted, imprisoned, or killed because of their work. It documents the perilous state of independent journalism, and democracy, in most regions of the world. The 435-page book analyses the state of press freedoms
in more than 120 countries, with special reports on conditions in Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Central America.
The most alarming statistic was an increase in violence against journalists: 34 were killed in 1999 as a result of their work. This marks a disturbing increase from the previous year, when 24 died. Journalists died for their work in every region that CPJ monitors. Some were caught in crossfire
while covering the local and regional conflicts that have proliferated since the end of the cold war. But most were targeted for assassination by factions eager to suppress reporting on their misdeeds. The largest number, 10, died in Sierra Leone, where most of the victims were hunted down by rebels
who sought to silence journalists writing about atrocities against civilians. Six more journalists lost their lives in Yugoslavia, and five were murdered in Colombia.
More Deaths; Fewer Jailings
While the deaths of journalists make up the most dramatic barometer of the state of press freedom, imprisonment is another powerful tool used by enemies of the press. At year's end, CPJ's research showed 87 journalists were held behind bars for their work‹a decrease from the 118 imprisoned
a year earlier. This drop is a welcome improvement. But CPJ's census of imprisoned journalists is a snapshot of those behind bars on December 31; Attacks on the Press documents dozens more cases of journalists detained during 1999, but released before year's end.
These "short term" warnings have a deeply chilling effect on independent journalism. For example, in the two and a half years since Democratic Republic of Congo president Laurent Kabila came to power, at least 60 journalists have been detained in the DRC. Though many were never charged
or convicted, Kabila's devastating use of incarceration to silence critical journalists earned him the dubious distinction of being one of CPJ's Ten Worst Enemies of the Press in 1999.
Attacks on the Press documents a wide range of other abuses, from the torture of journalists in Zimbabwe, to the kidnapping of reporters in Chechnya, to the increasing use of bureaucratic harassment to shut down newspapers and broadcast outlets that offend presidents and dictators worldwide.
"Sophisticated despots are adopting more subtle methods to muzzle the press," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Some wily leaders understand that regimes can pay an international price for routinely jailing journalists. So instead, they drive independent media out of
business by harassing them with tax laws, levying crippling fines, or cutting off access to state-controlled newsprint and printing presses." Such tactics are employed by governments in many countries, such as Algeria and Pakistan, but their use grew at a particularly alarming rate last year in
Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries of central and eastern Europe.
Working for Change
CPJ's goal is to shame governments into changing their behavior by giving wide exposure to their abuses of press freedom. Attacks on the Press in 1999 shows that even the most hard-line governments can be influenced by international pressure. For example, CPJ documented 11 new cases of
imprisonment in China last year. But in February, 1999, the government granted early release to journalist Gao Yu, in an apparent goodwill gesture before a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.
In December, newly-elected Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso signed legislation that repealed some of her country's notorious gag laws. And the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, made up of journalists from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, became a bold new voice of advocacy for greater
press freedom in their region.
CPJ hopes that this book will encourage all journalists to support its work on behalf of press freedom. In the book's preface, New Yorker staff writer Philip Gourevitch argues that "we can best support our colleagues abroad, for whom being a journalist is synonymous with being in danger . .
. [by] covering the world more intensively."
The annual Attacks series is widely recognized as the most authoritative and comprehensive source of information on press freedom conditions worldwide.
Copies of Attacks on the Press in 1999 will be available at a press conference at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on March 22.
[To read Attacks on the Press in 1999 online, click here]. |