Press freedom group documents 'heaviest media death toll' since WWII
Reporters Without Borders publishes report analysing the deaths, abductions and arrests of journalists in Iraq since conflict broke out in 2003
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The Iraq war resulted in the heaviest death toll for the media since the Second World War, a report by press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced this week. The document entitled "The Iraq War: A Heavy Death Toll for the Media" analyses the results of a study carried out by the organisation into the seven years of occupation by coalition forces. Reporters Without Borders , which has carried out two similar surveys in previous years, claims to have recorded a total of 230 killed journalists and media workers in the country since 2003.
"The aim of this report is to pay homage to all of the media professionals who gave their lives in order to keep the public informed, despite the risks they were taking," Reporters Without Borders said in an article announcing publication of the report this week .
"Although the US intervention in Iraq put an end to Saddam Hussein’s regime and paved the way for a major expansion of the Iraqi media, the human toll of the war, and the years of political and ethnic violence which followed, were nothing short of disastrous – too many people died."
On Tuesday, the same day as the report was published, Riyad Assariyeh, a journalist working for Al Iraqiya TV was killed by gunmen as he left his home in Baghdad.
According to Reporters Without Borders, he is the 15th reporter from Al Iraqiya to be killed since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The organisation has called for a "proper" investigation into his murder that will bring those responsible "to justice".
“It would be deplorable it this killing were to go unpunished, which unfortunately has been the case in 99 per cent of the 230 murders of journalists and media workers since the US-led invasion in 2003,” the organisation said.
The report uses the details of these cases, such as the person killed, where they worked and the details of their attack, to draw a number of statistical findings. This includes the finding that 87 per cent of killed journalists were Iraqi nationals, while 9 per cent were from coalition member countries and that most of the killings, 77 in total, took place in Baghdad.
The document also discusses cases of journalists who have been arrested or abducted during the same time period. Acccording to the report, more than 93 members of the media were taken hostage during the seven-year period and at least 42 of them were later executed.
