50 Journalists Killed In 2020 – Reporters Without Borders

Fifty journalists and media workers were killed in the line of duty in 2020, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday.

According to the watchdog, majority were killed in countries that are not at war, indicating an increase in the targeting of reporters investigating organised crime, corruption or environmental issues.

It highlighted murders in Mexico, India, and Pakistan.

Eighty-four percent of those killed this year were “deliberately targeted” for their work, RSF said in its annual report, compared to 63 percent in 2019.

“For several years now, Reporters Without Borders has noted that investigative journalists are really in the crosshairs of states, or cartels,” said RSF editor-in-chief, Pauline Ades-Mevel.

Mexico was the deadliest country, with eight killed.

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The report said: “Links between drug traffickers and politicians remain, and journalists who dare to cover these or related issues continue to be the targets of barbaric murders.”

None of the Mexico killings had yet been punished, added RSF, which has compiled annual data on violence against journalists around the globe since 1995.

Five journalists were killed in war-torn Afghanistan, it said, noting an increase in targeted attacks on media workers in recent months even as peace talks between the government and Taliban are ongoing.

AFP reports that the RSF also highlighted the case of Iranian opposition figure Ruhollah Zam, who ran a popular social media channel that rallied regime opponents, and who was executed in December.

His execution “confirms Iran’s record as a country that has officially put the most journalists to death in the past half-century,” it said.