Since 1990, when Lebanon began its recovery from 15 years of civil war and political strife, the country’s press has struggled to regain its formerly dominant position in Middle East journalism. A variety of private newspapers and radio and television stations exist today, many offering generally solid news coverage and criticism of the government. But…
The Liberian press has been given to self-censorship ever since Charles Taylor and his National People’s Party won a landslide victory in the July 1997 elections that officially ended the war that Taylor himself started on Christmas Eve 1989. Although local media have criticized the Taylor government on social-service and devel-opment issues, they have generally…
The handover of the former Portuguese colony of Macau to China on December 20 effectively ended the last vestige of European rule in Asia. Macau, a tiny island territory whose principal industry is casino gambling, is now a Special Administrative Region of China, to be governed in the same general manner as its larger neighbor,…
In April, President Bakili Muluzi declared that his party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), believed in “the tenets of constitutional democracy,” including press freedom. The political reality has failed to live up to this rhetoric. After the June 15 general elections gave Muluzi a second five-year term in office, the opposition contended that the elections…
At the heart of Malaysia’s authoritarian reputation is its Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, which requires all publications to obtain licenses that can be revoked at will by the Minister for Home Affairs. The minister’s decisions are final, and there is no judicial review. A holdover from British rule, when a communist insurgency…
Mauritania’s press remained at the mercy of strict laws that give the government broad discretion to close down outspoken newspapers. The infamous Article 11 of the 1991 press ordinance has been the authorities’ weapon of choice against critical independents for much of the past decade. It grants the authorities broad power to ban the distribution…
While the Mexican press started covering local politics with greater confidence and independence, the drug trade was still an extremely dangerous assignment. As in past years, the government made little progress investigating attacks when they did occur. 1999 saw the first-ever primary election within the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated Mexican politics since…
Press freedom appeared to benefit when Muhammad VI ascended the Moroccan throne in July, following the death of his father, King Hassan II, who had ruled for 38 years. The easing of self-censorship, which began in earnest after the formation of the government of Prime Minister Abdel Rahman Youssefi in 1998, accelerated thanks to the…
Mozambique has changed radically from the days of official censorship and state media control. Since the end of the 17-year civil war between the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) government and the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) rebel movement in 1992 and the subsequent multiparty elections in 1994, the country has made considerable strides toward democracy–not least…
Namibia’s reputation as a role model for press freedom in southern Africa, thanks largely to its liberal constitution, took another beating in 1999, as both domestic and foreign conflict had negative repercussions on local media. In January, Prime Minister Hage Geingob admitted in a letter to the independent daily Namibian that the Ministry of Defense…