Press Freedom Purchased in Blood

Twenty-four journalists were killed last year pursuing the news. It wasn’t cross-fire that took the highest toll; it was murder.

Many of the slain were reporters whose investigations and stories got too close to some criminal truth. According to the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 16 were killed for what they knew or were about to disclose. For the most part their assassins have not been brought to justice.

In 1999, 34 journalists were killed because of their work. In Algeria alone in 1995, 24 were killed presumably and premeditatedly by Islamist militants. Even though the number for 2000 declined, these crimes must not be tolerated by the international community. Disclosures by journalists across the world have resulted in invaluable social benefits. Indeed, it could be argued that the fall of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori last year was due in large measure to the media’s exposure of corruption in his regime.

It’s encouraging that the political cost of using violence to control the press has increased significantly over the years amid publicity generated by groups dedicated to journalistic rights. State-sponsored violence against media has been well documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Inter American Press Assn. The campaign has been taken up by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres and other press-rights organizations.

We call upon national and international authorities to pursue every lead in the killing of journalists. They have bought freedom of the press with their blood.