What IS being done about these media killings and the perpetrators? Not much according to research led by free press organizations and journalist safety supporters such as the International News Safety Institute (INSI).

In many countries around the world killers of journalists have remained unidentified. Let’s take Sri Lanka for example, which has been described as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Since August 2005, 11 media workers have been killed in Sri Lanka. Ten of them were killed in government-controlled areas and no one has been brought to justice in connection with the killings.

In Philippines, where the court case of the 2004 murder of Filipino broadcaster Herson Hinolan took place last week, such killings are common. According to research carried out by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 17 out of 22 journalists murdered from 2000-2005 were radio commentators like Hinolan and no convictions have been made for these crimes. CPJ research also found that finding witnesses to testify for the prosecution in the cases is a difficulty.These attacks against journalists remained unsolved leading to fears that media freedom is being held back through death threats, kidnappings and attacks.

A shocking news media safety report by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) highlights the absence of proper investigations when journalists are killed. The report contains details of the deaths of journalists and media workers from 1996 to 2006. They discovered that 1000 journalists and media workers have died whilst working around the world between 1996 and 2006-two journalists a week. In two thirds of cases, the killers were not identified.

The graphs below come from the INSI report. They are the statistics which I found to be the most important and most shocking, merely because of the vast number of deaths and the proven lack of justice!