Report: In 'Dark Year' For Press Freedom, Asia is the Worst

By: E&P Staff Calling 2005 a "dark year" with 51 journalists murdered and more than 500 arrested, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) says in its annual review of press freedom world-wide that Iraq is the most dangerous place to report, but Asia is the most inhospitable region for journalism.

"Although the number of slain journalists has decreased in the past six months, the figures are still too high," Paris-based WAN said in the report released at its board meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. WAN said 22 journalists have been murdered since June, bringing the annual death total to 51.

(Even as WAN was releasing its report, however, news arrived from Colombia, one of the deadliest nation's for journalists, that radio sports reporter Mart?n Alirio Vi?a had been killed Saturday in a grenade attack by a gang in a poor neighborhood in Bogota. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reported that two children were also killed in the attack, which was apparently part of a dispute between two gangs. IAPA, which sent a Rapid Response Unit of journalists to investigate, said it wasn't immediately clear if the attack had anything to do with Vi?a's professional work.)

Iraq, where 19 journalists have been killed so far this year, is the deadliest single nation for journalists, the report said.

"Asia remains the worst region in the world for practicing journalism, for the sheer number of persecuted journalists, lack of independent media outlets, and government repression of press freedom," WAN said. It said China, North Korea, and Burma were the worst offenders in the region.

WAN said "press freedom in the United States was dealt a blow" with the 85-day imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

In 2005, WAN said, "the suffocation of independent media continues unabated in many countries around the world. It criticized the governments of China, Cuba, Nepal, Belarus, and Zimbabwe for "their relentless onslaught against" the press.

"Silence from North Korea, Eritrea, Libya and Turkmenistan sends an explicit message concerning the state of the media behind their fortified walls," WAN said.

The full report is available here