2022 was the deadliest year for journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists notes that 2022 was one of the deadliest years for members of the press.

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A report by the international organization Committee to Protect Journalists, published on January 24, 2023, notes that the number of journalist killings sharply increased in 2022.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 67 journalists and press workers were killed during the year. This is the highest figure since 2018 and nearly a 50 percent increase compared to 2021. This rise was attributed to a high number of journalist deaths covering the war in Ukraine and a sharp increase in killings in Latin America, the report states.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ study confirmed that “at least 41 journalists and media workers were killed directly in connection with their professional activities.” The organization is investigating the motives behind the killings of another 26 individuals to determine if their work was the cause of their premature deaths.

The authors of the report state that of the 67 killings, more than half were recorded in three countries — Ukraine (15), Mexico (13), and Haiti (7), which is the highest annual figure ever recorded in each of these countries. In Mexico and Haiti, journalists became victims of brutal killings in retaliation for their work, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, the perpetrators were not held accountable.

“Latin America was the deadliest region for journalism. The organization documented cases of 30 journalists killed in Latin America in 2022, accounting for nearly half of the total number of journalists killed worldwide,” the report states.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least 15 journalists have been killed. Reports indicate that 13 of them died while gathering information for news preparation or while reporting.

Mexico recorded a total of 13 journalist killings, the highest figure for a single year. In three of these cases, journalists were killed in retaliation for their reports on crime and politics, and they received threats before their deaths, the authors of the report noted.

2022 was also a difficult year for journalists in Tajikistan. Last year, law enforcement agencies detained 7 journalists and bloggers. All of them were sentenced to long prison terms.