A dangerous profession p.

By: Debra Gersh

CPJ says in 1992 there were 1,625 attacks against 1,344 reporters or
news organizations worldwide
JOURNALISM CONTINUED TO be a dangerous profession around the world in 1992, although there was a shift among which regions were the most perilous.
"Europe and the former Soviet republics have overtaken Latin America as the most lethal region for journalists," wrote Greg Victor, publications director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, in the group's annual report, "Attacks on the Press 1992."
In 1992, there were 1,625 attacks against 1,344 journalists or news organizations in 107 countries, the most ever recorded by CPJ, according to the report.
There also were at least 49 journalists who were killed or who disappeared last year, the third highest number since 1987.
Among those killed in 1992, 25 were in Europe, specifically in Turkey (11), the former Yugoslavia (9), and the former Soviet Union (5).
1991 holds the ignoble record with 66 journalists killed, the most in any year documented by CPJ although, in that year, most deaths occurred in just two nations ? the former Yugoslavia (21) and Colombia (10).
Highlighting the shift from violence in Latin America, CPJ noted that in 1989, 35 of 53 journalists killed were that region, especially El Salvador, Colombia and Peru. The end of authoritarian regimes and civil wars were cited as causes for the decline in journalists killed.
Ironically, Victor wrote, "The most repressive regimes often have the fewest number of documented attacks, and those undergoing transitions to democracy often have the worst."
This is due to the total repressive nature of the former ("Journalists are so repressed that they usually can't get into trouble") and the fact that in the latter, "Where authoritarian regimes are giving way to pluralism, attacks are on the rise as former leaders and newly organizing factions find it hard to get used to having their actions dissected or criticized in public."
As of February 1993, at least 90 journalists were held prisoner, with the most in China (27), Kuwait (18), Syria (9) and Myanmar (five). Democratization in Africa has led to far fewer journalists being held there in 1992 (five) than two years ago (31).
Physical attacks against journalists increased to 358 incidents in 1992 from 245 the year before, CPJ reported, noting that India "was responsible for a large part of the increase. Scores of journalists were attacked during sectarian riots that erupted when Hindu fundamentalists destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya."
There were 343 journalists arrested or detained in 1992 and 226 were harassed, while those threatened numbered 173, and 189 news outlets were restricted or closed.
Although CPJ does not rank nations in terms of press freedoms or limitations, the report did note certain countries "where especially troubling developments are taking place."
According to CPJ, those nations are: "Turkey, where journalists are being executed; Bosnia-Herzegovina, where journalists are getting shot by snipers and hit by shrapnel; India, where journalists find themselves targets in riots and separatist conflicts; China, where at least 27 journalists suffer in prison; and Haiti, where journalists are routinely menaced and beaten."
Also: "Sri Lanka, where 'hired guns' are paid to rough up reporters; Peru and Venezuela, where old-fashioned coup attempts and new-fashioned 'self-coups' are used as pretexts for clamping down on press coverage; Cameroon and Zaire, where opposition printing plants get attacked and journalists get threatened and harassed with regularity; and Algeria, where the government suspended independent newspapers to quiet voices of opposition."