Deadly Year for Journalists

by Donna Jablonski, Dec 22, 2006

Fifty-five journalists have been killed on the job in 2006, including 32 in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—hat tip to the Newspaper Guild-CWA.

Never has CPJ recorded so many violent deaths of journalists in a year in one country.

Most of the journalists killed in Iraq were targeted because of their work, CPJ reports. Four were killed in crossfire or by acts of war. The other 28 were murdered. Half had been threatened before their deaths.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon says:

The deaths in Iraq this year reflect the utter deterioration in reporters’ traditional status as neutral observers in wartime. When this conflict began more than three and half years ago, most journalists died in combat-related incidents. Now, insurgents routinely target journalists for perceived affiliations—political, sectarian, or Western. This is an extraordinarily alarming trend because along with the terrible loss of life, it is limiting news reporting in Iraq—and, in turn, our own understanding of a vital story.

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