2015 is on track to becoming the deadliest year for the media with a record number of journalists’ killed, so far, in relation to their work or in accidents whilst on duty.
According to a Vienna-based press freedom group, the International Press Institute (IPI), 61 journalists have been killed but this figure does not include approximately 54 more journalists whose deaths are under review by IPI. The review into the 54 deaths is for inclusion into IPI’s Death Watch monitor that keeps record of journalists’ killings around the world since 1997.
The IPI figures give an indication of the extent of the alarming trend of journalists’ being targeted for their reporting; with a third of the confirmed 61 killings killed to Isis either by direct executions or injuries sustained whilst reporting in areas of conflict.
Executive Director of IPI, Barbara Trionfi, says that the difficulty in obtaining accurate information about the motives behind the killings of journalists’ has led to the large number of cases currently still in review.
“The killing of a journalist is the most heinous way not only of silencing an individual report or the media of a particular country, but also of denying the public news and information to which it has a right.”
