The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has issued its latest report on journalists and media workers who died last year whilst practising their profession.
The IFJ said 139 journalists were killed in 2009, making it one of the worst years on record for killings of media workers.
It capped a violent decade during which a record number of journalists and media workers were murdered.
The IFJ report provides detailed information of media killings, including the 32 victims of a single massacre in Maguindanao in the Philippines last November.
“The report is more than just a record of the death toll of journalists and media workers killed in 2009,” said the IFJ’s General Secretary Aidan White. “Most importantly, it provides a chilling account of the risks and dangers which continue to claim our colleagues’ lives in the four corners of the world.”
The Asia Pacific region recorded the highest death toll with 52, followed by the Americas with 30 killings, including 13 murders of journalists in Mexico alone.
“The failure of governments to take seriously the issue of media protection plays into the hands of men of violence,” White said.
Source: International Federation of Journalists.
http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-marks-end-of-deadly-decade-with-report-on-journalists-and-media-staff-killed-in-2009
