The past few weeks have brought a grim milestone in international journalism and some progress toward justice in what is described as the worst single mass killing of journalists.
On Nov. 21, the International Press Institute announced that 2012 is the deadliest year for working journalists in the 15 years that IPI has kept its Death Watch list of journalists killed. As of Dec. 13, the number stood at 128.
The previous record of 110 deaths was set in 2009, a year when the total was inflated by an outrageous and grisly massacre that killed 32 journalists and 26 others in the Philippines when 100 men with automatic rifles and machetes intercepted an election convoy. Like too many murders of journalists, the families of those victims await justice while a trial slowly proceeds.
On Dec. 12, Zaldy Ampatuan, a Philippine politician who had exhausted legal appeals challenging his arrest, went to court and pleaded not guilty of plotting the slaughter. Meanwhile, however, witnesses have been killed and many of the accused remain on the run. The massacre is commemorated annually on Nov. 23 as the International Day to End Impunity.
The IPI’s Death Watch includes journalists who died because of their work or while on assignment. Not everyone on the list was murdered. For example, five reporters who were aboard a demonstration flight died in Indonesia in May when the jet crashed into a volcano are counted. The IPI says its figures reflect the broad hazards of the profession but that the vast majority are journalists who lost their lives died in targeted killings.
The Committee to Protect Journalists as of Dec. 13 reported it had confirmed 67 deaths where a journalist was “murdered in direct reprisal for his or her work; was killed in crossfire during combat situations; or was killed while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as coverage of a street protest.” The group was still investigating the cause of another 30 deaths.
“The killers’ message is clear: Journalists must be silent or die” said CPJ Impunity Campaign Coordinator María Salazar-Ferro. “But our collective voices counter that message by prompting action from authorities and ensuring that press murders are fully investigated and prosecuted.”
To increase awareness of impunity, CPJ on Dec. 6 launched “Speak Justice: Voices Against Impunity,” a website with interactive maps and other multimedia features providing profiles of journalists who have been murdered and explaining the issues they had covered. Visitors to the site can support the families of slain journalists with money to pay legal fees and costs associated with pursuing justice.
An article in the current issue of the American Journalism Review, CPJ and INI agree Syria is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. Thirty-eight journalists lost their lives in 2012 while on assignment in Syria, according to IPI. CPJ has confirmed the murders of 28 journalists and is investigating four other deaths.
The Syrian Journalists Association, which works with the IPI to verify attacks against journalists in Syria, reports 101 deaths so far this year, a number that includes journalists, media activists and citizen reporters. Citizen journalists do journalistic work for professional media while a media activist refers to people who use cell phones or other non-professional equipment to record and post video and audio on the Internet. Media activists and citizen reporters have a key and dangerous role in Syria, which lacks media freedom and severely restricts local and foreign journalists.
Three foreign reporters are missing in Syria. American freelancer Austin Tice has been missing since Aug. 13 and is believed to be in the custody of the Syrian government. Palestinian journalist Bashar Fahmi Kaddumi, who worked for U.S.-based Alhurra TV, was last seen Aug. 20 when a colleague was captured by Syrian forces. Ukrainian journalist Ankhar Kochneva went missing in October and her kidnappers have threatened to kill her. In a video on YouTube, Kochneva, who had been working as a translator for a Russian television station, has called on the Ukrainian and Russian governments to meet her captors’ demands.