Attacks on the Press 2004: Tunisia
TunisiaFor nearly two decades, Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has quietly run one of the region’s most efficient police states, stifling the media with an array of Soviet-style tactics. Even allies of Ben Ali, such as U.S. President George W. Bush, expressed concern in 2004 about the troubling lack of press freedom. On World…
Journalists in prison, 2004
Around the world, 122 journalists were in prison at the end of 2004 for practicing their profession, 16 fewer than the year before. International advocacy campaigns, including those waged by the Committee to Protect Journalists, helped win the early release of a number of imprisoned journalists, notably six independent writers and reporters in Cuba.
2004 IPFA dinner remarks
Remarks by Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ At this event we celebrate the courage of individual journalists and we demonstrate our collective determination to thwart forces that would silence the press. Those collective efforts over the past 12 months have helped win the early release of journalists imprisoned for their work in Tunisia, in…
Attacks on the Press 2003: Introduction
By Ann CooperIn real-time images, the war in Iraq splashed across television screens worldwide in March, with thousands of journalists covering the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. The conflict and its aftermath had a far-reaching impact on the press and its ability to report the news, with the reverberations felt in some…
Attacks on the Press 2003: Tunisia
Since President Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali seized power in 1987, Tunisian authorities have crafted a nearly perfect system to censor and suppress the media. The few courageous voices remaining in the country succeed in circumventing these controls mainly by publishing on the Internet, but Tunisian authorities do not hesitate to block their Web sites, harass…
Attacks on the Press in 2003: Journalists in Prison
There were 138 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2003 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is the same as last year. An analysis of the reasons behind this is contained in the introduction on page 10. At the beginning of 2004, CPJ sent letters of inquiry to…
CPJ urges President Bush to raise press freedom issues with Tunisian leader
Dear President Bush: In advance of your meeting with Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to draw your attention to Tunisia’s dismal press freedom record.