Freelance journalists 'at increased risk of death in 2010'
Iran eclipsed China as the world's leading jailer of journalists with more than 80 journalists arrested since June
Also In The News
|
The FTSE 100 rose an impressive 1. |  |
Wednesday, 17, Feb 2010 05:56
By Ciara Trudeau.
The number of freelance journalists killed in reprisal for their work is likely to increase, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The report, Attacks on the Press 2009, notes that nine freelance journalists were targeted and killed in 2009, and by the end of the year another 60 were in jail.
Joel Simon, executive director of the CPJ, said: "While the rights of each journalist are protected by international law, few have large media organisations that can stand behind them. Instead, their safety and security depends on the ability of press freedom organisations to generate public attention and mobilise action."
Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, noted that financial constraints have led more and more media organisations to rely on freelancers, or 'stringers', to gather stories abroad.
"These stringers look just as suspicious to dictators and militant groups-and they are distinctly more vulnerable," he wrote in a preface to the CPJ annual report.
"As publications and TV networks continue to shed staff and look for ways to cover conflicts more affordably, the number of such cases is only going to grow."
In his prologue to the report, Mr Zakaria argued that the rapidly changing media environment, and the increased use of freelance journalists, will have profound effects on the abilities of news organisations around the world to hold governments to account.
"Repressive regimes like Iran's count on the anonymity of their victims, on the world ignoring or overlooking who they've arrested and why," he wrote. "And without the imprimatur of a major news organisation, it's indeed all too easy for freelancers, bloggers, and local journalists to disappear."
In repressive societies, online journalists are often the most adept at circumventing efforts to restrict the press and, according to the report, online journalists account for half of the news people in jail worldwide.
"But like other freelancers, [online journalists] work without the sort of institutional protections-including lawyers, money, and professional affiliations-that can help shield them from harassment or detention," Mr Zakaria added.
At 71 confirmed deaths and 25 unconfirmed, the number of journalists killed on the job, was at its highest ever in 2009. Iran eclipsed China as the world's leading jailer of journalists with more than 80 journalists arrested since June. By late year, 23 were in prison and some had received multiple-year sentences following brisk show trials.
"By targeting journalists the regime in Tehran is hoping to screen off from the world's view the repression and abuse of its own people. Preventing them and others like them from succeeding is a mission deserving of our utmost efforts," Mr Zakaria said.
Anthony Mills, of the International Press Institute, said in a recent report: "For all the progress associated with the passing of a millennium milestone, when it comes to the deliberate murder of journalists because of their work we are still mired in an age of barbarity."