Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 2005 (IPS) — The Philippines, Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh, and Russia are the world’s ”most murderous” countries in which to be a journalist, New York-based media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Monday.

After five years of investigations beginning Jan. 2000, CPJ concluded that the vast majority of journalists killed on duty did not die in crossfire or while covering dangerous assignments.

Instead, 121 of the 190 journalists who died worldwide since 2000 were ”hunted down and murdered in retaliation for their work,” the organisation said in a study released on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, which falls on Tuesday, May 3.

In more than 85 percent of these slayings, the killers have gone unpunished, the study added.

”By failing to investigate and punish the killers, the governments in these five countries embolden all those who seek to silence the press through violence,” CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said in a statement.

In most cases, journalists were murdered in retaliation for reporting on government corruption, crime, drug trafficking, or the activities of rebel groups.

”The problem is enormous but not intractable,” Cooper said, adding that ”governments must recognise what’s at stake is not only justice for those murdered but also the collective right of society to be informed.”

Journalists cannot do their job in a climate of violence and impunity. ”Governments, particularly those in the five most murderous countries, must devote the resources and exercise the will to solve these crimes,” she added.

In the Philippines, 18 journalists have been slain for their work since 2000. All had reported on government and police corruption, drug dealing, and activities of crime syndicates.

Many were rural radio commentators or reporters ambushed in drive-by assassinations, the report said.

Philippine journalists attribute the violence to a nationwide breakdown in law and order, the wide circulation of illegal arms, and the failure to convict a single person in the murders, CPJ said.

In Iraq, crossfire was the leading cause of death among journalists. But even in this war zone, where U.S. and coalition forces have battled a growing insurgency since Mar. 2003, 13 of the 41 work-related deaths of news personnel were murders.

More than half of those murdered were Iraqi journalists targeted by insurgents because of their affiliation – real or perceived – with coalition forces, foreign organisations, or political entities. Several of the slain journalists had been threatened beforehand, according to CPJ.

According to some news reports, even U.S. forces have been accused of deliberately targeting journalists, particularly those critical of the U.S. military occupation of Iraq.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late January, Eason Jordan, then chief news executive of Cable News Network (CNN) caused a stir when he reportedly said he believed that U.S. military forces had deliberately aimed at journalists and killed at least 12 of them.

Following a firestorm of criticism by right-wing groups in the United States, Jordan backtracked on his statement by saying: ”I never meant to imply that U.S. forces acted with ill-intent when they accidentally killed journalists.”

”I apologise to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise,” he added.

Even so, his 23-year journalism career ended when he was forced to resign from CNN.

The New York Times said there was ”some uncertainty” over his precise language because the Davos Forum, which videotaped the conference, refused to release its tape.

Meanwhile, in Colombia, where reporting on drugs, paramilitary organisations, and local corruption has placed reporters at great risk, 11 journalists have been murdered since 2000.

All of the journalists murdered in the last five years reported on at least one of those sensitive topics. At least eight received death threats and warnings before being gunned down, according to CPJ.

The murders took place in regions of extreme lawlessness, with competing groups fighting for territorial control.

In Bangladesh, nine journalists have been slain since 2000, eight in the lawless southwestern Khulna district, which is rife with criminal gangs, outlawed political groups, and drug traffickers. Seven had received death threats.

”Bangladesh has long been a violent place for journalists; they are routinely beaten, harassed, and threatened while carrying out their work” the report said. A CPJ delegation traveled to Bangladesh last year to urge the government to prosecute those responsible.

In Russia, contract-style killings pose a grave threat to journalists. CPJ said that at least seven journalists died in contract-style slayings in direct reprisal for their work. The group continues to investigate the motives in four other contract killings that may have been related to the victims’ work.

Most of the victims, according to CPJ, were print journalists investigating organised crime and government corruption, while a few were broadcast journalists who had criticised the policies of influential local politicians.

”A politicised criminal justice system, crippled by corruption and mismanagement, has perpetuated a climate of impunity in Russia,” CPJ said.

Asked if the United Nations could ”name and shame” these countries, Abi Wright of CPJ told IPS: ”It is an interesting idea.”

But she pointed out that CPJ reports are not dissimilar, for example, from U.N. reports which have condemned countries and rebel groups by name for recruiting child soldiers.

She said that CPJ reports were part of the advocacy work the organisation does ”to pressure governments and make them very uncomfortable.”

”We spotlight these cases and try to hold governments accountable,” she said.