PD Editorial: A dangerous year to report the news

Killings and imprisonments of journalists provide a reliable barometer of violence and repression around the globe. The pressure is rising. People’s ability to learn about their world and understand their neighbors is eroding as a result.

The International Federation of Journalists, based in Brussels, reported on Dec. 9 that 67 journalists had been killed so far in 2022. The number is the highest since 2018, when 95 journalists were killed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York City, reported on Dec. 14 that 363 journalists had been jailed worldwide as of Dec. 1 of this year. That’s a record number, up 20% from the year before. The imprisonments reflect what the committee called “a deteriorating media landscape.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which escalated steeply early this year, accounts for much of the increase in deaths. Twelve journalists have been killed covering the war there, making it the deadliest country in the world to be a reporter or photojournalist.

But war zones are not the only places where journalists face deadly risks. Close behind Ukraine is Mexico, where 11 media workers covering crime and corruption have been killed in 2022.

Journalists in the United States have no guarantee of safety. On Sept. 2, Jeff German, a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was fatally stabbed outside his home. A local government administrator who had been a subject of German’s investigations will stand trial next year for the slaying.

German’s case is an exception in one respect: His suspected killer will face justice. The Committee to Protect Journalists maintains a Global Impunity Index, which shows that in nearly 80% of cases over the past decade, those who killed journalists in retaliation for their work faced no consequence.

Impunity is also the rule when governments put journalists behind bars. The worst offenders this year, according to the CJP, are Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey and Belarus, in that order. In each of those countries, dozens of journalists have been jailed to punish or prevent coverage of authoritarian abuses or repression.

Iran’s top ranking comes because many journalists are among the 14,000 people arrested in nationwide protests sparked by the detention of a Kurdish woman accused of violating the country’s law requiring women to wear headscarves. Notably, 22 of the 49 journalists jailed since the demonstrations began are women.

The numbers also don’t account for the many journalists only assaulted while reporting the news.

Each killing and imprisonment sends a chilling message to other reporters and editors. The timid respond with self-censorship. The brave continue to test the limits of official tolerance, accepting the risks of jail or the grave as the price for doing their jobs.

The scope of those risks should never be forgotten. A case in point: Aug. 14 marked the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of Austin Tice, an American reporter covering the war in Syria. The U.S. government believes Tice is still alive, and it must not relent in its effort to gain his release.

The suffering endured by Tice and his family is being inflicted upon rising numbers of journalists around the world. All those who exercise the basic human rights of free inquiry and free expression in service to the public deserve a vigorous defense.

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