05/04/05

There was no freedom for Shi Tao and Florence Aubenas on World Press Freedom Day, or for Dawit Isaak, or for Marie-Jeanne Ion, or for Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso, or for ... But they were remembered Tuesday. Even in press-hostile countries, journalists held marches and sit-ins to demand an end to the threats media workers face: killings, prison, kidnapping, government censorship and other abuses. The list of reporters in jail, held hostage or killed on the job was particularly long this year -- in part because of the violence in Iraq. The number of dead is higher than it has been in a decade. ... 'This has been an extremely bad year for press freedom,' said Robert Menard, president of Reporters Without Borders. 'Of course, it's in Iraq that the majority of journalists are dying. But there also are journalists being killed in Peru, Mexico, the Philippines -- outside of war zones.' Fifty-three journalists were killed on the job in 2004, the most in a decade, the Paris- based group said...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050405N.shtml

from TruthOut


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp