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‘Deadly decades’: Nearly 1,700 journalists killed in past 20 years. In Russia…
Reporters Without Borders Report On Journalists: This comes to an average of more than 80 journalists per year.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) revealed in its analysis that nearly 1700 journalists were killed across the globe in the past 20 years. This comes to an average of more than 80 per year.
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The Paris-based media rights campaigners said that the two decades between the 2003 and 2022 were "especially deadly decades for those in the service of the right to inform"
"Behind the figures, there are the faces, personalities, talent and commitment of those who have paid with their lives for their information gathering, their search for the truth and their passion for journalism," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
The group also revealed that Iraq and Syria were the most dangerous countries to work as a journalist as the countries have accounted for “a combined total of 578 journalists killed in the past 20 years, or more than a third of the worldwide total.”
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They were followed by Mexico (125), the Philippines (107), Pakistan (93), Afghanistan (81) and Somalia (78).
Reporters Without Borders called 2012 and 2013 the "darkest years" as there were 144 killings in 2012 and 142 in 2013. This peak was "followed by a gradual fall and then historically low figures from 2019 onwards", the report said.
Journalist's deaths increased again in 2022, in part because of the war in Ukraine. So far this year, 58 journalists have been killed doing their jobs, up from 51 in 2021, the report said. Eight journalists have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February which compares to a total of 12 media deaths in the country over the preceding 19 years.
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Ukraine is currently the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists. In Russia, 25 journalists have been killed over the past 20 years, the report said.
"Since Vladimir Putin took over, Russia has seen systematic attacks on press freedom -– including deadly ones –- as RSF has repeatedly reported. They include Anna Politkovskaya's high-profile murder on 7 October 2006," the rights group said.
