Number of dead reporters up dramatically

Here's a sobering story from the CBC.

The number of journalists killed in the field has skyrocketed by 244 per cent in the past five years, and more than half of the 86 reporters slain in 2007 fell in Iraq, according to an annual tally compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

The international media watchdog released on Wednesday its annual Press Freedom Roundup, which lists the number of journalists and media assistants killed in the line of duty over the past year, as well as statistics on media representatives who have been arrested and imprisoned.

According to the Paris-based group, there were 86 journalists killed in 2007 — the most since the 103 media deaths in 1994, which saw the Rwandan genocide, civil warfare in Algeria and fighting in the former Yugoslavia. The group said there has been a steady rise in the toll since 2002, when 25 journalists were slain.

Coming at a time when we're watching coverage of the election atrocities in Kenya and Pakistan, on-going fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and the presidential campaign in the US (OK -- maybe not quite as dangerous) it's useful to stop and consider the cost of that coverage. The next time you look at a picture from those places, remember that a journalist might have risked her life for that shot and say a quiet thank you.

Here's the link to the full story at CBC.ca.