Sixty Journalists die for doing their job

Six media representatives lost their lives in The Philippines, making it the third most dangerous country for journalists in 2008.

They were among at least 60 journalists and one media assistant killed around the world while carrying out their work last year, said the press watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

Some 673 journalists were arrested, 29 were kidnapped and 929 were physically attacked or threatened, the Paris-based organization said in its Press Freedom Roundup for 2008.

Iraq remained the most dangerous country for journalists, with 15 killed this year, followed by Pakistan where seven journalists were killed.

In Africa, the death toll dropped from 12 in 2007 to only three in 2008 – a decline which Reporters Without Borders attributed to the fact that many journalists stopped working, often going into exile, and to the gradual disappearance of news media in war zones such as Somalia.

In comparison, 86 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed around the world in 2007, while 887 were arrested and 1,511 were beaten up.

The fall in the number of journalists from the traditional media killed or arrested in 2008 does not mean the press freedom situation has improved, the organization said.

As the print and broadcast media evolve and blogs become "a worldwide phenomenon, predatory activity is increasingly focusing on the Internet," it said.