Monday, February 04, 2008
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said only one year, 1994, had seen a higher death toll.
The report also singled out China, Russia, the Philippines and Cuba as the worst offenders in recent years in limiting press freedom and failing to counter danger to journalists.
"Journalists were killed in usually high numbers in 2007, with 65 killed in direct connection to their work -- up from 56 a year earlier," Asia coordinator Bob Dietz said at the launch of the group's annual report, Attacks on the Press, in Hong Kong.
“Driving the numbers was devastating violence in Iraq and Somalia. In Iraq, for the second consecutive year, 32 journalists were killed in the line of duty,” said Dietz.
"Iraq was the deadliest country in the world for the press for the fifth straight year. Seven journalists died in Somalia. In 85 percent of these cases, no one is ever held accountable for journalist murders," he said.
Dietz said a further 23 deaths were being investigated to determine whether they could be classified as work-related deaths.
Only 1994 witnessed a higher death toll, when 66 journalists were killed, many in conflicts in Algeria, Bosnia and Rwanda.
CPJ is now campaigning to bolster legal resources in Russia and the Philippines to help bring about more convictions, which are very low in journalist murder cases.
More than 20 journalists have been in jail in Cuba for almost five years after a crackdown on independent journalists in March 2003, the report added.
China was singled out for its failure to improve press freedom, despite a public commitment to do so ahead of the summer Olympics in Beijing this August.
Source: AFP, Feb 04, 2008