Watchdog deplores Libya’s media environment

TRIPOLI: Working as a journalist in Libya has become nearly "impossible" as lawlessness and impunity has brought hostility to journalists to new heights, Reporters Without Borders said on Sunday.

"The situation of freedom of information is dramatic," the global press watchdog said in a report released jointly with fellow campaign group the Libyan Centre for Freedom of the Press. Covering the news "has become an almost impossible mission... because hostility against media and journalists has reached new heights."

Crimes against media workers take place in "silence and the criminals enjoy total impunity", the report said. The report was released to mark the eighth anniversary of the 2011 Nato backed uprising that toppled and killed Moamer Qadhafi.

Since then, at least 19 journalists have been killed while there have been "several cases" in which journalists were abducted, tortured or forcibly disappeared, the report said.