Coverage of political unrest proves deadly for journalists in 2011

Nadeem Khawer / EPA

Pakistani journalists shout slogans during a protest against the killng of their colleague Syed Saleem Shahzad, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, onJune 1, 2011. The Pakistani journalist working for the Italian news agency Adnkronos International has been found dead, media reported on May 31. Syed Saleem Shahzad went missing on May 29 after leaving his house in an upmarket area of the capital Islamabad, to take part in a television talk show.

The Committee to Protect Journalists have released their report for 2011 which chronicles the attacks on journalists worldwide. They report that at least 43 journalists were killed including seven dead in Pakistan making it the deadliest country to work in as a journalist.

From the CPJ report:

Photojournalists suffered particularly heavy losses in 2011. Photographers and camera operators constituted about 40 percent of the overall death toll, about double the proportion CPJ has documented since it began keeping detailed fatality records in 1992. Among those killed was Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, a photographer for European Pressphoto Agency who was struck by a tear gas canister fired by security forces trying to quell a massive January protest that led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Corentin Fohlen / EPA

A 2008 photo shows EPA photographer Lucas Dolega on assignment in North Kivu, near the provincial capital of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Franco-German photographer was covering the Tunisian uprising for the european pressphoto agency epa when he was seriously injured on Jan. 14 after police fired tear gas at thousands of demonstrators in Tunis. Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, 32, was declared clinically dead by staff of the Rabta hospital in Tunis early morning Jan. 16, 2011

The full list of those killed along with their profiles can be found here in the full Committee to Protect Journalists 2011 report.

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Discuss this post

F*ck da police!

  • 2 votes
Reply#1 - Tue Dec 20, 2011 5:40 PM EST

They put thier lives on the line to report what we need to know, and this is the thanks and reward they get, death. and a cover up. Shame on all

    Reply#2 - Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:10 PM EST

    I do and have always believed in miracles. God is present. He does listen.

      Reply#3 - Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:56 AM EST
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