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FORTY NINE JOURNALISTS were killed in 2019, Reporters Without Borders said today, the lowest death toll in 16 years.
Reporters who died this year mostly died covering conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan, the Paris-based watchdog said, which warned that “journalism remains a dangerous profession”.
Some 80 journalists a year have lost their lives on average over the last two decades, said the organisation.
Yet Christophe Deloire, head of Reporters Without Borders, warned that the number of journalists murdered in countries supposedly at peace was still alarmingly high, with 10 dying in Mexico.
“Latin America, with a total of 14 reporters killed across the continent, has become as deadly as the Middle East,” he added.
While he said that the fall in the number of fatalities in conflict zones was something positive, “more and more journalists are being assassinated for their work in democratic countries, which is a real challenge to democracy.”
Although fewer journalists are dying, more are ending up detained, according to the organisation.
Some 389 were jailed in 2019, up 12% from last year.
Nearly half were imprisoned in three countries – China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which was blamed for the gruesome murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi at its embassy in Istanbul last year.
“China, which has intensified its repression of the (mostly Muslim) Uighur minority, alone holds a third of the journalists locked up in the world,” Reporters Without Borders said.
Meanwhile, 57 journalists are being held hostage across the world, mostly in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Ukraine.
“There has been no notable freeing of hostages this year despite major developments in Syria,” the organisation said, which has led it to fear for the worst for many of those abducted.
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The flip side of it is here in Ireland on the Journal they delete any comments not serving a left wing agenda. They should be jailed too.
@Just Noticed.: surely that should mean this comment will be deleted???
@Just Noticed.: awww poor pet. Signed up for the terms and conditions and now is all mad when they’re enforced. Bless
One of the toughest jobs these days. Considering the amount of fake news that is out there. Deciding to have integrity, both morally and ethically is very tough in this time of instant news.
@Simon O Flaherty: I know, it’s serious. Wasn’t Tommy Robinson a journalist in the UK. I think he’s just got out of Prison.
@Dom Layzell: Hes only a journalist in his own mind.
There have been a number of journalists ‘killed’ here in the Journal comments section on quite a few occasions.
@Deborah Blacoe: and a load more should be arrested by the grammar police
@Deborah Blacoe: Journalists in Ireland are banished if they don’t ‘play ball’ with the agenda! First they destroy their character and create a nasty perception of journalists and then, like the baying crowd shouting Barabbas, they call for the journalist to be fired..
Most of the countries are aligned to the EU and the USA. Julianne Assange rotting in a British prison. We saw Northern Irish journalists targetted for publishing articles and documentaries on the Britidh military and police collusion into mass murder during the troubles. We really dont need to look to far afield.
That headline is criminal in fairness.
How can you feel sorry for a reporter if he gets killed trying to photograph a firefight in Helmand Province. A bit like feeling sorry for that climber who dies on Everest.. or that reporter who gets locked up for sticking their nose in in China or Egypt.. Hello, these countries don’t like it. You know they don’t like it, so stay the F away..
have your say