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The year 2022 was a deadly one for members of the press. At least 67 journalists and media workers were killed, the highest number since 2018 and a nearly 50% increase from 2021, CPJ found in its annual report on killed journalists, released Tuesday.
More than half of the killings occurred in just three countries—Ukraine (15), Mexico (13), and Haiti (7)—the highest yearly numbers CPJ has ever recorded for these countries. Notably, despite countries across Latin America being nominally at peace, the region surpassed the high number of journalists killed in the Ukraine war.
“These figures point to a precipitous decline in press freedom,” said CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg. “Covering politics, crime, and corruption can be equally or more deadly than covering a full-scale war. Meanwhile, governments continue to imprison record numbers of journalists and fail to confront the spiraling violence and culture of impunity that have effectively silenced entire communities around the world.”
In 2022, at least 41 journalists and media workers were killed in direct connection with their work. CPJ is investigating the motives for the killings of 26 others to determine whether they were work-related.
“Few governments have mechanisms to protect journalists and those that do exist are not living up to their promise,” said Ginsberg. “Governments must provide protection, credible investigations, and justice. Failing to do so charts a perilous path toward information black holes and public insecurity.”
📹 Watch a video featuring three CPJ experts discussing the killed report.
🔎 Explore CPJ’s interactive map of journalist imprisonments and killings in 2022.
📌 Read the story of each journalist in our database of killed journalists and use filters to examine trends in the data.
In addition to English, the report is available in nine other languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Urdu.
- Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo found dead following abduction
- Burundian journalist Floriane Irangabiye sentenced to 10 years in prison
- India’s blocking of BBC documentary on PM Modi contradicts commitment to democracy
- More than a dozen journalists harassed, attacked during week of anti-government protests in Peru
- Argentine intelligence agency sues journalists, newspapers over naming agents
- Belarusian journalists Dzmitry Harbunou and Pavel Padabed detained on undisclosed charges
- Russia orders journalists Ilya Makarov and Maksim Litvinchuk detained for 15 days
- Armenian draft legislation would give government sweeping wartime censorship powers
- Journalists throughout Kazakhstan harassed, threatened for their work
- Kyrgyzstan authorities seek to shutter local branch of RFE/RL
- German police search office of independent broadcaster and two journalists’ homes, seize equipment and documents
- Bangladeshi journalist Raghunath Kha arrested, allegedly electrocuted in custody
- Egyptian journalist Ahmed Montasir detained since October
- Afghan journalist Khairullah Parhar detained by Taliban since January 9
- Lebanese broadcaster LBCI bombed following comedy segment
- Journalist Victor Mambor’s home bombed in Papua, Indonesia
- Police bar Zimbabwean journalists from covering opposition activists at court
Spotlight
On January 31, CPJ U.S. and Canada Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen will moderate a panel discussion at the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism about the state of press freedom in Canada.
Panelists include Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, and Steph Wechsler, managing editor of J-Source and the Canada Press Freedom Project, as well as journalists who have been at the front lines of Canada’s biggest stories.
You can RSVP for the panel on Eventbrite, and the event will be livestreamed on YouTube.
The event will coincide with the publication of the “Know Your Rights” legal guide for journalists in Canada by CPJ and the Thomson Reuters Foundation on January 31.
Exile Content Studio and PRX, a non-profit media company, have launched a new true crime podcast in partnership with CPJ: “Shoot the Messenger.” The first season, “Espionage, Murder, and Pegasus Software,” examines the assassination of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, exposing the role of NSO Group’s Pegasus software in tracking the journalist’s inner circle prior to his murder, and revealing the growing threat of surveillance to journalists, activists, and others across the globe.
🎙️ Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Q&A: Khaled Drareni on a worrying moment for press freedom in Algeria — Mercy Tonnia Orengo, Columbia Journalism Review
- Global Network Initiative’s comments on UNESCO’s “Guidance for regulating digital platforms” — Global Network Initiative
- In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was shot dead — Sarah Kinosian, Reuters
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