Pacific Media
WatchPacific Media
Watch
INTERNATIONAL:
CPJ's 10 Enemies of the Press
_______________________________________________________________
Title -- INTERNATIONAL: CPJ's 10 Enemies of the Press - P67
Date -- 1 May, 1998
Byline -- none
Source -- CPJ
Copyright -- CPJ
Status -- Unabridged
Origin -- Pacific Media
Watch
_______________________________________________________________
World Press Freedom Day, Sunday, May 3, 1998
CPJ's 10 Enemies of the Press
The leaders of Nigeria, Burma, Belarus, Cuba, and Indonesia are among the world's 10 Enemies of the Press named today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Selected for their relentless campaigns of suppression of journalists as documented by CPJ worldwide, they were identified in connection with World Press Freedom Day today, May 3.
Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria was named the press' worst enemy. Other enemies include Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Jiang Zemin of China. Leaders of Jordan, Tunisia, and Turkmenistan were cited in CPJ's annual ranking for the first time.
"All of these 10 individuals are intent upon suppressing any independent media voice, through whatever means necessary," said William A. Orme, Jr., executive director of the New York-based press freedom group. "They are collectively responsible for unabating press freedom abuse that has penalized hundreds of journalists through physical attack, imprisonment, censorship, harassment, and even murder."
The 1998 Enemies of the Press:
1. Nigeria's General Sani Abacha. Five years into his dictatorship, Abacha has escalated his outrageous assault on the country's once-thriving independent press and reneged on his promise to return the country to democracy. His brutal tactics keep 21 Nigerian journalists behind bars: Nigeria now holds more journalists in prison than any other African nation. The February murder of Guardian editor Tunde Oladepo, in front of his wife and children, and the April life sentence meted out to Diet editor Niran Malaolu were warnings to journalists not to criticize Abacha's stage-managed referendum to secure his succession unopposed.
2. Burma's Senior General Than Shwe. Than Shwe presides over the cosmetically renamed State Peace and Development Council, but a junta is still a junta, and this stifling regime has changed little since the military seized power in 1988. Burma is a nightmare for free expression. Fax machines, photocopies, and computer modems are illegal. There are no independent newspapers. Foreign broadcasts are frequently jammed. In this climate of oppression, the Burmese people are kept in the dark about even the nature of their own government.
3. Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko. Ignoring international protests of repeated press freedom violations, Lukashenko wages an ongoing, Soviet-style campaign against independent and foreign media in Belarus. His March directive "On Enhancing Counter-Propaganda Activities Towards Opposition Press" forbids state officials to make any documents available to independent media and bans government advertising in all but state-run venues. Lukashenko's routine suppression of the press is typified by the censorship and shutdown of the independent newspaper Svaboda (Freedom). A staged trial of ORT (Russian television) personnel in Minsk sentenced them to silence-or two years in prison.
4. Cuba's President Fidel Castro. Despite implicit promises to Pope John Paul II that there would be greater room for freedom of expression, Castro continues his control over all media outlets and his harsh treatment of independent journalists, who are routinely detained, arrested and beaten, or forced into exile, especially before major political events. In a new effort to staunch the flow of information from the island, Castro created a special task force within the State Security Agency to muzzle the independent press. Journalists try to file stories by phone with colleagues abroad in order to communicate with the outside world, but the Castro regime routinely monitors journalists' calls and interrupts telephone service.
5. Indonesia's President Suharto. With Indonesia's economy in free fall, Suharto continues to run roughshod over the media to prevent open, independent coverage of business and politics. Journalists have been arrested, harassed, and threatened by the military and driven into hiding. Despite this persecution, Indonesian journalists are still attempting to provide broad coverage of the rising opposition to Suharto. But publications that once dared to report on the Suharto clan's financial dealings remain closed by state order. Meanwhile, cronyism endures, exacerbating the economic crisis, and reporters are fearful that digging too deeply into the country's financial troubles could cost them their jobs-or their lives.
6. Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov. The self-proclaimed "father of all Turkmen" rules his country like the old-style totalitarian, cult-of-personality Soviet dictator he is-making Turkmenistan the most repressive of the former Soviet states. A pervasive culture of fear stifles all dissent. Reporters for Radio Liberty (RL), the only alternative non-state source of information in the Turkmen language, are routinely harassed, beaten and forced into exile, and in recent months several have been imprisoned by Niyazov's state security forces. Despite his record, Niyazov has been feted by President Clinton, Vice President Gore and others seeking access to Turkmenistan's vast natural gas and oil reserves.
7. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Lauded by U.S. policy makers as one of the new generation of African leaders for his ostensive contributions to the democratization of Africa, Meles is in fact an autocrat who attempts to suppress all press criticism of his regime. His deliberate campaign of detention and harassment of Ethiopia's independent press has spurred scores of journalists to flee the country. In 1997 alone he imprisoned 16 journalists, many of whom are being held without charge. Journalists continue to be targeted by police and threatened with prosecution by a partisan judiciary.
8. Tunisia's President Zine Abdine Ben Ali. Ben Ali's decade of rule has reduced the Tunisian press to one of the most restricted in the Arab world. Journalists face swift reprisal for even the most benign independent reporting of political affairs in the Tunisian police state. They are dismissed from their jobs, denied accreditation, and barred from leaving the country for anything that is perceived as critical coverage. As a result, self-censorship has become virtually institutionalized. The foreign press is also targeted: Ben Ali has expelled four correspondents since 1991, and foreign news entering Tunisia is sytematically censored.
9. China's President Jiang Zemin. Jiang's one-party state continues to control all forms of media, effectively making independent reporting impossible. Press that fail to toe the Communist Party line remain subject to harsh censure. All Internet communications by local and foreign news media are monitored and subject to state censorship. The release of two famous dissidents after intense international pressure suggests a mild thaw in the climate for free expression, but it is far too early to celebrate a Beijing Spring. For reform to be meaningful, the 10 journalists still in prison in China must be freed.
10. Jordan's Prime Minister Abd al-Salam al-Majali. In little more than a year in office Majali has mounted a harsh offensive against Jordan's outspoken independent press, known for its aggressive coverage of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, the economy, alleged government corruption, and human rights abuses. Last year, al-Majali's cabinet enacted draconian amendments to the press law, decimating the independent weekly press just before parliamentary elections. This brazen manipulator muzzles the media through intimidation, by arresting and prosecuting outspoken journalists, and by censorship.
____________________________________________________________________
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world. To view CPJ's annual report, Attacks on the Press in 1997, and the latest news about press freedom conditions worldwide, visit http://www.cpj.org
Contact: Judith Leynse, 212/465-9344 ext. 105 Committee to Protect Journalists, 330 Seventh Ave., 12th Fl., New York, NY 10027 Fax: 212/465-9568
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors, researchers and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it is the Pacific's first regional media web site. It has links with Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire-Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), and Pactok Communications in Sydney and Port Moresby.
© 1996-98 Copyright - All rights reserved. Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members. Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.
For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific Media Watch at:
E-mail: niusedita@pactok.net.au or bfmedia@peg.apc.org
Fax: (+679) 30 5779 or (+612) 9660 1804
Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia
or, c/o Journalism, PO Box 1168, Suva, Fiji
Website: http://www.pactok.net/docs/pmw