300 journalists murdered globally in 10 years

About 300 journalists have been murdered globally, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its latest report.

According to the United States (U.S.) based non-profit group ,incremental progress toward reducing the murder of journalists worldwide has been fragile and could be thwarted by legal appeals and lack of political leadership.

According to the committee, 11 journalists in Nigeria were reportedly killed between 1992 and 2020. The country ranks 12th in the committee’s  2019 impunity index.

The journalists include Bayo Ohu and Tunde Oladepo, both of The Guardian, Enenche Akogwu and Precious Owolabi, both of Channels TV, Fidelis Ikwuebe, a freelancer, and Nathan Dabak.

Others are Okezie Amaruben and Sunday Bwede of The Light Bearer, Sam Nimfa Jan of Details, Samson Boyi of The Scope and Zakariya Isa of Nigerian Television Authority.

The committee also revealed that 12 journalists and five media outlets were attacked during the #EndSARS protests that erupted across the nation and the attendant violence.

At least, 277 journalists were murdered while on the job worldwide since 2008. The report – annual Global Impunity Index – says 83 per cent of those cases did not record successful prosecution of the perpetrators over the 10 years.

“The number represents those killed between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2020,” it added.

The CPJ’s annual Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are singled out for murder and their killers go free showed little change from a year earlier.

“Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan occupy the worst four spots on the list, in that order, as war and political instability perpetuate the cycle of violence and lawlessness,” the report indicated.

“Each year, the index includes more stable countries where criminal and political groups, politicians, business leaders, and other powerful actors resort to violence to silence critical and investigative journalists”

The centre also added that it has found that corruption, weak institutions, and lack of political will to pursue robust investigations are factors behind impunity in affected countries.