Every year, hundreds of journalists are killed for doing their job. In spite of threats, assaults,u00a0 abductions, these brave people relentlessly fight for the truth

'In the course of the past few years, the independent media have increasingly come under attack. Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced.
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Protest march to condemn J.Dey's murder. PIC/ Sayed Sameer Abedi

Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last', wrote Lasantha Wickrematunge, Founder Editor of The Sunday Leader, a SriLankan newspaper. It was his last piece, which was published after he was brutally killed on January 8, 2009.

Every year hundreds of journalists are killed all over the world for reporting the truth. The dangers involved in this profession are enormous and the figures say it all.

According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based media watchdog, this year alone some 19 journalists have been killed all over the world; 864 journalists were killed in 1992; 547 journalists were murdered with impunity since 1992 and 145 journalists are in prison worldwide. According to various reports the year 2006 has been declared as the deadliest year for journalists

In the CPJ's 2011 Impunity Index, "where journalists are slain and killers go free", India ranks 13 where culprits can get away after killing a journalist. With seven unsolved murders of journalists, the world's largest democracy is just below Brazil.
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The number one country is Iraq with 92 unsolved cases followed by Somalia and Philippines with 10 and 56 cases respectively.

In a speech Hannah Storm, Project manager at the International News Safety Institute (INSI),u00a0 said, "There are also specific threats that journalists face, because of the fact they are journalists.
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Those seeking to report become obvious targets. Countless stories in one very frightening day in Cairo, for example, where it seemed that pro-Mubarak mobs attacked journalists, because the message that was getting out was not the message they wanted to hear."

Highlighting the dangers involved in the profession, Storm also emphasised the need for "a safety net or a safety network", for journalists.