PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Death toll for journalists is highest in decade
by Quinten Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 at 5:06 PM

2004 was the deadliest year for journalists in a decade, with 54 journalists killed in the line of duty.

The ongoing violence in Iraq and a rash of killings in the Philippines have made 2004 the deadliest year for journalists in a decade. According to research compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 54 journalists have been killed in the line of duty so far this year, surpassing the toll in 1995, when 51 were killed, many in Algeria's bloody civil war.

"The number of journalists killed in 2004 is both shocking and unacceptable," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "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."

A reporter was murdered in the Phillipines in 9 out of the past 10 months. Together with the National Union of Journalists of the Phillipines, the Phillipines Independent Media Center issued the following statement on December 8th:

"As Filipino journalists unite today in outrage, we also stand defiant against those who wish to silence Philippine media...Filipino journalists shall give no quarter to those to want to see a cowed and quiescent press. A united media sends notice to the enemies of Press Freedom: We shall overcome."

Not a single journalist killer has been brought to justice in the Phillipines since 1986.

www.cpj.org

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