These Are Dangerous Times for Journalists
2024 is so far one of the most dangerous years for journalists
Hello all,
It is early June now and summer is well underway here in New York City. The year is half over, can you believe it?
And you know what else is sad and even disturbing?
The year 2024 is almost half over, and it is already perhaps the most dangerous year for journalists since statistics were tracked starting in 1992, 32 years ago.
According to the very organization doing this, the Committee to Protect Journalists which keeps track of the safety of journalists worldwide, 2024 is the deadliest time for journalists, largely because of the Israel-Gaza War which has claimed the lives of 108 journalists and media workers since the conflict began on October 7th. Granted, two months of this conflict happened last year, but most of the conflict, six months out of eight, took place this year with more time for journalists and media workers to be killed.
The CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York, had this to say: “Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price–their lives–for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth. Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”
CPJ says at least three journalists were directly targeted by the IDF, which the Committee classifies as murders. There are also investigations going on in the case of 10 other deaths.
Here’s a report about the death of one Lebanese journalist, Issam Abdallah, that goes into detail about how his death likely could not have been a mistake, as per the AFP, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Amnesty International.
The problem with these journalists and media workers dying or even being injured in the war means some would be more reluctant to go to Gaza to cover this conflict and inform the world what is really going on.
And it is not just in Gaza where journalists have to fear for their safety and their lives. Worldwide, 27 journalists have been killed for doing their jobs. 67 are missing all over the world. In 2023, 320 were imprisoned.
In Sudan, journalists have been caught in the crossfires of this year-long civil war. It is said 249 journalists have experienced beatings, lootings and theft of equipment, arrests, and even five being killed.
Over in India, during the re-election campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, journalists faced intimidation and restrictions. News organizations have given to pressure by supporting government policies and independent TV news stations have been temporarily shut down; independent newspapers are struggling to stay afloat. There was even a case of well-known journalists getting their devices hacked. Finally, foreign journalists are not allowed to report in high-conflict areas such as Kashmir.
While many press freedoms are under attack in countries with struggling economies and corrupt governments, that doesn’t mean the more industrialized nations are not having their own problems. Last month, during a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin, a video journalist named Ignacio Rosaslanda who worked for Berliner Zeitung, was beaten and denied medical care for hours, despite identifying himself as a member of the press. This echoes what happened in Austin, Texas when Carlos Sanchez, a photojournalist for the local FOX station was arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian rally at UT Austin; he spent the night in jail.
Finally, in Greece, there is an increasing lack of press freedom in the EU country. In fact, the World Press Freedom Index ranks the country last in the whole European Union. There is currently a trial for three Greek reporters who are being accused of defamation by the prime minister’s nephew. This comes after a wiretapping scandal that those three reporters revealed.
And let’s not forget Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street News reporter who has been detained in Russia since March 2023. The Russians accuse him of being a spy, but it appears he was simply on assignment, doing his job in the country for the Journal. No word so far if he’ll ever face trial.
As you can see, it is never easy being a journalist. It is a dangerous job and even doing that job on home turf could get you arrested. As mentioned last time, there is much intimidation to not publish articles here in the U.S. No place in this world has smooth and free journalistic freedom. I guess that’s human nature for you.
But when journalism is gone and there’s no freedom of press, how many of you will miss it? And want it back so badly? Journalism has its flaws, yes, and journalists themselves aren’t perfect. But without us, what a dark and empty society we’ll have.
It’s like in Gaza. So many journalists and media workers have been injured or killed. And that has caused fewer reporters on the ground telling the world what is happening, and that leaves everyone following this story in the dark.
Does anyone truly want that, in any part of the world?