Phl second most dangerous country for journalists in 2013

BAGUIO CITY – The Philippines tied with India in second place in the list of the “World’s Most Dangerous Country for Journalists” in 2013 that was topped by war-torn Syria.

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) reported that the Philippines and India each recorded the killings of 12 journalists and one media worker.

INSI said the Most Dangerous Country for Journalists remains to be Syria that recorded 19 journalists killed in 2013. Syria also topped the INSI list in 2012.

Third on the INSI list is Iraq with 11 journalists killed, Pakistan fourth with nine, Somalia fifth with eight, Egypt and Brazil sixth and seventh with six.

INSI is a safety organization that records all deaths – whether deliberate, accidental or health-related – of all news media staff, support staff and freelancers while on assignment or as a result of their news organization being attacked because of their work.

The group recorded 126 journalists and other media workers killed in 29 countries last year.

INSI said that the global death toll for journalists was down by 17 percent compared to last year.

Of the 19 journalists killed in Syria, INSI said “most were local journalists targeted by either the authorities, pro-government or rebel groups, or killed by shelling or in crossfire.”

The Syrian death toll is down from 2012 when 28 media workers were killed.

But according to INSI monitoring, abductions of local and foreign news media increased last year in Syria, which prevented many international news organizations from sending their teams to cover the conflict.

At least 18 foreign journalists and 20 Syrian journalists were reported missing in Syria after being detained or kidnapped by armed groups.

INSI noted that in the Philippines, unknown assailants murdered nine journalists, and so far the cases remain unsolved.

Those who were killed doing their jobs this year in the Philippines, the INSI said, included four journalists killed while covering Super Typhoon Yolanda.

In India, seven journalists were murdered. Although these murders sparked speculation as to the motive of the killers, not one has been thoroughly investigated, and nobody has been brought to justice.

Two journalists were killed while covering communal violence in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and four died in accidents while on assignment, the INSI reported.

INSI said that their findings were compiled in liaison with their regional contacts, including the International Federation of Journalists and the International Press Institute.

Other journalist support groups such as the New York based-Committee to Protect Journalists and The World Association of Newspapers that are members of INSI have maintained separate records based on their own criteria.

Different parameters

Another group, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its 2013 yearend report that the Philippines was no longer among the countries tagged as Most Deadly Places for Journalists.

CPJ said Syria remained as the Most Deadly Place for Journalists on the Job in 2013.

The group said Iraq and Egypt also recorded and increase in cases of slain journalists.

For 2013, the CPJ reported that at least 70 journalists were killed last year, compared with 74 in 2012.

Such killings were mostly recorded in the Middle East accounting for two-thirds of the deaths, the CPJ report said.

The long-standing conflict in Syria, the CPJ said, claimed the lives of at least 29 journalists in 2013.

That brings the number of journalists killed while covering the conflict to at least 63, including some who died over the border in Lebanon or Turkey.

Though the huge number of deaths in Syria does not tell the complete story of the danger there, given an unprecedented number of kidnappings, CPJ said.

About 60 journalists were abducted at least briefly during the year, according to CPJ research, and about 30 are currently missing.

In Iraq, violence returned to levels not seen since 2011, with 10 journalists killed.

Egypt experienced a dramatic increase in deaths in 2013, with six journalists killed for their work.

“The Middle East has become a killing field for journalists. While the number of journalists killed for their work has declined in some places, the civil war in Syria and a renewal of sectarian attacks in Iraq have taken an agonizing toll,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney in the report.

But the CPJ said, even with the continuing dangers to journalists in Pakistan and Somalia, the number of confirmed work-related deaths in those countries declined in 2013 to five and four, respectively.

CPJ maintains a database of all journalists killed since 1992.

But like the INSI report, the Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) also known as Reporters Without Borders in its annual roundup placed the Philippines in fifth place in the group’s “Worst 5 Deadliest Countries for Media in 2013.”

RSF said the on top of their list is Syria, Somalia, Pakistan, and India. –Artemio Dumlao, Philippine Star