An analysis released by Reporters Without Borders found that over the previous 20 years, there have been about 1,700 journalist deaths globally, including 93 from Pakistan and an average of more than 80 per year.
According to the Paris-based media rights activists, the two decades between 2003 and 2022 were “particularly dangerous decades for those in the service of the freedom to inform.”
RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire stated that behind the numbers there are the faces, personalities, talent, and dedication of people who have paid with their lives for their information collecting, their pursuit of the truth, and their enthusiasm for journalism.
According to RSF, the two countries with the most risk for journalists were Iraq and Syria, where “a combined total of 578 journalists slain in the past 20 years, or more than a third of the worldwide total,” occurred.
Following them are Mexico (125 fatalities), the Philippines (107), Pakistan (93), Afghanistan (81), and Somalia (107 fatalities) (78).
In large part because of the Syrian crisis, 2012 and 2013 were the “darkest years.” The report stated that 144 people were killed in 2012 and 142 the following year.
After this peak, there was a “gradual dip” and “historically low figures from 2019 onwards,” according to the report.
