IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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PRESS RELEASE - INTERNATIONAL

31 March 2003

CPJ releases "Attacks on the Press in 2002"; annual report documents changing
press freedom landscape

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 26 March 2003 CPJ press release:

CPJ Releases Attacks on the Press in 2002

Annual Report Documents Changing Press Freedom Landscape: 19 Journalists Killed;
136 Jailed at Year's End; China World's Leading Jailer of Journalists for the
Fourth Year

New York, March 26, 2003 - The number of journalists behind bars rose sharply in
2002, while heightened awareness of journalist safety and a decline in the
number of global conflicts last year contributed to a decrease in the number of
journalists killed for their work, according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists' (CPJ's) annual survey of press freedom conditions around the world.

"Coverage of the Gulf War, in which two journalists have been killed and many
injured, has increased public awareness of the risks that journalists take to
report the news," said CPJ acting director Joel Simon. "But we must also
remember that journalists in places like Colombia, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Russia, and
China confront violence and government repression every day in order to do their
jobs."

Attacks on the Press in 2002 documents some 500 cases of media repression in 120
countries, including assassination, assault, imprisonment, censorship, and legal
harassment. In documenting these attacks, CPJ's report notes several trends:

- For the second year in a row, the number of journalists in prison rose
sharply. There were 136 journalists in jail at the end of 2002, a 15 percent
increase from 2001 and a shocking 68 percent increase since the end of 2000,
when only 81 journalists were imprisoned. China, already the world's leading
jailer of journalists for the fourth year in a row, arrested five more, ending
the year with a total of 39 journalists behind bars. In Eritrea, 18 journalists
languish behind bars, and 16 journalists were incarcerated in Nepal.

- A total of 19 journalists were killed worldwide as a direct result of their
work in 2002, a sharp decrease from 2001 when 37 were killed. It is the lowest
number of journalists killed in the line of duty since CPJ began tracking the
deaths in 1985. Most of the journalists killed in 2002 were not covering
conflicts but were instead murdered in direct reprisal for their reporting on
sensitive topics, including official crime and corruption in countries such as
Colombia, the Philippines, Russia, and Pakistan.

- Government officials invoked "national security" concerns to impose new
restrictions on the press and limit access to certain conflicts. In the West
Bank, journalists covering the Israeli military incursion there were harassed,
denied access to "closed military areas," and three journalists were killed by
Israeli gunfire. Russian authorities also cracked down on the media during and
after the October hostage crisis, when Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theater.
Authorities threatened journalists for interviewing hostage-takers and for
questioning the government's action.

Justice for Journalists

Although the number of journalists behind bars rose in 2002, there were some
positive trends in press freedom worldwide. In Mozambique, six men were
convicted in January of murdering investigative reporter Carlos Cardoso
following a fact-finding mission and special report by CPJ. Three Palestinian
journalists detained without charge during the Israeli military's April
offensive in the West Bank were released after intensive lobbying by CPJ staff
and board members. After CPJ traveled to Vladivostok, Russia, to pressure
authorities to free imprisoned journalist Grigory Pasko, he was released early
this year before completing his full term.

Defending Our Colleagues

By publicizing individual attacks, CPJ uses journalism to defend journalists,
and to help ensure that they can report the news without fear of reprisal.
According to CPJ research, local journalists are most often threatened for doing
their work. As Serge Schmemann writes in his preface to Attacks on the Press in
2002, "Many of them are people who did not choose risky assignments but whose
countries or beats were caught up in conflict, tyranny, or lawlessness. Telling
the real story became dangerous, but they told it anyway because they believed
they had to do so."

"Journalists are most vulnerable when they are invisible," said CPJ acting
director Joel Simon. "The best way to fight impunity is by documenting and
denouncing abuses against our colleagues," said Simon.

Copies of Attacks on the Press in 2002 will be available at a press conference
at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March
31. The entire text of the book will also be available that day on CPJ's Web
site (www.cpj.org [2]).

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization
dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide.

For further information, contact Abi Wright (x105) at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New
York NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
[email protected] [3], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/ [4]

The information contained in this press release is the sole responsibility of
CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.
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