(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI press release: Vienna, 30 November 2001 A Year of Living Dangerously: 53 journalists killed so far in 2001 53 journalists and media workers were killed between 1 January and 30 November 2001, according to the International Press Institute (IPI). Ten were killed in Colombia, eight in Afghanistan, and […]
(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI press release:
Vienna, 30 November 2001
A Year of Living Dangerously: 53 journalists killed so far in 2001
53 journalists and media workers were killed between 1 January and 30 November 2001, according to the International Press Institute (IPI). Ten were killed in Colombia, eight in Afghanistan, and three in the Palestinian Territories and the Philippines, respectively. Journalists were also murdered in 23 other countries. The death toll for 2000 was 56.
The killing of eight journalists in Afghanistan within a period of only 17 days has intensified the ongoing effort to reduce the risks of journalists reporting on conflicts. Pooling information on potentially dangerous assignments and adopting common safety guidelines are among the measures that media organisations have already considered. “Of course, there is always the danger of accidental death or of being caught in the cross-fire when covering conflicts, but even well-trained and experienced journalists will continue to die as long as soldiers, paramilitaries, terrorists, bandits and other groups believe they can kill journalists with impunity,” Johann P. Fritz, Director of IPI, said. “The failure of governments to give priority to finding and prosecuting those responsible for the killing of journalists is one of IPI’s major concerns.”
The deliberate killing of journalists continued unabated in 2001. “Alarmingly, the murder of journalists has become the preferred method of censorship for extremists, organised criminals and corrupt officials who seek to prevent the media from exposing their activities,” Fritz said.
The Americas, where at least 20 journalists were killed, was again the most dangerous region in the world to practice journalism. In Colombia, ten journalists were killed by leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups, or organised criminals. Two journalists were murdered in Mexico near the U.S. border, where drug traffickers pose a significant threat to journalists reporting on corruption and criminal activities.
In the United States, terrorism claimed the lives of two journalists. William Biggart, a free-lance news photographer, was killed in the 11 September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The photographer had rushed to the scene after hearing about the attacks. His body was found, four days later, in the rubble at “Ground Zero”. Robert Stevens, a photo editor for American Media Inc., a tabloid newspaper publisher, died after inhaling anthrax contained in a letter. Employees of at least four other media organisations, ABC, CBS, NBC, and The New York Post, were also allegedly exposed to the disease. In Asia, 15 journalists were murdered. Aside from the eight journalists killed in Afghanistan, who worked for various Western media, three journalists were killed in the Philippines, two in Bangladesh, and one each in China and Indonesia.
In Europe, where 11 journalists were killed, terrorists were behind the murder of at least two media professionals. In Spain, Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, chief financial officer of a leading regional daily, El Diario Vasco, was murdered by Basque terrorists in the city of San Sebastian. In Northern Ireland, investigative journalist Martin O’Hagan was shot dead by Protestant terrorists in the town of Lurgan, County Armagh. He was the first journalist to be killed in Northern Ireland since the conflict began over 30 years ago. The body of Nicolas Giudici, a journalist who covered separatist movements in Corsica, was found in a river in the northern part of the French island. He had been shot twice.
Two journalists were killed, respectively, in Ukraine, where last year’s murder of on-line journalist Georgiy Gongadze remains unsolved, and in Kosovo, where Kerem Lawton, a British producer for Associated Press Television News (APTN), was killed by shrapnel while covering the conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the Macedonian army.
In the Middle East, four journalists were killed, including three in the Palestinian Territories, where media professionals carried out their duties under extremely dangerous conditions as the Al Aqsa Intifada entered its second year. In Kuwait, veteran journalist and women’s rights campaigner Hedayah Sultan Al-Salem was shot dead as she sat in her car at a traffic light in Kuwait City.
In a positive development, “only” three journalists were killed in Africa – down from nine in 2000 and 19 in 1999 – including two journalists who were killed while covering a pro-democracy march by ethnic Berbers in Algiers.
Details of all the cases can be found on IPI’s Website: www.freemedia.at/Death_Watch/d_watch2001.htm
