Maguindanao massacre worst-ever for journalists

11/26/2009 02:25:00 PM


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The massacre of journalists in Maguindanao Monday is the worst death toll for the press in recent history, an international media watchdog said yesterday. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the killing "appears to be single deadliest event for the press since 1992, when CPJ began keeping detailed records on journalist deaths." "Even as we tally the dead in this horrific massacre, our initial research indicates that this is the deadliest single attack on the press ever documented by CPJ,” said executive director Joel Simon of the New York-based group. It was the CPJ that had earlier branded the Philippines the second most dangerous place for journalists in the world behind Iraq. Read the rest of the article on Inquirer.net.

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.