Torn by a never-ending bloody war, Syria has been the world’s deadliest country for journalists since 2012. Most of these murders remain unpunished, an impunity attributable to Mexico’s widespread corruption, especially at the local level where officials are often directly linked to the cartels. Ten other Mexican journalists paid with their lives in 2017 for covering sensitive stories. His latest book, Narco-journalism, recounts the tribulations of Mexican journalists who, despite the dangers, try to cover the activities of the country’s extremely violent narcos (drug traffickers). Aged 50, this veteran reporter for AFP and two local papers, La Jornada and Riodoce, specialized in writing about drug trafficking. The murder of Javier Valdez Cárdenas in Culiacán (in Sinaloa state) on May 15 sparked a public outcry. In the land of drug cartels, journalists who cover political corruption or organized crime are almost systematically targeted, threatened, and often gunned down in cold blood. Of countries not at war, Mexico was the deadliest for reporters in 2017, as it was last year. Syria and Mexico, the deadliest countries for reportersĪs has been the case for the past six years, Syria continued to be the world’s deadliest country for journalists with 12 killed, but Mexico was close behind with 11 killed. Many journalists have either fled abroad or abandoned journalism in Mexico, where the criminal cartels and local politicians have imposed a reign of terror. But inability to report without risking one’s life is not limited to countries at war. Or journalists have chosen to switch to a less dangerous profession. Countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya have been haemorrhaging journalists. The downward trend is also due to journalists abandoning countries that have become too dangerous. Its central focus was on the specific risks faced by women journalists in the exercise of their work and the need to address sexist discrimination, violence, and harassment, including online harassment. The latest of these was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20. With the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and the Council of Europe, RSF has promoted recommendations on the safety of journalists that have been reflected in various resolutions.
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Intensive lobbying of governments and international bodies by NGOs such as RSF that defend and protect journalists has also been productive. These measures include the creation in 2015 of the A Culture of Safety (ACOS) Alliance, a coalition of major news companies, journalism organizations and freelancers, with the aim of developing and adopting worldwide protection standards for freelancers. Thought has also been given to the status of freelancers, and initiatives have been undertaken with the goal of giving them the same kind of protection as staffers. More security training has helped to better prepare journalists for visits to hostile terrain. This downward trend may be due in part to the many campaigns waged by international NGOs and media organizations on the need to provide journalists with more protection.
#Journalists killed on air video professional
In the professional journalist category (50 this year), RSF notes that 2017 has been the least deadly year for professional journalists in 14 years (see graphic). The 2017 death toll is a slight fall (-18%) from the 2016 figure (79). The aim in each case was to silence them. As in 2016, most of the deaths were targeted (60%). The other 39 were murdered, and deliberately targeted because their reporting threatened political, economic, or criminal interests. Twenty-six of them were killed in the course of their work, the collateral victims of a deadly situation such as an air strike, an artillery bombardment, or a suicide bombing. Journalists killed in connection with the provision of news and informationġ035 professional journalists killed in the past 15 yearsĢ017: least deadly year for journalists in 14 yearsĪ total of 65 journalists (including professional journalists, citizen-journalists and media workers) were killed worldwide in 2017.