By: E&P Staff The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a new analysis of journalist deaths worldwide that finds an average of more than three working members of the press are killed each month in direct relation to their work.
The study, which is the largest of its kind ever undertaken, found that among the 580 journalists whose deaths have been recorded since 1992, the vast majority have been murdered. The second leading cause of death was crossfire in combat. Dangerous assignments, such as coverage of riots in domestic situations, constituted the third primary cause.
Iraq was found to be the deadliest country for working journalists over the past 15 years, with 78 deaths; Algeria came in second with 60 deaths; Russia had 42 deaths; and Colombia recorded 37 deaths. So far, in 2006, there have been 31 journalist deaths recorded around the world; 20 of those occurred in Iraq.
"Journalists accept risks every day, but those risks should not include murder," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement. "The tragic loss of these lives is compounded by all the stories that were never covered, all the investigations that were never undertaken, and all the news that was never reported."
The report also found that government and military officials were suspected of "plotting, ordering, or carrying out" 27% of journalist murders over the past 15 years. In an additional 8% of the slayings, paramilitary groups aligned with government security forces are suspected.
Another 24% of the murder cases, CPJ found, were suspected to have been carried out by political groups armed and allied against a government. The press freedom group said that its data showed that 71% of victims were targeted and murdered in retaliation for their reporting.
Few of these cases are ever solved, the report found, and about 85% of the killers never face prosecution.
To read the full report, click
here.
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