It is also the press that allows the public to be informed of irregularities at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, for which it sometime gets blamed; or for reporting atrocities being committed in Darfur, for which it gets praised. Or yet, for its reporting on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which it gets both praise and insults.

But all this comes with a price, a heavy price, paid in human lives. So far this year 29 journalists and media assistants have been killed while doing their jobs, according to the Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

RWB chose May 3, the 17th World Press Freedom Day, to remind the world of the dangers facing the media on a daily basis. Besides those 29 who gave their lives in the service of truth, there are a further 129 media workers who are rotting in various prisons (125 journalists and four media assistants) for having attempted to speak the truth, a truth that offended a despotic ruler, a president-for-life or an ayatollah.

The list of offenders is sadly a long one and includes countries such as Iran, Syria and China, or armed groups in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Iran; or yet, narco-traffickers in Mexico and Colombia.

And although China has tried to better its image with the 2008 Olympic Games due to be held in Beijing by easing restrictions on foreign correspondents, local journalists continue to be jailed. Among those jailed in China are bloggers or cyber-dissidents. Today there are no less than 65 cyber-dissidents doing jail time in various countries for expressing their opinions online in countries where that is frowned upon.

In its yearly report on the state of the media around the world, RWB updated what it calls "predators of press freedom."

"Last year was not a good one for press freedom around the world," the report states. A total of 82 journalists were killed while on assignment, almost half of them in Iraq, a country that remains most dangerous for the media where killings and kidnappings are common.

Around the world nearly 1,500 journalists were physically attacked or threatened and more than 900 news media were censored. Reporters Without Borders calls it "the worst year for global press freedom since 1994."

And sadly, 2007 does not promise to be any better. To date 29 journalists have already been killed. Among them was Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist who was gunned down by Turkish ultra-nationalists in Istanbul. His killers disagreed with his views to reconcile Turkey and Armenia.

In Russia, Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead at her home in Moscow last October. Both defended the right of an unpopular minority. Both were killed because they told the truth.

And in Lebanon, journalists who dared to speak out against the Syrians were targeted, such as Gebran Tueni, publisher of the influential Arabic language daily An-Nahar, who was killed by a car bomb.

RWB has added to its list of leaders directly responsible for kidnapping, harassment or murder of journalists -- the presidents of Laos, Choummali Saignason, and Azerbaijan, Ilham Ali.

The Mexican drug cartels come second to Iraq in the number of journalists killed while on assignment.

Among the countries that require special attention for press harassment are Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia. And Iran, where the conservative camp within the government does not hesitate to remind journalists that they have no rights.

In Egypt, a blogger has been sentenced to four years in prison for, among other things, "insulting" President Hosni Mubarak, making him the first blogger to be tried in the Arab world. A sad first indeed.

In Cuba, Fidel Castro may not be in full control of the country, but that does not prevent him from continuing to crack down on the press. Twenty-six journalists are in Castro's prisons. Their crime was disagreeing with the government.

And in nearby Venezuela, Hugo Chavez continues to come down hard on the leading national media that support his opposition.

The one bright spot in this rather dark report is the news from Denmark, Britain and France, where lawsuits brought by Muslim organizations against news media that published the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed were acquitted.

One may only hope that next year will not be as violent for those who risk their lives to bring you the first draft of history.

Email This Article

Related Links
World Press Freedom Day
Reporters Without Borders
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com