By IANS,
Islamabad : Fifteen journalists have been killed in Pakistan between May 2008 and May 2009 making it the most violent period for the Pakistani media, according to a study.
The findings were published in the annual State of Media report produced by Intermedia, a research organisation based here, the Online news agency reported Saturday.
The study suggests that like other socio-economic groups in the country, “the media also paid a heavy price for the war against terrorism”, as 15 journalists have been killed in insurgency related violence in the past 12 months in the country. Many journalists were also arrested by the security forces or kidnapped by militant groups.
The study said there were 248 cases of violations against the media in Pakistan during the period under review (May 2008 to May 2009) in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab and Balochistan provinces and the FATA.
The categories of violations include killings, arrests, kidnappings, assaults, injuries, intimidation and attacks on media properties.
The report said Punjab was the most dangerous place for journalists with 81 of the 248 cases of violations reported there. Islamabad ranked second with 48 incidents and FATA third with 41 cases.
Ten of those killed worked for newspapers while five worked for TV channels, the report said.