CPJ: 'Journalists death toll for 2009 is 68'

At least 68 journalists worldwide were killed for their work in 2009, the highest yearly tally ever documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organisation said in its year-end analysis.
The record toll was driven in large part by the election-related slaughter of more than 30 media workers in the Philippine province of Maguindanao last month, the deadliest single event for the press in CPJ history.
The worldwide tally surpasses the previous record of 67 deaths, set in 2007 when violence in Iraq was pervasive and media fatalities there were common. CPJ is still investigating 20 other journalist deaths worldwide in 2009 to determine whether they were work-related.
“This has been a year of unprecedented devastation for the world’s media, but the violence also confirms long-term trends,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon. “Most of the victims were local reporters covering news in their own communities. The perpetrators assumed, based on precedent, that they would never be punished. Whether the killings are in Iraq or the Philippines, in Russia or Mexico, changing this assumption is the key to reducing the death toll.”
CPJ has a data base on journalists killed worldwide here.