Source: Canadian Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium — More than 130 media workers were killed in 2009 in their efforts to tell important stories from dangerous conflict zones, making last year a particularly deadly one for journalists, a media safety watchdog said Tuesday.

A report from the International News Safety Institute said 132 journalists and media staff died on the job in 2009, up sharply from the previous year's tally of 109 journalism-related fatalities.

The bulk of those deaths took place in the Philippines, where 37 media workers were slain, the institute said. Of that number, 31 were killed in a Nov. 23 ambush the institute described as "the bloodiest single event ever for the news media."

Mexico ranked as the second most dangerous country with 11 deaths, followed by Somalia and Russia with nine slayings each and Pakistan with eight.

The 2009 tally includes Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang, who was killed Dec. 30, just two weeks into her first stint covering Afghanistan for Canwest News Service.

Lang and four Canadian soldiers were killed when their armoured vehicle struck a massive roadside bomb in Dand district, south of Kandahar city.

Of the deaths last year, 98 were directly targeted as a result of their work, the institute said. Lang's status as a foreign correspondent also places her in the minority of victims: most were typically local reporters working in peace time, the report added.

Over the past 10 years, fewer than eight out of 10 perpetrators have been brought to justice, the group noted.

"Journalists continue to die because they dare to shine a light on the darkest corners of societies," INSI director Rodney Pinder said in a release.

"This is the shocking price we pay for our news. And this unacceptable situation will persist as long as killers of journalists walk free."

Pinder called on the United Nations to more aggressively enforce Resolution 1738, which calls for greater safety for journalists in conflict areas and justice for their killers. More than 400 media workers have died since the resolution was passed in 2006, the report said.

One area where reporter safety appeared to improve last year was Iraq, where 257 journalists have been slain since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Only five media workers died in the war-torn country last year, a figure Pinder cited as an improvement.

"It was the most dangerous country in the world for the news media for five years ... but journalists are now benefiting from a general reduction in violence there," he said.

"This demonstrates that even the direst situations can improve."

© Canadian Press