Another bad year for journos
2005-05-03 09:06
Paris - Journalists faced ever increasing danger in 2004, with 53 killed on the job worldwide, media watchdog group Reporters without Borders said on Tuesday in its annual report, naming Iraq as the most perilous country.
"Press freedom is having a hard time. It's being attacked, trampled on, disdained or ignored everywhere in the world," Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) said in its report on 2004, released to coincide with World Press Freedom Day.
The number of journalists killed in 2004 was the highest recorded since 1995, RSF said, adding that 107 journalists were in prison around the world for doing their jobs as of January 1 2005.
For the second year in a row, Iraq remained the world's most hazardous country for journalists, with 19 killed in 2004 and more than a dozen kidnapped. Sixteen others were killed in Asia, most for their beliefs.
Journalists also faced the threat of physical harm in parts of Africa and the Americas, but RSF hailed cracks across the globe in what it called a nearly "solid wall of impunity" for those accused of killing reporters on the job.
The Paris-based media watchdog group praised the fact that suspects in Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Nicaragua, Peru and the Philippines were either convicted or at least arrested and charged in courts of law.
China retained RSF's dubious distinction as the "world's biggest prison for journalists", detaining 27 of the 107 reporters behind bars worldwide - a quarter of the total.
Cuba ranked second with 22 reporters held, followed by Eritrea, 14, and Myanmar, 11, the group said.
'907 journos arrested in 2004'
At least 907 journalists were arrested in 2004, another 1 146 physically attacked or threatened, and 622 media outlets suffered censorship, RSF said.
The organisation accused North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea of being the worst violators of press freedoms, but awarded high marks to North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia - with notable exceptions.
It chided the US courts for prosecuting journalists over their refusal to reveal their sources, "all new in a country where the national constitution says people do not have to testify against themselves".
In Asia, RSF said the situation in 2004 was "horribly similar" to the year before, with 16 journalists killed. After Iraq, the Philippines and Bangladesh rank as the most deadly countries for working reporters.
In North Korea, the group said "there is no recognisable journalism" under Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-Il, while it called Bangladesh's southwest Khulna region a "kind of hell" for reporters. China, Nepal and Myanmar also earned scorn.
Frustrated hopes for a free press in Africa
Repressive regimes, censorship, death threats and violence have frustrated hopes for a free press in Africa, where Gambian journalist Deida Hydara, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse, was murdered last year, RSF said.
Zimbabwe and Eritrea earned the worst marks, with RSF calling the latter a "dismal exception" on the continent, with no privately-owned press, no freedom of expression, no foreign correspondents and 14 reporters in jail.
RSF described reporting in the Middle East as a "very risky business" for locals and foreigners, with killings and kidnappings rife in Iraq, the first murder of a journalist in Saudi Arabia and many facing the threat of jail.
A total of 21 journalists were killed in the region last year, 19 of them in Iraq, the report said.
Reporters without Borders praised the Americas for generally respecting press freedoms, but said that Cuba remains a black spot, with 22 reporters imprisoned and the government maintaining tight control of news.
Twelve journalists were killed in Central and South America last year, a worrying increase up from seven the previous year, RSF said.
Press freedom is generally respected in Europe, although the group said some countries "can definitely do better" by refraining from attacking the right of journalists to protect the anonymity of their sources.
Censorship and crackdowns on dissident journalists continued in 2004 in the countries of the former Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine and Belarus, RSF said.
Three journalists were killed in Russia and Serbia-Montenegro last year.
"Press freedom is not guaranteed everywhere in the world. As some lights of free expression are lit, others are extinguished," the group said.