A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has revealed that 99 journalist and media practitioners were killed worldwide in 2023.
According to the report, more than three quarters of the killed journalists were Palestinians killed during Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“The conflict claimed the lives of more journalists in three months than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” read the report in part.
CPJ also noted that the killed media practitioners also included three Lebanese and two Israeli journalists.
The Committee explained that investigating the deaths at Gaza was challenging because of the numerous incidents within a short period as well as the death of those who could have provided more information.
“Many journalist victims’ families were killed along with them in Gaza, their colleagues died or fled, and Israeli military authorities adamantly deny targeting journalists or provide only scant information when they acknowledge press killings. Critical information about their lives and work may have been lost forever,” reads part of the report.
Besides, the Committee said the 2023 global total is the highest since 2015 and an almost 44% increase on 2022’s figures.
“This includes a record number of journalist killings, 78, that CPJ research determined were work-related, with eight more still under investigation. Thirteen media workers also were killed last year,” said CPJ.
Figures Without Israel and Lebanon
However, when the deaths in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon are excluded, the number of journalists killed marks a drop as compared to those in 2022.
CPJ documented a total of 69 deaths, 43 of which were work-related without the three regions.
“Outside of the deaths in the Israel-Gaza war, 22 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2023. CPJ’s research confirmed that 13 of those deaths were work-related; the circumstances around the remaining deaths are still being investigated,” revealed the report.
The Committee documented one to two deaths in each of the other 18 nations where journalists were killed in 2023.
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Journalists Still Not Safe
However, CPJ warned that the declining number is not an indication that journalism has become safer in other parts of the world.
CPJ’s annual prison census found that 2023 jailings of journalists remain close to record highs established in 2022. The Committee explained that the jailings is another key indicator of conditions for journalists and press freedom.
“Divisive elections, rising authoritarianism, ongoing conflicts, and powerful and expanding organized crime networks create conditions that continue to put journalists in peril.
“In some nations, these threats have become entrenched, resulting in the killings of at least one journalist a year for decades,” the report further read.
CPJ report revealed that journalists were murdered in nine countries around the world in direct reprisal for their work further classifying these targeted killings of journalists as murder.
Select Countries
Elsewhere, targeting of journalists remains a constant in countries like the Philippines, Mexico, and Somalia, which have had a historically high rate of journalist murders.
From 1992 to 2023, 94 of the 96 journalists killed for their work in the Philippines were murdered; 61 of 64 work-related killings in Mexico were murders, as were 48 of 73 in Somalia.
Notably, overall deaths of journalists in these countries occurred at a consistent rate: at least one journalist per year was killed for close to two decades or more.
However, Mexico’s overall number of deaths fell from a record of 13 in 2022 to two in 2023.
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Ukraine recorded a decrease in journalist killings, from 13 work-related deaths in 2022 to two in 2023.
This is attributed to factors such as improved training and safety awareness, Ukrainian authorities’ introduction of stricter accreditation rules for frontline work, and the stabilization of combat zones.
Nevertheless, media personnel in Ukraine remain at great risk and early 2024 has already seen missile strikes that have injured journalists and attacks that may be targeted.
While killings in regions outside the Middle East have mostly dropped, the death rate in sub-Saharan Africa has held steady, with six journalists killed per year since 2021.
These totals include both deaths deemed to be work-related and killings still under investigation.
Nonetheless, CPJ stated that journalists continued to face attacks, harassment and threats.
