CPJ: 2004 Deadliest Year for Journos in a Decade

By: E&P Staff With three weeks left, 2004 is already the deadliest year for journalists in a decade, New York City-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported Friday.

CPJ said 54 journalists have been killed worldwide, more than the 51 who died in 1995, when journalists were targeted Algeria's bloody civil war.

Iraq was the single deadliest nation for journalists, with 23 killed "as a direct result of their work," CPJ said. The great majority were Iraqi journalists, "who were targeted by insurgents, caught in crossfire, or killed by U.S. forces' fire."

Since the Iraq war began in March 2003, 36 journalists have been killed there, along with 18 media workers such as translators and drivers.

Eight journalists have been killed in the Philippines this year, CPJ said. Particularly vulnerable to assassination and violence, the group added, are provincial radio reporters covering corruption.

"A culture of impunity has contributed to this deadly trend: No one has been brought to justice in the murders of at least 48 journalists since the Philippines became a democracy in 1986," CPJ said.

"The number of journalists killed in 2004 is both shocking and unacceptable," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement. "Some of these reporters died in crossfire while covering a very dangerous war in Iraq, but the majority were murdered in direct reprisal for their reporting, particularly in the Philippines, where killers of journalists are not brought to justice."

CPJ said it considers a journalist to be killed on duty if the person died as a result of a hostile action, such as retaliation for his or her work, or in crossfire while carrying out a dangerous assignment. It does include journalists killed in accidents, or those who died of health ailments.

The deadliest year for journalists since CPJ began compiling detailed statistics was 1994, when 66 journalists were killed, mostly in Algeria, Rwanda, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. CPJ has compiled statistics on journalist killed on duty since 1992.

CPJ's list of journalists killed so far this year is available on its Web site, which also features a detailed breakdown on deaths in Iraq and a list of journalists killed in the last 10 years.