By Jon Slattery
2005
was the deadliest year for a decade with at least 63 journalists killed
while doing their job or for expressing their opinions, according to
press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
This is the highest annual death toll recorded by RWB since 1995, when 64 journalists were killed, 22 of them in Algeria.
Five media assistants – fixers, drivers, translators, technicians, security staff and others – were also killed.
For
the third year running, Iraq was the world’s most dangerous country for
the media, with 24 journalists and 5 media assistants killed.
A
total of 76 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the
start of fighting in March 2003, more than in the 1955-75 Vietnam War.
Terrorist strikes and Iraqi guerrilla attacks were the main cause but the US Army, according to RWB, killed three.
More than 1,300 physical attacks and threats against journalists were recorded by Reporters Without Borders during the year.
RWB also identifies China has having the most journalists in jail, 32, followed by Cuba with 24, Ethiopia 17 and Eriteria 13.
Cases of censorship were up by more than half with 1,006 cases recorded, compared to 622 in 2004.
The
internet is still tightly controlled by some repressive governments and
RWB has drawn up a list of 15 “enemies of the Internet”.
They
are: Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Nepal,
North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Vietnam.
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