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Media Rights Group: Record 71 Journalists Killed in 2009

   VOA News 16 February 2010

Photo: AP

   Employees  of  France  3  Television  gather  to  support two of their
   journalists kidnapped in Afghanistan, in Paris (file)

   The  Committee  to  Protect  Journalists  says more media workers were
   killed  last  year  than  in  any  year  since  it  began  documenting
   journalist deaths in 1992.
   In  its  annual  report on press attacks, CPJ said 71 journalists were
   killed around the world in 2009, compared to 41 deaths in 2008.
   The  media rights group says last year's record toll was driven by the
   election-related  massacre  of 31 journalists and media workers in the
   Philippines.   The  report says the slaughter was the deadliest single
   event for the press CPJ has ever recorded.
   After  the Philippines, the group listed Somalia, Iraq and Pakistan as
   the  deadliest countries for journalists. Somalia saw nine journalists
   killed in 2009, while in both Iraq and Pakistan, there were four media
   killings.
   The   Committee   to   Protect  Journalists  also  highlighted  Iran's
   post-election  targeting  of  journalists, calling it "one of the most
   vicious and widespread crackdowns on the press in recent memory."
   CPJ  says  136 journalists remain jailed worldwide. But the group says
   international  pressure  has  helped  secure the release of imprisoned
   journalists  in  many  countries, including Burma and Gambia. CPJ says
   its  own  advocacy contributed to the release of 45 jailed journalists
   last year.
   CPJ  says  Iran  arrested 90 journalists to suppress dissent following
   the  election  last  June  that  kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
   power.   It  said  Iran  was  still  holding 23 writers and editors by
   December,  second  only  to China, which held 24 journalists, and just
   one more than Cuba's 22 jailed media workers.
   In  Africa, the group said high numbers of local journalists have been
   forced  to  flee  their  home  countries  in  recent years after being
   assaulted,  threatened  or  imprisoned. CPJ says the starkest examples
   are  in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as Zimbabwe, Rwanda and
   Gambia.
   The report accused Latin American nations such as Colombia, Argentina,
   Venezuela and Bolivia of illegally spying on journalists.
   In   Afghanistan  and  Pakistan,  CPJ  says  reporters  face  enormous
   challenges  covering the war in the region, including threats from the
   Taliban  and  other militants, pressure and harassment from government
   and  military  sources  and  insufficient security and safety training
   from their employers.
   The  report also highlighted the murder of human rights worker Natalya
   Estemirova  in  Russia's violence-ridden Chechnya region as an example
   of   Russia's   failure  to  properly  investigate  and  punish  those
   responsible  for journalists' deaths. CPJ says the Philippines, Mexico
   and Pakistan also have problems with impunity.
   In Middle Eastern nations such as Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain, CPJ says
   governments   are  pushing  back  against  independent  reporters  and
   bloggers  after  the  Internet contributed to a surge in news on human
   rights  abuses.  But  journalists  say the crackdown will not stop the
   flow of information.

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