Wednesday, April 13, 2005

78 journalists who died covering the news in 2004 to be added to Journalists Memorial

ARLINGTON, Va. — The names of 78 journalists who died covering the news in 2004 in 2004 will be added to the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial on May 3 to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.

The memorial, located in Freedom Park, now pays tribute to 1,606 reporters, editors, photographers and broadcasters who died or were killed while on assignment. Judy Woodruff, CNN senior correspondent and anchor of “Inside Politics,” will speak at the 11 a.m. ceremony.

For journalists, 2004 was the third most deadly year overall since 1812. Only two other years in the past two centuries have seen a greater number of journalist deaths. Both came in the early 1990s during brutal regional conflicts — 94 died in 1994 (the year of civil war in Algeria, war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and genocide in Rwanda). In 1991, 93 journalists died, many due to battles in the Balkans and drug-trade-fueled conflict in Colombia.

“The fact that 78 journalists were killed in 2004 is shocking and deeply disturbing,” Woodruff said. “At a time when the vast majority of the planet is at peace, it is a harsh reminder that journalism can be a dangerous profession, and that journalists still represent a threat to the forces of tyranny and lawlessness, everywhere. For all the celebration of democracy's spread, this reminds us how far the world has yet to go. There is no freedom, unless the press can tell the truth, and survive while telling it.”

Twenty-five journalists died in 2004 as a result of the war in Iraq. This raises the two-year total of journalists who died while covering that conflict to 45. By comparison, 69 journalists died in all of World War II and 63 died during 20 years of conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia

Among those who were killed in Iraq in 2004 were Duraid Isa Mohammed, a 27-year-old producer and interpreter for CNN, who was shot as he was traveling to Baghdad; Waldemar Milewicz, a correspondent for TVP television in Poland, who was killed in an attack south of Baghdad on May 7; and Enzo Baldoni of Diario della Settimana. Baldoni was taken prisoner by a militant group that threatened to kill him unless Italy withdrew its 3,000 troops from Iraq. When Italy refused, the writer was murdered on Aug. 26, according to a videotape sent to the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera. His murder was later confirmed by Italian officials.

Among other journalists being added to the memorial:

• Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, an investigative journalist who had reported extensively on Russia’s secretive billionaires and was fatally shot one evening after leaving his Moscow office.

• Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, co-founder and editor of the Mexican weekly newspaper Zeta, shot and killed in his car on a Tijuana street. At the time of his death, he was assisting in an investigation into the 1988 slaying of Hector Felix Miranda, a fellow co-founder of the newspaper.

• Matthew Moore, a 23-year-old cameraman for KBTX-TV was electrocuted in Hearne, Texas, when the mobile broadcast tower he was setting up from a KBTX news van hit a power line.

Journalists in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, the Gambia, Haiti, India, Iran, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia-Montenegro and Sri Lanka also lost their lives while covering the news. Many of those journalists were killed for their reporting or commentary on government, politics, or crime.

Also on May 3, from 8-10 a.m., journalists will read the 1,528 names of journalists who died reporting the news from 1812 through 2003. Individuals scheduled to participate in the reading include Helen Thomas (Hearst News Service), Martin Turner (BBC), Eberhard Piltz (ZDF German Television), Rob Doherty (Reuters), Andrew Alexander (Cox Newspapers), Hafez Al-Mirazi (Al Jazeera), Jamie McIntyre (CNN), Robert Garcia (ABC News Radio) and Chris Johns (National Geographic).

Journalists’ names are added each year to the glass panels of the monument, which stands at the apex of Freedom Park, adjacent to the Newseum and Freedom Forum offices at 1101 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, Va. A list of the names of the 78 journalists who died in 2004 is attached. To view a database listing the 1,606 memorialized journalists, their affiliations and the circumstances of their death, visit www.newseum.org/memorial.

World Press Freedom Day was established by the U.N. General Assembly on Dec. 20, 1993, on a recommendation by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Every year, May 3 is a day to remember and to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom. It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of press freedom violations — a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and murdered.

For additional background information about the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial — including the criteria for selection — or to arrange coverage of the rededication ceremony or to schedule interviews, contact Mike Fetters at 703/284-2895.