24 JOURNALISTS KILLED IN 2000

By: Staff Reports CPJ Releases Annual Report On Press Freedom


The number of journalists killed in the line of duty last year dropped to 24 from 34 in 1999, reports the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Its annual report, "Attacks on the Press in 2000," documents more than 600 cases of media repression in 131 countries. The press freedom survey looks into assassinations, assault, imprisonment, censorship, and bureaucratic harassment of journalists worldwide.

At the end of 2000, 81 journalists were in prison for their work, a drop from the 87 imprisoned in 1999. China topped the chart with 22 journalists in jail; some of them for using the Internet to disseminate information.

Of the 24 journalists killed last year, at least 16 were murdered, according to CPJ. In Colombia, three journalists were murdered, bringing the 10-year total there to 34. Three more journalists were killed in Sierra Leone and three died in Russia last year. The most dangerous countries according to CPJ are Algeria (59 dead from 1993 to 1996), Colombia (19 dead from 1997 to 2000), Russia (27 dead from 1993 to 2000), Rwanda (15 in 1994), and Sierra Leone (13 dead in the past two years).

One trend that CPJ observed this past year was that more journalists are using the Internet and other technologies to battle repressive conditions. In the Middle East, some governments restricted sales of satellite dishes to prevent citizens from watching the Qatar-based satellite station Al-Jazeera, a hard-hitting news site that has grown in popularity.

In the Ukraine, Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze was killed and in Mozambique, investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso was assassinated for his political reports that he distributed over a fax machine.

The CPJ report also highlights China's firewall, documenting the country's attempts to censor the Internet



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.