Attacks on the Press in 2002: a Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists

The January 2002 abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl brought into sharp relief the dangers faced by journalists on assignment in areas of conflict. Scores of journalists are imprisoned every year because of what they have reported. Hundreds more are routinely subjected to physical attack, illegal detention, spurious legal action and threats against themselves or their families. Published annually by the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press provides factual and non-sensationalized reports on violations of press freedom around the world. The book covers press freedom abuses in more than 130 countries, including harassment, censorship, assault, harassment, and assassination. It also gives detailed accounts of journalists jailed for challenging government orthodoxy in countries whose leaders would prefer a docile and obedient press. Beginning with the 2001 edition (released in March 2002), the Brookings Institution Press will distribute Attacks on the Press, enabling widespread dissemination of this important volume to bookstores, libraries, and wholesalers. Attacks on the Press 2001 chronicles the deaths of 37 journalists in 2001, including eight who were killed in Afghanistan during a deadly period last November. It also features spotlight essays on three countries–Burma, Syria, and Colombia–where press freedom is most threatened. It describes the U.S. bombing of Al-Jazeera!|s Kabul bureau and the Israeli bombing of the Voice of Palestine!|s broadcasting facilities on the West Bank. It criticizes the jailing of Vanessa Leggett, a Houston-based freelancer who spent five months behind bars in Texas for refusing to turn over her research to a grand jury