India Among Five Most Dangerous Countries For Journalists In 2013: Report

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Out of 134 journalists andmedia support staff that werekilled while on reportingassignments last year, India had13 journalist killed whilePakistan tally was nine.

GENEVA – One hundred andthirty-four journalists and mediasupport staff were killed whileon reporting assignments lastyear, most of them targeteddeliberately, the London-basedInternational News SafetyInstitute (INSI) said on Tuesday.Of these, 65 died coveringarmed conflicts – primarily inSyria, where 20 were killed, andIraq, where the death total was16 – while 51 were killed inpeacetime covering issues likecrime and corruption, and 18died in accidents. After Syriaand Iraq, cited by the Instituteas the most dangerous countriesfor journalists last year, camePhilippines with 14 deaths,India with 13 and Pakistan with9. The total was down from 152deaths recorded in 2012, butthere was an accompanying risein assaults, threats and kidnappingsdirected at journalistswhich largely go unreported,said the INSI study, “Killing theMessenger.”The institute, funded by majorworld news organisationsincluding Reuters, has been issuingthe report since 1996. Itsmain work is providing securitytraining for journalists reportingin dangerous situations.INSI said local journalists werethe main victims, with 123 ofthe dead killed while coveringtheir own country. Of the 20who died in Syria, 16 wereSyrian nationals.”Most journalists were targeted,and shooting was the most commoncause of death,” INSI said.The report, compiled for INSIby the Cardiff School ofJournalism in Wales, showed 85of the victims were shot.Others died in explosions, stabbingsand beatings, under tortureor by strangulation, or inaccidents, according to INSI.In 2012, 28 reporters died inSyria, 18 in Somalia, 12 inNigeria, 11 in Mexico and 11 inPakistan. The 2013 total for thePhilippines, which in past yearshas seen a mass shooting ofreporters as well as individualassassinations, included fivewho lost their lives in naturaldisasters.