Alert about little control in attacks on journalists in Mexico

For the fourth consecutive year, Mexico ranked as the deadliest country for journalists worldwide, even, during 2022, it ranked above Ukraine, a country at war.

According to the annual balance of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in our country there are 11 of the 57 journalists and communication workers who have paid with their lives for their commitment to information, reported in 2022.

And it is that the organization warns that countries like Mexico, considered at peace, continue without controlling the violence that gangrene their territories and that directly affects journalists, since the homicides registered in our country represent about 20% of the total number of professionals. journalists murdered around the world, making it the deadliest country for journalists.

“Mexico is the most dangerous country that is not at war for the practice of journalism: 11 have been assassinated in 2022, compared to seven in 2021,” the report underlines, while noting that, in the last ten years, at At least 80 journalists have been murdered in Mexico (of which 46 in the last five years) for exercising their profession.

This, despite the pressure from civil society and international organizations, such as RSF, for the government to fight more effectively against this violence. “However, once again this year the country’s protection mechanisms have made their limitations clear: journalist Lourdes Maldonado López was a beneficiary of protection measures in the State of Baja California when she was executed by a bullet in front of her home, beginning of the year,” he recalled.

world rise

On the other hand, the report indicates that communicators killed in conflict zones represent 35% of the cases, especially due to the war that broke out in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which, it also adds, has contributed to multiplying the number of journalists killed outside their country of origin: of the eight cases of journalists killed since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, five were foreign reporters.

While, beyond the ravages of war, in 2022, approximately six out of 10 journalists (64.9%) have lost their lives in countries considered to be at peace. This increase is due, in part, to the end of travel restrictions imposed by the Covid 19 pandemic, which has allowed journalists to travel to the field again to report.

In this context, RSF highlighted that after two years of calm, with historically low figures, the number of journalists killed in 2022 has grown 18.8%, compared to 48 murders in 2021, and 50 in 2020.

The report also warns that women are not exempt from this upward trend in murders, since the proportion of female journalists murdered in the exercise of their work has multiplied by three in two years. In 2022, female journalists account for more than 12% of murders, compared to 4% in 2020.

When talking about the possible reasons why communicators are killed, RSF identified that close to 80% of the journalists killed in 2022 have been deliberately killed for reasons related to their profession or the issues they dealt with.

maritza.perez@eleconomista.mx