INSI: Journalists covering their own countries in peacetime bore the brunt of violence aimed at the news media around the world in 2010.

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Journalists covering own countries in peacetime war bear brunt of deadly violence Source : INSI 07.09.2011 London, 7 September - Journalists covering their own countries in peacetime bore the brunt of violence aimed at the news media around the world in 2010.     An analysis of casualties recorded by the International News Safety Institute worldwide showed that 92 of 97 deaths in 31 countries were of journalists living and working in their own countries, covering issues such as crime and corruption and low intensity violence. Five of the dead were international journalists covering war and conflict abroad.     The report, Killing The Messenger - 2010, carried out for INSI by Cardiff School of Journalism in the UK, showed Pakistan was the most dangerous country in the world last year for journalists and other news media workers, with 16 deaths. Mexico and Honduras, with 10 each, were the next bloodiest.     The in-depth analysis of INSI's casualties count is an annual follow-up to the initial ground-breaking Killing The Messenger report of 2006 which resulted from INSI's global inquiry into journalists deaths over a 10 year period from 1996. That report too found that local journalists were first in the line of fire.     The original report and annual follow-ups are provided to the UN Secretary-General as he must report on journalist deaths yearly to the Security Council under terms of Resolution 1738 on violence against journalists and impunity for their attackers.     On the critical question of impunity for the killers of journalists, Killing The Messenger - 2010 found legal proceedings followed in only two of the deaths. The great majority of the assailants remain unidentified, reflecting the lack of enthusiasm in many countries to investigate the murders of journalists.     The full report follows. Killing The Messenger - 2010 An analysis of news media casualties carried out for the International News Safety Institute by Cardiff School of Journalism     Country of death Number of deaths   Pakistan Mexico Honduras Iraq India Philippines Nigeria Colombia Afghanistan Nepal Indonesia Somalia Uganda Brazil Thailand Guatemala Angola Ecuador Russia Israel/Occupied Territories Bangladesh Greece Latvia Yemen South Africa Turkey Rwanda Democratic Republic of Congo Lebanon Togo Bulgaria   Total 16 10 10 6 5 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1   97     Country of Origin Number of Deaths   Pakistan Honduras Mexico Iraq Philippines India Nigeria Colombia Indonesia Nepal Somalia Uganda Brazil Ecuador Guatemala Turkey Togo Unknown Afghanistan Angola Bangladesh Democratic Republic of Congo Lebanon Russia Rwanda South Africa UK USA Italy Japan Latvia Yemen Greece Bulgaria   Total 16 10 10 6 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1   97     Employer/Commissioner Number of deaths   TV press radio online Other[1] News agency Unknown   Total 33 33 23 3 3 1 1   97      Professional position Number of deaths   Journalist/Media Worker Support Worker Other[2]   Total 93 2 2   97     Status in country of death Number of deaths   local International   Total 92 5   97                                                                                                       Context of death Number of deaths   Peacetime National armed conflict International armed conflict   Total 63 24 10   97   Cause of death Number of deaths   Shot Blown up Stabbed Tortured Road accident Crossfire Beaten Other accident Unclear Suicide Unspecified   Total 63 10 7 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1   97  >   Perpetrator[3] Number of deaths   unknown assailant(s) Unknown crossfire opposition military/troops terrorist criminal organisation N/A rioter/demonstrator regular armed forces individual(s) government official insurgent Armed Militants assassin police   Total 31 18 8 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1   97     Deaths unrelated to war reporting Number of deaths   unclear politics unspecified corruption investigating crime accident civil unrest investigating drugs political violence terrorism   Total 18 15 6 5 5 4 3 3 3 1   63   War/Conflict zone reporting Number of deaths   unspecified[4] unilateral without military/police escort embedded unilateral with military/police escort   Total 19 11 2 2   34   Legal outcome[5] Number of deaths   No legal proceedings Prosecution or conviction   Total 91 2   93 [1] This includes the President of the Journalists’ Association (Pakistan); a web developer for the Human Rights Commission (Mexico) and a military Public Affairs Officer (Afghanistan). [2] This includes a web developer for the Human Rights Commission (Mexico) and a military Public Affairs Officer (Afghanistan).   [3] Accidents are shown here as “N/A” but the list of perpetrators does include a ‘suspicious’ road accident (claims that the victim was being chased – Ecuador) and a suspicious suicide (Turkey). [4] This includes a number of cases where the victim was not on assignment at the time of death. [5] This does not include four accidents. [6] This does not include four accidents. [7] There are two cases under prosecution/conviction in the earlier table – one of these is listed here as conviction (Congo), the other is a case where arrests were made and a trial held (Yemen).