GAU, Girne American University

Seven Days in
March: World Press
Freedom Today
By Associate Professor Dr Richard Rooney

Revised version of a paper delivered at the World Press Freedom Day

Conference, Girne American University, Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus, on 3 May 2010
 Seven Days in March: World Press Freedom Today
By Associate Professor Dr Richard Rooney

Abstract
This paper presents the results of a survey into the number of press freedom violations that
were reported in a single week in March 2010.

It represents a ‘snapshot photograph’ of the press freedom situation and examines how things
are at this particular time.

The paper begins with a review of press freedom as described by Freedom House, an
international organization that monitors press freedom across the world. Freedom House
reports that 2009 was notable for intensified efforts by authoritarian regimes to place
restrictions on all conduits for news and information. The trend included repression of print
and broadcast journalism, but a growing focus on the internet and other new media was also
apparent.

This paper presents a survey of reports that contained the term ‘press freedom’ that were
aggregated by Google News. A quantitative analysis of the 81 reports collected in this way
show that 62 of the reports were about violations of press freedom and the largest press
violation theme was about how authoritarian governments move to control the media
(including arrests of journalists).

A number of individual reports are described to give the reader an understanding of the types
of press freedom violations that took place during the research period. The research generally
conforms with the findings of international organizations that have undertaken larger annual
surveys of press freedom violations across the world.

An appendix gives Internet links to all 81 reports contained in the survey.

Introduction
Today (3 May 2010), we come together to celebrate World Press Freedom Day. This day has
been marked since 1993 by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific
Organization (UNESCO, n.d.).

UNESCO promotes freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right
and fosters media independence and pluralism by providing advisory services on media
legislation and by making governments, parliamentarians and other decision-makers aware of
the need to guarantee free expression.

UNESCO uses lobbying and monitoring activities. It highlights media independence and
pluralism as fundamental to the process of democracy by providing advisory services on
media legislation and by making governments, parliamentarians and other decision-makers
aware of the need to guarantee free expression (UNESCO, n.d.).

UNESCO supports independent media in zones of conflict to enable them to play an active
role in conflict prevention and resolution and the transition towards a culture of peace.

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But what does ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘freedom of the press’ mean? A good, if simple,
working definition of both would be the right to say what you like and to publish newspapers,
magazines, books, etc. without government interference or prior censorship (Webster, 2010).

The quality of press freedom in a specific country is of great significance, because freedom of
the press is a constituent of democracy. Therefore, press freedom is also used as an indicator
for the measurement of democracy (Holtz-Bacha, 2004).

Global press freedom declined in 2009, with setbacks registered in nearly every region of the
world. This marked the eighth straight year of overall deterioration, and produced a global
landscape in which only one in six people live in countries with a Free press (Karlekar,
2010).

According to a report issued by Freedom House only a few days ago:

‘the year [2009] was notable for intensified efforts by authoritarian regimes to place
restrictions on all conduits for news and information. The trend included repression of
print and broadcast journalism, but a growing focus on the internet and other new
media was also apparent. While there were some positive developments, particularly
in South Asia, significant declines were recorded in Latin America, sub-Saharan
Africa, and the Middle East. Countries with largest downgrades included South
Africa, Iran, Mexico, the Philippines, Senegal, and Guinea’ (Karlekar, 2010).

Of the 196 countries and territories assessed during calendar year 2009, 69 (35 percent) were
rated Free, 64 (33 percent) were rated Partly Free, and 63 (32 percent) were rated Not Free.
This represents a move toward the center compared with the survey covering 2008, which
featured 70 Free, 61 Partly Free, and 64 Not Free countries and territories.

Freedom House found that only 16 percent of the world’s inhabitants live in countries with a
Free press, while 44 percent have a Partly Free press and 40 percent live in Not Free
environments.

‘The population figures are significantly affected by two countries - China, with a
Not Free status, and India, with a Partly Free status - that together account for more
than two billion of the world’s roughly six billion people. The percentage of those
enjoying Free media in 2009 declined to the lowest level since 1996, when Freedom
House began incorporating population data into the findings of the survey.

‘The Freedom of the Press index assesses the degree of print, broadcast, and internet
freedom in every country in the world, analyzing the events and developments of each
calendar year. Ratings are determined through an examination of three broad
categories: the legal environment in which media operate; political influences on
reporting and access to information; and economic pressures on content and the
dissemination of news.

‘Ratings reflect not just government actions and policies, but the behavior of the press
itself in testing boundaries, even in more restrictive environments. Each country
receives a numerical rating from 0 (the most free) to 100 (the least free), which serves
as the basis for a press-freedom status designation of Free, Partly Free, or Not Free’
(Karlekar, 2010).

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My research reminds us that violations of press freedom happen all the time – every day of
the year. They also happen almost everywhere – in authoritarian states such as Yeman and
Iran, but also in pluralist democracies such as Australia and Canada.

In order to illustrate this I would like to present to you the results of a survey I did a few
weeks ago. This survey is of seven consecutive days picked at random and it examines the
violations of press freedom that took place during this time. This might not be the most
scientific way to make a sample, but it does allow us to take a ‘snapshot’ of the press freedom
situation and examine how things are at this particular time.

Methodology
In order to create a sample the news aggregator Google News was used. A search term ‘press
freedom’ was put into the search engine of http://news.google.co.uk/ and all returns in the
English language were counted. All returns were counted, even when there was more than
one version of a report returned. For example, there were ten different reports of what was
essentially a single event; the opposition to a new media law in Uganda that would allow the
government’s Media Council to shut down media houses and jail journalists for publishing
content considered to endanger ‘national security, stability and unity’.

The sample period was seven consecutive days from 12 – 18 March 2010.

The collection of the sample was outside my control. Google News searches 4,500 English-
language news sources worldwide and selects articles and ranks them by evaluating among
other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. As a result, stories are sorted
without regard to political viewpoint or ideology and from a wide variety of perspectives on
any given story (Google, n.d.).

Quantitative analysis
In this section I present a quantitative analysis of the findings. Table 1 shows the total
number of reports found during the survey period and breaks them down into reports that
have positive and negative news angles. Appendix A lists each report alongside a URL link to
the website it originates from.

Table 1: Total reports broken down by positive and negative news angles.

Total reports 81
Reports not relevant 9
Reports ‘positive’ 10
Leaving reports ‘negative’ 62
Source: Author.

A total of 81 reports were gathered between the dates of 12 – 18 March 2010 inclusive.

Of these, nine reports were not counted because even though they contained the phrase ‘press
freedom’ they were not actually about press freedom. They were reports about freedom and

4
human rights more generally and mentioned press freedom in passing. An example of this
would be a report in the Freedom Newspaper, US, calling for Gambia’s 2011 national
election to be ‘free and fair’.

Of the remaining 72, 10 reports were ‘positive’ in nature. These included reports on
individuals praised or honoured for their work in press freedom; such as Monalisa Changkija,
the editor of Nagaland, India-based English daily Nagaland Page who was honoured as
Outstanding Woman Mediaperson. They also included reports about the positive things
countries were doing to improve press freedom. An example would be a report that Reporters
Without Borders had ranked Ghana as first in Africa for press freedom.

The remaining 62 reports were ‘negative’ in nature. These 62 reports are the ones that form
the basis of this research report.

To try to understand the nature of the press freedom violations I broke down the 62 reports
first by country of origin and then by type of freedom violations (which I call ‘themes’).

Table 2 shows the breakdown by country and includes all countries that had two or more
reports during the research period. Although a country might have had two or more reports,
this does not necessarily mean there were two or more specific incidents of press freedom
violation. Rather, it could mean there were more than two reports on a single incident.

Table 2 shows that the reports on press freedom violation came from all over the world and
from countries generally considered ‘authoritarian’ (such as Iran and Yeman) and those
considered ‘democratic’ (Australia and Canada). There were also cases of ‘emerging
democracies’ such as Bosnia / Herzegovinian and Estonia.

Table 2: Countries reported two or more times during the research period

Country No of reports
Uganda 10
Maldives 4
Bosnia / Herzegovinian 3
Honduras 3
Iran 3
Somalia 3
Australia 2
Canada 2
Estonia 2
Indonesia 2
Sri Lanka 2
Venezuela 2
Yeman 2

Source: Author

Qualitative analysis

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I want now to turn to a qualitative analysis, to look more closely at what was being reported
about press freedom violation.

Table 3 shows the 62 reports broken down by type of violation.

The largest number of reports (27) was about authoritarian governments trying to control the
media. This control consisted of harassment, including the arrests of journalists.

The second highest theme (12) was use of laws to restrict and punish media workers who
were critical of the ruling elites.

Table 3: Reports broken down by types of violation (‘themes’).

Themes No of reports
Authoritarian governments move to control 27
the media (including arrests of journalists)
Media freedom is restricted by laws used to 12
punish critical journalists and media outlets
Violence and death threats are used to 8
intimidate journalists
Threats to media freedom are apparent even 5
in established democracies and open media
environments
Critical media workers are murdered 4
None of the above 6
Source: Author

In this section I want to describe some of the news reports in the sample. I hope they give a
flavour of the types of press freedom violation that took place during the research period.

Authoritarian governments move to control the media (including arrests of journalists)

Bosnia / Herzegovina Reporters Without Borders condemned Republika Srpska (RS) Prime
Minister Milorad Dodik’s call for a boycott of the state-owned federal television news station
(FTV) on the grounds that its coverage is allegedly ‘biased and distorted’. RS is one of two
main political entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik asked all of the
representatives of the country’s Serbian community to ignore requests from FTV and to
suspend all advertising and business links with the station.

Iran The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) condemned
the continued imprisonment of Iranian journalist Emad Baghi and the repressive measures
employed by the state to silence critical publications. Mr Baghi, a leading human rights
activist, writer and journalist, was arrested without charge on 28 December 2009 and is being
kept in solitary confinement in a deteriorating physical state and without access to a lawyer.
Mr Baghi is the founder and President of the Society for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights and
a member of the Central Council of the Society for Defending Press Freedom. Jomhuriyat,
the newspaper he founded in 2005, is banned, as are a number of his books addressing human
rights issues in Iran.

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He has already spent several years in prison over the past decade for campaigning against the
death penalty and, along with his family, has been subjected to continued harassment by the
police and judiciary. Since 1995, Mr Baghi has appeared in court or been summoned by the
intelligence ministry 55 times.

Yeman Reports concerned a raid on al-Jazeera news channel and Alarabiya. Yemeni
opposition parties condemned the confiscation by security forces of broadcasting equipment
belonging to the Sana’a-based office of al-Jazeera as an ‘outrageous contravention of the
constitution and applicable laws ensuring freedom of speech for all’. They said that the
measure was a desperate attempt to prevent the satellite channel from exposing the regime’s
illegal practices. Minister of Information, Hassan al-Lawzi, ordered the security to storm two
offices and take over the equipment, claiming that equipment of both al-Jazeera and
Alarabiya are not licensed to be used in the country, but the two stations disputed this claim.

The authorities also accused al-Jazeera of fabricating stories and pictures on protests in
southern provinces.

Somalia The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed concerns over the
security and safety of journalists in Somalia following the recent detention of two radio
journalists.

Cuba Seven years after Cuba’s ‘notorious Black Spring’ clampdown on independent
journalism, the International Press Institute (IPI) called for the immediate release of the 19
journalists jailed in 2003 who still remain in prison, as well as of the six other journalists
jailed after 2003.

Turkey Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the latest sentence to be passed on Haci
Bogatekin, an independent journalist based in Gerger, in the southeastern province of
Adiyaman. The owner and publisher of the Gerger Firat biweekly and editor of the
Gergerfirat.net website, Bogatekin was sentenced by a provincial court on 2 March to five
years, one month and seven days in prison. This is just the latest stage in the judicial system’s
harassment of Bogatekin, Reporters Without Borders said. It is the fourth time he has been
convicted by an Adiyaman court and he is still being prosecuted by the local authorities in
other cases. The sentences he has received now total 10 years, eight months and 14 days in
jail.

The disproportionate sentences permitted by the Turkish criminal code for ‘insult,’
obstructing justice and ‘offending the authorities’ is a constant source of problems.

Morocco The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote to King Mohammed VI to

protest against the Moroccan government’s continued use of the courts to suppress freedom
of expression and the imprisonment of Driss Chahtan, editor of the independent weekly Al-
Michaal, who is being punished for running articles about the king’s health in September
2009. An appeals court upheld a 12-month prison term handed to him for ‘publishing false
information’. Four other journalists from Al-Michaal and the independent daily Al-Jarida al-
Oula were convicted but not imprisoned.

CPJ also wants an end to the practice of withholding accreditation from journalists working
for critical foreign news outlets.

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Cameroon The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed alarm at wave of arrests,
harassment, criminal prosecution and abuse of at least a dozen journalists who raised
sensitive questions about issues of public interest in Cameroon, such as the management of
public finances, the progress of an anti-corruption drive dubbed Operation Sparrowhawk, and
local government affairs.
CPJ says security agents used torture to force one journalist to reveal his sources.

The Cameroon administration has lodged criminal charges against four leading journalists
and an academic for commenting during a June 2008 TV programme on the case of Yves
Michel Fotso, a former executive at national airline CamairCo accused of embezzlement.
Fotso has publicly denied any wrongdoing. A public prosecutor in the commercial capital of
Douala charged Spectrum TV Editor-in-Chief Thierry Ngogang, freelance journalist Alex
Gustave Azebaze, reporter Anani Rabier Bindzi of Canal 2 International, and Jean-Marc
Soboth, a prominent journalist and leading press freedom activist, with ‘biased commentary’
likely to prejudice an active investigation.

Belarus The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned raids conducted by Minsk
police at the offices of the independent news Web site Charter 97, the independent newspaper
Narodnaya Volya, and the home office of freelance reporter Irina Khalip.

Masked officers with the Leninsky District Police Department in Minsk confiscated
computers, equipment, and electronic documents at the three locations as part of a criminal
defamation investigation, according to local journalists. Charter 97 Editor Natalya Radina
told CPJ that she was punched by a police officer during the raid at her office. Search
warrants, issued by the regional prosecutor in the southeastern city of Gomel, said police
were investigating allegations that news media had defamed the Gomel regional head of the
security service, or KGB, Khalip told CPJ.

Media freedom is restricted by laws used to punish critical journalists and media outlets

Uganda The Ugandan press has condemned a proposed law that would allow the
government’s Media Council to shut down media houses and jail journalists for publishing
content considered to endanger ‘national security, stability and unity’.

This is seen as an attempt to purge critical voices ahead of elections next year.

The Ugandan Cabinet was discussing the Press and Journalist Amendment Bill 2010 which
proposes to empower the Media Council to control the licensing of newspapers and close
errant media houses.

A coalition of media freedom and professionalism activist organisations, calling themselves

the Article 29 Coalition, is at the forefront of campaigning against the proposed law. A group
of editors in Uganda, in a joint editorial, wrote that the new media bill is more than an attack
on the free media; it is an attack on the right of all citizens to be informed.

Estonia Editors of six large national newspapers in Estonia decided to print their newspapers
with blank pages (some left the front page blank) as a protest at a draft law submitted by the
Justice Ministry that endangers freedom of speech and the press.

8
They say, the law – if passed – will allow the arrest of investigative journalists and force
them to disclose the names of their sources. It would also make it possible for the courts to
impose fines on publishers based on the sole suspicion that newspapers have the intention to
publish potentially harmful information, before investigative articles even appear. Editors say
this means that sources would not dare to share information and the press cannot write about
things that are ‘important to clean the society’.

Violence and death threats are used to intimidate media workers

Maldives A print worker at Haveeru Daily was stabbed after leaving the newspaper’s
building – an attack that came hours after a gang assaulted several employees of DhiTV and
broke into the station’s building.

Four men also attacked five employees of DhiTV outside the station and then broke into the
building. This was after the station covered the release of gangster Ibrahim Nafiz (Chicka),
from prison to house arrest.

A spokesperson at the TV station said, ‘We have now decided not to broadcast any news
relating to Chicka again. Release of inmates is a threat to us. The upheaval would affect our
staff. The attackers warned of consequences if we broadcast any news about Chicka.’

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) condemned the attacks and called
on the government to create a free environment for journalists, saying such actions caused
fear among journalists in a country ‘still struggling for press freedom.’

President Mohamed Nasheed also condemned the attacks, but although President Nasheed
condemned the attacks, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has verbally attacked
opposition aligned media organisations on several occasions.

In a separate report, the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) condemned recent death
threats against controversial independent journalist Hilath Rasheed. A press statement said
that people who promoted extremism have been defaming and threatening journalists, while
openly calling for the murder of some them in the false pretence of following Islam.

MJA said the calls for Hilath’s beheading which appeared in the blogosphere were
‘unacceptable’ and that it violated freedom of speech.

Somalia The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed concerns over the
security and safety of journalists in Somalia following the detention of two radio journalists
in Somalia, Horn of Africa.

Mohamed Salad Abdulle, of Somali Broadcasting Corporation and correspondent of

Markabley radio in Kismayo and Mohamed Abdikarim, a correspondent with Hornafrik and
Markabley radio station were arrested by the Al Shabaab Administration in Jubba and Gedo
regions.

According to media reports, the two journalists who are based in the southern regions of Juba
and Gedo regions were arrested separately by the Al-Shabaab group in Kismayo and
Baladhawo.

9
Mohamed Salad Abdulle is detained by the Al-Shabaab group at Kismayo police station,
according to Jubba Journalists Association (JIJA), an associate of National Union of Somali
Journalists (NUSOJ).

The JIJA said Abdikarim was taken in custody on the same day by the Al-Shabaab group in
Baladhawo town, also in southern Somalia. Following his arrest, the group reportedly
threatened to take action against the radio station.

The IFJ said the latest arrests showed the increasing intimidation by the Al-Shabaab group on
journalists in Somalia. On 21February, Ali Yusuf Adan, a correspondent with Radio
Somaliweyn for Lower Shabelle region, was arrested by the Al- Shabaab in the region and
was later transferred to a prison in Merca town, the headquarters of Lower Shabelle region.

At the beginning of the week under review Adan was still in the custody of the Al-Shabaab
and his whereabouts were unclear. By the end of the week he was released after ‘a few days’
in custody and was reported to be in good health and in a safe location.

Bosnia / Herzegovina There were two reports that the South East Europe Media
Organization (SEEMO) had condemned an attack against a journalist from Euroblic, the
Bosnian-Herzegovinian edition of the Blic daily in Belgrade. On March 13, a car belonging
to Rade Tesic was set alight as it was parked near his house in Doboj, Bosnia. Tesic was not
injured in the incident.

Sri Lanka The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) protested to the head of the Sri
Lankan government about the circulation of a list of journalists, human rights campaigners
and other prominent individuals in Sri Lanka. There was a lack of clarity about the list’s
origins and purpose, but there are reports it was compiled by state intelligence agencies, IFJ
said.

In a separate report, Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about attempts to

intimidate at least four journalists linked to jailed opposition leader Sarath Fonseka, who are
being threatened with prosecution. They have been summoned by the anti-terrorist police and
they fear they could be arrested at any time for a period of 90 days, which is allowed by the
law. The four journalists were questioned by members of the Terrorism Investigation
Division this week.

Azerbaijan The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Azerbaijani authorities to

thoroughly investigate a death threat made against imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a
2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, and his family. 

An anonymous male caller telephoned Emin Fatullayev, the editor’s father, at his Baku home
and said he and his son must ‘shut up once and for all’ or ‘the entire family will be
destroyed,’ the elder Fatullayev told CPJ. He said he immediately reported the threat to
police.

Maldives Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has condemned recent death threats
against controversial independent journalist Hilath Rasheed by extremists. MJA said people
who promoted extremism have been defaming and threatening journalists, while openly
calling for the murder of some them in the false pretence of following Islam.

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 Threats to media freedom are apparent even in established democracies
and open media environments

Australia Reactions to a Reporters Without Borders (RWB) report put out by the Australian
Associated Press - told how Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was
‘fuming’ that the nation had been labelled by RWB as an ‘enemy of the Internet’. The
federal government wants all internet service providers to ban refused classification material
hosted on overseas servers.

Canada Journalists are arguing in the Supreme Court that they needed access to courts in
Quebec province to keep the justice system open to the public. The Quebec court set limits
because the judges felt journalists were too aggressive in trying to do interviews. The judges
also say reporters can’t follow people with microphones and cameras.

Critical media workers are murdered

Honduras The International Press Institute (IPI) wrote an open letter to Honduran President
Porfirio ‘Pepe’ Lobo Sosa, calling on him to ensure that the murders of journalists in the
Central American country are promptly investigated and that the perpetrators are brought to
justice. In the previous two weeks, three journalists had been killed and a number of their
colleagues wounded.

In 2009, five Honduran journalists were killed - all had been shot, some several times.
These figures made Honduras the third most dangerous country in Latin America and the
sixth most dangerous country in the world for journalists in 2009, according to the IPI Death
Watch.

Honduras has seen an increase in the number of killings of journalists in the last year. Eight
of the 10 journalists murdered because of their job in Honduras since IPI began keeping
records on journalists’ deaths in 1997, have been killed since the beginning of 2009. A radio
reporter had been killed in Honduras, less than two weeks since an attack on two other
journalists, which left one dead and another injured.

David Meza Montesinos, a reporter at radio station El Patio for more than 30 years, was
killed on 11 March while driving home in the Honduran coastal city of La Ceiba.  His car
was shot at from another vehicle. Meza had received death threats three weeks before the
shooting for his coverage of drug traffickers. 

A TV news editor was killed in Honduras, days after Meza was killed. Nahúm Palacios
Arteaga, 36, the news director for television channel Canal 5 in Aguán and host of a news
programme on Radio Tocoa, was shot dead on Sunday 14 March in Tocoa, Colón, in northern
Honduras. Another person travelling in the car with him was severely wounded, and a
cameraman riding in the back was grazed by a bullet. The car was riddled with 42 bullet
holes.

Mexico A Mexican reporter Evaristo Pacheco Solís, of the weekly Visión Informativa, was
found shot dead in Chilpancingo, the state capital of Guerrero, on 12 March.  Costa Rican
daily Nuestro Pais reported that 28 people, including drug traffickers and police, were killed
in a string of violent attacks in Guerrero state that day.

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Local press and media observers state that at least five journalists are still missing, reported
kidnapped, in the Latin American country, with 15 journalists reported missing since the
beginning of 2010.

The International Press Institute said, less than three months into 2010, with four journalists
killed already, Mexico was the most dangerous country for journalists in the world so far this
year’. In 2009, it was the world’s second most dangerous country for reporters.

Observations
This research has featured a wide variety of cases from all parts of the world. It represents a
single week and from my observations of press freedom throughout the year I would say it
seems to be very typical of what is going on all of the time.

My research also conforms with the annual reports on press freedom published by such
organizations as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders which draw attention to
efforts by authoritarian regimes to place restrictions on all conduits for news and information
(Karlekar, 2010).

A significant number of the cases in my survey are reported by international organizations

devoted to promoting press freedom. Reporters Without Borders, The International Press
Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the World Association of Newspapers and
News Publishers are some of the international organizations involved in advocating for press
freedom. Without the work of these advocates it is probable that many of the abuses of press
freedom would not become known internationally.

In addition to these international organizations there are local organizations pressing for
freedom. Among those featured in my research are the Maldives Journalists Association, the
National Union of Somali Journalists and the Central Council of the Society for Defending
Press Freedom in Iran. This shows that the spirit of press freedom is alive – if not well – even
in the most difficult of circumstances.

The importance of the work these organizations is vital to the maintenance of press freedom
and democracy.

Freedom House in its advanced publicity for its annual report published in April 2010 puts
the case for freedom of expression this way:

‘Freedom of expression is fundamental to all other freedoms. Rule of law, fair

elections, minority rights, freedom of association, and accountable government all
depend on an independent press which can fulfil its watchdog function.

This is why [our] findings are so utterly disturbing. When the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards torture a journalist, or Communist authorities in China imprison a blogger, or
criminal elements in Russia assassinate yet another investigative reporter, it sends a
clear message that every person fighting for basic rights is vulnerable to a similar fate’
(Freedom House, 2010).

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This is a revised version of a paper delivered at the World Press Freedom Day Conference,
Girne American University, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, on 3 May 2010.

Dr Richard Rooney is an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and

Broadcasting, Faculty of Communication, Girne American University, Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus. He was a newspaper and magazine journalist in England for 15 years. His
journalism has appeared in more than 60 different publications worldwide. He has taught in
universities in England, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland. He has a Ph.D in
Communication from the University of Westminster, London, UK. He has published on media
and their relationship to good governance, democracy and freedom of information, as well
as tabloid journalism, in journals and books across the world.

REFERENCES

Freedom House (2010), Restrictions on Press Freedom Intensifying, press release issued by
Freedom House, Washington, 29 April 2010 http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?
page=70&release=1177 retrieved 3 May 2010.

Google, (n,d.), About Google News

http://news.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/about_google_news.html
retrieved 13 April 2010

Holtz-Bacha Christina (2004), What is ‘good’ press freedom? The difficulty of measuring
freedom of the press worldwide. Paper prepared for presentation at the 2004 conference of
the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Porto
Alegre/Brazil, July 25-30. www.kowi.wiso.unierlangen.de/.../docs/good_press_freedom.pdf
retrieved 14 April 2010

Karlekar, Karin Deutsch (2010), Press Freedom in 2009: Broad setbacks to global media
freedom, Freedom House, Washington,
www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/.../FIW09_OverviewEssay_Final.pdf retrieved 3 May 2010

UNESCO (n.d.), Press Freedom, http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-

URL_ID=1530&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
retrieved 14 April 2010.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary ( 2010), Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-definitions/
retrieved 28 April 2010.

13
 APPENDIX A
ORIGINAL SOURCE OF REPORTS FOUND IN SURVEY
Headline Description of report
1 Mandel: Commenting on the decision
Estonian of Estonian newspapers today
press to publish empty front pages
freedom at in protest against a draft law
risk sent to the Estonian parlament
today.
2 Donors Press freedom not central to
caution story
Malawi on
gays
3 Ugandan Ugandan media oppose a
media proposed law that will allow
oppose the state to shut down
proposed newspapers and jail journalists
media law for articles said to undermine
national security as an attempt
to purge critical voices ahead
of elections next year.
4 Ghana Reporters Without Borders,
ranked top in have ranked Ghana first in
press press freedom on the African
freedom content and 27th in the world.
5 Kenya: The On Thursday, probably the
Death Has most ambitious pan-Africa
Occurred of media conference starts in
Mrs Africa Nairobi. The conference is
Media organised by the Nation Media
Freedom Group (NMG) and the Africa
Media Initiative.
6 Eesti Editor-in-chief of the Eesti
Ekspress Ekspress weekly Priit
editor-in- Hõbemägi said that six
chief: our big national newspapers decided
common to print a blank page on
concern Thursday in protest of a draft
caused the law because of a common
blank page concern over freedom of
speech.
7 Ugandan The Ugandan press has
press slams condemned a proposed law
media law that would allow the
government's Media Council
to shut down media houses
and jail journalists for
publishing content considered
to endanger "national security,
stability and unity".
8 A (Letter) In a vote not noted in
Venezuelan the pages of European Voice,
revolution the European Parliament in
too far February passed a resolution,
the fourth in three years,
criticising President Hugo
14
Country publication Source link
Estonia Balticbusinessnews.co http://balticbusinessn
m ews.com/article/2010
/03/18/Mandel_Esto
nian_press_freedom_
at_risk
Malawi Africanews.com http://www.africane
ws.com/site/Donors_
caution_Malawi_on_
gays/list_messages/3
0666
Uganda Reuters / radio http://www.rnw.nl/af
netherlands rica/article/ugandan-
media-oppose-
proposed-media-law
Ghana Accra Mail (Ghana) http://accra-
mail.com/index.php?
option=com_content
&view=article&id=1
2513:ghana-ranked-
top-in-press-
freedom&catid=60:
main-
news&Itemid=209
Kenya Daily Nation, Kenya / http://allafrica.com/st
allafrica.com ories/201003180344.
html
Estonia The Baltic Course http://www.baltic-
course.com/eng/mar
kets_and_companies/
?doc=24856
Uganda Bizcommunity.com http://www.bizcomm
unity.com/Article/22
0/15/45820.html
Venezuela Europeanvoice.com http://www.european
voice.com/article/im
ported/a-venezuelan-
revolution-too-
far/67445.aspx
 Chávez's handling of press
freedom, human and economic
rights in Venezuela.  
9 IFJ The International Federation Somalia Bernama.com http://www.bernama.
Condemns of Journalists (IFJ) has com/bernama/v5/ne
Arrests Of expressed concerns over the wsworld.php?
Two Radio security and safety of id=483369
Journalists In journalists in Somalia
Somalia following the recent detention
of two radio journalists.
10 A Censor's Mei Yan, CEO of Viacom China The Daily Beast http://www.thedailyb
Daughter China, can speak the (blog) east.com/blogs-and-
Changes the bureaucratic language within stories/2010-03-18/a-
System China's censor system—and censors-daughter-
she's using that knowledge to changes-the-system/
alter the country's media
landscape.
11 Nagaland The Editor of Nagaland-based India Morung Express, http://www.morunge
Page Editor English daily Nagaland Page, India xpress.com/frontpag
Monalisa Monalisa Changkija, was e/45354.html
honored honored as Outstanding
Woman Mediaperson with the
Chameli Devi Jain Award
(2009) conferred on her in
New Delhi today.
12 Reuters’ He is the only independent Eritrea American Chronicle http://www.american
Jeremy observer in a country regarded chronicle.com/article
Clarke in as the worst violator of press s/view/146685
Asmara freedom in the world.
13 Houdini and Press freedom not central to Latvia Baltic Times http://www.baltictim
immigration: story es.com/news/articles/
Latvia’s 25229/
solution for
economic
development
14 Media self- THE Cabinet is discussing the Uganda The New Vision, http://www.newvisio
regulation is Press and Journalist Uganda n.co.ug/D/8/20/7132
the best way Amendment Bill 2010 which 34
forward proposes to empower the
Media Council to control the
licensing of newspapers and
close errant media houses.
15 In The Committee to Protect Azerbaijan Committee to Protect http://cpj.org/2010/0
Azerbaijan, Journalists called on Journalists 3/in-azerbaijan-
Eynulla Azerbaijani authorities today eynulla-fatullayev-
Fatullayev to thoroughly investigate a and-family-
and family death threat made against threat.php
threatened imprisoned editor Eynulla
Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of
CPJ’s International Press
Freedom Award, and his
family. 
16 Al Shabab Al Shabab militants in the Somalia International Press http://www.freemedi
Detains southern regions of Somalia Institute a.at/singleview/4834/
Three arrested three journalists from
Journalists Markabley Radio this week.
from Two of the three remain in
Markabley custody, and the station has
Radio been taken off the air in
Station in response to the detentions. 
Somalia
17 On 7th Seven years after Cuba’s Cuba International Press http://www.freemedi
Anniversary notorious Black Spring Institute a.at/singleview/4835/
of Cuba’s clampdown on independent
Clampdown journalism, IPI calls for the
on immediate release of the 19

15
 Independent journalists jailed in 2003 who
Journalism, still remain in prison, as well
IPI Calls for as of the six other journalists
Immediate jailed after 2003.
Release of
Journalists
18 Press Bill Article 29 Coalition, a media Uganda The Observer, http://www.observer.
Driving Us freedom and professionalism Uganda ug/index.php?
Along activist organisation, is at the option=com_content
Zimbabwe forefront of campaigning &view=article&id=7
Road against the proposed 709:press-bill-is-
introduction of draconian driving-us-along-
amendments to the existing zimbabwe-
press law now before Cabinet. road&catid=37:guest
-writers&Itemid=66
19 Militia Reporters Without Borders Somalia National Union of http://nusoj.org/inde
arrests three firmly condemns three new Somali Journalists x.cfm?
journalists, arrests of journalists by the zone=/unionactive/vi
threatens Al-Shabaab militia. ew_article.cfm&Ho
radio station meID=157022
20 After Third The International Press Honduras International Press http://www.freemedi
Journalist Institute (IPI) today wrote an Institute a.at/singleview/4833/
Killed in open letter to Honduran
Two Weeks, President Porfirio ‘Pepe’ Lobo
IPI Calls on Sosa, calling on him to ensure
Honduran that the murders of journalists
President to in the Central American
Take country are promptly
Immediate investigated and that the
Action perpetrators are brought to
justice before a climate of
impunity takes firm root in the
country.
21 Uganda Members of the Ugandan Uganda Guardian, UK http://www.guardian.
press faces press and NGOs this week co.uk/katine/2010/m
clampdown condemned a parliamentary ar/17/food-price-rise-
bill that will force newspapers fears
to apply for a licence to
operate each year.
22 T. R. Discussion on open United States The Joplin Globe, US http://www.joplinglo
Hanrahan, government includes this: be.com/editorial/loca
guest In June 1971, The New York l_story_076105531.h
columnist: Times published top-secret tml?
Open documents from a secret keyword=secondarys
government official history of the Vietnam tory
cause for War. In New York Times v.
celebration United States, the U.S.
Supreme Court held that
publication of the papers was
protected. The 6-3 vote birthed
many opinions from the
justices, but Justice Hugo
Black provided the most
powerful language in defense
of press freedom among them:
23 GPU-USA: Journalist Chief Ebrima The Gambia Freedom Newspaper, http://www.freedom
Working for Manneh has been missing Gambia newspaper.com/Hom
Chief since 2006. He isn't alone who epage/tabid/36/mid/3
Manneh, has disappeared without a 67/newsid367/5014/
Gambian trace in The Gambia. There Gambia-GPU-USA-
Journalism are a number of individuals Working-for-Chief-
who have gone unaccounted Manneh-Gambian-
for. Some have been presumed Journalism/Default.a
dead. spx
24 President Press freedom not central to Cuba Reporters Without http://www.rsf.org/sp
Lula told story Borders ip.php?

16
 action on page=article&id_arti
Cuba should cle=36760
no longer be
Latin
American
taboo as
Havana
continues to
crack down

25 Bosnia- Reporters Without Borders Bosnia- Fromtheold.com http://fromtheold.co

Herzegovina condemns Republika Srpska
- Prime Minister Milorad
Unacceptabl Dodik's call for a boycott of
e call for the state-owned federal
boycott of television news station (FTV)
state TV on the grounds that its
station by coverage is allegedly “biased
Serb premier and distorted.” Republika
Srpska (RS) is one of two
main political entities that
make up Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
26 HRCM calls Human Rights Commission of
for a free the Maldives (HRCM) has
environment called on the government to
for create a free environment for
journalists journalists. The commission
condemned Monday’s attacks
on employees of Haveeru and
DhiTV, saying such actions
caused fear among journalists
in a country “still struggling
for press freedom.”
27 President President Mohamed Nasheed
condemns condemns Monday's attacks
attacks on on staff of Haveeru Daily and
media staff DhiTV, a statement from his
office said.
28 Not too rosy The United States Department
human rights of State released its country
environment report on human rights
practices for 2009, which
amplifies the challenges for
Namibia’s nascent democracy.
29 Glimmer of Amid the ongoing violence in
Hope for Afghanistan, it is boom time
media for the media there. As only an
freedom in estimated third of the
Afghanistan population is literate, local
radio stations are on the
increase, while newspapers lag
far behind.
30 Government The new media bill before
Must Not Uganda's parliament is more
Kill Free than an attack on the free
Press media, it is an attack on the
right of all citizens to be
informed, write the country's
editors in a joint editorial.
31 Journo 702 Talk Radio has called for
forced to the police and the Presidency
delete pics of to investigate an incident in
Zuma which a journalist was
convoy assaulted and forced to delete
photographs he had taken of
Herzegovina m/bosnia-
herzegovina-
unacceptable-call-
boycott-state-tv-
station-serb-premier-
2010031717165.html
Maldives Haveeru, Maldives http://www.haveeru.
com.mv/english/deta
ils/29453/HRCM_cal
ls_for_a_free_enviro
nment_for_journalist
s
Maldives Haveeru, Maldives http://www.haveeru.
com.mv/english/deta
ils/29452/President_
condemns_attacks_o
n_media_staff
Namibia New Era, Namibia http://www.newera.c
om.na/article.php?
articleid=9984&sid=
6ce944ea75ae54637e
b91b07cf5bb8f8
Afghanistan Russia Today http://rt.com/Top_Ne
ws/2010-03-
17/afghanistan-
media-radio-
newspapers.html
Uganda Journalism.co.za http://www.journalis
South Africa m.co.za/index.php?
option=com_content
&task=view&id=307
9&Itemid=51
South Africa Star, Johannesburg / http://www.iol.co.za/
Independent Online, index.php?
South Africa set_id=1&click_id=1
3&art_id=vn201003
17042349706C1947
62

17
 President Jacob Zuma's
motorcade.
32 Under The Committee to Protect Kyrgyzstan Committee to Protect http://cpj.org/2010/0
pressure, Journalists is disturbed by Journalists 3/under-pressure-
Kyrgyz reports that the Kyrgyz kyrgyz-stations-halt-
stations halt government has pressured rferl-programm.php
RFE/RL several radio and television
programmin stations to stop carrying
g programming from the Kyrgyz
service of the U.S.
government-funded Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL).
33 Florida's Press freedom not central to United States St Petersburg Times, http://www.tampaba
Sunshine story Florida, US y.com/opinion/colum
Law helps to ns/floridas-sunshine-
protect First law-helps-to-protect-
Amendment first-amendment-
rights rights/1080320
34 Belarusian The Committee to Protect Belarusia Committee to Protect http://cpj.org/2010/0
police raid Journalists condemns raids Journalists 3/belarusian-police-
news offices conducted today by Minsk raid-news-offices-in-
in police at the offices of the defamation.php
defamation independent news Web site
probe Charter 97, the independent
newspaper Narodnaya Volya,
and the home office of
freelance reporter Irina
Khalip.
35 T. Pinpin: Mostly about ethics, but Philippines Philippines Daily http://newsinfo.inqui
1st Filipino includes mention of media. Inquirer rer.net/inquirerheadli
author, ‘Press freedom is not nes/nation/view/2010
printer, absolute.’ 0317-259150/T-
Bataeño Pinpin-1st-Filipino-
author-printer-
Bataeo
36 Lebanon Lebanon ranked 61st in Lebanon Daily Star, Lebanon http://www.dailystar.
receives Reporters Without Border's com.lb/article.asp?
praise for 2009 press freedom index, edition_id=1&categ_
freedom of second only to Kuwait in the id=1&article_id=112
media Middle East and North Africa 822
expression region.
37 Regional During regional elections in Russia International Press http://www.freemedi
Elections in Russia on Sunday, Institute a.at/singleview/4828/
Russia independent observers
Overshadow reported allegations of voter
ed by Press fraud and attacks on the press.
Freedom
Violations
38 Mexican A Mexican reporter was shot Mexico International Press http://www.freemedi
Journalist dead on Friday in Mexico Institute a.at/singleview/4832/
Killed in following a surge in drug
Surge of cartel-related violence in the
Drug country.
Violence
39 Third A TV news editor has been Honduras International Press http://www.freemedi
Journalist killed in Honduras, just days Institute a.at/singleview/4829/
Killed in after a radio reporter was
Honduras killed and only two weeks
this Month after the murder of a TV
presenter.
40 Media take Journalists need more access Canada Toronto Sun, Canada http://www.torontosu
on Quebec to Quebec courts so to keep n.com/news/canada/
court the justice system open to the 2010/03/16/1324782
restrictions public, lawyers for media 6-qmi.html
organizations argued at the

18
 Supreme Court Tuesday.
41 Ugandan Ugandan media have Uganda News24, South Africa http://www.news24.c
media slam denounced a proposed law that om/Content/Africa/N
proposed law will allow the state to shut ews/965/835f96f62d
down newspapers and jail 454200b09ff1be1dda
journalists for articles said to d242/16-03-2010-04-
undermine national security. 27/Ugandan_media_
slam_proposed_law
42 Niger junta A real test about press Niger Afrol News (Norway) http://www.afrol.co
demonstrates freedom in the new Niger has m/articles/35654
reform will yet to be produced, but so far
freedom of expression seems
to be largely respected and
media refer freely to foreign
condemnation of the coup.
43 Yemeni Yemeni opposition parties Yeman Palestine Telegraph http://www.paltelegr
opposition have strongly condemned the aph.com/world/midd
denounces confiscation by security forces le-east/77-middle-
seizure of of broadcasting equipment east/4851-yemeni-
Al-Jazeera belonging to the Sana'a-based opposition-
equipment office of Al-Jazeera news denounces-seizure-
channel as an "outrageous of-al-jazeera-
contravention of the equipment
constitution and applicable
laws ensuring freedom of
speech for all."
44 Turkey - Reporters Without Borders is Turkey fromtheold http://fromtheold.co
Judicial outraged by the latest sentence m/turkey-judicial-
harassment to be passed on Haci harassment-
of newspaper Bogatekin, an independent newspaper-
publisher journalist based in Gerger, in publisher-makes-
makes the southeastern province of journalism-
journalism Adiyaman. The owner and impossible-
impossible in publisher of the Gerger Firat provincial-region-
provincial biweekly and editor of the 2010031
region Gergerfirat.net website,
Bogatekin was sentenced by a
provincial court on 2 March to
five years, one month and
seven days in prison.
45 Colombia – Colombian President Alvaro Colombia Inter Press Service http://ipsnews.net/ne
body count Uribe cited his own (IPS) ws.asp?
of slain government as the only one idnews=50666
journalists that had succeeded in reducing
to near zero the number of
journalists assassinated per
year and concluded that this
feat made him one of the
leading defenders of the
freedom of the press in his
nation's history
46 WAN: The World Association of Iran Scoop.co.nz New http://www.scoop.co.
Detention of Newspapers and News Zealand nz/stories/WO1003/S
Iranian Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has 00299.htm
Journalists condemned the continued
imprisonment of Iranian
journalist Emad Baghi and the
repressive measures employed
by the state to silence critical
publications.
47 Protection The International Federation Sri Lanka Scoop.co.nz New http://www.scoop.co.
for Human of Journalists (IFJ) wishes to Zealand nz/stories/WO1003/S
Rights draw your immediate attention 00297.htm
Campaigners and concern to the circulation
of a list of journalists, human
rights campaigners and other

19
 prominent individuals in Sri
Lanka. There is a lack of
clarity about the list’s origins
and purpose, but there are
reports it was compiled by
state intelligence agencies.
48 WAN-IFRA The World Association of Iran Media Update South http://mediaupdate.c
condemns Newspapers and News Africa o.za/default.aspx?
detention of Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has IDStory=23683
Iranian condemned the continued
journalists imprisonment of Iranian
journalist, Emad Baghi, and
the repressive measures
employed by the state to
silence critical publications.
49 Media fights The debate over how much Canada Toronto Sun, Canada http://www.torontosu
court limits court access the media should n.com/news/canada/
have will hit the Supreme 2010/03/15/1323689
Court Tuesday as the CBC 6-qmi.html
fights two lower court rulings
limiting press freedom
50 Car Of The South East Europe Media Bosnia- Spero News, US http://www.sperofor
Bosnian Organization (SEEMO) has Herzegovinia um.com/site/article.a
Journalist condemned what it calls an sp?
Set On Fire attack against a journalist from id=29064&t=Car+Of
"Euroblic," the Bosnian- +Bosnian+Journalist
Herzegovinian edition of the +Set+On+Fire
"Blic" daily in Belgrade.
51 Ugandan Uganda’s anti-homosexuality Uganda Committee to Protect http://cpj.org/blog/20
plan would bill has received considerable Journalists 10/03/ugandan-plan-
punish media international attention, would-punish-media-
for particularly concerning its for-economic-
‘economic harsh criminal sanctions, but sabot.php
sabotage’ another piece of repressive
legislation threatens to
criminalize the activities of
another maligned group: the
vibrant independent press in
this East African nation.
52 US Calls For Press freedom not central to The Gambia Freedom Newspaper, http://www.freedom
Free, And story US newspaper.com/Hom
Fair epage/tabid/36/mid/3
Elections In 67/newsid367/5013/
Gambia’s Breaking-News-
2011 Gambia-FREEDOM-
Elections NEWSPAPER-AT-
THE-US-STATE-
DEPARTMENT/Def
ault.aspx
53 Sri Lanka - Reporters Without Borders is Sri Lanka fromtheold http://fromtheold.co
Journalists very worried by attempts to m/sri-lanka-
close to Gen. intimidate at least four journalists-close-
Sarath journalists linked to jailed gen-sarath-fonseka-
Fonseka opposition leader Sarath threatened-arrest-
threatened Fonseka, who are being 2010031517060.html
with arrest threatened with prosecution.
They have been summoned by
the anti-terrorist police and
they fear they could be
arrested at any time for a
period of 90 days, which is
allowed by the law.
54 Second A radio reporter has been Honduras Free Media http://www.freemedi
Honduran killed in Honduras, less than a.at/singleview/4826/
journalist two weeks since an attack on
killed in two two other journalists, which

20
 weeks left one dead and another
injured.
55 Bosnia: The South East Europe Media Bosnia- B92 http://www.b92.net/e
Journalist's Organization (SEEMO) today Herzegovinia ng/news/region-
car set on strongly condemned the attack article.php?
fire 15 on journalist Rade Tešić. yyyy=2010&mm=03
Tešić, who works for &dd=15&nav_id=65
Euroblic, the Bosnian edition 828
of Belgrade's Blic daily, on
March 13 had his car, parked
near his house in Doboj,
Bosnia, set on fire.
56 CPJ urges Your Majesty, The Committee Morocco Committee to Protect http://cpj.org/2010/0
Morocco to to Protect Journalists is Journalists 3/cpj-urges-
halt disappointed by the morocco-to-halt-
politicized government’s continued use of politicized-
prosecutions the courts to suppress freedom prosecutions.php
of expression, and it urges you
to use your constitutional
prerogatives to end the unjust
imprisonment of our colleague
Driss Chahtan. We also ask
you to instruct authorities to
end the practice of
withholding accreditation
from journalists working for
critical foreign news outlets.
57 WAN-IFRA The World Association of Iran World Association of http://www.wan-
Condemns Newspapers and News Newspapers press.org/article1844
Detention of Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has 0.html
Iranian condemned the continued
Journalists imprisonment of Iranian
journalist Emad Baghi and the
repressive measures employed
by the state to silence critical
publications.
58 MJA Maldives Journalists Maldives Haveeru, Maldives http://www.haveeru.
condemns Association (MJA) has com.mv/english/deta
death threats condemned recent death ils/29412
against threats against controversial
journalists independent journalist Hilath
Rasheed by extremists. A
press statement issued on
Monday read that people who
promoted extremism have
been defaming and threatening
journalists, while openly
calling for the murder of some
them in the false pretense of
following Islam.
59 Aussies Aussie Communications Australia Tech Eye http://www.techeye.n
upset that Minister Stephen Conroy is et/internet/aussies-
they are fuming that the nation has upset-that-they-are-
Internet been labelled an “enemy of the internet-enemies
enemies Internet”. A report from Press
freedom outfit Reporters
without Borders put Australia
on a watch list for signs that
internet freedom may soon be
curbed.
60 Middle Several Arab countries have Middle East ITP.net http://www.itp.net/57
Eastern been called ‘Enemies of the 9592-middle-eastern-
countries Internet' by international NGO countries-called-
called Reporters Without Borders enemies-of-the-
‘Enemies of (RWB), including Egypt, internet
the Internet’ Saudi Arabia, Syria and
Tunisia.

21
61 Conroy Communications Minister Australia AAP / Sydney http://news.smh.com.
slams Stephen Conroy has hit back Morning Herald au/breaking-news-
internet at a new report listing national/conroy-
enemies Australia as a potential slams-internet-
report internet enemy. Press freedom enemies-report-
advocacy group Reporters 20100315-q9fi.html
without Borders released their
Enemies of the Internet report
last Friday, to coincide with
World Day Against Cyber
Censorship.
62 Terror The media in India's restive India Sifynews http://sify.com/news/
groups, state northeast is caught in a Catch- terror-groups-state-
infringing 22 situation with journalists infringing-media-
media becoming targets of separatist freedom-in-
freedom in groups, the state government, northeast-news-
northeast and the mafia, leading to an national-
infringement of press freedom kdpk4bdebfe.html
in at least two states, Manipur
and Assam.
63 Draft Media THE Press and Journalist Bill, New Vision, New Vision, Uganda http://www.newvisio
Bill under 2010, which the information Uganda n.co.ug/D/8/13/7128
fire ministry is proposing, has 93
been called unconstitutional.
The Bill, which is being
discussed by the Cabinet,
seeks to empower the Media
Council to control the
licencing of newspapers.
64 Journalists As online and multimedia Indonesia The Jakarta Post http://www.thejakart
still face journalism spreads across the apost.com/news/201
threat of globe, promising greater 0/03/15/journalists-
censorship in freedom and wider readership still-face-threat-
digital age for media outlets, the specter censorship-digital-
of censorship and violence age.html-0
against journalists remain, a
recent discussion in Jakarta
has concluded. “The number
of violations against the rights
of journalists is increasing
every year [in Indonesia],”
said Ezki Suyanto of the
Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI),
65 Iceland Sets If all goes well, Iceland may Iceland Sccop.co.nz http://www.scoop.co.
New Path be about to make history. No, New Zealand nz/stories/HL1003/S
Toward I don’t mean the refusal of the 00165.htm
Press populace to get saddled with
Freedom Iceland’s $5 billion bad
“Icesave” bank debt. Rather,
I’m referring to the Icelandic
Modern Media Initiative
[IMMI], which combines the
world’s best legislation to
protect press and information
freedom into one path-
breaking information freedom
bill for Iceland.
66 Government The government on Sunday Jordan Jordan Times http://www.jordanti
‘has no stressed that it has no plans to mes.com/?
intention’ to restrict the freedoms of online news=24864
rein in media, but press freedom
electronic advocates expressed fears that
media “something is being cooked up
behind the curtains”.
67 Venezuelan Venezuela, already under Venezuela Mashable.com http://mashable.com/
President watch from the likes of 2010/03/14/venezuel

22
 Chavez Reporters Sans Frontieres for a-open-web-threat/
Makes jeopardizing press freedom,
Threat appears to be edging closer
Against the toward the type of restrictive
Open Web governmental Internet
interference as seen in Cuba,
China and Iran.
68 Govt must The Press and Journalists Uganda Daily Monitor, http://www.monitor.
not kill free (Amendment) Bill, 2010, Uganda co.ug/OpEd/Editorial
press which is now before Cabinet, /-/689360/879296/-/r
should worry any person etp3rz/-/
interested in democracy and
freedom in Uganda.
69 Ecuador's The US State Department has Ecuador Morning Star, UK http://www.mornings
president hits criticised Ecuador for an taronline.co.uk/index
out at alleged lack of press freedom. .php/news/content/vi
'hypocritical' ew/full/87922
US criticism

70 Ecuador Press freedom not central to Ecuador Nam News Network http://news.brunei.fm
Correa story /2010/03/14/ecuador
dismisses US correa-dismisses-us-
moral moral-authority-to-
authority to judge-human-rights/
judge human
rights
71 Reporters The latest study by Reporters Middle East Ethiopian review.com http://www.ethiopian
Without without Borders identified 12 review.com/news/15
Borders “enemies of the Internet” – 373
warns especially in Asia and the
against Arab world. Among them are
Internet countries like China, Burma,
censorship North Korea, Saudi Arabia
and Iran.
72 Swaziland to The government of Swaziland Swaziland Nam News Network http://news.brunei.fm
get has launched a bill to regulate /2010/03/13/swazilan
broadcasting the broadcasting sector in the d-to-get-
bill country. Once the bill broadcasting-bill/
becomes law, a new
commission will among other
things, issue licences to TV
and radio broadcasters, which
could open up for private
broadcast media in the
kingdom.
73 “Pluralism is The Maldives Journalists Maldives Asian Tribune, http://www.asiantrib
the essence Association (MJA) told the une.com/news/2010/
of ruling MDP that it should 03/13/%E2%80%9C
democracy,” know “pluralism is the essence pluralism-essence-
MJA tells of democracy” after the party democracy
MDP blocked the opposition-leaning %E2%80%9D-mja-
Dhi TV from covering a MDP tells-mdp
meeting.
74 Security Security authorities stormed Yeman News Yeman http://www.newsyem
storms al- offices of al-Jazeera and en.net/en/view_news
Jazeera, Al- Alarabiya in Sana'a and .asp?
Arabiya confiscated living sub_no=3_2010_03_
ofices in broadcasting equipment 12_40044
Sana'a, takes because of their coverage of
over protests in the southern
equipment provinces.
75 Index: Press freedom not central to International Voice of America http://www1.voanew
Democracies story s.com/english/news/a
Decline in frica/Index-
Quality, Not Democracies-
Number Decline-in-Quality-

23
 Not-Number-
87487037.html
76 Kyrgyz A Kyrgyz rights group says it Kyrgyzstan Radio Free Europe / http://www.rferl.org/
Rights is seriously concerned by what Radio Liberty content/Kyrgyz_Rig
Group it calls a coordinated attack by hts_Group_Criticizes
Criticizes authorities on freedom of _Attack_On_Press_F
'Attack On speech. Kyrgyz Internet users reedom/1982270.htm
Press since March 10 had not been l
Freedom' able to access popular news
websites.
77 In CPJ expresses alarm at wave Cameroon Modern Ghana http://www.moderng
Cameroon, of arrests, harassment, hana.com/news2/267
CPJ alarmed criminal prosecution and 374/1/in-cameroon-
by abuse of at least a dozen cpj-alarmed-by-
harassment journalists who raised harassment-of-
of journalists sensitive questions about journalis.html
issues of public interest in
Cameroon.
78 Defiant Win Veteran pro-democracy Burma The Irradwaddy http://www.irrawadd
Tin activist Win Tin celebrated his y.org/article.php?
Celebrates 80th birthday on Friday, art_id=18028
80th vowing to work to “dismantle
Birthday the military dictatorship until
my final breath.” ....... While
in prison, Win Tin was
awarded the Guillermo Cano
World Press Freedom Prize
and the Golden Pen of
Freedom from the World
Association of Newspapers.
79 Indonesian Journalists gathered to discuss Indonesia Jakarta Post http://www.thejakart
press must the book on press freedom by apost.com/news/201
expand American author Lee 0/03/12/indonesian-
freedom of Bollinger at Hotel Aryaduta, press-must-expand-
expression Central Jakarta, Friday, urged freedom-
Indonesia’s media people to expression.html
continue their battle against
the ongoing attacks and
constraints against freedom of
expression in the country.
80 Global Internet censorship is still a International Global Voices http://globalvoiceson
World Day major issue in many countries line.org/2010/03/12/
against cyber worldwide. With that in mind, global-world-day-
censorship the Paris-based international against-censorship/
organization Reporters
without Borders (RSF) is
promoting its yearly World
Day Against Cyber
Censorship on March 12th.
81 The Art of When the controversy erupted Denmark Courthouse News http://www.courthou
Provocation over Danish cartoons Service senews.com/2010/03
depicting the Muslim prophet /17/25657.htm
four years ago, it seemed to
me a simple matter of press
freedom.

24
 APPENDIX B
MEDIA FREEDOM ORGANIZATIONS CITED IN THE TEXT

Article 29 Coalition, Uganda

http://umdf.co.ug/index.php?page&as=80

Central Council of the Society for Defending Press Freedom – Iran

Charter 97, Belarus

http://charter97.org/

Committee to Protect Journalists

www.cpj.org/

Freedom House
www.freedomhouse.org/

Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM)

www.hrcm.org.mv/

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

www.ifj.org/

International Press Institute (IPI)

www.freemedia.at/

Jubba Journalists Association (JIJA) – Somalia

http://www.asoj.org/26.09.07.2.htm

Maldives Journalists Association (MJA)

maldivesjournalistassociation.org/

National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ)

www.nusoj.org/

Reporters Without Borders

www.rsf.org/

South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO)

www.seemo.org/

United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO)

http://www.unesco.org/new/index.php?id=19181&L=0

World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

www.wan-ifra.org/

25