Media Scene

Home / Media Scene / Region and world

13. 02. 2014

DRAMATIC INCREASE IN NUMBER OF KILLED AND ARRESTED JOURNALISTS

New York, 13.02.2014 (Beta) - In the past two years the number of killed or arrested journalists has increased dramatically, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report.

The largest number of journalists have been killed in Syria, while in Turkey there were the most arrests, according to the report "Attacks on the Media", published last night in New York.

The report also condemns as "a growing threat" the ever more extensive spying conducted by secret services of the U.S. and other countries.

"The last two years have been absolutely terrible, the worst in the history of the CPJ", said the committee director Joel Simon.

211 journalists were arrested during 2013, and as many as 70 were killed, while during the previous year 21 journalists were killed and 232 arrested.

Simon said that the cause of such results is the armed conflict in Syria where "there is no respect for the work of the media," and where journalists are targeted or die in the exchange of gunfire.

The main reason for the arrest and imprisonment of journalists are charges in the framework of the fight against terrorism.

The report states that no one has been charged for 94 percent of murders of journalists during 2013. The greatest worsening of media freedoms was recorded in Egypt. It is for the first time in 2013 that this country leads the list in the number of arrested journalists, and is third in the number of killed journalists.

Syria remains the most dangerous country for journalists to work in, with more than 63 journalists killed since 2011, and 29 killed in the last year alone. More than 80 journalists have been abducted in the country since the conflict began three years ago, 57 of them in 2013 alone.

In Turkey, the largest number of journalists were arrested - 40, the report added.

The Committee also stated that the spying activities of U.S. have "undermined its global leadership in the fight for freedom of expression and the openness of the Internet", especially in the efforts to reduce repression and restriction on the Internet in countries such as China and Iran.

In Iran 35 journalists are imprisoned. In Iraq ten journalists were killed during 2013.

China is the third country in the world by the number of imprisoned journalists - 32 were arrested in the past year, while the second country in Asia by the number of arrested journalists is Vietnam, where 18 were imprisoned in 2013.

In Russia, "the atmosphere in the field of the freedom of the press and freedom of expression has been the worst since the fall of the Soviet Union", says the CPJ report.

In Latin America - Mexico, Brazil and Colombia are ranked among the ten worst countries in combating violence against journalists. In Venezuela there is no more "reliable, independent and critical media," concludes the Committee to Protect Journalists' report.