PARIS, 19.12.2018. – A total of 80 journalists were killed this year, half of whom were deliberately targeted, while 348 were jailed and 60 held hostage, according to annual figures from Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) published on Tuesday.
The press freedom group said figures were up in all categories – murder, jailing, hostage-taking and enforced disappearances – showing an “unprecedented level of hostility towards media people.”
“Journalists have never before been subjected to as much violence and abusive treatment as in 2018,” RSF warned.
The 80 murdered journalists include non-professionals and media workers. It was up more by seven per cent on last year, RSF said.
RSF said that for professional journalists alone, deaths were up by 15 percent, from 55 last year to 63 in 2018.
“Violence against journalists has reached unprecedented levels this year, and the situation is now critical. The hatred of journalists that is voiced, and sometimes very openly proclaimed, by unscrupulous politicians, religious leaders and businessmen have tragic consequences on the ground and has been reflected in this disturbing increase in violations against journalists,” Christophe Deloire, the RSF general secretary said
He added that “Amplified by social networks, which bear a heavy responsibility in this regard, these expressions of hatred legitimise violence, thereby undermining journalism, and democracy itself, a bit more every day.”
RSF says China remains the world’s biggest jailer of journalists with 60 currently held in custody, of whom three quarters are non-professional journalists.
The 60 journalists are currently held hostage, or 11 percent higher than at the same time last year, with all but one of them, in three Middle Eastern countries: Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. They include six foreign journalists.