43 Journalists Were Killed in ‘Direct Relation to Their Work’ This Year

By Jason Boog 

The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its annual report on journalists killed while working in 2011–a sad list of writers, photographers and videographers who died to bring us stories.

The group has also published a searchable database of those killed. Remember these fallen storytellers this holiday season.

Here is an excerpt: “The 19 murders recorded in 2011 were the lowest total since 2002. Targeted murders—which historically account for nearly three-quarters of journalist deaths—constituted less than half of the 2011 toll. But murders were reported in both Russia and the Philippines, two countries long plagued by deadly, anti-press violence. In the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, an assassin waited outside the offices of the critical independent newspaper Chernovik and gunned down its founder, Gadzhimurad Kamalov. In the Philippines, CPJ documented the work-related murders of two radio commentators. One of them, Romeo Olea, was shot in the back while riding his motorcycle to work.”