A/HRC/20/22 23. Freedom of expression, as the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has noted, is also a collective right held by society as a whole (A/HRC/14/23, paras. 29 and 105). Freedom of expression and the concomitant right to receive information are ―meta rights‖—rights on which the realization of most of other rights depends. They are also the cornerstones of democracy, anticorruption measures, good governance and in general the ability of society to take informed decisions. 24. Journalists deserve special concern not primarily because they perform heroic acts in the face of danger—although that is often the case—but because the social role they play is so important. Just as the shooting of a police officer warrants messages of ―calling all units, officer down‖ throughout the police force, an attack on a journalist represents an assault on the foundations of the human rights project and on informed society as a whole. Violence against a journalist is not only an attack on one particular victim, but on all members of the society. 25. Within the framework of the mandate, issues regarding assaults on the life of journalists have been addressed in a number of ways.6 Noteworthy is that the then Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions noted in her 2003 report that journalists are among the persons who receive the most death threats (E/CN.4/2003/3 and Corr.1, para. 54). Journalists have regularly been the subject of communications. Indeed, approximately 8 per cent of the communications sent under the mandate on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions between 2003 and 2011 concerned killings of journalists, or threats to their lives. 26. For the purposes of the present report, a functional approach will be taken in respect of the question of who is to be regarded as a journalist, and hence who deserves special attention. The following definition represents a fairly widely accepted understanding of what this concept entails: ―The term ‗journalist‘ means any natural or legal person who is regularly or professionally engaged in the collection and dissemination of information to the public via any means of mass communication.‖7 Reporters and photographers and those who directly support their work—stringers and drivers—are potentially vulnerable, and because they fulfil a crucial social function they are deserving of special protection. This includes the ―new media‖ or ―citizen and online journalists‖.8 27. Not all journalists focus on human rights—they shine their light on a wide range of issues. Since some journalists are human rights defenders and some human rights defenders are journalists, these two categories are overlapping but not identical. 28. An alarming number of journalists are killed each year in the course of their duties, or are subjected to physical violence. Mere casualty figures do not fully convey the extent of the problem because in many cases journalists are prevented from doing their work following threats to their safety that may not be realized. Nevertheless, the available 6 7 8 6 Reports on the missions of the Special Rapporteur to: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, A/HRC/14/24/Add.3, paras. 2 and 92; Colombia, A/HRC/14/24/Add.2, appendix B, para. 2; the Philippines, A/HRC/8/3/Add.2, paras. 38 and 45; Jamaica, E/CN.4/2004/7/Add.2 and Corr.1, paras. 50-51; Turkey, E/CN.4/2002/74/Add.1 and Corr. 1, paras. 42 and 56; Nepal, E/CN.4/2001/9/Add.2, paras. 32 and 73; and Mexico, E/CN.4/2000/3/Add.3, paras. 70, 81-84 and 107. Follow-up to country recommendations: Brazil, A/HRC/14/24/Add.4, para. 26; the Philippines, A/HRC/11/2/Add.8, para. 10; Sri Lanka, A/HRC/8/3/Add.3, para. 45. Council of Europe, recommendation No. R (2000) 7 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the right of journalists not to disclose their sources of information, adopted on 8 March 2000. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression (A/65/284), paras. 61-76.