At least 59 journalists killed in 2010

At least 59 journalists have been killed because of their job in the first six months of the year 2010, the Switzerland-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) says.

The non-governmental organization issued a statement on Sunday, announcing that this year’s journalist death toll stood at 59 up from 53 for the same period in 2009.
According to the Geneva-based organization, journalists are more in harm’s way in Mexico where they are hunted by organized crime and suffer the highest death toll.
Earlier, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission urged authorities to investigate the killing of a reporter in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, the fourth slaying of a Mexican journalist this year.
The rights commission said at least 61 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000.
Meanwhile, Honduras, Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines are also reported as other most dangerous countries for the media.
Apart from the cited organized crime, the report also mentions tribal tensions and political disputes as other reasons for the killing of journalists.
PEC Secretary General Blaise Lempen explained that journalists “are extremely exposed in countries which witness internal problems.”

Source: Press TV