Committee To Protect Journalists' Report: Journalists Killed On Dangerous Assignments Reached Record-High In 2011

The number of journalists who died on dangerous assignments reached their highest level on record in 2011, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' year-end survey of journalist fatalities.

CPJ confirmed that forty-three journalists died as a direct result of their work in 2011. Sixteen journalists, or 37%, died on dangerous assignments. The organization attributed the uptick to growing political unrest, especially in Arab countries. Five journalists were killed in Libya, and two were killed in Egypt.

Meanwhile, the number of targeted killings fell to the lowest level since 2002. Nineteen journalists, or half of those who were killed, were murdered in 2011. Of those 19, six were kidnapped and four were tortured.

Pakistan was the most dangerous country for journalists for the second year in a row. Seven journalists were killed there in 2011. A U.S. military official accused the Pakistani government of sanctioning the death of one journalist earlier this year, which it denied. Iraq had five journalist fatalities, and Mexico had three.

A majority of the journalists who were killed worldwide covered politics (58%), and most were local journalists (84%). CPJ is still investigating an additional 35 deaths to determine whether they were work-related. See here for a full list of the journalists and a breakdown of the statistics.

Comments

[grapost]

09:07 AM on 12/23/2011

Yeah and the ONLY time the news media made a stink about Journalists being kiilled or assaulted was when it happened to a WOMAN!

MALE journalists have been killed, beaten, assaulted and jailed for over 100 years, but that isn't "news" to the media when it occurs.

Yet when Lara Logan, a FEMALE, was beaten and sexually assaulted, the news media went into convulsions and started frothing at the mouth about how horrible is was, wringing their hands about women being exposed to such dangerous situations, blah, blah, blah.

It like when a bunch of people get killed, they always add the tag line "including women and children" suggesting that it's only a tragic event because women and children died.. Like it's not so bad when only men die.

[enfant terrible]

11:48 AM on 12/22/2011

Duh...Record-high because of Obama's 4 new war/invasions to cover.

[repugnicansfearme]

11:32 AM on 12/22/2011

Ok, I am a bit baffled. Journalists demand the right to travel to dangerous locations, they demand to be right in the middle of the action- WHY? because good copy and good photos come from being there when the bullets fly and heads are cracked open. Duh, when mobs are attacked by government goons, can they sort the people out and say "Whoa, Charlie, hold up the tank assault, we have a journalist here, go around"--- Uh, no. So, to protect the journalists, I have a solution, News Robots. When they are done with field work, they can replace Diane Sawyer and have about as much compassion as she does. Otherwise, what the hell do you want? Do you understand irony? I'm for the freedom of the press and for the freedom of oppressed peoples. What you are asking for is ludicrous. Its dangerous, people will be hurt, people will be killed.

[westcoastsc]

09:26 AM on 12/22/2011

We must protect our journalists because they are an essential part of policing our society.