The U.S. Became One of the Deadliest Countries for Journalists in 2018
Over the course of the past year, the U.S. has earned a shameful distinction. In its latest annual report on violence against journalists around the world, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found a frightening if unsurprising trend: All the figures RSF tracks have risen in 2018, including "murders, imprisonment, hostage-taking, and enforced disappearances." The totals for 2018 include 80 journalists murdered, 348 currently imprisoned, 60 taken hostage, and three currently missing. From the RSF press release:
“Violence against journalists has reached unprecedented levels this year, and the situation is now critical,” RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said. “The hatred of journalists that is voiced, and sometimes very openly proclaimed, by unscrupulous politicians, religious leaders and businessmen has tragic consequences on the ground, and has been reflected in this disturbing increase in violations against journalists.
“Amplified by social networks, which bear heavy responsibility in this regard, these expressions of hatred legitimize violence, thereby undermining journalism, and democracy itself, a bit more every day.”
RSF isn't alone in its assessment. For "Person of the Year," Time chose journalists attacked and imprisoned around the world. Among the people featured on the magazine covers were slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Reuters reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, both sentenced to seven years for exposing the murders of 10 Rohingya Muslims, and journalist Maria Ressa, whose news organization is being charged with tax evasion in what many suspect is retaliation by Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte. As authoritarians and anti-democratic forces rise around the world, the backlash against free presses is not likely to improve.
After falling for three years in a row, the number of journalists killed jumped nearly 10 percent this year. Of the 80 journalists murdered, at least 49 were deliberately targeted and another 31 were killed in the line of work. Six of those murders were in the U.S., making it for the first time one of the six deadliest countries in the world for reporters, alongside Afghanistan, Syria, Mexico, Yemen, and India. The U.S. landed on the list largely because of the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette in Maryland, where five people were killed.
Threats against journalists in America have also been on the rise as Donald Trump repeatedly and falsely accuses the entire industry of lying about his administration. He's continued to insist on referring to reporters with rhetoric lifted from dictatorships, even after the deadly shooting at the Capital Gazette.
