Reporters Without Borders released its annual report stating that 50 journalists and media professionals were killed worldwide between January 1 and December 15, 2020. The report notes that the number of journalists killed this year continues to decline in countries at war and more in countries not at war.
In a report Tuesday (Dec. 29), Reporters Without Borders noted that attacks on investigative journalists have increased this year. Forty of the 50 journalists killed in the line of duty were killed for investigating organizational crime, corruption or environmental issues.
The report says Mexico is one of the deadliest countries in the world for the media, despite the absence of war. Collusion between officials and organized crime poses a serious threat to the safety of journalists and has paralyzed the justice system at all levels. The report finds that Mexico, which is sinking deeper and deeper into a spiral of violence and impunity, continues to be the most dangerous Latin American country for journalists, with eight journalists killed in 2020.
The number of journalists killed in India and Pakistan is slightly lower than in Mexico, at four each.
According to the report, China is the country with the most journalists in detention, with 76 people in custody as of Dec. 15, 2020. The total number of imprisoned journalists worldwide this year is 264.
China also has the highest number of imprisoned citizen journalists, with 43 detained as of December 2020. This includes citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced to four years in prison on Dec. 29 by Chinese authorities for “provoking and provoking trouble” after reporting the truth about the epidemic in Wuhan. Several other citizen journalists were also imprisoned in connection with reporting or documenting the truth about the Wuhan Xinguan epidemic, including Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin, Chen Mei, and Cai Wei. The total number of citizen journalists detained in 2020 worldwide is 118.
Reporters Without Borders said in its report that the number of journalists killed or imprisoned listed in the report is limited to those who can be clearly identified as having been killed or imprisoned while doing work related to their journalism. This does not include those who were killed or imprisoned for reasons unrelated to their work, or those whose connection to their work has not been proven.
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