Tuesday , March 26 2024

Top 20 Most Dangerous Countries In The World To Be A Journalist

Journalism is a profession that is inevitable for the existence of any society. Journalists work round the clock to keep the society informed despite the hazards of the profession. There are countries that are the most dangerous for the practice of journalism. Those who work as reporters in such countries face the risk of death, abduction, incarceration or such other terrible hazards on a daily basis. New studies have shown that Mexico and Syria are among the deadliest places for reporters. Here is a list of the deadliest countries to practice journalism.

 

Mexico

Syria

Pakistan

Bangladesh

China

Egypt

Turkey

Myanmar

Yemen

Iraq

Brazil

Colombia

Afghanistan

Philippines

Somalia

Russia

India

Ukraine

Eritrea

Sudan

 

Some of these countries are on this list because they are at war with terrorists or drug gangs and journalists are trapped in the crossfire. Some other countries have dictators are in power who have little or no regard for reporters. The article below provides a more detailed analysis of how dangerous these countries are for journalists. Read it!

Gumaro Perez, a Mexican journalist in his mid-30s, arrived at an elementary school in the eastern state of Veracruz on Tuesday morning to enjoy a Christmas celebration with his 6-year-old son.

He was dead before noon. Two gunmen burst into the building and opened fire, according to local media reports, shooting Perez four times in a classroom filled with dozens of children.

Perez had covered criminal issues, including drug trafficking, for a variety of Mexican news outlets. His death brings to 12 the number of journalists slain in retaliation for their work over the past year in Mexico ― the world’s most dangerous country to be a reporter outside of active war zones. Mexico’s 2017 death toll for professional media workers is now on par with that of Syria, which has been mired in brutal civil war for nearly seven years.

Reports released this week from Reporters Without Borders, also known as Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), reveal an overall decline in the killings of journalists worldwide in 2017 compared with previous years. But both organizations warn that some of the reasons for this downward trend are not cause for celebration.

Reprisal Killings

RSF counted 50 professional reporters killed in the line of duty ― its lowest tally in 14 years ― in addition to the deaths of 15 citizen journalists and media workers. CPJ recorded 42 intentional slayings of journalists, the lowest such number since 2008.

Both RSF and CPJ, which conduct their research independently, had listed Syria and Mexico among the deadliest countries when their reports were published on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

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The decrease of press worker deaths this year could be due in part to greater global efforts to protect reporters, but has also been driven by journalists’ self-censorship. Fearful for their lives and safety, many are fleeing dangerous nations or changing professions, which fuels a cycle of impunity for press freedom predators.

 

“Impunity for journalists’ killings begets more killing.”

– Barbara Trionfi, executive director of the International Press Institute

 

Authoritarian regimes have also cracked down on dissent by detaining and thus silencing their critics, which has also contributed to fewer deaths in 2017.

“It’s a relief to see a drop in the number of annual deaths and we hope it marks an end to the overall global trend in recent decades of increasing killings,” said Barbara Trionfi, executive director of the International Press Institute, which also published the findings of its research into journalist deaths on Tuesday.

“Nevertheless,” she continued, “the brutal murders of so many journalists this year in Mexico and so many other countries tragically show how impunity for journalists’ killings begets more killing.”

As its drug crisis rages on, Mexico has become a hotspot for the disappearances and deaths of journalists ― especially those who work to uncover injustice and high-level corruption. CPJ’s 2011 International Press Freedom Award honoree, investigative reporter and editor Javier Valdez, was dragged from his car and shot dead in the northern city of Culiacán in May. He had written a series of books about the victims of Mexico’s cartel violence.

At least one journalist, Pakistani blogger Samar Abbas, disappeared in 2017 and remains missing today. Bangladeshi reporter Utpal Das, whose whereabouts had been unknown since Oct. 10, was found alive in the central region of Adhuria on Tuesday. He was reportedly abducted and held captive by unidentified assailants.

Both CPJ and RSF found that the number of female journalists killed in 2017 at least doubled since last year.

Reporters Behind Bars

The number of reporters incarcerated for their work hit a record high this year, according to another recent CPJ report. It found that 262 journalists were jailed as of Dec. 1. For the second year in a row, more than half of those detained are being held in just three countries: China, Egypt and Turkey, with the the latter country imprisoning the most journalists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unleashed a stifling campaign to muzzle dissenters in the wake of a failed military coup in July 2016. His regime has directed mass arrests of journalists and the sudden closures of several newspapers over the past year. With a stronger grasp on power than before, Erdoğan described the attempted takeover as “a gift from God” just days after it happened.

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More than 1 in 4 imprisoned reporters worldwide is locked up in Turkey. Each is being investigated for “anti-state” crimes, according to CPJ.

In Egypt, where 20 journalists are being held, a new, draconian anti-terrorism law has tightened the government’s strangling grip on the press. Some reporters spend years in detention without being charged or tried, according to RSF.

And under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, the state of free speech has drastically worsened in China, where 41 journalists are imprisoned, per CPJ. Many media workers detained there were arrested after making coerced confessions, RSF notes.

Two Reuters reporters have now spent more than a week behind bars in Myanmar. Burmese officials apprehended Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on Dec. 12, after the two men had been invited to meet with police officials in the city of Yangon.

The journalists had been covering the conflict in the state of Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled to escape violent, state-sponsored persecution. The pair were taken into custody for allegedly intending “to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine State to foreign agencies abroad,” according to Myanmar’s information ministry. They face charges under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.

The U.S. embassy in Myanmar called for the immediate release of the journalists, following their “highly irregular” arrests.

“These arrests come amid a widening crackdown which is having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative.

Journalists Held Hostage

Forty-four professional journalists are being held hostage by armed groups around the world, in addition to seven citizen journalists and three media workers ― a modest increase from last year’s figures, RSF reports.

They are all trapped in war zones: 29 in Syria, 12 in Yemen, 11 in Iraq and two in Ukraine. Extremist groups like the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda are responsible for dozens of abductions. ISIS lost major ground in Iraq and Syria this year, and it is unclear what happened to the reporters being held hostage in the group’s former strongholds of Mosul and Raqqa.

The exact number of journalists in captivity is difficult to calculate, RSF noted, because their families and colleagues often prefer not to report their disappearance for fear of disrupting negotiations and delaying their release.

As best the organization can determine, three journalists in Syria have been held there for more than five years: U.S. reporter Austin Tice, Jordanian journalist Bashar al-Kadumi and British journalist John Cantlie, who has been used by his ISIS captors as a tool for media propaganda.( https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/most-dangerous-countries-in-world-to-be-journalist_us_5a3a875ee4b06d1621b113d8)

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In the past decade, about 170 journalists have been killed in Iraq. There have been nearly 100 documented deaths in Syria as well.

When journalists are killed, their murders are often unsolved. Only 10 percent of the killings involve someone being convicted of a crime.

While the Internet has created opportunities for journalists and readers alike, it has also led to more deaths. Many of the reporters who have died since 2011 worked for Internet-only publications.

Some of the countries on the list are in war-torn regions, but others are surprising. For example, both Brazil and Colombia have seen 30 and 24 deaths respectively. (http://www.dailyinfographic.com/10-most-dangerous-countries-for-journalis)

 

Eritrea, a tiny country in the horn of Africa holds the ‘crown’ for being the most repressive government in the continent and there is no room for freely reported news and information.

In Sudan, 18 journalists, including the correspondents of foreign media, were arrested at the beginning of this year while covering opposition protests. An independent radio station was shut down, and two journalists were banned from practicing their profession for a year.

That is the life of a journalist in Sudan. As a result it is ranked at position 174 out of 180 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index. ( http://www.pulselive.co.ke/bi/politics/10-most-dangerous-countries-to-work-as-a-journalist-in-africa-id8335630.ht)

 

Each year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) publishes a list of journalists killed while on assignment. The following list does not include those who were killed in accidents, such as car or plane crashes, unless the accident was caused by hostile action. There have been 1,285 journalists killed since 1992.( https://www.infoplease.com/world/political-statistics/deadliest-countries-journalists)

Country Deaths in 2017 Deaths from 1992–2017
Iraq 8 245
Syria 8 117
Mexico 6 47
India 4 47
Afghanistan 4 43
Philippines 2 81
Somalia 2 66
Russia 2 65
Yemen 2 20
Pakistan 1 67
Colombia 1 50
Brazil 1 40
Bangladesh 1 21
South Sudan* 1 6
Denmark 1 1
Malta 1 1
Maldives 1 1

Circumstances: murder: 66%; crossfire in war: 20%; reporting in other dangerous circumstances: 13%. Demographic traits: female journalists: 7%; male journalists: 93%; Broadcast reporter 25%; Camera Operator 14%; Columnist/Commentator 9%; Editor 15%; Photographer 10%; Internet reporter/writer 4%; Print reporter/writer 28%; Producer 5% ; Publisher/Owner 4%; Technician 2%.

Source: The Committee to Protect Journalists, www.cpj.org.

*South Sudan has only been recognized as a nation since 2013.

 

 

If you have any observation regarding this list, you can let us know in your comment.

About Chinenye Nwabueze

Nwabueze is a writer with passion for cutting-edge news

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12 comments

  1. Nweke Nnaemeka

    Thank God Nigeria is not among but everyone has to be carefull.

  2. Eze Priscillia Obianuju

    quiz number 74
    Journalism ain’t easy at all

  3. Anene Amarachi

    Too bad…
    2015054058
    No17

  4. Nwabugwu Sandra ijeoma

    Nawa o is not easy to be a journalist at all..2015054104
    Quiz number 81

  5. Obiechina Ifunanya Vivian

    Obiechina Ifunanya Vivian, Quiz no. 31

    Journalism right from the scratch has been a risky job. It takes courageous people to embark on this journey…

  6. As a journalist u need to be careful, not all country will adopted that, thanks God for their life

  7. journalism no be beans ooo….quiz no 80

  8. As a journalist u need to be careful ,not all countries like that ,Thank God for protecting their life
    2015054076
    Quiz no 32

  9. Obika Happiness. c.

    if I were to be in those countries, I’d hide my head. abi nah by force to be a journalist? Thnk God am in Nigeria shaa.
    quiz no:10

  10. Obika Happiness. c.

    Though Nigeria is not that safe but its better than those countries mentioned. Owuasoaya Rachael. quiz no:8

  11. emenike sandra

    Sandra emenike,2015054049,43

    am beginning to have a rethink about being a journalist , this is just so sad , may the souls of the departed journalist rest is peace amen

  12. I tanks say Nigeria no dey among the list
    2015054063

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