1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Research Problem Much attention has been given to the dangerous work of journalists in conflict zones where they are vulnerable to kidnappings, death by crossfire or by murder. Since the onset of the U.S. led war on terror, no one has been spared by print, radio and television news accounts of the many local and international journalists being physically harmed and gruesomely killed, with Iraq contributing the most to the general increase in media deaths worldwide (Taback & Coupland 2006). Though arguably true, descriptive accounts of antipress violence, in particular murders have not been completely absent. In the early 1990’s, African journalists worked under turbulent environments, where nations such as Angola and Rwanda, nations plagued by civil war, reflected the situation of many other nations in the continent at that time (Matloff 1995). However, there is little attention in academic and mainstream media discussion on the targeted homicide of journalists in democratic nations. Murders of journalists affect many new and or transitional democracies-- “peace time” nations such as the Philippines, Mexico, India,
Brazil and Russia
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(CPJ 2009). One case in particular has garnered international attention, that of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, famed for her investigative reports on Chechnya (Chivers 2006). She was killed in 2006, gunned down in her own apartment building (ibid.). 1 Whether a nation is a peace-time democracy or not is considered in relation to several factors. First, it acknowledges that not all countries that are peacetime democracies are without conflict. However, it considers whether or not (a) the conflict is nationwide; (b) if the conflict impedes the function of the constitution; (c) if journalists are caught in crossfire, and whether it is connected to