Journalism is becoming an increasingly dangerous profession, claiming 53 victims last year compared with 40 killed in the line of work in 2003, media watchdog Reporters without Borders (RsF) said yesterday.
In a report for World Press Freedom Day, the Paris-based body said last year's death toll was the highest since 1995.
"It may never have been as dangerous to inform people," RsF said in a statement. "Freedom of the press is far from being assured around the world."
RsF listed Iraq as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with 19 killed in 2004 and more than 15 taken hostage.
A total of 56 journalists and their assistants have been killed in two years in Iraq, making it more dangerous than the 1991-1995 fighting in former Yugoslavia, during which 49 journalists were killed, it said.
Separately, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said there had been an alarming erosion of civil liberties and freedom of expression in and the United States since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.
"An atmosphere of fear and uncertainty is being created and civil liberties are being torn to shreds, even in states with a reputation for tolerance and pluralism," said IFJ general secretary Aidan White in a statement released in Brussels.
RsF said that in Vietnam, the worst war for journalists, a total of 63 journalists were killed, but that was over a 20-year period from 1955 to 1975. Asia was not far behind Iraq in 2004, with 16 killed.
"Almost all of them were killed because they expressed their opinions. Denouncing the corruption of elected officials or investigating crime turned out to be fatal for journalists in Bangladesh, Philippines and Sri Lanka."
The fact that the Philippines had more press freedom than almost any other Asian country did not help the six journalists slain by killers hired by corrupt local politicians, it added. - (Reuters)