BlogIssues

The censorship machine. A look at the worlds most censored countries you certainly do not want to live in.

North Korea:

• has no independent journalists
• all radio and television receivers sold in the country are locked to government-specified frequencies
• all “news” is positive like in Teletubbyland
• the country’s grinding poverty or famines are never mentioned

Burma:

• the junta owns all daily newspapers and radio, along with the country’s three television channels
• Burma’s few privately owned publications must submit content to the Press Scrutiny Board for approval before publishing
• in 2005, the junta took control of Bagan Cybertech, Burma’s main Internet service and satellite-feed provider
• there has been arrests for listening to the BBC or Radio Free Asia in public

Turkmenistan:

• Turkmenistan’s president has isolated the country from the rest of the world and created a cult of personality declaring himself “Turkmenbashi,” father of the Turkmen
• the state owns all domestic media, controls and censors content
• Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s president, personally approves the front-page content of the major dailies, which always include a prominent picture of him

Equatorial Guinea:

• criticism of president Obiang’s brutal regime is not tolerated
• all broadcast media are state-owned, except for RTV-Asonga, the private radio and television network owned by the president’s son
• private newspapers officially exist but rarely publish due to financial and political pressure

Libya:

• Libya’s media are the most tightly controlled in the Arab world
• the government owns and controls all print and broadcast media
• the media dutifully reflect state policies and do not allow news or views critical of it’s president or the government
• Satellite television and the Internet are available, but the government blocks undesirable political Web sites
• Dayf al-Ghazal al-Shuhaibi, who wrote for London-based opposition Web sites, was found shot in the head in Benghazi in 2005. No one was charged with murder.

Eritrea:

• Eritrea is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa without a single private media outlet
• almost no local access to independent information with only a handful having Internet access