Reprisals, not cross fire, responsible for most journalist slayings

By The Associated Press

06.07.02

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NEW YORK — The majority of journalists who died in the line of duty during the last decade were killed in direct reprisal for their reporting, not while covering combat, according to a study released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Of the 389 journalists killed between 1992 and 2001, 62 of them, or 16%, died in cross fire, while 298, or 77%, were targeted for their work, the New York-based group found.

The group also found that those who allegedly ordered a journalist's murder had been arrested and prosecuted in just 20 cases, or roughly 5% of the total.

"Journalists in many countries are working without protection of the law, and they're being murdered as a result," said Ann Cooper, CPJ's executive director.

The group, which publishes an annual report on the dangers faced by journalists around the world, found that 1994 was the single deadliest year of the past decade, when 66 journalists were killed. Last year, 37 journalists were killed, including nine who were covering the war in Afghanistan.

The Freedom Forum's Journalists Memorial also tracks journalists' deaths, using somewhat different criteria.

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Journalists in peril
Preliminary list of journalists who died in the line of duty in 2002.  01.15.03