48 journos killed

48 journos killed Numbers drop but intimidation is up Deadly violence against the media eased in 2016 from recent record levels as the number of journalists singled out for murder declined. The number of journalists killed in the line of duty declined in 2016 from recent record levels as fewer journalists were targeted for murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found in its annual analysis. Deaths in combat or crossfire ticked to their highest number since 2013 as conflicts in the Middle East dragged on.

At least 48 journalists were killed in relation to their work between 1 January and 15 December, 2016. CPJ is investigating the deaths of at least 27 more journalists during the year to determine whether they were work-related.

More than half of the journalists killed in the year died in combat or crossfire, for the first time since CPJ began keeping records. The conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, and Somalia claimed the lives of 26 journalists who died covering the fighting.

Historically, about two thirds of journalists killed are singled out for murder in retaliation for their work, according to CPJ’s detailed records since 1992. This year, 18 journalists were targeted directly for murder, the lowest number since 2002. The reason for the decline is unclear, and could be a combination of factors including less risk-taking by the media, more efforts to bring global attention to the challenge of combatting impunity, and the use of other means to silence critical journalists.

Overall, Syria was the most deadly country for journalists for the fifth year in a row. At least 14 journalists were killed in Syria in 2016, the same number as in 2015, bringing the total number killed there in the line of duty since conflict broke out to at least 107.

Also mired in conflict, Iraq is among the top three most deadly countries for the fourth year in a row, with six journalists killed in 2016. In Yemen, where the number of journalists killed has been creeping higher as fighting intensified, six journalists were also killed this year, bringing the total to 12 since 2014.

Journalists who brave conflict are at risk not only of dying in combat but of being kidnapped or murdered by Islamic State and other militant groups. Islamic State is responsible for the disappearance of at least 11 journalists since 2013. They are feared dead, but do not appear in CPJ’s data on killed journalists because their fate cannot be confirmed.

The ravaging of journalistic communities by extremist groups in recent years could be one of several potential reasons for the decline in murders in 2016. For example, in Somalia, the killers’ work has had an effect: Years of violent intimidation with little hope of justice has left the ranks of the media scared, weakened, and depleted. Somalia has for two consecutive years topped CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. The number of journalists murdered in Somalia each year has precipitously declined since 2012, with two murdered in 2016.

CPJ research shows that entrenched impunity fosters self-censorship, as journalists flee into exile or fall silent to avoid grave risk.

In some places, tools other than violence are being deployed to cow journalists into silence. In Russia, where 36 journalists have been murdered in retaliation for reporting since 1992, CPJ has not recorded a murder since 2013. Journalists who might dare report on sensitive issues such as corruption and human rights abuses, despite the immense risks of physical reprisal, have had their avenues to report systematically cut off through legislation, regulations, closure of news outlets, and other forms of harassment, including threats of imprisonment. - CPJ

ELANA BEISER

*Elana Beiser is editorial director of the Committee to Protect Journalists