Those interns didn't know how dangerous
132 journalist died in action in 2009



Reuters

GENEVA - The Philippines, Mexico, Somalia and Russia were the most dangerous countries for journalists in 2009, a global media group reported on Wednesday.

A total of 132 journalists and support staff were killed or died while working last year, the International News Safety Institute, INSI, said.

Just three international reporters were among those deliberately targeted, the dead being overwhelmingly local journalists covering dangerous stories like high-level crime and corruption for national news media.

"Journalists continue to die because they dare to shine a light on the darkest corners of societies. This is the shocking price we pay for our news," INSI Director Rodney Pinder said in a statement released in Geneva with the body's annual figures.

"This unacceptable situation will persist as long as the killers of journalists walk free," he added, saying few of them had been brought to justice.

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