A new report says Iraq is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, and that Russia's media is severely restricted.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, released its annual report today (Monday). The report says that 2004 was the deadliest year for journalists in more than a decade, with 56 killed worldwide.
The group says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly exerting Soviet-style control over the media, in a year marked by a purge of independent voices on Russian national television. The report also says an analysis of the 15 former Soviet republics shows that strong press freedom traditions have only been established in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
A total of 23 journalists were killed in Iraq in 2004 -- and in a new trend, most of those killed were local Iraqi reporters.