JournaLists DeaTh RaTe Highest EvEr in 2006

This year is the deadliest on record for journalists and media workers, with 75 deaths to date, the World Association of Newspapers said today.

This was already three more than the 72 journalists killed during the whold of 2004, WAN said.

Journalists continue to be targeted and murdered in Iraq, with 26 dying in the conflict there.

"Journalists in Iraq are not only facing the danger that comes with working in a war zone, they are being hunted down and assassinated simply because they are suspected of cooperating with western news agencies, because of their religious or political affiliation, or because their murderers believe that killing journalists will advance their aims," said the WAN chief executive, Timothy Balding.

"Journalism today is more dangerous than ever," he said. "More than 500 journalists have been killed in the past decade, often for simply doing their jobs.

"These murders are a direct attack not only on individuals, but also on society as a whole. Yet few of the killers are ever brought to justice."

Eight journalists died in the Philippines - where criminal gangs and corrupt politicians target investigative journalists without fear of prosecution - while six died in Guyana.

Paris-based WAN, the global newspaper industry organisation, began keeping records of journalist murders in 1997 and bases figures on all media workers killed in the line of duty or targeted because of their work.

MY CoMmEnTs... If the number of Journalists been killed is increasing.. i dnt understand why the news company send them out their in the first place. Having a live cam linked to the place would be easier than to have a actual person standing there and reporting back. They are becoming targets and countries like Iraq are making examples of these innocent people. The big news companies such as Sky news need to consider whether they should send their reporters there. Journalism is becoming dangerous.