UNITED NATIONS – On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders condemned the “astonishing pace” at which journalists are being attacked and murdered — 67 killed in 2011 and 22 more deaths since the beginning of the year.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attacks “outrageous” and urged all countries to take action to ensure the safety of journalists and freedom of the press.
At Thursday’s U.N. commemoration of Press Freedom Day, Ban asked assembled diplomats, members of the media and civil society representatives to observe a minute of silence “in honor of the journalists who were killed in the line of duty last year.”
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 179 journalists were detained in 2011, a 20 percent increase over 2010 and the highest level since 1990, the secretary-general said.
Reporters Without Borders updated its list of “predators of the freedom to inform” to 41 individuals and groups, including Syria’s President Bashar Assad and Somalia’s Islamist militias.
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