Ninety-three journalists and media staff were killed around the world in the

course of their work in 2016, with Iraq and Afghanistan the deadliest
countries, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said.

The IFJ said on Friday the number included those killed in targeted attacks,
bomb blasts or caught in the cross-fire. A further 29 died in plane crashes
in Colombia and Russia.

Though the number is lower than previous years, the IFJ warned against
complacency and continued impunity. Justice has been served for just four
percent of journalists killed worldwide.

"Any decrease in violence against journalist and media personnel is always

welcome but these figures ... leave little room for comfort and reinforce hopes
for the end of the security crisis in the media sector," Philippe Leruth, IFJ
president, said in a statement.
"There cannot be impunity for these crimes."

Regionally, the Middle East was deadliest with 30 killings, followed by Asia-
Pacific with 28, Latin America with 24, Africa with eight and Europe with
three, the watchdog said.

IFJ said it was aware that there many more journalists who had disappeared
through the course of the year.

"The numbers could be higher, if it weren't for lack of credible information on

these missing cases and for the self-censorship by journalists in some
countries to avoid drawing the unwelcome attention of crime barons," added
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary.

"There is, therefore, urgency in pressing governments to investigate all forms

of violence, including killings and disappearances, in a speedy and credible
manner to protect the physical integrity and professional independence of
journalists."

'Self-censorship'
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York, said in a report earlier
in December that impunity fostered acts of self-censorship. Many journalists were being
intimidated into exile or being to forced withdraw from the field completely.
The CPJ said Syria was the deadliest country for journalists in 2016, followed
by Iraq and Yemen.

The number of journalists who have been killed in Syria since the war began in
2011 is now at least 107.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/100-journalists-killed-worldwide-2016-ifj-
161231035845623.html

PH 2nd-most dangerous
country for journalists in
past 25 years—IFJ
Associated Press / 05:24 PM January 31, 2016

The massacre in Maguindanao where over 30 journalists were also killed in 2009 is
testament to the danger media men and women face in the Philippines. INQUIRER
FILE PHOTO

BRUSSELS —
Philippines and Mexico also underscore the IFJ’s “recurring finding of our reports that
there are many more killed in peacetime situations than in war-stricken countries.”
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READ: PH among countries of special concern in campaign vs impunity

The annual total stood at 40 in the federation’s first year of counting, 1990, but has not
dipped under the 100-mark since 2010.

“The last ten years were the most dangerous,” said IFJ General Secretary Anthony
Bellanger in an interview, with 2006 the worst year of all with 155 killed.
And despite vows of protection from as high as the United Nations, the IFJ said it
produced the report “25 years of contribution towards safer journalism” to underscore a
worsening climate of impunity which has helped killers get away with murder and turn
journalists into soft targets.

READ: PH under fire for unsolved killing of journalists

“The IFJ estimates that only one of ten killings is investigated,” the report said, with
actual convictions lower still.

“That is the diplomatic issue. Let’s stop the impunity that protects the killers,”
Bellanger said.
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The 79-page report will be made public next week, but The Associated Press obtained a
copy ahead of a debate Monday at the British Parliament on “deaths of professional and
citizen journalists in conflict zones.” The IFJ will also take the report to a major Unesco
meeting in Paris next Thursday devoted to the same issue.

“We bring this report to show to all that it really is time to do something about it,” said
Bellanger.

Last year stood out for the attacks on the Paris office of the satirical weekly Charlie
Hebdo, where two Islamic extremists killed 12 people at the satirical newspaper’s
office. The IFJ’s total tally of the year stood at 112.

The IFJ says it bases its information on a variety of sources, including national affiliates
in about 140 nations, police sources and political reports. It has published annual
reports since 1990, focusing on the killings of journalists and media staff in work-
related incidents. The totals center on deaths of media professionals in targeted
assassinations, cross fire incidents and bomb attacks.

Beyond the sustained high totals, Bellanger said that there is also a disturbing trend in
which kidnappers who seize journalists kill them, all too often without even seeking
ransom.
The targeting of journalists has continued unabated this year too. Earlier this month, a
suicide car bomb attack in the Afghan capital, Kabul, targeted a bus owned by
Afghanistan’s biggest media organization, Moby Group and a Taliban spokesman
claimed responsibility saying Moby’s Tolo TV was the target. Seven media workers
were killed.

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