US: Murder is the leading cause of job-related deaths among journalists worldwide, a new analysis by the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists has found. The Philippines has the worst record, followed by Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia, which together form the CPJ's list of the "Most Murderous Countries for Journalists".
In issuing its analysis to mark World Press Freedom Day today, the CPJ called murder with impunity the most urgent threat facing journalists.
The committee studied more than five years of death records and found that the vast majority of journalists killed on duty did not die in crossfire or while covering dangerous assignments.
Instead, 121 of the 190 journalists who died on duty worldwide since 2000 were hunted down and murdered in retaliation for their work.
In more than 85 per cent of cases the killers have gone unpunished. Of the 58 murders in the five worst countries, all have been committed with impunity.
Alleged gunmen have been arrested and charged in a handful of cases, but no charges have ever been brought against those who directed the killings.
"By failing to investigate and punish the killers, the governments in those five countries embolden all those who seek to silence the press through violence," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said. "The violence becomes self-perpetuating and the free flow of information is cut off."