BRUSSELS, Belgium - One hundred journalists and other news media workers died on the job in the first six months of the year, putting 2007 on the path to becoming the deadliest year for the news business, the International News Safety Institute said Friday.
Iraq has been the most dangerous country for journalists in recent years, and the group said the 100-mark was reached with a death there Tuesday, the killing of Hamed Sarha, a 30-year veteran of the Iraqi national news agency by unidentified gunmen.
According to statistics compiled by the Brussels-based group, 83 journalists and 17 other media professionals died around the globe covering news stories between Jan. 1 and June 26, with 72 of them slain. By comparison, there were 68 media deaths at the same time last year.
The institute, a coalition of media organizations, media freedom groups, unions and humanitarian campaigners dedicated to the safety of media workers, said 2006 was the worst year on record for journalists, with 168 murders or work-related deaths.
The group's director, Rodney Pinder, said the pace of this year's deaths was troubling. "We have never known such a high death toll halfway through a year, and we fear for what might be to come," he said.
In Iraq, 22 journalists and support staff were slain in the first six months of this year, while 14 others died in other conflict-related incidents, the group said.
After Iraq, it said, the places with the most journalists killed were Afghanistan with five; Haiti and Philippines with four each; Somalia, India and the Palestinian territories with three; and Sri Lanka, Mexico and Brazil with two.
