At least 45 journalists have been murdered so far this year, a third of them in the Gaza Strip, according to the annual report by the non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The death toll of journalists in Gaza is lower than that of the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, which recently reported 63 journalists killed (56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese) in the first two months of the conflict. between Israel and Hamas.
According to the RSF report, there are currently 521 journalists in prison (twelve fewer than last year); 54 hostages and 84 missing. In this last section there has been a significant increase, since the number of missing people has increased by 35 compared to the previous year.
A third of the missing journalists are Mexican: Mexico remains the most dangerous place in the peace zone from which to report. There, 4 of the 6 professionals murdered across the American continent in 2023 lost their lives, breaking a record for journalists murdered in the last five years, 36.
The topics whose coverage emanated the greatest risk were those related to organized crime and corruption. Although the number of journalists killed in the line of duty in Latin America decreased from 26 in 2022 to 6 in 2023, RSF assured that "we cannot speak of a structural improvement in security conditions in the region."
The death toll worldwide is reduced by 16 compared to 2022 and is RSF's lowest count since 2002. The organization linked the improvement in the trend of journalist deaths to security measures in newsrooms, training and provision of protective equipment and both intergovernmental and NGO actions.
The secretary general of RSF, Christophe Deloire, observed with concern the situation of the sector in Gaza, where "journalists are paying a high price among the civilian population." For this reason, he highlighted that they have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to "establish what really happened and how the journalists were attacked."
The report indicates that conflict zones are once again the deadliest. In total, 23 journalists, 3 more than in 2022, were killed in war zones while practicing their profession, which represents 51.1% of those killed. For the first time since 2018, the number of journalists killed in conflict zones is higher than in peace zones, mainly due to the escalation of the Palestinian conflict.
RSF's report indicates that the war between Israel and Hamas has ended in two months with the death of 17 journalists, 13 of them in the Gaza Strip, 3 in Lebanon and 1 in Israel. Others died covering armed conflicts in northern Cameroon, northern Mali, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine.
In the case of those who were in Palestine, they were victims of Israeli shooting, like the 21-year-old photojournalist for the Palestinian production company Ain Media Ibrahim Lafi. Similarly, Agence France Presse (AFP) reporter Arman Soldin was hit by rocket fire while covering the military battle of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. He is the only journalist who has lost his life in a country other than his own in 2023.
