General
Correspondents encounter obstacles in gathering news wherever they work whether in a country such as the United States where freedom of the press is protected by the fundamental law of the land or under the most authoritarian regime where news is regarded as a tool of the government to be used under strict control.
Newsmen expect obstacles and would be surprised if they did not exist. There is a difference, however, between what might be termed the "natural obstacle" of a source, private or public,who is reluctant to talk and the obstacles created by governments which want to control the news which reaches their people, thereby attempting to control their thinking, or the news which reaches the rest of the world about them, thereby attempting to create an inaccurate or incomplete picture of their countries.
It is natural that authoritarian governments which seek to prevent opposition present the greatest problem to correspondents. They control their own national information media and try to control reporting about the country by foreign newsmen. The simplest way to do this is to bar entry to reporters from abroad by ignoring or rejecting their visa applications. A number of countries simply will not grant a visa to foreign newsmen except on rare occasions such as an international conference, a visit by a foreign statesman or some similar event. On these occasions, they hope to avoid critical reports on aspects of their own countries and reporters who take advantage of the assignment to write such critical reports usually are blacklisted for future events.
Obstacles Within Countries
Once in a country on permanent assignment, a foreign newsman may encounter a wide variety of obstacles ranging from subtle pressure in the form of "friendly" advice or admonishment to expulsion or even to physical assault or intimidation. These pressures are not confined to authoritarian nations, but sometimes are applied in more democratic countries as well, particularly the more subtle ones which may include denial of access to sources.
Assault and kidnapping of reporters is occurring at such a high rate that the International Press Institute early in January 1978, said journalism is becoming one of the world's riskiest professions.
In its annual review of world press freedom, IPI said, "Events of 1977 demand an urgent international initiative to win immunity for journalists from assault and extra-judicial detention." It said that physical attack and kidnapping have become "standard forms of political protest."
IPI said it knew of cases of kidnapping of journalists in six non- Communist countries, bombing, involving journalists in six, murders in six, torture and other forms of assault in eight and detention in at least 25 countries.
Africa Most Difficult
To be specific on a country-by-country basis would go beyond the scope of this paper, but it can be said that, as a generalization, Africa is the most difficult continent for international news services to cover today. A few countries, such as Kenya, are permissive but all require a visa which often takes weeks or months to arrange. Some countries refuse most requests, others simply ignore all cables and letters on the subject.
Even when a visa is obtained, it often is difficult to work in most African nations. There is almost universal censorship, either direct censorship before filing or indirect censorship in which case dispatches are read by government officials. If a correspondent's copy does not meet their approval, the correspondent may be detained or expelled. In less extreme cases, an official will admonish a correspondent, often saying that is a friendly, not an official warning.
Restrictions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia run the gamut from general or selective refusal of visas in most of the Communist countries of Asia to surveillance or even harassment in some Eastern European countries.
Outside of the U.S. and Canada, Latin America and Western Europe probably are the easiest area in which a foreign correspondent can work. Even in Latin America, however, there have been recent examples of kidnapping or detention without charges or warning.
Obstacles in the U.S. generally are of a legalistic nature, such as judges closing trials, or procedural, such as legislative bodies closing their sessions or government departments and agencies withholding records. In most such cases, legal remedies are available to the press.