[NYTr] Attacks on journalists increase Worldwide (almost)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Needless to say, but we will anyway... No journalists were threatened,
kidnapped, tortured, disappeared or killed in Cuba. -NY Transfer]


Int'l Herald Trib - Dec 18, 3007
http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8799772

Attacks on journalists increase

By Adam B. Ellick

More journalists have been killed worldwide in 2007 than in any year
since 1994, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an
independent group that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of
journalists.

The committee's annual report, which was to be made public Tuesday,
indicates that 64 journalists died in connection with their work in
2007. Nearly half of those deaths, 31, took place in Iraq, which was
ranked as the deadliest country for journalists for the fifth
consecutive year. Most of the killings this year were targeted attacks,
as opposed to deaths caused by crossfire, according to the committee.

In Africa, the number of deaths rose to 10 this year from 2 in 2006,
according to the committee's report. Somalia, the second-deadliest
country in 2007, accounted for seven of those deaths.

The committee's annual report tallies the deaths of journalists that
result directly from combat, violence or a direct reprisal for a
journalist's work, like the assassination of Hrant Dink, a
Turkish-Armenian editor who was killed in January on a street in
Istanbul. The report covers the period from Jan. 1 through Monday.

In Iraq, the committee cites "unidentified gunmen, suicide bombers and
American military activity" as the main contributors to the deaths.

"Working as a journalist in Iraq remains one of the most dangerous jobs
on the planet," said Joel Simon, the executive director of the
committee, which is based in New York.

A mounting problem in Iraq is that international news agencies are
circumventing their limited mobility by passing dangerous assignments
to nonprofessionals who lack proper training, said Tala Dowlatshahi of
Reporters Without Borders, another group that promotes press freedom.

[NOTE: Reporters Without Scruples is a HIGHLY dubious group that acts a 
handmaiden of the CIA in some countries, while doing what appears to be
serious work in other countries. -NYTr]

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, all but one of the
31 victims in Iraq were Iraqi citizens, and nine of them worked for
international news outlets. Since the war began in March 2003, 124
journalists and 49 support staff members have been killed in Iraq,
according to the committee.

In Africa, border disputes and tribal conflicts have created an
increasingly dangerous climate for journalists. According to Reporters
Without Borders' 2007 index, Eritrea replaced North Korea as the worst
country for press freedom.

Three Mexican journalists were killed in 2007, all of whom were
reporting on ties between drug traffickers and the Mexican police and
government, according to the committee. The committee's report cites a
safer climate in Colombia, where no journalists were killed for the
first time in 15 years, and in the Philippines, which had no
work-related deaths for the first time in nine years and has long been
atop the list of the most deadly countries for journalists.

Still, cases in each country remain under investigation.

In the United States, the lone victim in 2007 was Chauncey Bailey, the
editor in chief of The Oakland Post, a California weekly, who was
killed while reporting on the finances of a local bakery.

The 64 worldwide deaths cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists
are 8 more than in 2006 and the second-highest number since the
committee started tracking journalist deaths in 1981. The most lethal
year was 1994, when conflicts in Rwanda, Bosnia and Algeria contributed
to the deaths of 66 journalists.

In a separate tally, the committee counted 20 killings of news media
staff members, like translators, guards and drivers, in 2007.

The International Federation of Journalists reports that 175
journalists and support staff members have died as a result of violence
or accidents this year, including 69 in Iraq. Its results are on pace
to match the results from last year, which, according to federation
figures, was the deadliest year for journalists since it started
tracking casualties a decade ago.

 Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune