Unidentified men attacked the office of the country's leading daily, Suara Timor Lorosa'e, on August 4. The precise motive behind the attack was unclear, although the Timor Lorosa'e Journalists Association said the newspaper may have been targeted by political partisans. Suara Timor Lorosa'e was perceived to favor the party of independence leader Xanana Gusmao. Political tensions were running high in the country after parliamentary elections in June ended with no party winning an absolute majority.

A report on the June elections issued by the Solidarity Observer Mission for East Timor (SOMET), a nonpartisan association of local and international nongovernmental organizations, expressed concern about the climate for press freedom. "Some Timorese journalists at times felt pressured to cover (or not to cover) certain political issues or to advance a particular political perspective," according to SOMET.

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