53 journalists killed worldwide, says CPJ report
A cameraman is helped to safety by colleagues after passing out from tear gas inhalation while covering protests in the Erez area
What you need to know:
- CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment.
- In February, Slovakian investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak was shot dead alongside his fiancé was the second European Union Journalist covering corruption to be killed in less than six months.
Kampala. Fifty-three journalists died worldwide according to statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), making 2018 the worst year for journalists in the last three years.
The report by New York based CPJ dated December 19, shows 34 journalists were targeted for murder in reprisal for their work. At least three of the journalists who died during the year were female.
The death of journalists this year is almost double the number killed in 2017.
The report noted that in 2018, journalists were either murdered, died in crossfire or died while carrying out a dangerous assignment.
The war-riddled Afghanistan was singled out as the deadliest country because extremists have stepped up deliberate attacks on journalists. Afghanistan is closely followed by Syria and India.
During the year under review no journalist died in Uganda last year, however, CPJ records show that at least two journalists have been killed in Uganda since 1992.
CPJ’s sub-Saharan representative Muthoni Mumo said though five journalists were killed in Africa last year, there is concern because Somalia has the highest level of impunity index in the world.
One Journalist was murdered in Somalia and another in Central African Republic.
The report classified the October murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi as a high-profile murder.
Kashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Family involved
In February, Slovakian investigative journalist, Jan Kuciak was shot dead alongside his fiancé was the second European Union Journalist covering corruption to be killed in less than six months.
In April a suicide bomber targeted a group of reporters killing nine of them in a single explosion inAfghanistan.
The incident at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, when a gunman shot dead four journalists and a sales associate in June, was the deadliest on the US media in recent history.
CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment.
CPJ began compiling detailed records on all journalist deaths in 1992.
