Journalists continue to be among the world’s most vulnerable persons especially in situations of conflict. May 3 is World Press Freedom Day but the press remains far from free in a majority of countries.
Fourteen journalists were killed so far this year adding to the 70 killed last year and 141 killed in 2012, many caught in the cross-fire of armed hostilities, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said today. Some 211 journalists were being held in prison last year and about 456 have been forced into exile since 2008. More than 1,000 journalists have been killed since 1992, which makes nearly one per week, .
“These are alarming figures. Behind each statistic stands a man or a woman simply going about their lawful business,” he noted. “Journalists are singled out for speaking or writing uncomfortable truths – kidnapped, detained, beaten and sometimes murdered. Such treatment is completely unacceptable in a world ever more reliant on global news outlets and the journalists who serve them,” he added.
In general, there is wide recognition that the media’s watchdog function is essential for holding governments, businesses and others to account. Free media, traditional and new are indispensable for development, democracy and good governance. New tools such as social media and mobile technologies also deserve support because they help to improve participation in economic and social progress.
But most governments pay only lip service to these concepts while trying to muzzle critics. Armed militias, covert military operatives and mafia-style gangsters also do not shy from killing or intimidating journalists through violence.
The Press Emblem Campaign places at 35 the number of journalists killed so far in 2014. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists the five deadliest countries for journalists are Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan and Somalia, The country with the least degree of press freedom was Eritrea, followed by North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria, Iran and China.
Reporters Without Borders estimates that more than a third of the world’s population lives in countries where there is no press freedom, or no democracy or serious deficiencies in the democratic process. Some regions are closed to foreign reporters, including North Korea; Syria; Chechnya in Russia; Ogaden in Ethiopia; Waziristan in Pakistan; and Agadez in Niger.