I though we had problems when I was a foreign correspondent but the difficulties some face now make those of the '60s, '70s and '80s seem pale. We dealt with death in Central America, imprisonment in Cuba, beatings in Mexico. Our communications were state-of-the-art but the art then was rudimentary in comparison.
Mexico, where we spent 15 years, has become a very dangerous place for journalists. Some parts have just flat become dangerous for everyone.
It was a rarity for journalist to be killed in those days although some were. Some of us were injured or traumatized covering coups, wars in Central America and some terrible natural disasters. Vietnam could be a dangerous place for reporters. But consider this:
In the past 15 years from 1992 through 2006 there have been 580 journalists killed around the world. Only a few cases have been fully investigated and in even fewer cases has there been punishment for those who murdered the journalists. And most of them have been murder. The typical slaying is at the journalist's home, or on a commute to work, or while at the desk. The Committee to Protect Journalists -- which didn't exist when I was a foreign correspondent -- reports that seven out of 10 were targeted in retaliation for their reporting and hunted down to be murdered. Even in war zones murder is the leading cause of death.
You can read CPJ's report, a country-by-country death toll, and other important facts about dangerous reporting at the CPJ home page, http://www.cpj.org/index.html.
