(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 8 October 1999 For immediate release Killing of Journalists Increasing 1999 is proving a particularly murderous year for journalists, with 34 reporters and other media employees dying on duty in the first nine months, the World Association of Newspapers said Friday. This year’s toll is […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 8 October 1999
For immediate release
Killing of Journalists Increasing
1999 is proving a particularly murderous year for journalists, with 34
reporters and other media employees dying on duty in the first nine months,
the World Association of Newspapers said Friday.
This year’s toll is already the highest since 1996. Twenty-eight journalists
died in 1998 and 26 in 1997.
The most dangerous places to be a journalist this year were Sierra Leone,
where nine journalists have been killed, and the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, where seven have died.
“After several years of decline, the number of journalists murdered is on
the increase again,” said Timothy Balding, Director General of the
Paris-based WAN. “Warfare has increased the death toll in 1999, as has a
disturbing number of what appear to be retributive attacks against
journalists.”
“Many of these crimes remain unsolved, and have not been properly
investigated. Those who have been murdered deserve, at minimum, a thorough
investigation of the circumstances,” he said.
Most recently, two journalists have been killed in East Timor in the
violence following the vote for independence from Indonesia in August.
Indonesian troops or their militia allies are suspected in the deaths of
Sander Thoenes, a Dutch national working for the London-based Financial
Times, and Agus Muliawan, who was affiliated with the Tokyo-based Asia Press
International.
The number of journalists killed had been falling steadily since 1994, when
73 were killed, many of them in Algeria, until last year.
Through September, journalists have been killed in Angola (1), Argentina
(1), Colombia (2), Cyprus (1), East Timor (2), India (1), Indonesia (1), the
Ivory Coast (1), Lebanon (1), Nigeria (3), Peru (1), Sierra Leone (9), Sri
Lanka (1), Tajikistan (1), Ukraine (1) and Yugoslavia (7). Details on all
the deaths can be found on the WAN web site at www.wan-press.org.
Africa is the most dangerous place for journalists this year — 14 of the
total were killed there. Last year, Latin America proved to be the most
dangerous region for journalists, with six killed in Colombia alone.
WAN, the global organization for the newspaper industry, defends and
promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its
membership includes 61 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper
executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional and
world-wide press groups.
