The Phillippines massacre: 88 journalists killed during 2009 worldwide

2009
DC Correspondent

Hyderabad, Nov 30: At least 88 journalists have been killed so far this year and hundreds of media employees have been arrested and jailed, most often following sham trials or without formal charges being brought against them, says a report of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
(WAN-IFRA) here.
In its half-year review of press freedom world-wide, the Wan-Infra, which is currently holding its 62nd Congress in the city, said the horrific attack in the Philippines on November 23, in which more than 30 journalists were among the 57 murdered, was the deadliest single attack on media in memory. That
brought the total of journalists killed in the Philippines to 35 this year, making it the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.
"More than 750 journalists have been murdered world-wide in the past decade", said the report, presented to the Board of WAN-IFRA here on the eve of the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and
Info Services Expo 2009, the global summit meetings of the world's Press.
According to the report, "hundreds of media employees have been arrested for their work in the past year, and at least 170 remain in jail today. The hostility of many governments to any form of dissent continues to
impede independent news reporting in Asia. Journalists reporting on corruption find themselves in the firing line of those directly or indirectly exposed by their reports".
Governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa continue to demonstrate their intolerance for truth, dissent and satire. Journalists and freedom of expression advocates are continuously targeted by the
authorities, while the severe crackdown on blogging region-wide reveals how much governments believe that the Internet can be a threat to their power, it said.