Global General

Wars and elections main threats to journalists

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-01 10:45

NEW YORK: Watchdog groups say 2009 was one of the most dangerous years for journalists, especially those covering wars and elections, including the largest massacre of media workers ever killed in one day.

Reporters Without Borders said 76 journalists were killed in 2009 - 30 of them in a single incident, covering an election on the Philippine's Mindanao Island.

According to another watchdog group, the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a total of 137 journalists and media personnel were killed in 2009, making one of the worst on record for the deliberate killing of reporters and media staff.

Reporters Without Borders counts only journalists and bloggers, while the Brussels-based group also counts other media staff like interpreters and drivers.

Reporters Without Borders says the 2009 killings represented a 26 percent increase over 2008 when it recorded 60 journalists killed.

The IFJ's 2009 death toll of 137 compares with its tally of 109 in 2008.

Earlier this month another journalism advocacy group, The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that at least 68 journalists were killed in 2009, a 60 percent increase over 2008, when 42 deaths were recorded.