democracy is to flourish.

Yet, according to a report by the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), journalists around the world are under graver threat than ever before.

And that means democracy is under threat as well.

That's worth remembering here in Bermuda, where criticism of the media is sometimes raised to an art form by politicians and other community leaders.

In fact, there are many avenues for freedom of expression in Bermuda; via the broadcast and print media, talk shows, letters to the editor and so on.

Indeed, for a small community which would be lucky to have one weekly newspaper to call its own in many parts of the world, Bermuda, with two local broadcasting companies, one daily newspaper and two weekly papers is remarkably well served.

The media in Bermuda may not be perfect, but restricting press freedoms is no solution. In that vein, we pay tribute to the 38 journalists who were murdered in the pursuit of their work last year, in places where reporting the news is much harder -- and far more dangerous -- than it is here.

Some of the countries where freedom of the Press is most under threat are: Croatia and Serbia, where almost all free media outlets have been silenced, meaning that the past six weeks of protests against the annulment of opposition victories in local elections in November have gone unreported.

Albania, whose general election in May, widely regarded as fraudulent, was accompanied by the violent repression of the opposition and the beating of reporters, the report said; Russia, where at least seven journalists were assassinated in 1996; and Algeria, where 11 journalists were killed in 1996.

Reporters are "trying to walk the tightrope between government censorship and the murderous attempts of the Muslim extremists to silence them,'' the IPI said.

Journalists also run the risk of being initimidated by drug traffickers and crime gangs.

"The murder of Ireland's leading investigative reporter, Veronica Guerin, on June 26 was a chilling reminder that such killings occur in societies which are free,'' the report said. Guerin covered the activities of the Dublin underworld.

The report also raises the question of what will happen to Hong Kong's vibrant media after it is taken over by China later this year.

In China, the leadership made clear in 1996 that the media's role was to support the state.

"As Beijing toughens its approach to its own press, there are the most rational grounds for fearing for the fate of those Hong Kong journalists who strive to report freely and objectively after the British colony reverts to Chinese rule in June 1997,'' the report said.