TORONTO -- Twenty-five journalists were killed on the job in 2019 -- the lowest number recorded in 17 years – but 25 more deaths remain under investigation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) annual report.
Ten journalists were murdered, eight were killed in crossfire, six died due to a dangerous assignment, and one journalist’s death was unable to be quantified, according to a CPJ press release.
CPJ considers a death work-related when “its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.”
Two of the journalists killed were women: Lyra McKee in Ireland and Norma Sarabia Garduza in Mexico.
The organization is still investigating the deaths of 25 other journalists to determine whether their work was the motive, which may alter the total for 2019 in the future.
CPJ provides an interactive data map on its website, providing the names, locations, type of death, and date of death and which organization the deceased journalist worked for in one place.
The CPJ cited the stabilization of dangerous regional conflicts and fewer journalists “murdered in reprisal for their reporting” as reasons for the decrease.
Syria and Mexico were named the deadliest countries to work as a journalist, with half of 2019’s murders taking place in Mexico. At least seven journalists were killed in Syria, several in air strikes that also killed civilians.
The most dangerous beat to work in was politics, the most dangerous job was camera operator, and military officials were the most frequently suspected killers of journalists in 2019, according to CPJ’s data.
The 10 journalists who were murdered marked the lowest number since the organization began their annual records in 1992.
However, the organization does acknowledge that the drop in the murder rate “comes amid unprecedented global attention on the issue of impunity in the killing of journalists,” citing the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Jan Kuciak in Slovakia and Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul as major incidents.
The organization began compiling records in 1992 and has staff members “independently investigate and verify” each reported death. If the motives are unclear, the case is marked as “unconfirmed” and staff continue their investigation.
The list of journalists killed in 2019 does not include those who died of illness or in plane accidents, unless the crash was a result of hostile action.
