Watch dog group: Coverage of wars, elections were greatest threats to journalists in 2009

Wars, elections main threats to journalists in ‘09

NEW YORK — Covering wars and elections proved dangerous to journalists in 2009 — a year that saw the largest massacre of media workers ever killed in one day, a watch dog group said Wednesday.

Reporters Without Borders said 76 journalists were killed in 2009 — 30 of them in a single incident, covering an election on the Philippine’s Mindanao Island.

The 2009 killings represented a 26 percent increase over 2008 when 60 journalists were killed, the group said.

“It’s becoming more risky mainly because journalists are being seen as targets. Before, there was an unspoken immunity. Now, the freedom to be an independent observer doesn’t exist anymore,” said Sam Trudeau, the group’s representative in New York.

Trudeau said covering elections has also gotten more dangerous as information coming out of a country over the Internet and through other channels can lead to increased international pressure over an election that’s become contested.

Other forms of violence, including physical assaults and threats, rose by a third to 1,456 cases in 2009, up from 929 cases in 2008.

Bloggers and “cyber-dissidents” also found themselves more likely to be targeted in 2009 as the Internet and social media sites became an increasingly important source of news and information in countries where traditional media is often censured or run by the state.

According to the report, arrests of bloggers and cyber-dissidents rose by 155 percent, to 141 cases in 2009 from 59 a year ago.

“No one should be surprised that, as bloggers and Web sites continue to flourish, censorship and repression have surged proportionally,” the report said.

The disputed re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set off an unprecedented wave of arrests and convictions of journalists and bloggers, with a number of press photographers fleeing across the Turkish border to escape arrest, the group said.

“Around 44 journalists were imprisoned in Iran and even those that remain free or who have been released remain under surveillance. The Revolutionary Guard has taken an increased role in online censorship,” Trudeau said.

Kidnappings have also continued to rise among journalists, with most cases reported in Afghanistan, Mexico and Somalia. Thirty-three cases of kidnapped journalists were reported in 2009 compared with 29 the year before.

Earlier this month, another journalism advocacy group, The Committee to Protect Journalists, reported that at least 68 journalists were killed in 2009, a 60 percent increase over 2008, when 42 deaths were recorded.

Trudeau attributed the conflicting figures to different criteria used by the groups.

Reporters Without Borders is a Paris-based non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press.