The International Federation of Journalists on Tuesday said that 104 journalists were killed in 2024 with more than half working in Gaza. In July, mourners, seen here, gathered to hold up a tattered press jacket that surrounded the body of Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, killed along with his cameraman Rami al-Refee, in an Israeli strike during their coverage of Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp. Photo by Hossam Azzam/UPI | License Photo
The International Federation of Journalists on Tuesday said that 2024 was another “particularly deadly” year for media professionals and news reporters in its annual report.
“The public’s need for information is very real at a time when authoritarian regimes are developing all over the world,” Anthony Bellanger, the IFJ’s general secretary, wrote in a release. “Greater vigilance on the part of our profession is required.” Advertisement
The Belgium-based organization noted that initial findings showed that as of Dec. 10 an estimated 104 journalists and other professionals working in the media were killed worldwide so far in 2024 while in the line of duty.
On Tuesday, IFJ officials said this “reaffirms its determination” to see an International Convention for the Protection of Journalists adopted by the United Nations as a matter of urgency.
Bellanger said the “sad figures” show once more just how “fragile is press freedom and how risky and dangerous is the profession of journalism.” Advertisement
The findings in its 2024 report arrived on International Human Rights Day amid ongoing accusations of genocide by Israel with its war in Gaza and military operations to its north in Lebanon.
According to the IFJ, of the 104 journalists killed this year worldwide, more than half were in the Palestinian enclave Gaza.
The International Federation of Journalists — established in 1926 — is the world’s largest and foremost organization of journalists, representing roughly 600,000 media professionals in 187 trade unions or other associations spread out across more than 140 countries.
Russia’s war in Ukraine claimed even more victims on the continent with four journalists killed so far this year, last year and 13 in 2022. But the IFJ noted that despite Russia’s deadly conflict, Europe remains the safest continent in the world for reporters.
Its latest data, while still incomplete, indicates that of the 104 media professionals killed since Jan. 1, 12 were women, representing a little more than 11% of the IFJ’s total membership. It added that by 2023, the IFJ had documented at least 129 deaths, which included 14 women, marking “one of the deadliest years” for international journalists since 1990, when the IFJ first began to publish a list of journalists killed while on the job. Advertisement
In addition to the staggering number of deaths, at least 520 journalists were counted to be in prison around the globe as of Dec. 10., according to data by the federation.
The IFJ said the number of jailed reporters is a “sharp increase” versus 2023 which saw 427 behind bars and 375 the year prior in 2022.
Europe currently holds about 142 journalists in detainment for various reasons with 101 in the Middle East, 17 on the African continent and 6 in Latin America.
However, China and the small territory of Hong Kong to its south remain “the world’s biggest” prison for media professionals ahead of Israel with a reported 59 Palestinian journalists being held in captivity and 44 in Myanmar. The neighboring Asia-Pacific region alone has 254 journalists in prison.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza and Lebanon once again highlights the “massacre” suffered by Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian media professionals, the IFJ stated.
Its data showed for the second year in running, the Arab world and Middle East region hold “the macabre record” for total number of killed journalists at 66 this year representing about 60% of the total number killed this year in the profession.
According to IFJ, the number of Palestinian journalists killed jumped to at least 138 making Gaza “one of the most dangerous in the history of modern journalism” behind Iraq, the Philippines and Mexico since the start of the Oct. 7, 2023 war. Advertisement
Last year in October the IFJ called on UNESCO to protect journalists, establish a lasting cease-fire, open humanitarian corridors for civilians and allow Gaza journalists to take refuge outside the war-torn enclave and foreign reporters to enter the enclave, but “all to no avail.”
The Asia-Pacific region is the IFJ’s largest geographical region where it saw “an upsurge in violence” in South Asia. It’s 20 reported journalist deaths this year in the region was “considerably higher” from 12 the last year and 16 in 2022, officials say. It saw six killed in Pakistan, five in Bangladesh and three in India.
However, “the military regime in Myanmar is continuing its hunt for journalists,” the International Federation of Journalists wrote Tuesday.
In Africa, a total of eight journalists lost their lives this year which was slightly down from eight in 2023 but four in 2022. Sudan, however, “paid the heaviest price” with five reporters dead “as a result of the generals’ war, which is particularly deadly,” IFJ said Tuesday. It added that two Somali journalists and a Chadian journalist also died, which also “testifies to the fragile and violent political situations in these two countries.”
The federation stated that prior to the outbreak of the Gaza war, Latin America was “one of the most dangerous” regions in the world for media professionals — particularly Mexico — which saw six journalists killed in the line of duty this year and 2023, according to IFJ information. Advertisement
“Once again, threats, intimidation, kidnappings and murders are due to reports on drug trafficking, which has plagued Mexico for more than two decades,” the international organization said.
That was a drop from the 30 reported dead in 2022 in the America’s.
“We urge the member states of the United Nations to take action,” the IFJ’s general secretary said. “To ensure the adoption of a binding convention on the safety of journalists,””So as to put an end to the deaths and injuries that occur every year.”
