78 Names to Be Added to Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial

By: E&P Staff The names of 78 journalists who died on assignment in 2004 will be added to the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial on May 3.

"The fact that 78 journalists were killed in 2004 is shocking and deeply disturbing," Judy Woodruff, a CNN correspondent and anchor who will speak at the ceremony, said in a statement. "At a time when the vast majority of the planet is at peace, it is a harsh reminder that journalism can be a dangerous profession, and that journalists still represent a threat to the forces of tyranny and lawlessness everywhere."

For journalists, 2004 was the third most deadly year since 1812, after 1994 (when there was civil war in Algeria, war in Bosnia, and genocide in Rwanda) and 1991 (when many died in the Balkans and in drug-related conflicts in Colombia).

The war in Iraq claimed 25 lives of journalists in 2004, bringing the two-year toll there to 45. Sixty-nine journalists died in World War II, and 63 died during two decades of conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The memorial, located in Freedom Park in Arlington, Va., already bears the names of 1,606 journalists. The stories of the fallen are available at www.newseum.org/memorial.