According to a report commissioned by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) in the last six months more than 70 journalists have been killed doing their jobs.
"Journalists are more than ever in the cross-hairs of the enemies of freedom," said INSI Director Rodney Pinder. "Despite some encouraging international political moves to halt the murder, the gun and the bomb remain the favoured method of censorship in far too many countries. Each and every killing chokes the free flow of information without which free societies cannot function."
In a press release announcing the findings, it was revealed that "the great majority of news media deaths around the world are in peacetime. Forty-three journalists died in countries officially at peace, victims mostly of vicious criminals, often abetted by corrupt security forces, politicians and business interests. Most of the dead were shot or bombed, but some suffered appalling ends - beaten, tortured, strangled, stabbed or decapitated. The rate of impunity for murder of a journalists has remained constant at around 90 per cent globally for the past 10 years - undoubtedly fuelling more of the same. Scandalously, most of the killers of journalists continue to get away with it. In the first half of this year only one person was identified in connection with 47 targeted killings worldwide".
Please take a moment to consider the sacrifices that journalists and photojournalists make on a daily basis to report on events that impact all of us. Thank you.
