Death toll seen to rise in 2004

New reports from two press advocacy organizations reveal that the ongoing violence and instability in Iraq made 2004 the deadliest year for journalists around the world since the mid-1990s.

The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday that at least 53 journalists died in the line of duty in 2004, the highest total since 1995. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, 56 journalists were killed last year, that organization's highest death toll since 1994. Both reports include only journalists killed while covering stories and omit such causes of death as accidents and health problems.

Representatives from both organizations say that Iraq, with its unique set of hazards for journalists, is by far the world's most dangerous hot spot with the highest total fatalities. Reporters Without Borders found that 19 journalists and 12 media assistants or "fixers"-- translators, drivers, and security personnel -- were killed in Iraq last year compared to 12 journalists and three media assistants in 2003. The Committee to Protect Journalists' report released Monday found that 23 journalists and 16 media workers were killed in Iraq in 2003, compared to 13 journalists and two media workers in the previous year.

One reason for the discrepancy in Iraqi casualties was the Committee's inclusion of journalists killed in twin suicide bombings of Kurdish offices. Lucie Morillon, a Washington-based representative of Reporters Without Borders USA, said her group could not confirm they had been targeted as journalists.

"As with everyone in Iraq, journalists are the victims of the lawlessness and insecurity going on," said Morillon. "It's a very worrying trend."

"This has just been such a horrible conflict for the press on so many levels," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, referring not only to killings, but the kidnapping and harassment of journalists as well. "This is a conflict that at times is almost uncoverable. It's so dangerous for journalists to go out on the street that they can't do it."

Both groups also say that because of the violent insurgency in Iraq, news organizations are using more local people who are now bearing the brunt of the casualties. Morillon estimated that two-thirds of the 31 journalists and assistants killed in Iraq in 2004 were local or regional reporters. Cooper agreed that most of the victims were from the area, because "foreign news agencies that are working there are increasingly relying on Iraqi journalists or their Iraqi fixers or translators for whom it is safter to go out in many circumstances."