In the Line of Fire and Duty
January 7, 2003
They are the men and women whose job it is to deliver terrible and important news to the world from areas of conflict and unrest. In the line of duty and in the line of fire, international journalists called upon to report on war and violence around the world put their life at risk to report from the globe's danger zones. Not all of them make it back.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based non-profit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide, has released a report on the number of journalists killed during 2002.
The report names 19 journalists who died in conflicts and acts of violence while working around the world during the past 12 months. Another 13 names are included under a section titled "motive unconfirmed." These journalists are either missing feared dead, or the cause of their demise has yet to be determined.
Lowest figures since CPJ records began
The report claims that the total of 19 is the lowest figure since the CPJ began monitoring the on-duty deaths of journalists in 1985. This is a radical drop in the number of casualties from the previous year when 37 reporters were killed in 2001, eight during the conflict in Afghanistan.
The CPJ attributes the decrease in deaths to the decline in the number of world conflicts. According to CPJ research, a direct correlation exists between the number of journalists killed on the job and the incidence of violent conflict, which the committee believes gives those who target journalists the opportunity to do so with impunity because of the instability that war fosters. In 1994, for example, 66 journalists were targeted for their work while civil wars raged in Algeria, Bosnia, and Rwanda.
Russia and Colombia are perennial offenders, CPJ says
Although the figures reported by the CPJ are down since 2001, journalists still remain at great risk. The reporting and investigating of violent organizations have claimed lives in countries such as Russia, Colombia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Local journalists in these countries have been murdered in direct reprisal for their reporting on crime and corruption, claims the CPJ. Russia and Colombia regularly appear in the yearly reports and the CPJ's list of the dead and missing.
Areas of conflict, the highest risk situations for journalists, continued to claim lives. The report states that five camera operators and photographers, who are especially vulnerable to cross fire and targeting by military forces, were killed in 2002, including two who were covering conflict in the West Bank.
"While we are encouraged to see the number of deaths decrease this year, journalists are still being targeted and assassinated for doing their jobs," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper in a statement accompanying the report.
Pearl murder led to introduction of preventative steps
The plight of journalists killed in action was headline news in 2002, mainly because of the abduction and murder of the Wall Street Journal's South Asia reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. Pearl was abducted by activists in Karachi in early 2002 and held while his captors demanded the release of Pakistani prisoners from the United States military camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His headless body was found buried on the outskirts of Karachi in May, some four months after a videotape was received showing his murder.
"In the wake of Pearl's death, journalist safety became a priority for news organizations," the committee's report said. "Many sent their staff to hostile-environment training, and reporters were better prepared in the field." At least two journalists survived being shot in the West Bank and two more in Venezuela because they were wearing flak jackets or bulletproof vests, according to the CPJ.