42 Journalists Killed Over Their Work In 2020

By Staff, Agencies

Forty-two journalists and media workers have been killed while doing their jobs this year, according to the International Federation of Journalists’ annual tally. A further 235 are in prison in cases related to their work, the report showed.

Mexico topped the 2020 list of countries where the most journalists were killed, for the fourth time in five years, with 13 killings, followed by Pakistan with five. Afghanistan, India, Iraq and Nigeria recorded three killings each.

The global death toll is around the same level as when the global journalists’ union began its grim annual count of deaths 30 years ago and is part of a recent downward trend.

Anthony Bellanger, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists [IFJ], said: “The decrease of journalists’ killings in recent years cannot disguise the deadly danger and threats journalists continue to face for doing their work.”

In the three decades the IFJ has been keeping count, 2,658 journalists have been killed.

Bellanger said: “These are not just statistics. They are our friends and colleagues who have dedicated their lives to, and paid the ultimate price for, their work as journalists.”

“We don’t just remember them but we will pursue every case, pressing governments and law enforcement authorities to bring their murderers to justice.”

The IFJ report will be officially released on Thursday to mark the International Day for Human Rights. The release also coincides with an online conference on press freedom organized by the Dutch government and the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO.

The IFJ, which has 600,000 members in 150 countries, also counted scores of journalists who have been jailed, often without charge.