Journalist killings, jailing of internet journalists up worldwide

Feb 5, 2007, 15:47 GMT

Washington - Fifty-five journalists were killed worldwide in 2006, an increase over the previous year, and more than one in three of all jailed journalists worked in internet-based media, a report released Monday said.

In its annual Attacks on the Press report, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that Iraq was the 'deadliest place' for journalists with 32 killings, followed by Afghanistan and the Philippines, with three deaths each.

Russia, Pakistan, Mexico and Colombia each saw two journalists killed. The numbers represent journalists who were determined by CPJ to have either been targeted for their work or killed in the line of duty.

The 55 dead were killed in direct connection to their work, while CPJ is investigating another 30 deaths to determine if they were work-related.

In 2005, 47 journalists were killed and another 17 died in circumstances 'that were not clear,' CPJ said.

For the 134 journalists imprisoned for their work around the world, China was the world's leading jailer with 31, followed by Cuba with 24, Eritrea with 23 and Ethiopia with 18.

Internet reporters and bloggers were at increasing risk in 2006, symptomatic of the growing influence of the world wide web as a platform for collecting and disseminating news. Of the 134 journalists jailed as of December 1, 49 were internet-based, up from 41 last year.

Print-based writers, photographers and editors still made up the largest category with 67 cases, CPJ said.

The cover of the annual report shows some of those killed last year, including Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who reported on human-rights abuses in Chechnya and was shot to death in October in an execution-style slaying.