Serious limitations of freedom of expression in the form of national security laws, terrorism acts and criminal defamation laws have landed scores of journalists in prison and resigned many more to practising self-censorship. The most audacious attempts to create legal barriers to stifle the press can be seen in Uzbekistan, Iran, and Zimbabwe.

Colombia, known for long as the most hostile environment for media in the world, has been exceeded by the Philippines in death toll in the past six months, with four journalists murdered in the islands. Suffocation of independent media continues unabated in the region of Central Asia, and the governments of Tunisia, China, and Vietnam have failed to loosen their vice-like grip on media, with more and more attention paid to controlling the exchange of information on the Internet.

The Americas

Journalists Killed = Brazil (3), Colombia (2)

From setbacks in media laws in Venezuela and Mexico, to the murder of journalists in Colombia and Brazil and ongoing economic challenges in Argentina, Latin America has confronted a number of press freedom problems in the past six months. Impunity reigns throughout much of Latin America, and in a number of countries, antiquated media laws continue to stifle the independent press.

Press freedom in Cuba has registered no improvement since the April jailing of 28 journalists signalled an abrupt turnaround of press freedom gains on the island.

Colombia has registered two murdered journalists in the past six months, as leftist guerrillas, the Colombian Army, and paramilitary forces wage a protracted 40-year old civil war without reprieve. The murders of radio presenters José Nel Muñoz and Juan Carlos Benavides Arevalo remain unsolved and bring the total number of journalists killed in Colombia since the start of the year to five.

Furthermore, in the past six months, sixteen media workers fled the Arauca region under death threats, and six were forced to leave the country. Even more discouraging, are the low numbers of solved murder cases in Colombia where impunity reigns; in the past fifteen years, authorities have solved only 35 of 112 cases of murdered journalists.

The ongoing tense political climate in Venezuela has meant a further deterioration in conditions for the independent media within the country, despite a decrease in violence over past few months and a recent agreement between the government and opposition to seek a peaceful solution to the political crisis. Legal measures continue to constrict the media, and press freedom took a significant knock in July with the decision of the Venezuelan Supreme Court to uphold several criminal defamation provisions in the country’s Penal Code.

Brazil has proved to be an increasingly hazardous country for media, as three journalists lost their lives in the past six months under suspicious circumstances. Edgar Ribeiro Pereira de Oliveira, owner of a weekly newspaper, Nicanor Linhares Batista, a news director and owner of a local radio station, and freelancer Luiz Antonio da Costa have all been murdered since June.

Brazilian authorities, however, have been quick to investigate the murders, demonstrating a commitment to tackle the ongoing problem of impunity throughout the continent. In particular, the sentencing of one of the men involved in the killing of journalist Manoel Leal de Olviera in 1998 in September to 18 years in prison, and the capture of the murderer of newspaper owner Savio Brandao, who was killed in 2002, signals a small victory for punishing those who commit crimes against journalists.

The prolonged economic crisis in Argentina, impacting advertising and circulation, continues to strain the already tapped financial resources of many independent newspapers, and currently serves as the biggest threat to the independent media in the country.

Press freedom has made significant gains in Costa Rica following the decision of the constitutional court in favour of opening up sources of public information including granting access to information on bank accounts used in political campaigns.

Significant hurdles, however, exist elsewhere in Latin America. In Honduras, defamation and libel still carry sentences ranging from six to nine years in prison. Panama hands out prison sentences to journalists found guilty of defamation, ranging up to a year, for libel.

Although under the Fox administration there have been discussions on Mexico’s dated press laws, which restrict press freedom, no concrete action has yet been taken to repeal the 1917 law. Libel, for example, remains a criminal offence. Bribery of journalists has declined, however, and ongoing democratic reforms of the Fox presidency should further strengthen free press in the country.

In North America, perhaps most disconcerting for press freedom in the United States has been the death of journalists covering the war in Iraq. Three American reporters lost their lives during the conflict.

Europe and Central Asia

Journalists Killed = Russia (2), Kyrgyz Republic (1)

Europe and Central Asia continue to show a stark contrast when it comes to levels of press freedom. 2003 has proved a particularly brutal year for media in Central Asia.

In Russia, the murder of two journalists, Aleksey Sidorov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Togliattinskoe Obozrenie, and freelance journalist Alikhan Gulyev, highlights the country’s ongoing culture of violence. The use of antiquated press laws, such as the sentencing of German Galkan, deputy editor-in-chief of the daily Vecherny Cheliabinsk to one year forced labour for libelling two regional politicians, along with rigid government restrictions on media coverage of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya, including the October elections, distinguishes Russia’s approach to press freedom from its European neighbours.

Belarus continues to provide a hostile environment for media. No less than four major media outlets have been closed since June, compounding the overall degradation of press freedom in the country under the repressive rule of President Aleksandro Lukashenko.

Elsewhere in Europe, aggressions against independent media continue. The Rzeczpospolita newspaper in Poland continues to fend off the government’s attempts of a hostile take over, and in Bosnia, a newspaper market characterised by lack of infrastructure and fractured by ethnic divisions, there is an ominous outlook for the survival of many independent media outlets.

Central Asia remains a troubled region for press freedom. Independent media in Turkmenistan today are virtually non-existent, with the state exercising censorship over all print and electronic outlets. The Kyrgyz Republic showed a marked decline in press freedom over the past six months with the murder of the journalist Ernest Nazalov, a correspondent for the newspaper Kyrgyz Ruhu, and the closure of a main opposition newspaper Moya Stolitsa, following a total of 32 lawsuits, many by associates of President Akayev’s administration.

Uzbekistan continues its systematic harassment of the independent press, including intimidation, threats and assault against journalists, and the recent national election in Azerbaijan led to a surge in violence against the media in October with reports that over 70 journalists were detained, harassed and physically assaulted by police and ruling party supporters during and in the run up to the elections.

Three British journalists lost their lives while in Iraq.

Asia

Journalists killed = Cambodia (1), India (1), Indonesia (1), Japan (1),

Nepal (3), Pakistan (1), Philippines (4)

Asia is the region where the highest number of murdered journalists since June has been recorded, and severe political repression, excessive restrictions on the media, and simmering ethnic and religious tensions exist in many countries. All of these factors work to steadily erode the tenuous status of press freedom currently found within the region.

In China and Vietnam, continued attacks on cyber-dissidents in the name of national security have led scores of journalists and human rights activists into prison with harsh sentences. In China, four Internet journalists, Xu Wei, Jin Haike, Yang Zili, and Zhang Honghai, were sentenced to between 8 and 10 years in prison for subversion in June of this year, joining at least thirty already in jail. Currently, Li Zhi, a democracy advocate, is facing a 15 year prison sentence if convicted of "plotting against the state", a charge brought against him in September.

Authorities in Vietnam have followed suit, and have systematically clamped down on Internet dissidents since the start of 2003. In June, Internet essayist Pham Hong Son was given a 13 year prison sentence for “spying”.

Despite possessing a relatively active independent media, the Philippines and Nepal continue to be the most deadly Asian countries for journalists, with a total of four and three journalists murdered in each country respectively in the past six months.

Radio journalists Juan Pala, Rico Raminez and Noel Villarante, as well as Bonifacio Gregorio, a correspondent for a local newspaper, are the latest victims of the culture of violence found within the Philippines. Their murders bring the total number of journalists killed since 1986 to a staggering thirty-nine. Impunity continues to prevail, and violence against the media and the ongoing reluctance of the government to bring those guilty to justice could have intractable consequences for press freedom.

In Nepal, journalists continue to be caught in the middle of the political stand-off between security forces and Maoist rebels. The break-down of the ceasefire in August cut short the gains in press freedom made since the start of the year, during which time, many journalists were released from prison and the whereabouts of those detained during the “state of emergency” dating back to November 2001 were disclosed. In the past six months, three journalists have lost their lives, and many more have been harassed or imprisoned, signalling a sharp departure from the perceived improved conditions for press freedom in the previous six months. Binod Sajana Chaudhary, shot by government forces, Gyanendra Khadka, murdered by Maoist rebels, and Amar Lama, murdered by unidentified gunmen, have all been the human collateral in this simmering political conflict.

Pakistan and India have both registered two murdered journalists in the past six months. In Pakistan, Ameer Bux Barohi was shot by unidentified gunmen in the unstable Sinhd Province, the same region in which two journalists - among them Daniel Pearl - were killed in 2002. In July, Munawar Mohsin, sub-editor of The Frontier Post was sentenced to life imprisonment for publishing a reader’s letter considered insulting to Islam. The move sparked riots across the country and reaffirmed the ambiguous attitude of the current administration towards press freedom.

Although India has a solid tradition of media pluralism, practising journalists have not been spared from the ongoing ethnic and religious violence that characterises much of South Asia. The murder of Parmanand Goyal brought the total number of murdered journalists in India to three this year, mirroring the numbers for those killed in 2002 within India’s borders.

Within a period of three weeks in July, several journalists were attacked and physically assaulted in Bangladesh, rounding off a year that has been dotted with sporadic violent attacks, death threats and kidnapping of members of the media.

Working conditions for local journalists in Afghanistan have worsened in the past six months, as measures taken by the Afghan authorities have created a pervasive climate of fear in which journalists are afraid to openly publish articles that criticise leaders. The death sentence of editor Sayeed Mirhassan Mahdawi and deputy editor Ali Reza Payam for blasphemy in August of this year, has sparked concern in the international community of the start of a larger crackdown on freedom of expression in the country. Both journalists are currently in hiding.

Heightened political violence in the Aceh region of Indonesia over the past six months has prompted an acute deterioration in press freedom. Mohamad Jamal, a camera operator for a state-run television station was murdered in late spring, constituting the first journalist murdered in the country since 2001. The violence between separatist rebels and the state has also meant a clampdown on media activity; since May, all foreign correspondents have been banned from visiting Aceh, and in June, an American freelancer was arrested and sentenced to over a month in prison for breaking immigration rules; a Japanese photographer was expelled. In addition, two Indonesian journalists working for the privately owned RCTI television station have been held hostage by the separatist rebels since June.

In Japan, the violent murder of a freelance journalist Satoru Someya, suspected to have been carried out for his investigation of activities of Chinese criminal gangs in Tokyo, was an exception in a country which is widely held to be a stalwart of press freedom in the region.

Indochina has also had its fair share of setbacks in the past six months. In Laos, a French and a Belgian journalist were sentenced to fifteen years in jail for possessing a weapon and an explosive device and obstructing the work of the police. Each was later “pardoned” by the authorities. In Cambodia, the killing of Chuor Chetharith, deputy editor-in-chief of a radio station, is suspected to have been politically motivated. And in Burma, the situation for journalists has further stagnated after negotiations between the military government and the National League for Democracy broke down following the arrest of opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in May. Fifteen journalists are currently imprisoned in Burma.

Middle East and North Africa

Journalists killed = Iran (1), Iraq (4)

Although the numbers of journalists killed in the Middle East and North Africa has decreased significantly since the resolution of open combat in Iraq, the press freedom situation throughout much of the region remains alarming, as government control over the press is rigid. In those countries where journalists do enjoy a measure of freedom of expression, they must contend with severe laws which often result in criminal prosecution, arrest and censorship.

Conservative forces in Iran continue to exert measures to stifle the country’s fledgling, yet vocal, independent press. Reformist media face ongoing repression from the conservative-controlled judiciary, and over the last six months tens of journalists have been summoned before the courts and at least twenty journalists incarcerated. The death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi while in custody of the Iranian authorities in July signalled a sharp set-back for progress in press freedom in the country. All these factors have worked to create a strong climate of intimidation in the Iranian press in the past six months and a rather gloomy outlook for 2004. Overall, 55 publications have been closed since a conservative crackdown began in April 2002.

Despite an official resolution of the conflict in Iraq, journalists have continued to suffer the consequences of simmering hostilities and instability throughout the country. In the past six months, four journalists have been killed in the country. Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana was shot dead by a US soldier in August, and American television soundman Jeremy Little died in July after a rocket-propelled grenade hit the car in which he was travelling. Richard Wild, an English freelancer, was shot at point-blank range outside Iraq’s National History Museum in Baghdad. Most recently, Ahmed Shawkat, editor of an Iraqi weekly was shot and killed by unidentified gunman in October. The current situation in Iraq also has a negative impact on the local media. In September, the US-appointed transitional Iraqi Governing Council decreed a series of new rules in which the Arab world’s two leading news organisations - Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya - were temporarily banned from covering official events, on the basis that they both promote violence.

The recent banning of an issue of the private weekly newspaper Al-Wihda was a step backwards for press freedom in Jordan. However, the country has adopted a much more press-friendly stance in recent years and holds one of the better records of press freedom in relation to many of its neighbours. In Syria recent months have proved consistent with the general decline in press freedom since early 2001. The closure of the country’s only independent satirical newspaper Addomari, in July, after months of administrative harassment, censorship and intimidation further reflects the dire situation for independent media in the country.

Ongoing violence in Israel and the Palestinian Authority Territories has further degraded press freedom in the region as heightened security concerns, despite the temporary cease-fire in June, have restricted the activities of both local and foreign journalists.

Press freedom in North Africa has suffered a series of setbacks in the past six months. The suspension of six independent daily newspapers in Algeria in August was a clear reminder of government’s attitude towards a free press. In the ensuing months, the crackdown on private media in Algeria has intensified, an action which is believed to be linked to next year’s national elections.

While Tunisia’s President Ben Ali officially encourages the national press to

be critical, in reality no such criticism is allowed. The fact that Tunisia is the host country for the second phase of the World Summit on Information society (WSIS) in 2005, which among other matter deals with freedom of expression, is alarming. In Morocco, the trend towards increased pressure on the once relatively free local media has continued over the last six months, with three journalists sentenced to prison in August for violating Morocco’s new anti-terrorism law.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa Journalists Killed = Ivory Coast (1)

A patchwork of complex factors such as civil conflict, autocratic press laws, lack of infrastructure, and totalitarian regimes characterises the press free situation in much of Africa. In the past six months the situation has either stagnated or deteriorated in many countries on the continent.

West Africa continues to be strongly influenced by the aftermath of the Ivory Coast conflict and the recently ended war in Liberia. The economic consequences are unforeseen for the press in the region with, for example, paper supply being cut back in Burkina Faso because of the division of the Ivory Coast. The killing of the Radio France Internationale correspondent Jean Hélène in October brought a wave of international and African protests.

In Senegal, known as one of the strongholds of a free press in Africa, recent clampdowns on the press have also raised voices of concern. Radio France Internationale correspondent Sophie Malibeaux was expelled from the country in October after covering a political meeting. The incident came as a shock both to local journalists and international observers. However, this event follows several recent examples of harassment against Senegalese journalists and the state prosecutor’s statement listing recent violations of press laws, which was seen as a warning to journalists.

In Central Africa, the authoritarian regime of Sudan has once again escalated its campaign against the country’s independent media. The English-language Khartoum Monitor has been indefinitely closed since July because of an article it published in 2001 on slavery in Sudan. In October the Al-Azminah newspaper was indefinitely suspended after the army brought a complaint against the newspaper. Other newspapers have seen their entire press runs being confiscated. Ongoing peace talks will hopefully bring about a change to the Sudanese press freedom situation. The August presidential elections in Rwanda have not led to any improvements for the press, which is still severely limited by government restrictions and a victim of self-censorship. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila has not managed to gain control over the different security services that continue to target the journalists critical of the regime. Journalists are continuously arrested and threatened despite Kabila’s promises about press freedom.

East Africa includes some of the most repressive countries in Africa. Even if there is media pluralism, governmental restrictions on the independent press are among the worst on the continent. Eritrea is not only the home of a country with no independent media at all, but also the African country with the highest number of journalists imprisoned, 14 altogether. The authorities give no information about where the journalists are being held, or what their conditions of detention are. Simultaneously, media associations in Ethiopia and Somalia are working hard to promote legal reforms and the promulgation of laws and constitutional provisions that guarantee press freedom and freedom of expression.

Southern Africa has seen press freedom further deteroriate with the closure of the Daily News in Zimbabwe in September, in combination with continued attacks on journalists. Restrictive press freedom laws, such as criminalised defamation, continues to restrain the growth of independent media in Zambia.