'Third dangerous country' for media
Sri Lanka is the third dangerous country for media workers, an international media watchdog has said.
World Association of Newspapers (WAN) said more media workers were killed only in Iraq and Somalia than in Sri Lanka during the last year. A statement issued on Thursday by WAN said 95 journalists and media workers were killed word-wide as a result of their work in 2007. This is the second highest death toll, says WAN, since it started recording annual deaths since 1998. "In the vast majority of cases, nobody is brought to justice for their murders," Timothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer of the Paris-based WAN, said. While eight media workers were killed in Somalia, six media personnel were killed in Sri Lanka, according to the Paris based watchdog. In a detailed report, London based human rights watchdog Amnesty International on Thursday said threats against media personnel have increased dramatically in Sri Lanka. It called on Sri Lanka government, paramilitaries and the LTTE to end attacks on journalists and respect their obligations under international law.