- (AFP) -- The Iraq war helped make 2003 a dangerous year
for journalists, with 91 killed, most of them covering conflict or corruption,
the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said here.
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- The number of fatalities was 23 percent higher than the
previous year and took place in more than 25 countries, the federation
said in a statement from its Australian-based president, Christopher Warren.
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- Citing an IFJ report entitled Media Casualties in the
Field of Journalism and Newsgathering, Warren said many of the deaths were
due to war, although assassinations and simply being in the wrong place
at the wrong time were to blame in some cases.
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- "The impact of war and conflict on the work of news
media cast a long shadow over journalism in 2003," said Warren, who
is also the federal secretary of Australia's Media, Entertainment and Arts
Alliance.
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- "War in Iraq, conflict in Columbia, violence in
the Philippines left journalists dead in a year marked by growing anger
within media circles over the targeting of journalists," Warren said.
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- The IFJ said 18 journalists were killed in Iraq, excluding
two -- Fred Nerac and Hussein Osam -- who are still missing and presumed
dead in a skirmish near Basra in March.
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- It called for independent investigations into seven of
the confirmed deaths in Iraq, cases which it said showed the need for greater
protection of journalists in areas of conflict.
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- The IFJ also highlighted instances where journalists
were targeted for trying to expose political corruption, such as the case
of Alfonso Parada of the Columbian El Tempo who was shot by unknown gunmen
in March 2003. He was known for reporting on corruption.
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- Also targeted was Filipino radio journalist Juan Porras
Pala, shot dead outside a friend's home in September, the IFJ said. Porras
Pala presented a daily radio programme on local station DXGO that harshly
criticised some local politicians and communist rebels.
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- Seven journalists were killed in Columbia and three in
the Philippines in 2003, with drug mafia and crime gangs the main suspects
in many of these cases, it said.
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- The shooting in late December of Indonesian journalist
Ersa Siregar in war-torn Aceh province prompted the IFJ to urge governments
to be accountable for the safety of media workers by supporting independent
international investigations for unexplained killings.
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- Siregar was accidentally shot dead by troops when he
became caught up in a clash with separatist rebels.
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- According to the IFJ, his death was an example of why
governments needed to be put under pressure to deliver credible answers
as to why and how journalists were being killed.
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- "Journalism is the cornerstone of press freedom
and we must ensure that there is a proper investigation every time one
of our colleagues dies," Warren said. "Justice and democracy
demand it."
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- The Brussels-based IFJ, which is the world's largest
journalists' group with 500,000 members in 106 countries, said Siregar's
death was one in a surge of killings at the year's end.
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- "These deaths, whether as a result of conflict,
or criminal gangs or simply while covering an everyday assignment, illustrate
just how important it is to provide journalists with more protection and
insurance cover," it said.
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- "2003 was already a bad year, now it has taken on
even more tragic dimensions."
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- The IFJ has called for changes in international law to
ensure that targeting journalists and neglecting to protect them are made
war crimes.
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