Some 105 journalists have been killed while doing their job this year, media watchdog Press Emblem Campaign said on Monday, describing the killing of reporters as an “epidemic with no cure”.
Fewer fatalities have been reported this year compared to 2009 when 122 journalists died, but the toll is nevertheless higher than the 91 deaths recorded in 2008.
“The killing of journalists has become an epidemic with no cure,” noted the watchdog’s secretary-general Blaise Lempen.
“The international community has not found solutions to it, or put in place effective mechanisms for bringing the perpetrators of those crimes against journalists to trial,” he said.
Mexico and Pakistan are the two most dangerous countries for media workers this year.
Fourteen journalists were killed in Mexico’s drug war, while another 14 fatalities were reported in Pakistan, most of them occurring in the border areas with Afghanistan.
Over five years, some 529 journalists have been killed, with Iraq topping the list as the most dangerous country where more than a fifth of deaths occurred.
The media watchdog’s president Hedayat Abdel Nabi pressed for action to better protect journalists.
“Let’s move together in 2011 to achieve a well deserved bold step for journalists, 2011 could be the target date, then or never,” she said. — Sapa-AFP