UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations and media groups worldwide marked World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, amid continued danger and repression facing journalists in many countries.
At least 26 journalists were killed in 1997 and 90 remain behind bars, according to a study by the Paris-based watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.
While the fatalities were lower than in previous years - more than 100 were killed in 1994 - reporting remains a dangerous profession in more than half the world's countries, the group said.
The Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists released a list of 10 world leaders it called the ``Enemies of the Press'' because of their repression of the media.
Another survey showed that 80 percent of the world's people live in countries that lack a free press. The study, released Friday by Freedom House, a New York-based group that monitors political rights and civil liberties, also said that Asian countries with strict media controls have suffered more from recent economic crises than those where the press is relatively free.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa complained Saturday that a proposed communications law in Zimbabwe would reinforce the government's monopoly on broadcasting instead of fulfilling a promise to repeal it.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for governments to respect the media and asked reporters for more ``preventive journalism'' to draw attention to potentially explosive situations before they escalate.
``The media tends to come in when there is bloodshed, when there is a violent situation and go home the moment the story is over,'' Annan said in a statement marking the day, issued by the World Association of Newspapers.
The United Nations declared May 3 World Press Freedom Day in 1993 to encourage governments to respect the rights of independent media.
The Committee to Protect Journalists' list of media ``enemies'' includes:
President Jiang Zemin of China
President Fidel Castro of
Cuba
President
Suharto of Indonesia
Gen. Sani Abacha, military ruler of
Nigeria
Gen.
Than Shwe, leader of Myanmar, also known as Burma
President Alexander
Lukashenko of Belarus
President Sapamurat Niyazov of
Turkmenistan
Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia
President Zine Abdine Ben Ali of
Tunisia
Prime
Minister Abd al-Salam al-Majali of Jordan.
AP-NY-05-03-98 1442EDT
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.