Twenty-six reporters were killed last year while carrying out their job or for expressing their opinion, a Paris-based media watchdog said today.
Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) said the number of deaths was 10 fewer than in 1999 and the number of reporters arrested had also dropped to 329 from 446.
The group said 11 of those killed had died at the hands of rebels or independence-seeking groups in countries where there were civil conflicts, including Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.
It added more than half of the 77 reporters currently in jail were being held in just four countries - Myanmar, China, Iran and Ethiopia.
While acknowledging that fewer reporters had been attacked and there had been less media censorship than in 1999, RSF said there was no room for complacency.
The impunity that reigns concerning the assassinations or arrests of journalists remains extremely worrying. Putting an end to this impunity must be the principal objective of the coming years, the report concluded.
Reuters
