This year, we are witnessing a troubling upward trend of threats and attacks against journalists around the world, including the targeted killings of reporters working to expose injustices, human rights violations, the perils of war, and corruption. They include Palestinian American Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, British reporter Dom Phillips, and several Ukrainian and foreign journalists killed while reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), forty-four journalists have been killed so far this year, with the motive confirmed in twenty-four cases. That almost matches the total for all of 2021—forty-five. At the top of the list are Ukraine, with fifteen journalists killed, and Mexico, with eleven. At least six journalist and media worker deaths in Mexico have been reported in August 2022 alone. These cases are under investigation.
Jodie Ginsberg is a journalist, media advocate, and president of the CPJ. She formerly served as bureau chief for the United Kingdom and Ireland at Reuters. In her current role at the CPJ, Ginsberg is focused on addressing new challenges and threats to journalists worldwide. This includes promoting an environment in which reporters can work safely and securely—not just in conflict zones, but also in countries like the United States, where there is increasing public hostility from the right toward members of the news media.
I recently spoke by phone with Ginsberg about the increasing number of journalists killed this year, and how those targeting them have received ongoing impunity in most cases. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What are some of the tasks you believe are vital in carrying out the CPJ’s mission?
Courtesy Jodie Ginsburg
Ginsberg: I took on this role because I’m first and foremost a journalist, and I wanted to be a journalist for almost as long as I can remember. I became a journalist because I believe in the importance of telling stories that would otherwise remain untold—stories that are crucial for people to live freely and independently.
Access to accurate and trustworthy information is fundamental to our survival as human beings. What we’re seeing is a broadening of attacks on journalists and their ability to provide information.
Among the tasks I think will be vital is making sure journalists can report safely and securely, not just in places traditionally thought of as most dangerous, such as conflict zones or authoritarian regimes, but everywhere.
If you think about other challenges coming down the pike—[climate] change, for example—journalists are going to need to know how to report those issues safely, and not just because of [concern for] their own physical safety . . . but also because of vested interests who want to keep journalists from reporting on them, such as corrupt big businesses or illegal outfits that may want to prevent journalists from reporting, and may do so with violence and even murder.
Q: Journalism also is under threat in the United States. Where could I go for more information or training if I’m reporting here?
Ginsberg: There are a number of organizations that do this. We produce guides to covering protests. We also provide something called a “Know Your Rights” guide on our website, which just won an award and was produced specifically in response to last year’s [Black Lives Matter] protests. It’s important to know your rights and what the police can and can’t do. Journalists don’t necessarily expect to go out to do their jobs and find themselves
arrested for it.
Another good example of areas of concern might be some of the things we saw in attempts to cover [the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in] Uvalde, Texas, and what happened there when people were excluded from press conferences and so on.
Q: You point out an important example in Uvalde, where the reporting environment was hostile because of city officials and police, and access to information was restricted.
Ginsberg: That hostility was a tone set from the top. One of the trends we’ve seen in recent years is that elected officials and others in power, or those seeking power, have sought to denigrate a free press. Anybody who reports critically and openly is painted as an “enemy of the people,” and that puts journalists at risk because it creates an environment in which journalists are seen as bad actors and, therefore, fair game for threats and acts of violence.
It’s telling that, when reporters are trying to report on political rallies, supporters of that political leader might turn physically on the journalists and use all sorts of intimidation to prevent them from reporting. That seeps through all sorts of levels, from the top down to the local authorities to the general public, and all of that creates an environment in which journalists are unsafe.
Q: We had a President who practically from day one referred to the press as “the enemy of the people.” That certainly had a lasting effect, and it affects how reporters do their jobs.
Ginsberg: Yes, and it’s not just in the United States. There is an absolute line that’s clear between the leader of a country, like former President Donald Trump painting the press as the enemy, and the physical attacks we subsequently see on journalists. But not only that, the language is then echoed elsewhere.
Q: As we speak, we’re only halfway through 2022 and already we’ve seen an uptick in the number of journalists killed around the world, including several high-profile cases. What should we be doing about it?
Ginsberg: The number currently is twenty-four [killings with the motive] confirmed, with another twenty that we’re investigating, which puts us near the total for all of last year, to put it into perspective. And at least sixty-five [journalists] are [currently] missing.
That number tells us that the environment for journalists is extremely dangerous. The majority of those are in Ukraine, and Ukraine is at war, and in war there are always casualties. But of the forty or so confirmed and unconfirmed killings of journalists this year, eleven are in Mexico, which is not a war zone.
In war there are always casualties. But of the forty or so confirmed and unconfirmed killings of journalists this year, eleven are in Mexico, which is not a war zone.
Leaders have weaponized tech and security laws to stifle dissent. They have created a public norm in which journalists are seen as bad actors. And then there’s a culture of impunity. Leaders and others are flouting international norms without consequence. There’s the still unpunished killing of Jamal Khashoggi, for example, [and] the high levels of impunity in places like Israel for the killing of journalists, which means that people feel that journalists are fair game. You can kill a journalist without any real consequences. To me, that says there’s a culture where it’s increasingly seen as acceptable to stifle a free press through whatever means.
Q: Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in May while reporting on an Israeli military operation in the West Bank. Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been killed by the Israeli military in the past two decades. What will it take to stop this violence against journalists and to hold the perpetrators accountable?
Ginsberg: What it would take is for Israel to recognize the part it has played in targeting journalists and its failure to hold those responsible to account. That requires international pressure. We need to see the international community not only demanding justice, but also applying pressure to any government, whether it’s allied with them or not, that stands opposed to an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of journalists.
Q: In Ukraine, the Russian forces seem to be responsible for most, if not all, of the killings of journalists there since the war started in February. In some cases, there is evidence that journalists were targeted and executed. How can we make sure these types of investigations and prosecutions see the light of day and are effective?
Ginsberg: One of the first things we can do is make sure that we’re documenting these cases clearly and reporting on them. It’s important for all parties to recognize that in conflict journalism, media workers are civilians under international law and their rights must be respected and protected. They’re not combatants, they’re civilians. The more we can ensure that we’re bringing that evidence to international and domestic courts, the more effective we can be in achieving justice.
Q: How does CPJ work to protect journalists who cover conflict zones or find themselves in the middle of one and need help?
Ginsberg: We do this in a number of ways. We offer advice to journalists looking to go to conflict zones. We provide practical one-to-one advice through our assistance program to those seeking to cover conflict, and we can advise them on various training and other support that’s available to ensure that they’re properly equipped with knowledge of how to cover conflict.
There’s a severe shortage of personal protective equipment [PPE], so we and other affiliated organizations have been working to overcome that to make sure that journalists have access to that. We also have written resources for journalists in war zones on topics like PPE, unexploded ordinances, and the rules of transferring PPE across borders.
Reporting inside Ukraine requires a high degree of situational awareness, and even experienced war correspondents are reporting difficulties. For those who’ve never covered a conflict before, it’s even more potentially dangerous. One of the things I would say is that it’s essential for any journalist who’s reporting in Ukraine to ensure that they’re fully prepared with the safety, knowledge, and equipment needed to do this reporting, and we can help provide some of that safety, knowledge, and up-to-date situational information.
Q: Police in Brazil have arrested suspects in the killings of Dom Phillips and his colleague, Bruno Pereira, but reporting on environmental and Indigenous issues there continues to be dangerous. What steps can we take to better protect journalists in that area of the world?
Ginsberg: Yes, those reporting on environmental and Indigenous issues are some of the most targeted. In part, that’s often because they are local reporters who have less security and international attention than international journalists.
Brazilian authorities have a poor record of protecting a free press, and we are concerned they didn’t immediately mobilize all possible resources to find Dom and Bruno, and quickly, thoroughly, and transparently investigate their deaths.
There’s a clear pattern of threats and attacks on journalists and activists in Brazil who document environmental issues and violations of Indigenous people’s rights, and authorities haven’t put in place effective mechanisms for their protection, which I think creates an environment in which people feel that journalists are fair game because they think that nothing will happen if they attack or kill them.
Journalists reporting on these things are particularly vulnerable because their reporting might expose illegal systems that are threatening natural resources, violent armed groups, and corruption. In this area, the second largest Indigenous territory in Brazil, there are records of logging, clandestine fishing, illegal mining, and invasions by criminal groups, which has worsened in recent years because we’ve seen a dismantling of public policies aimed at protecting Indigenous people. Since 2017, eight journalists have been killed in Brazil, mostly in smaller, rural towns and areas, and a majority of these cases are unsolved, which means Brazil ranks eighth in our CPJ Global Impunity Index.
Q: One country consistently at the top of the list, both in the number of journalists killed and the cases that go unpunished, is Mexico. According to local press freedom organizations, most of the attacks on journalists are committed by corrupt officials and members of organized crime. Is this in line with how you see the situation there?
Ginsberg: Yes, it’s one of the deadliest countries in the Northern Hemisphere outside a conflict zone, an incredibly dangerous environment for journalists. The reporters most at risk are covering corruption, local politics, and especially organized crime. All of that is facilitated by this historic failure to punish crimes against journalists. If you don’t have any investigations into journalists’ murders, the killers know they’re unlikely to face any consequences.
Q: While there have been government initiatives to protect journalists in Mexico, many question their effectiveness. Should the Mexican government be doing more? What should the United States be doing to assist in this effort?
Ginsberg: Mexico’s state and federal protection mechanisms, which were established by law in 2012 and which the CPJ had encouraged, were once a promising approach. I think ten years on, the mechanism’s effectiveness is under scrutiny. At least nine journalists involved in that federal program have been murdered in six years. This is not working as well as we would have hoped. Problems include poor training and too few personnel and resources. The mechanisms were very centralized in Mexico City, and there’s been poor coordination with state and local authorities.
Working with the Mexican government to get those state and federal protection mechanisms working effectively must be key. The United States has a constructive role to play here. Reestablishing high-level human rights dialogue with Mexico, which was started by former President Barack Obama but abandoned by Trump, could be useful. I think meetings by the United States with civil society organizations ahead of reforms to improve press freedoms in Mexico would be beneficial.
I think targeted visa and economic sanctions against individuals who are responsible for attacks on journalists, a type of Magnitsky sanction, is an option to show that countries like the United States are serious about press freedoms.
Q: These are just a few issues, but are there other topics you’d like to address?
Ginsberg: I think it’s important to think about all threats that journalists face, not just the physical ones. We think about threats as being very much physical. A lot of that, these days, starts with online harassment. We saw it in the huge amounts of online harassment faced by Nobel Prize laureate Maria Ressa; these targeted, mob-style attacks that often are a precursor to physical violence. That’s an area I think we increasingly need to address more concretely and systematically. Women are by far the biggest targets of that abuse, and certainly people from marginalized communities [are too]. Ensuring that those people are kept safe from harassment online is key.
Q: What are some of the remedies to these online threats?
Ginsberg: The number one goal would be that people don’t engage in this behavior in the first place. I think people need to understand that journalists are real people who experience harm from targeted abuse online. Social media companies could take a much greater role in addressing the amplification of abuse online by being more responsive to individual complaints, but also by working with groups more effectively to identify the kinds of patterns of behavior that precipitate abuse.
Q: According to CPJ, 81 percent of journalist killings in the past decade have ended in impunity. That seems discouraging. With no consequences, how can we expect anything to change?
Ginsberg: It is a discouraging figure. As I often say, when faced with the enormity of these challenges, the only thing we can do is to fight for it to be different. We have to keep pushing for change. We have to keep pushing in these cases. We have to keep bringing them back to the authorities to investigate.