With more than three months to go before the end of the year, a press freedom organisation is predicting that 2015 “is on course to be the deadliest year for the media on record.”
According to the Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI), 61 journalists have been killed for reasons related to their work or have died in accidents while on assignment so far this year.
But this figure does not include approximately 54 journalists whose deaths are currently under review by IPI for inclusion in its Death Watch monitor, which has kept track of journalists’ killings around the globe since 1997.
“IPI’s figures reveal the alarming extent to which journalists across the world are increasingly targeted for their reporting,” said IPI’s executive director, Barbara Trionfi.
“The killing of a journalist is the most heinous way not only of silencing an individual report or the media of a particular country, but also of denying the public news and information to which it has a right.”
She pointed out that the reason for the large number of cases under review reflects the difficulty of obtaining reliable information about the motives behind the killings of journalists, often due to the failure of states to conduct proper investigations.
She said: “The inability, or in some cases unwillingness, to bring perpetrators to justice is what continues to fuel these terrible crimes.”
Of the confirmed 61 deaths on IPI’s Death Watch 15 were the results of accidents that occurred while on assignment while 46 were the subject of murder.
Almost a third of the 61 deaths were linked to Isis, either through direct executions or due to injuries sustained while reporting in the conflict areas.
All of the 13 Iraqi journalists killed this year were either executed by Isis or died while reporting on Isis-related conflicts.
Source: IPI
