http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-02T141757Z_01_L02155654_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-MEDIA.xmlPARIS (Reuters) - At least 63 journalists were killed worldwide in 2005, the highest number in a decade, a media watchdog said on Tuesday, but it also noted media had become freer in India and some Central American countries.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its latest annual report that more than 1,300 media workers were attacked or threatened last year and more than 100 were in jail.
For the third year running, Iraq was the most dangerous country. Seventy-four journalists and media workers have been killed there since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, making it the deadliest conflict for the press since World War Two.
"Violence against journalists is now routine in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Nigeria and Mexico and it goes unpunished," the RSF report said.
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RSF said the independence of Italy's media was threatened by the fact that outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owned or indirectly controlled several TV stations.
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