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Attacks on Journalists, Press Freedom Rise in 2001
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
Reuters

This year, Liberian President Charles Taylor was near the top of the annual list of press tyrants, along with Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and China's President, Jiang Zemin.

WASHINGTON -- Reuters
The number of journalists killed last year rose by more than a third over 2000, mainly due to the war in Afghanistan, and governments cited security concerns as a reason to attack press freedom, said a survey on Tuesday.

``The September 11 attacks and subsequent 'war on terrorism' precipitated a press freedom crisis that was global in scope,'' said the Committee to Protect Journalists in its annual survey of press freedom conditions worldwide.

The survey said 37 reporters were killed as a direct result of their work, a big jump from 2000 when 24 died. Eight journalists, including two from Reuters, were killed while covering the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

The majority of journalists, however, were murdered in reprisal for their reporting on sensitive topics, including official crime and corruption in countries such as Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Yugoslavia.
(More: AberdeenNews.com News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan