Mexico remains the deadliest country in the world for journalists

By Laurie Timmers • Updated: 04/02/2020

A cross bearing the name of Mexican journalist Jorge Celestino Ruiz Vazquez is displayed near the coffin containing his remains in Actopan, Veracruz, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019 - Copyright Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. - Felix Marquez

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has released its annual report of killings of journalists and media staff. The institution listed 49 deaths worldwide in 2019, including three women.

The report is based on the analysis of two factors, namely "the state of press safety and detailed information on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the 49 media workers listed" in the document.

The collected data show that the death toll is the lowest since 2000 when the IFJ counted only 37 deaths.

Latin America is the region with the highest number of killings with 18 confirmed cases, followed by Asia-Pacific (12), Africa (9), the Middle East and the Arab world (8) and Europe (2).

Mexico tops the list as the most dangerous country for media workers - not just in Latin America and the Caribbean, but in the entire world - with its 10 reported murders.

As for Europe, the report details the killing of two journalists: Lyra McKee, who was shot while covering a riot in the Northern Irish city of Derry in April, and Vadym Komarov, who died weeks after being assaulted by unidentified individuals in Cherkasy, in central Ukraine, in June.

According to the press release, “Two key observations emerge from the statistics. Firstly, threats, harassment, imprisonment and murder no longer take place only in countries at war. Secondly, the victims are mainly local journalists. In the majority of cases, it is articles and reports on abuses of power, corruption and crime that have led to targeted violence and killings.”