Mexico deadliest country for journalists in 2022 – watchdog

MEXICO CITY, December 17 ------ Mexico is the country where most journalists were killed in 2022, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a report that documented alarming evidence of kidnappings, assaults and arrests of media workers.

The report registered 11 killings of media professionals in the Latin American country from January to Dec. 1, or nearly 20 percent of the global total. “Pressures from civil society and international organizations, and the protection mechanisms of local authorities have been insufficient,” RSF said.

Freedom of speech advocacy groups have documented even more killings of media workers this year, making 2022 the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico. Worldwide, RSF reported 57 journalist killings, an 18.8 percent increase from 2021, driven mainly by the war in Ukraine. Still, almost half those murders were in the Americas.

Countries shaken by violence such as Haiti, Nicaragua and Brazil were among the riskiest for investigating issues relating to organized crime, gangs and corruption, RSF said. The report also highlighted the killing of three reporters in Brazil, amid extensive coverage of Amazon deforestation and illegal logging activity, with the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips among the highest profile cases. The organization reported 49 media workers went missing and other 65 were kidnapped globally.

Women, who are increasing in number in journalism, have not been immune to violence. The proportion of women journalists killed in connection with their work has tripled in two years, from four percent in 2020 to more than 12 percent in 2022. “Nearly 80 percent of the media professionals killed in 2022 were deliberately targeted in connection with their work or the stories they were covering. Organized crime (the mafia, drug trafficking, gang violence, etc.) and corruption (abuse of authority, influence peddling, payment of bribes, questionable actions by officials or politicians, etc.) are among the most dangerous subjects for journalists to investigate,” the RSF said. “Reporting on these two topics led to the killing of 13 and 12 journalists respectively in 2022,” RSF noted in its review.

The annual roundup of violence and abuses against journalists published by RSF found that a total of 533 media professionals were imprisoned in 2022, up from 488 last year. More than half are jailed in just five countries: China, with 110, Myanmar (62), Iran (47), Vietnam (39) and Belarus (31). The report mentioned that two women journalists are jailed in Saudi Arabia, two in Guatemala, and one each in Russia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Laos, Israel and Burundi.

Source: philstar.com