For the second consecutive year, CPJ’s Risk List highlights 10 places where the space for free expression is shrinking. For 2013, CPJ identified Egypt, Ecuador, Turkey, and Syria, among other countries, and included the supranational platform of cyberspace because of the profound erosion of freedom on the Internet.
On August 31, 2013, Der Spiegel reported that the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) had hacked into the private communications of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The German news magazine, citing documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, reported that the NSA deemed its operation to access the communications of interesting targets specially protected by Al-Jazeera «a notable success.»
As of late in the year, the action against Al-Jazeera was the only reported instance of the NSA directly spying on any news outlet. But continuing revelations based on the documents obtained by Snowden paint a picture of wide-ranging surveillance by the U.S. and its allies–surveillance that presents a clear threat to global Internet privacy and therefore to freedom of the press worldwide. Digital communication has become essential to newsgathering, and the decentralized nature of the Internet has until now sheltered many journalists around the world who are restricted from reporting or expressing their opinion in traditional media. Furthermore, the U.S. government has undermined its own global leadership position on free expression and Internet openness, especially when it comes to battling efforts by repressive countries like China and Iran to restrict the Internet…
Trends witnessed in 2013 include:
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Deterioration in several indicators, including fatalities and censorship, in Egypt
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New legislation to stifle free speech in Ecuador, Liberia, Russia, Vietnam, and Zambia
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Firings and forced resignations of journalists in Turkey at the government’s behest
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Targeted violence against journalists in Bangladesh and Russia, and a soaring rate of abductions in Syria
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Crackdowns on online journalism in Russia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh
Declining Press Freedom (2013) 1 Cyberspace 2 Egypt 3 Russia 4 Syria 5 Vietnam 6 Turkey 7 Bangladesh 8 Liberia http://cpj.org/2014/02/attacks-on-the-press-cpj-risk-list.php …
