Terror War is Pretext for Media Limits, says Press Group
VOA News
19 Mar 2003, 17:37 UTC
An international group monitoring the freedom of the press says governments used the war on terrorism as a pretext for enacting restrictive media laws, reducing the free flow of information and arresting journalists.
The Vienna-based International Press Institute in its annual world press freedom survey, which was presented Wednesday, says pressure was put on the media in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
It also says Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, which support U.S. anti-terrorist efforts, are suppressing the media with impunity.
In its report, the International Press Institute said 54 journalists were killed worldwide last year, most of them victims of long-running international conflicts and civil wars.
The report says the Western hemisphere remained the most dangerous region in the world for journalists in 2002. It cited the killing of 22 journalists there, including 15 by left-wing terrorists or right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia. It says another eight journalists were killed in Russia and four in the Palestinian territories.
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