1997 world survey of press freedom details suppression of journalists (09/20/98)

1997 world survey of press freedom details suppression of journalists

WASHINGTON - At least 129 journalists were in prison in 24 countries at the end of 1997, and 26 journalists were murdered in the past year because of their profession, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported in a worldwide survey of press freedom conditions.

The 443-page "Attacks on the Press in 1997" includes detailed analyses of press freedom issues in 117 countries and six special reports. The book is the annual report of the New York-based CPJ, an independent, non-profit organization that works on behalf of journalists around the world.

The most disturbing trend of 1997, according to the CPJ, was the brutal suppression of Nigeria's struggling independent media by Gen. Sani Abacha, who was holding 17 journalists in prison, including Christine Anyanwu, recipient of CPJ's 1997 International Press Freedom Award and the 1998 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

Turkey released 40 journalists from prison during the year, but still held at least 29 journalists in jail, more than any other country. Ethiopia was holding 16 journalists in prison at the end of 1997, breaking its public pledge to stop the suppression of independent media outlets.

At least 26 journalists were killed in 14 countries during the year, according to the report, including seven in India and four in Colombia. A 10-year chart in the book details the 474 murders of journalists by region and country.

In Mexico, where three journalists were murdered and scores more face criminal prosecution for reporting on crime and corruption, local journalists are banding together to defend themselves against legal persecution and violence.

In Hong Kong the handover of sovereignty to China left journalists fearful of intimidation by Beijing and disturbed by self-censorship by publishers or local independent media outlets.

In Algeria, authorities continued efforts to quash independent reporting of the country's bloody six-year civil conflict. While no journalists were killed in Algeria in 1997 - nearly 60 have been assassinated since May l993 - journalists there still live in constant fear for their lives.

In Jordan, a kingdom that portrays itself as an emerging democracy, state restrictions on independent media left press freedom hanging in the balance.

CPJ documented 24 countries at year's end where journalists are in prison. There were 15 in jail in China, eight in Burma, seven in Kuwait, five each in Syria and Vietnam, and four in Peru. In addition, CPJ lists another 30 cases of journalists whose imprisonment may also be due to their professional duties - 13 in Turkey, five in China and four in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).

"When journalists are murdered or brutalized," CPJ Chairman Gene Roberts writes in the book's preface, "it is almost always by some government, some organization, some criminal cartel, some individual wanting to prevent the flow of embarrassing or incriminating information to the public. If the assassins learned that when they killed journalists the inevitable result was that they got more coverage, rather than less, the killings would subside."

Compiled from the first-hand research of CPJ's professional staff, "Attacks on the Press in 1997" is the single most authoritative, comprehensive, and up-to-date source of information on the status of press freedom around the world. The book documents in compelling detail nearly 500 attacks carried out to silence journalists and news organizations through physical assault, imprisonment, censorship and legal harassment.

It also describes CPJ's action on behalf of hundreds of journalists through emergency response and fact-finding missions, personal appeals by CPJ board members and staff, grassroots efforts, diplomatic channels and media campaigns.

Six special reports focus attention on areas CPJ views as leading indicators for press freedom worldwide: Turkey, Nigeria, Jordan, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Attacks on the Press in 1997" also provides details on regional trends. Regarding Central Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union, the survey notes that despite greater freedom and the proliferation of private media, across the region news organizations are still manipulated by and subjected to pressure from governments and burgeoning business interests.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have fostered free media climates; in some places, like Russia, new private media monoliths battle for control of the airwaves. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the media remain concentrated in the hands of authoritarian rulers, yet the autocratic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has developed a vigorous independent press that functions despite official harassment.

The most alarming trend across the region remains the persistence of violence against journalists. While the overall number of killings, most of which occurred in war zones, has declined since the end of the conflicts in Tajikistan, Chechnya and the former Yugoslavia, murders and beatings of journalists in non-conflict areas have become routine in such places as the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

In and around Chechnya, an epidemic of kidnappings of foreigners by armed bands seeking ransom makes it the most dangerous place for journalists assigned to the region. Beatings, death threats, detentions, bombings, arson and financial pressures have become routine means of intimidating the press across the region, notes the CPJ.

In Belarus, press conditions under President Alyaksandr Lukashenka are worse than in the final years of the Soviet Union.

Bosnian journalists fear crossing borders between the Serb, Croat and Muslim-controlled areas because of harassment by local police. Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic shut down 77 independent radio and television stations in July and August after announcing new, convoluted frequency licensing procedures. In Croatia, President Franjo Tudjman continued to exert pressure on independent media with hundreds of libel suits filed against them.

To order copies of "Attacks on the Press in 1997," call (212) 465-1004, or write to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 330 Seventh Ave., 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001 (price: $30). The text is also available on CPJ's website at www.cpj.org.

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