By Lieke Kuiper
A Bulgarian journalist was assaulted by masked men in Sofia because of his work. Recently a journalist in Mexico was beaten up by tourists because she reported on tourists not obeying the Corona-measures on the beach. In India a 19-year old thief assaulted a journalist reporting on the theft. More then a dozen journalists were harassed for covering the riots in Delhi. In Athens a foreign journalist was beat up for 4,5 minutes because he was reporting the far-right gathering against immigration. The beating only stopped when a police officer showed up. The most shocking thing, he said, was the fact that of the 370 people present no one stepped in to help him. This list could go on much longer.
The more gruesome attacks are, sadly enough, also not rare. The most striking example might be journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He was brutally murdered and mutilated in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Khashoggi was a known critic of the Saudi royal family and it has been discovered that the people murdering him had ties to the Saudi royals. In Brazil a journalist was shot dead while having dinner with his family in his own home. He had recently published some articles on local corruption, which in all likelihood got him killed. Another news article mentioned 9 more journalists who were killed for telling the truth. They disclosed corruption, criminal ties or other examples of misconduct of their (local) governments. It seems as if journalists often have to pay the ultimate price for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and press.
These rights are crucial for journalism and for civilians to receive information on what is going on in the world and in their own living environment. While many countries respect, or at least claim to respect, this right, the real world tells a different story. According to the UN, on average every 5 days a journalist is killed for bringing information to the public. As opposed to what you might think, most of these killings happen in non-conflict situations. They are often perpetrated by militia’s, local police, organized crime organisations or security personnel.
Next to the risk of being killed for doing their job, journalists also face arbitrary detention, illegal arrest, abductions, harassment and intimidation. Less physical threats include censorship, political or economic pressure, job insecurity and surveillance laws. All of this often takes place in a context of impunity for the perpetrators. It is estimated that 9 out of 10 murderers of journalists go free.
Apart from the rights to freedom of press and expression, these journalist thus also have to deal with breaches of their right at a safe environment while doing their job. Many journalists risk one of the abovementioned threats when they are just reporting on local stories.
While many people might think that journalists in many countries are perfectly safe and that incidents only happen in non-democratic countries, this is not true. Take for example the list of journalists that have been killed in Europe (thus in democratic countries). While the list is not sure to be complete, it mentions 148 journalists that have been killed while on the job. Some of them, including 25 in Bosnia, have been killed in the context of war, but mostly they were reporting on corruption, criminal organisations or other ‘normal’ albeit dangerous topics.
Other instances of (physical) threats or assault are also happening regularly all over the world. In Europe in 14 countries that are high on the list of journalism safety, in the last 5 years there have been 160 accounts of attacks against the physical safety and integrity of journalists.
While there are many international declarations containing measurements to protect journalists, and many countries try very hard to incorporate them, the job is still dangerous. It is thus important to keep generating (media) attention for the risks these people have to take everyday only to exercise their rights to freedom of press and expression.
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