Last but not least: Layoffs and high mortality rates among journalists - and the trend is rising

A journalist in Moscow has been sacked after reporting on the brutality of special forces during an anti-Kremlin demonstration. Five months after the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, journalists are increasingly fearing for their (press) freedom: Irina Vorobeva was banned from reporting on the riots at the anti-Kremlin demonstration by the state radio station where she worked. So she gave an interview on the independent radio station Echo Moskvy. Her statements resulted in her immediate dismissal. But it is not only the state that is throwing a spanner in the works of journalists: just a few days ago, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, an Italian-Swiss correspondent for the newspaper La Repubblica, was kidnapped by Taliban fighters.
Journalists are often accused of hunting down innocent victims and politicians in order to get the juiciest story and then spice it up with their own tabloid sauce. But last year alone, according to Reporters Without Borders, 81 journalists were killed, at least 871 arrested and 56 kidnapped. Threats are counted in four-digit figures, dismissals are not recorded. We haven't had figures this bad since 1994.
As long as state and military-like institutions are able to exercise censorship and violence, there will be journalists who stand up and fight for freedom of the press. Not because they want to be the first to publish the most sensational news, but because too many people have to suffer from silence.