India and Mexico most dangerous countries for journalists

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 20/01/2022

India and Mexico top the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ data for 2021. Of the total of at least 27 journalists killed globally, 21 were singled out for murder in retaliation for their reporting. Four more were killed while reporting from conflict zones, and two others were killed covering protests or street clashes that turned deadly.

CPJ is still investigating the deaths of 18 other journalists – including six from Mexico –to determine whether their killings were work-related.

The overall total of journalist deaths dropped from 2020’s number of 32. The two countries with the highest number of murders – India and Mexico, which registered four and three confirmed murders, respectively – both feature on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where members of the press are singled out for murder and the perpetrators go free.

At least two journalists were killed in Myanmar, amid the military junta’s crackdown on the press that also saw at least 26 journalists imprisoned for their reporting as of December 1, 2021. The two deaths, both in December, represented CPJ’s highest yearly recorded tally for journalist killings in Myanmar since 1999, and the country emerged as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists after China in CPJ’s 2021 prison census.

Other findings from CPJ:

• Political groups, such as anti-government parties or combatants, were the most frequently suspected killers of journalists in 2021, while politics was the most dangerous beat.
• The vast majority of killed journalists were locals covering the news in their home countries.