The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned Sunday against the emergence of "democratic dictators" elected in Venezuela and Russia and claimed that it is a new, alarming model of government control over the media.
 
Presidents of Venezuela and Russia  Hugo Chávez and Vladimir Putin, respectively, represent a generation of sophisticated, elected leaders who use rules and regulations to control, intimidate and censure the media, said CPJ CEO Joel Simon, Reuters quoted.

Last November, Chávez blamed the media for trying "to divide, weaken and spoil the nation" and threatened to remove their licenses. In Russia, Putin issued last July a directive that "matches journalism with terrorism."

"Democratic dictators tolerate the façade of democracy while destroying it from the inside," Simon said in the CPJ report entitled "Attacks on the press in 2006," to be released Monday.

The report revealed that 55 journalists died around the world in 2006 as a result of their work.