Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Journalists Killed: Analysisjournalists during the year. CPJ confirmed that three journalists were killedin direct relation to their work, and it continues to investigate the circumstancessurrounding seven other deaths. The victims included Luis CarlosSantiago, a photographer for the Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario whowas gunned down while on assignment. His murder prompted the paperto publish an extraordinary editorial addressed directly to the drug cartelsthat control the city. “What do you want from us?” the editorial asked in itsheadline, noting later, “You are, at this time, the de facto authorities.”About 90 percent of victims worldwide were local reporters coveringissues that affected their communities. Among them was Sardasht Osman,an Iraqi reporter who was seized from a street in Arbil and then murderedafter describing alleged corruption in the Kurdistan Regional Government.Nine in 10 victims are local journalistscovering their communities.Five international journalists were killed in connection with their work.Fabio Polenghi, an Italian freelance photographer, and Hiro Muramoto,a Japanese cameraman for Reuters, were killed in crossfire between Thaisecurity forces and anti-government protesters. In July, a CPJ investigationconcluded that both government troops and demonstrators engagedin recklessness that led to the two deaths. CPJ also found that the governmenthad done little to investigate the killings.Belarusian editor Aleh Byabenin was among the online journalists onCPJ’s death toll. Founder of the pro-opposition news website Charter 97,he was found dead in his summer house outside Minsk. Authorities declaredthe death a suicide without addressing questions about the extensiveinjuries found on his body or the absence of a suicide note or motive.Charter 97, whose coverage was critical of the government, was the targetof cyber-attacks and government raids, while its staffers endured repeateddeath threats.Long-term CPJ research shows that about 90 percent of journalist murdersgo unsolved. In Honduras, a CPJ investigation found that authoritieshad been careless and inattentive in investigating a string of nine journalistmurders, at least three of which were work-related. Among the victims wasNahúm Palacios Arteaga, a provocative television anchor who was ambushedby multiple gunmen outside his home. Honduran authorities conductedvirtually no investigation in the aftermath, taking no photographsand collecting no evidence at the crime scene. Only after the case drew279