47 journos 'killed worldwide'

2006-01-04 09:02

New York - Kidnappers in Iraq, political assassins in Beirut, and hit men in the Philippines made murder the leading cause of work-related deaths among journalists worldwide in 2005, showed a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

CPJ's annual survey found that 47 journalists were killed in 2005, more than three-quarters of whom were murdered to silence their criticism or punish them for their work.

That compared with 57 deaths in 2004, just less than two-thirds of which were murders.

Iraq, the most dangerous place for journalists in 2005, also became the deadliest conflict for the media since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping tallies 24 years ago.

58 journos killed in Algeria

A total of 60 journalists had been killed on duty in Iraq from the beginning of the United States-led invasion in March 2003 through the end of 2005.

The toll surpassed the 58 journalists killed in the Algerian conflict from 1993 to 1996.

CPJs analysis also documented a long-term trend - those who murdered journalists usually go unpunished.

Slayings were carried out with impunity about 90% of the time in 2005, a figure consistent with data collected by CPJ for more than a decade.

Less than 15% of journalist murders since 1992 had resulted in the arrest and prosecution of those who ordered the killings.

Unresponsive governments

Although the 2005 toll reflected a decline from the previous year, it was still well above the annual average of 34 deaths that CPJ had documented for the past 10 years.

In fact, 104 journalists were killed in 2004 and 2005, making it the deadliest two-year period since the war in Algeria raged a decade ago.

CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said: "Too many journalists have lost their lives just because they were doing their jobs, and unresponsive governments bear responsibility for the toll.

"The war in Iraq might lead one to think that reporters are losing their lives on the battlefield.

"But the fact is that three out of four journalists killed around the world are singled out for murder, and their killers are rarely brought to justice."

'Criminals dictate news'

Cooper said: "Its a terrible indictment of governments that let warlords and criminals dictate the news their citizens can see and hear."

CPJ found that Iraq accounted for 22 deaths in 2005 or nearly half of the years total. Yet even in that conflict zone, murder accounted for more than 70% of the deaths documented by CPJ.

The prevalence of targeted killings reflected the evolving threat in Iraq, where crossfire had been the leading cause of death the previous two years.

Fatal abductions emerged as a particularly disturbing trend as at least eight journalists were kidnapped and slain in 2005, compared with one fatal abduction the previous year.

Iraqi journalists bore the brunt of these attacks as it became increasingly hazardous for foreign reporters and to work.

- AP