Demand for global action to halt killing of journalists

Friday 04 Nov 2011
More than 400 representatives of global news organisations today issued a call for global action to halt the killing of journalists.

Gathered at the News Xchange conference in the Portuguese resort of Cascais, they backed a resolution demanding the killers of journalists be brought to justice and committed themselves to “create maximum exposure” for each and every death.

The motion, proposed by the International News Safety Institute and supported by the European Broadcasting Union which runs News Xchange, noted that more than 1,100 news media staff have been killed in the past 10 years.

Over 100 have died this year alone, with Libya being the worst killing ground.

Nine out of 10 killers of journalists are never held to account, “fueling a culture of impunity that helps encourage more deaths,” the resolution said.

Backed by more than 90 percent of the 440 news executives from major world news organisations at the conference, it stated: “We, the News Xchange community, call on the authorities and governments whose jurisdictions are involved in any unresolved cases to bring the killers of journalists to justice.

“We are also committed to researching these suspicious deaths through journalistic endeavour, wherever possible, and creating the maximum exposure for each death. Any developments will be reported back to News Xchange 2012.”

INSI said it will put the resolution before the United Nations and other concerned governments and world bodies.