Media watchdog paints grim picture of press freedom (AFP)

[Eugene]

Media watchdog paints grim picture of press freedom

Sun Feb 4, 7:09 PM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - The Committee to Protect Journalists painted a bleak image of press
freedom in its annual report, accusing governments and guerrillas alike of controlling,
intimidating and censoring the media.

From tightening controls on the press in Russia to Internet restrictions in China, the New
York-based watchdog said governments were increasingly shifting from overt repression
to more subtle ways to muzzle their critics in the media.

The "Attacks on the Press" report said that while journalists were protected by international
law, "in an era in which even US officials describe the Geneva Conventions as 'quaint,' these
protections increasingly exist in name only."

"Events in Iraq and Lebanon reflect the erosion in war correspondents' traditional status as
neutral observers," the group's executive director Joel Simon said in the introduction to the
more than 300-page report.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070205/ts_alt_afp/usmediarightscpj_070205000948

(Reuters)

Elected autocrats a danger to press- rights group
Sun 4 Feb 2007 7:00 PM ET

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The rise of popularly elected "democratators" in Venezuela
and Russia is an alarming new model for government control of the press, the U.S.-based
Committee to Protect Journalists warned on Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez embody a generation
of sophisticated, elected leaders who use laws to control, intimidate and censor the media,
said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

He said in November Chavez accused news broadcasters of attempting to "divide, weaken
and destroy the nation" and threatened to pull their licenses, while in Russia in July Putin
signed a measure that "equates journalism with terrorism."

"The democratators tolerate the facade of democracy -- a free press, opposition political
parties, an independent judiciary -- while gutting it from within," Simon said in CPJ's
"Attacks on the Press in 2006" report, will be published on Monday.

-snip-

Full article: http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N02175686

[ixion]

1. "Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez...

embody a generation
of sophisticated, elected leaders who use laws to control, intimidate and censor the media"

Uh, ya know, I know someone here at home who is doing the same damn thing. Why doesn't his name show up on the list?

In two paragraphs, the countries mentioned were Russia, Venezuela, China...me thinks the critic doth lack the necessary cojones to bring that rapier wit to bear on the 'homeland', as it were.

[struggle4progress]

2. The CPJ website is worth a look:

For example, there's an Al-Jazeera reporter held at Guantanamo:
http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/DA_fall_06/prisoner/prisoner.html

And for journalists, Iraq is the most dangerous place ever known: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/killed_06/killed_06.html