The International News Safety Institute's annual Killing the Messenger report showed that around the world 105 journalists died last year doing their jobs. Their murderers enjoyed near total impunity with virtually no legal proceedings taking place against any of the perpetrators.
“It is a shocking that in this day and age, so many of our colleagues are being murdered simply for doing their jobs and their killers are not being brought to justice,” said INSI director Hannah Storm. “As long as governments do not pursue and punish these criminals, it sends a sign that journalists can be silenced if others do not like what they are saying or writing.
“Without a guarantee of safety for journalists there can be no free press and without a free press there can be no democracy. INSI is appalled that it now appears to be open season to target journalists who play such a vital role in helping members of the public and governments better understand what is going on in the world.”
Other key report findings included:
- The overwhelming majority of those killed were local journalists
- Most died during armed conflicts
- Television suffered the most casualties though significant numbers of print and radio journalists also lost their lives
See the full report
here.
Omar Abdul Qader was the first to die in Syria in March. The cameraman for the Beirut-based TV station was shot in the neck by a sniper while covering clashes between government and rebel forces. The following day Canadian freelance photographer Ali Mustafa died during bomb blasts in Aleppo that claimed at least seven other lives. The killing continued unabated throughout the year in Syria and 2014 ended as it began with the deaths of four journalists in December – correspondents Rami Asmi and Yousef El-Dous and cameraman Salem Khalil from the opposition channel Orient News – and Al Jazeera’s Arabic correspondent in Syria, Mahran Al Deeri.
Syria, particularly ISIS-controlled areas in northern Syria, has become a no go zone for most journalists since the beheadings of American freelancers James Foley and Steven Sotloff in August and September.
The biannual Killing the Messenger report, carried out for INSI by the Cardiff School of Journalism and compiled in cooperation with INSI’s regional contacts, is an analysis of media casualties around the globe. INSI records all deaths, whether deliberate, accidental or health-related, of journalists, media workers and support staff who are killed while on assignment or as a result of an attack on their news organisation.
The figures compiled between January and December 2014 showed that Pakistan was a close second to Syria as the bloodiest country for journalists with 10 killed. Last year Pakistan was in fifth place with nine journalists lost.
Iraq and Ukraine were in third place in the INSI survey with eight journalists killed in each country. Six journalists died in Palestine and another six in Afghanistan. Honduras and Somalia lost five journalists each while four died in Mexico and four more Paraguay.
Their killers enjoyed almost total impunity with suspects identified in just 14 cases and legal proceeding taking place in only one.
The majority of the journalists were shot to death (56) or blown up (22), and most were local journalists who died in their own countries during armed conflicts. INSI recorded 39 who died in peace time in 2014 with politics, accidents, corruption and drug investigations blamed for those deaths.
No one central authority compiles the deaths of news media staff on a regular basis. The main journalist support groups that monitor casualties include the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, the World Association of Newspapers, Reporters Without Borders and INSI, though their recording methods differ.
