Press Freedom

Can governments control the press in the Internet age?

  • By:Jennifer Koons
  • Content Type: Report
  • Publisher: CQ Press
    • Publication year: 2010
    • Online pub date:
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/cqrglobal20101100

Introduction

Press freedom around the globe declined for the eighth year in a row in 2009, with more than three-quarters of the world's population now living in countries without a free press. It was once thought that new technologies — such as cell phones and the Internet — would help to open up repressive societies. But as fast as reporters in those countries adopt technologies that enable them to connect to the outside world, authoritarian governments like China, Iran and Russia devise sophisticated new tools to control the flow of online information. Meanwhile, dictatorial regimes continue to use heavy-handed, old-school methods to control the world's media, including intimidation and violence. Fifty-two journalists were murdered in 2009, most of them while investigating corruption or politics. Another 136 ...

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