Number of journalists killed worldwide rose significantly in 2020 from the previous year, CPJ report said.
According to an international non profit organisation, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) report of the year 2020; the number of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work more than doubled.
As per the report, at least 30 journalists were killed this year globally; 21 of those were singled out for murder in retaliation for their work, a jump from the previous year’s 10 murders, while others were killed in combat or crossfire or on another assignment that turned dangerous.
Mexico, Afghanistan, and the Philippines had the most retaliatory killings, the report said.
The organisation is still investigating the deaths of 15 other journalists worldwide to determine whether journalism was the motive.
“The numbers reflect the period from January 1 to December 15, 2020, and the total killings compare with 26 journalists killed with a confirmed motive in all of 2019. Last year’s number was the lowest total killings in CPJ’s records since 2000”, says report.
At least 4 journalists were targeted for murder in 2020, in Mexico. Whereas, one more was gunned down while reporting from a crime scene, CPJ report said and added that it is investigating the motive in at least 4 other journalist deaths.
Three journalists were killed in retaliation for their work in 2020, in the Philippines.
In Honduras, where violence and threats to the media from organized crime and weak rule of law have led to a climate of fear and self-censorship, at least two journalists were murdered in 2020, and CPJ is investigating the motive in another killing.
Despite the reduction in crossfire-related killings, countries in conflict remain extremely dangerous for the media, CPJ report read.
Militant groups targeted at least four journalists for murder in retaliation for their work in Afghanistan, a significant jump after no killings were reported in 2019.
Iran has long used harsh prison sentences to censor the press, and had 15 journalists in jail, at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2020, prison census.
CPJ’s records count four other journalists killed in Iran since 1992; three of those died while in government custody or of injuries suffered during detention.
The year 2020 also saw widespread global political upheaval, and journalists faced violence covering these events. In Iraq, a TV reporter and camera operator were shot dead in January while covering protests in the southern Iraqi city of Basra against lack of basic services, unemployment, and government corruption, the report read.
According to CPJ’s research, a Nigerian journalist was killed while reporting on unrest in Ikeja, in southwestern Lagos state. A record number of journalists were jailed because of their work in 2020, as governments cracked down on coverage of COVID-19 or attempted to suppress reporting on political unrest.
The Covid-19 pandemic also forced journalists to constantly adapt to evolving safety advice and restrictions on travel and movement set by local authorities. In addition to the impact on the way reporters and photojournalists do their jobs, CPJ has documented, the virus posed extreme health risks to those arrested because of their work, the report said.
At least two journalists died after contracting the coronavirus in custody in Honduras and the other in Egypt—while a third, CPJ’s 2012 International Press Freedom Awardee Azimjon Askarov, died of illness his family suspected to be COVID-19 while serving a life sentence in Kyrgyzstan.
CPJ’s list of journalists killed does not include those who died of illness.