The Nation - News from Dec. 30, 1986

Freedom of the press “was seriously challenged on every continent, with 19 journalists killed, 13 kidnaped, 40 expelled, at least 178 arrested and 214 physically and professionally abused” in 1986, said a report written by Leonard Sussman, executive director of Freedom House, a group that monitors world freedom. The report said: “Both Washington and Moscow suffered losses of credibility, the Americans by involuntarily revealing covert acts concerning Libya and Iran, and the Soviets by suddenly returning to their traditional use of secrecy during the Chernobyl disaster.”