Canada and the United States passed anti-terrorism laws last year that seriously undermine press freedom, while violence continues to stand in the way of work by Latin American journalists, says the international watchdog Reporters without Borders.
The (George W) Bush administration made plenty of recommendations to the media about how they should handle tapes showing (al-Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden, says the Paris-based group in its annual report, to be published today, World Press Freedom Day.
The Sept 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, which the Bush government attributes to Osama, caused more damage to press freedoms in the United States than in any other country, says Reporters without Borders ( Reporters sans Frontires , RSF).
Just like authoritarian Arab regimes, the US State Department exerted pressure on the Qatari TV station Al Jazeera , which it accused of encouraging anti-American feeling in the Middle East, says the report.
RSF maintains that the anti-terrorism legislation passed in the United States in the wake of the attacks was a blow to advocates of Internet confidentiality because it gave the intelligence authorities power to monitor web-based communications between terrorist suspects without requiring a search warrant from a judge.
Restricted media access
Nine journalists and communications media employees died in the World Trade Centre attacks. Later, the authorities restricted media access to the site.
The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people but not a single photograph of any of the bodies was shown. The US authorities relied on the self-censorship of the US media, which chose not to show shocking pictures, says the report.
In Canada the other industrialised country of the Americas anti-terrorist reforms were passed that seriously undermine the right of journalists not to reveal their sources .
Publication of sensitive material can now be considered an offence on grounds that it gives information to a foreign entity or terrorist group, says RSF. This crime can carry the penalty of life imprisonment.
The Canadian anti-terrorism legislation means the confidentiality of messages between journalists and their contacts in foreign countries is no longer guaranteed .
Even before the Sept 11 attacks, police abuses, including arrests of journalists and seizure of their equipment , had damaged press freedom in Canada, according to the rights watchdog.
Violence against media
In Latin America, meanwhile, no country seemed truly untouched by violence against the media , evident in the assassination of eight journalists in 2001, 50 percent more than in the previous year, according to the RSF count. These violent deaths are in addition to the killings of 31 more journalists in the rest of the world last year.
Three journalists were murdered in Colombia last year, and one each in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti and Paraguay. Most were political killings or in revenge for revelations about corruption, says the annual report.
The civil war underway in Colombia is also a war of information in which journalists continue to be victims.
The deaths of the three Colombian journalists came as a result of the war between right-wing paramilitary forces and leftist guerrilla groups, though local politicians and organised crime also attacked the press .
Reporters without Borders states that the general lawlessness in Colombia drove eight more journalists into exile during the year .
Cuba, the last dictatorship in the Americas , says the report, is also the only country (in the region) where journalists are still formally imprisoned. Two were released from jail in 2001, but this was not a sign that the regime was softening .
President Fidel Castros regime is protected by a Constitution that says all media are state-owned. . . although a hundred or so independent journalists still try to send articles to the Cuban exile community abroad where they are put on Internet websites.
No independent news
However, ordinary Cubans do not see the independent news stories because of strict government controls over Internet access. Independent journalists are constantly harassed and are subjected to arrests, interrogations, phone tapping, threats of prosecution, summonses by the police and pressure on their families .
In Venezuela, President Hugo Chvezs inflammatory statements against the media raised concern about press freedoms, but did not involve acts of repression, says RSF.
But Chvezs intimidation tactics took on different forms, such as a threat to withdraw a TV stations broadcasting licence, the threat of a tax inspection and a supreme court ruling that would curb press freedom .
In Mexico, says the annual report, journalists still face threats, attacks and pressure from state officials who dislike being criticised . But press freedom has gradually expanded since President Vicente Fox took office.
While press freedom on the continent generally deteriorated during the year, some countries provided a ray of hope. The situation was satisfactory in Uruguay, Ecuador and El Salvador, and sharply improved in Peru and Chile, states RSF.
In the case of Chile, the an internal state security law was finally repealed that had stipulated up to five years in prison for anyone who insulted or defamed top state officials. Some 30 journalists had been threatened with lawsuits under that law since the return of democracy in 1990.
In Peru, the systematic corruption of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) and his right hand and spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, were brought to light. The two had maintained virtual control over the media, particularly television.
The overall situation improved after Fujimori was removed from office, but attacks on press freedoms continued in the Peruvian provinces.
The RSF annual report states that, around the world, 489 journalists were arrested in 2001 (50 percent more than in 2000), 716 suffered attacks or threats (up 40 percent), and 378 incidents of censorship were reported (28 percent more than in 2000).
Furthermore, the number of journalists in prison at the end of 2001 was 110, compared with 74 a year earlier, an increase of almost 50 per cent .