Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, both of the French government-funded Radio France Internationale, were the first journalists to be killed in Mali in relation to their work since CPJ started compiling detailed records on journalist deaths in 1992. CPJ issued an alert and Frank Smyth, the CPJ Senior Adviser for Journalist Security, wrote a blog.
Deputy Director, Rob Mahoney, spoke to Alissa J. Rubin of the New York Times on the history of similar kidnapping cases.