The situation is bleak in general regarding the improvement of press freedom around the world, said Alison Bethel McKenzie, director of the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), said at the opening of the 2011 IPI World Congress in Taipei.
At least 10 journalists have been killed in Mexico, which is battling powerful drug gangs, McKenzie said to an audience of more than 300.
Meanwhile, because the Middle East and North Africa have been in the global media spotlight as people stood up to overthrow dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, that region "has proven deadly for journalists," she said.
Some 22 journalists have lost their lives in the region so far this year, compared with eight in 2010, she said.
She named Iraq as the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with eight having been so far killed this year.
In third spot is Pakistan, where at least six reporters have lost their lives this year and a journalist was reportedly tortured to death in May by an intelligence agency, she said.
Journalists across Asia, including Burma, China and North Korea, also face arrest, torture and imprisonment, McKenzie said.
She described Taiwan as "an island of free press in the region," and highlighted the case of the National Communications Commission (NCC) denying Next Media Group a license to broadcast news programs for more than year, due to concerns over the group`s ability to fulfill its social responsibility as a media entity.
"Following advocacy by IPI, the NCC finally granted Next Media a license," she said.
CNA/H-AK/A045
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
