Journalists in the spotlight: the dangers of reporting from conflict zones

AP photo/Majdi Mohammed

Over the past three years, the number of murders of journalists has increased significantly. This is partly due to increased conflict, but also to increasingly authoritarian governments and growing divisions in society. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 50 journalists were killed in the line of duty in 2020, and 45 the following year. These two years, notably at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed trends that began in 2019 with 52 journalists killed, as the frequency of terrorist attacks and the pace of the global war on terror declined. Before that, from 2016 to 2018, the number of killings of journalists and media workers stood at around 80 per year. While these numbers were higher in the 2012-2015 period, when an average of 100 media workers were killed per year, the world is quickly returning to these levels, with a jump from 45 journalists killed in 2021 to 69 in 2022. In 2023, 99 journalists were killed, a 44 percent increase from 2022. 2024 looks set to see similar, or even higher, numbers than 2023, with 43 confirmed deaths so far.

It’s important to note that these numbers vary depending on the source consulted, with Reporters Without Borders claiming that 144 journalists were killed in 2022, a difference of 38 people from the Committee to Protect Journalists database. These inconsistencies highlight the difficulty of tracking the deaths of journalists; some are never found, or die in a war zone but not while doing their job, which databases might otherwise count. Mexican journalist Alejandro Martínez Noguéz, known for his work on crime and the law enforcement response in Celaya, was shot dead earlier this month. Celaya, a city in central Mexico, is one of the most dangerous in the world due to persistent drug cartel violence.

Several journalists have been murdered in the region in recent years, leading to less coverage of the extortion and violence that the cartels, particularly Santa Rosa de Lima, are inflicting on the people of Celaya. The resulting decline in coverage is twofold; not only are there fewer journalists to cover the region, but surviving journalists are discouraged from continuing to cover criminal and cartel activity, recognizing the high risk involved in covering such topics. Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, and the federal government’s attempts to protect the press have been largely unsuccessful.

While Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists, other countries in the Americas also suffer from organized crime, censorship, and arbitrary detention, such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Venezuela, making it difficult and dangerous for journalists to work in those countries as well. Maintaining freedom and safety of the press is an ongoing challenge, with the political will to protect journalists waning internationally. Many politicians have turned to disinformation and generative AI, as well as the censorship of news outlets, often to influence election outcomes. This is a problem across the globe, with countries struggling to return to satisfactory conditions for journalism.

Government censorship has increased internationally, in countries known for censorship and imprisonment, such as Russia, China, Vietnam, and Syria, as well as in South America, such as Venezuela. Europe, which has the highest scores for press freedom, is not immune to this problem; Italy struggles with politicians attempting to acquire and control news organizations. Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region specifically struggle with limiting Russian influence and repression of their news organizations, as seen in Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan, among others. Public trust and balanced reporting are essential in these regions, as seen in Russia’s most recent attempt to portray the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk as an act of terror, rather than reporting it as an offensive attack.

The US has seen a notable decline in public trust in the media, with increased polarization and politicians advocating for the jailing of journalists, in addition to waging their own disinformation campaigns to sway public opinion. With 2024 being an election year and the January 6th uprising in recent memory, weaponizing the press could pose a significant threat to journalists in such a polarized society, as well as the public’s access to vital information.

In the mid-2010s, when the number of journalists killed was similar to today’s, the deadliest region was the Middle East, particularly Iraq and Syria. The region remains unsafe for press freedom, with journalists being detained, held hostage, and frequently going missing. The Middle East remains one of the deadliest regions, with the Palestinian territories the most dangerous part of the world for the press in 2023. According to CPJ research, at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began.

An increase in killings and arrests of journalists, particularly in countries not at war, points to a lack of respect for press freedom and a rise in authoritarian rule. Journalists provide vital contextualization of world events and are crucial to resisting disinformation campaigns; without them, power can be more easily abused and citizens are more at risk of abuse without intervention. The decline in security and press freedom internationally since 2022 is an indicator of declining human rights, freedoms, and security more broadly, as seen in Afghanistan, Russia, and Iran, among other countries.