The role of journalists, part 253

Journalists are increasingly paying the ultimate price for simply doing their job:

The number of journalists killed worldwide spiked to the highest number in more than a decade, with nearly half killed in Iraq, according to an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based independent organization that compiles information on the deaths of journalists.

After examining reports of journalists killed in direct connection to their work, the committee found that 64 journalists were killed in 2007, up from 56 last year. The death toll was higher only in 1994, when 66 were killed. The committee is still investigating 22 other deaths to determine whether they were work-related.

Iraq was the deadliest place to work, accounting for 31 deaths, with Somalia (seven deaths) the second-most-dangerous country. Twelve media support workers, such as bodyguards and drivers, also died in Iraq, the committee said, noting that since the war began in March 2003, 124 journalists and 49 media workers have been killed.

In all, 24 journalists in Iraq were murdered and seven deaths occurred in combat-related crossfire.

While the American Federal Communications Commission is making it far easier for moguls to own more assets in the same market, therefore lessening diversity, real journalists, like Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, are investigating stories that most of the mainstream is ignoring:

Today, a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive. A victim of the CIA rendition program—kidnapped, held in secret jails and tortured—speaks out in his own words. His name is Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, one of hundreds of men to have passed through the CIA’s so-called “black sites.” Today, he tells his story.

Of course, some conservatives defend this use of torture (only when “we” do it, of course.)

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