A total of 65 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2020 while doing their jobs, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
The IFJ also reported that more than 200 journalists are currently jailed because of their work. A total of 2,680 journalists have been killed since the IFJ started keeping count in 1990. “The ruthless reign of crime barons in Mexico, the violence of extremists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia, as well as the intolerance of hardliners in India and the Philippines have contributed to the continued bloodshed in media,” said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger. For the fourth time in five years, Mexico topped the list of countries where the most journalists were killed, with 14 killings. It was followed by 10 deaths in Afghanistan; nine in Pakistan, eight in India, four each in the Philippines and Syria, and three each in Nigeria and Yemen. There were also two killings in both Iraq, Somalia while Bangladesh, Cameroon, Honduras, Paraguay, Russia and Sweden all reported one journalist killed. That was followed by 23 journalists detained in China, 20 in Egypt, 16 in Eritrea and 14 in Saudi Arabia.