On Monday, May 14, the Newseum held a special re-dedication ceremony for its Journalists Memorial, adding the names of the 70 journalists who died on the job in 2011 and two who died in previous years, reported MediaBistro.
The two-story glass memorial bears the names of 2,156 reporters, photographers, editors, and broadcasters killed around the world for their work between 1837 and 2011.
"The brave men and women whose names are etched on the Journalists Memorial remind us that little about a free press is actually free," said James C. Duff, CEO of the Newseum, in a press statement. "Every day, journalists around the world scramble to bear witness, sometimes at great personal risk, to record the first draft of history. The Newseum is proud to honor these journalists who paid the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of the truth."
The keynote speaker for the event was Alejandro Junco, president and CEO of Mexican newspaper company Grupo Reforma. Mexico, where at least four journalists were in killed in 2011 and at least four journalists were killed so far this year, is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Such violence is part of the reason that Freedom House named Mexico as one of the four Latin American countries with a "not free" press. For more information on violence in Mexico, see this Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas map of attacks against the Mexican press.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 2011 was one of the deadliest years on record for journalists, and the Inter American Press Association called 2011 the "most tragic" year in two decades for the Latin American press. No wonder, then, that in 2011 the United Nations named journalism as one of the world's most dangerous professions.
Names added to the memorial this year include that of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were killed in Libya, as well as the names of 19 Latin American journalists who died on the job in 2011, reported the news agency AFP.
