Malaysia

The government's promise not to censor the Internet has allowed bloggers more latitude than journalists working in other media. Now, with a leading blogger jailed, that freedom is in jeopardy.

By Ivan Karakashian

A Yemeni editor's decision to reprint cartoons of Muhammad sparks government reprisals. Other cases abound.

CPJ Names 10 Enemies of the Press on World Press Freedom Day

On World Press Freedom Day

ENEMIES OF THE PRESS 1999
ENEMIES OF THE PRESS 1998
ENEMIES OF THE PRESS 1997
ENEMIES OF THE PRESS 1996

Mahathir wins election, stifles media

Also in this report: A. Lin Neumann discusses the Malaysian press on the eve of elections in a news analysis.

In an exclusive essay for CPJ, Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent Murray Hiebert recounts his ordeal at the hands of the Malaysian legal system.

Dangerous Assignments

The Asian economic turmoil of the last eight months struck many international observers as a sudden calamity--trouble that seemed to drop from the sky like an alien invader. But in fact, the signs of structural weakness and the cracks in the veneer of financial robustness were in plain view for those in a position to take a hard look. In Indonesia, the family of President Suharto has had its hands in the economy for decades. Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has long pursued expensive vanity projects. In South Korea and Thailand, many companies and banks have ignored financial reporting requirements with scant legal penalty.

Those looking to take the measure of China's attitude toward Hong Kong's outspoken press may not need to wait for macroeconomic changes. Beijing has already expressed its distaste for Hong Kong's independent journalism in the case of media magnate Jimmy Lai. The flamboyant millionaire has built a media empire in a very short time by combining investigative reporting with the flash of tabloid journalism and a reputation for no-holds-barred criticism of China.