Recent data shows that 2023 had the second-highest count of journalist killings. In 2024, we could expect a repeat of last year’s number.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2024
By Sophia Labordo
Edited by: Fabiha Khanam
NORTH CAROLINA—According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization dedicated to promoting press freedom, 20 journalists have been killed so far in 2024. By the end of last year, the count had risen to 99 deaths, one of the highest figures seen since 2007, when the count surpassed 100.
According to a data report compiled by CPJ, entitled ‘Journalist and Media Workers Killed,’ 18 of the 20 journalists died in Palestine, while the other two were killed in Columbia. 16 out of the 20 were killed due to their involvement in a dangerous assignment, while two were murdered. These journalists all died while residing or doing press work in Palestine. The cause of death of the two journalists killed in Columbia is still unconfirmed.
The first death in 2024 took place on January 5 in Palestine. Akram ElShafie, a reporter and editor for Safa, a Palestinian press agency, died from sustaining life-threatening injuries months before–Elshafie was injured by an Israeli bullet, but the request to evacuate her and other injured journalists to receive treatment was denied by Israel.
The most recent death was of a journalist and TV channel host named Muhammad Salama. On March 5, Salama was killed alongside his family in an airstrike from Israeli forces on his home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
If numbers continue to rise at a similar rate , the number of journalists killed in 2024 will rival last year’s. This growing statistic is direct evidence of how the freedom of the press is being threatened via attacks on journalists’ lives.
Fabiha Khanam, director of the Media Relations team at TPF, states, “The killing of journalists shackles expression of freedom and information in the media. Journalists are a source for first-world collections of information and data. When they are killed, the possible awareness and aid that they can produce is destroyed. Not only do we lose human lives, we lose advocating voices through their deaths.
In many cases, the death of a journalist results from a targeted attack. The opponent attacks those that shed light on a topic to stop the truth from spreading. This violates the right to freedom of press and silences truth".
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