Iraq deadliest country for press in 2008

NEW YORK, (AFP)

Eleven journalists were killed in Iraq in 2008, making it the deadliest country in the world for the press for the sixth straight year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Thursday.

The New York-based group said 41 journalists were killed worldwide in direct connection to their work in 2008, down from 65 last year. It said it was probing another 22 deaths to determine whether they were work-related.

"More than 90 percent of those killed were local journalists covering the news for local, regional, and international news outlets," the CPJ said.The CPJ said the 11 deaths in Iraq in 2008, while down sharply from the 32 deaths recorded in both 2007 and 2006, remained among the highest annual tolls in CPJ history.In addition to the 11 journalists killed, the CPJ said two media workers, both drivers, also died in Iraq this year.

The CPJ quoted journalists and analysts as saying the drop in the media death toll in Iraq was consistent with an overall improvement in security conditions in the country this year. They said a declining Western media presence also contributed to the drop in deaths in Iraq.The press freedom watchdog said all of the journalists killed in Iraq in 2008 were local reporters working for domestic news outlets.

It said that since the March 2003 US-lead invasion 136 journalists and 51 media workers have been killed in Iraq.South Asia was particularly deadly this year with 13 journalists killed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and India, the CPJ said.

It said three reporters died in Thailand and another three in fighting between Georgian and Russian forces over the disputed region of South Ossetia.The CPJ reported journalist deaths in the following countries or territories in 2008: Afghanistan (2) Bolivia, Cambodia, Croatia, Gaza Strip, Georgia (3), India (4), Iraq (11), Mexico, Pakistan (5), Philippines (2), Russia (2), Somalia (2), Sri Lanka (2), Thailand (3).