“Thirty-one journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2001 and there was a sharp rise in curbs on reporting worldwide,” Reuters is reporting. According to an annual assessment of press freedom by the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) the

[…] number of journalists jailed or attacked for their work rose dramatically last year.[…]

[ …]The number killed was almost the same as in 2000 when the death toll was 32, it said.

But arrests soared by almost 50 percent to 489 while threats and physical attacks on reporters jumped around 40 percent to 716.

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