AS SPORADIC GUN BATTLES CONTINUED BETWEEN GOVERNMENT FORCES AND REBELS of the United Revolutionary Front (FRUD), state broadcast and print outlets tailored their coverage to the propaganda needs of President Ismael Omar Guelleh’s government. The opposition press, led by the weekly papers La Republique, Le Temps, and Le Renouveau, was little more objective. The civil…
THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC’S VIBRANT PRESS WAS TARNISHED by accusations of biased coverage during the May 16 presidential election. The year also saw a landmark conviction in the murder of a journalist, and a proposed bill to enhance freedom of the press. The ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) lost a three-way race between its own candidate,…
EMERGING FROM DARKNESS AND DEVASTATION, East Timor’s journalists took their first steps toward building an independent press for the fledgling nation. The leaders of the new country have pledged to promote press freedom after they achieve formal independence (expected by the end of 2001). “We have no intention to interfere in any way with the…
AMID SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TURBULENCE following a change of government in January and the dollarization of the economy, authorities intercepted a series of letter bombs sent to journalists. On January 21, President Jamil Mahuad was overthrown in an uprising led by junior military officers and Amerindian protesters who installed a “national salvation government.” The following…
A YEAR AFTER WINNING A PRESIDENTIAL REFERENDUM in which he was the sole candidate, President Hosni Mubarak dashed hopes that his fourth sixth-year term would bring any loosening of official restraints on the media. Censorship and the jailing of journalists persisted, and there was a disturbing rash of violent police and other attacks against members…
IN A YEAR THAT SAW EL SALVADOR’S FORMER LEFTIST GUERRILLAS EMERGE as the country’s leading political party, conservative publishers reined in the journalists they employed. The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) completed its transformation from a guerrilla army into a leading political party in the March 12 elections, winning a plurality in the Legislative…
REVERSALS IN THE BORDER WAR WITH ETHIOPIA and the signing of a peace agreement in December gave rise to a few skeptical stirrings in the Eritrean press. But the generally patriotic, pro-state orientation of local journalists impeded independent verification of reported press freedom abuses. In October, eight independent journalists were arrested for avoiding military service,…
AFTER PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI AND ERITREAN PRESIDENT Isaias Afeworki signed a peace treaty on December 12, 2000, Zenawi announced that the end of the two-year-long border war would allow his government to strengthen Ethiopian democracy. But with seven journalists in jail at year’s end, it was unclear whether the newly reelected prime minister would…
FIJI’S PRESS, AMONG THE FREEST AND MOST DIVERSE IN THE PACIFIC REGION, endured a tumultuous year, marked by a coup attempt that effectively dismantled the country’s democratic foundations. While former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry had been a harsh critic of the press during his brief tenure, journalists came under much greater pressure during the months…
PRESS FREEDOM STANDARDS DECLINED SHARPLY LAST YEAR, a problem exacerbated by hostile public statements from Gambian government officials. Independent media, already beset by painful licensing procedures and fees, now faced the real threat of closure, as the government of President Yaya Jammeh moved to shore up its power in the wake of bloody student protests…