Irish Examiner view: Giving their lives for truth

Journalist killings

There have been 67 journalists and media staff killed this year while performing their duties and protecting democracy across the globe. 

It is the highest number of deaths since 2018 when 97 journalists were killed and a big increase on last year, when 47 died doing their job.

Most of those who died were the victims of “targeted killings, bomb attacks or crossfire incidents” according to the International Federation of Journalists in its grim annual report on the threat to media personnel worldwide.

The conflict in Ukraine was responsible for many media fatalities (12 journalists were killed there in the past 10 months) but the increasing number of attacks on television and print reporters globally highlights a growing threat to democracy, one which governments worldwide can no longer ignore.

Many seem to take the role of journalism in preserving democratic freedoms for granted, but these shocking figures seem to suggest that the world might be better served if more people understood the essential need for free, fair and unthreatened reporting on world and local affairs.

Journalism is a critical pillar of democracy and it is also worth remembering aside from those who were killed or murdered, 375 journalists and media workers are behind bars around the world and that figure is a new high since the federation first published list of those jailed two years ago.

It tells its own story that 84 of those imprisoned are on mainland China or Hong Kong, 64 in Myanmar, and 51 in Turkey. The figures from the federation make for grim reading and cast serious doubts on the will of many to address the global threats facing the media.