Journalists’ Lives Matter, Too…

However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of attacks and threats against journalists worldwide.

To understand the enormity of what continues to befall journalists because of their work, statistics are important.

When those statistics are about deaths, incarceration without trial or the disappearance of colleagues in a profession that executive director of Information and Communications Technology Audrin Mathecalled “a public good that must be protected, as protecting it is protecting democracy”, it should touch a raw nerve among those who understand the importance of journalism in society.

Mathe was speaking at the commemoration of the day in Windhoek on 2 November.

Since 1990, 2 658 journalists have been killed worldwide with the highest number recorded in 2012 when 124 journalists lost their lives.

With 61 journalists killed in 2022, the figure has already surpassed the 2021 statistic of 55, seen as one of the lowest since 2006 when 46 journalists were killed. Of the 61 killed in 2022, five are from Africa.

An extensive Unesco Report, ‘Knowing the Truth is Protecting the Truth’ documents that in 2021, the percentage of women journalists killed rose to 11% from 6% in 2020.

“This worrying development may be a reflection of women journalists being subject to online gender-based attacks which often spill over into offline violence, putting their safety at risk”, the report says.

In 2022, the dead include eight female journalists – Dilia Contreras (Colombia), Shireen Abu Akleh (Palestine), Sheila Johana Garcia Olivera, Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Lourdes Maldonado Lopez (Mexico) Francisca Sandoval (Chile), Oksana Baulina (Russian killed in Ukraine) and Oleksandra Kuvshynova (Ukraine).

Mathe’s promise that Namibia will continue to provide a safe and enabling environment for journalists could not have come at a better time.

“As a country that fosters the values and principles of press freedom, this day reminds us to speak out against any form of injustice against journalists globally,” he was quoted as saying in this newspaper.

PROTECTION AND THE PUBLIC GOOD

Further, it is hoped that the recently passed Access to Information Bill, currently under review by the National Council, will soon become law.

The bill, which aims to promote public access to information held by public entities, compel public and private entities to proactively and promptly make information available, will go a long way in ensuring the abuse of journalists seen in other countries does not happen in Namibia.

For their part, journalists must ensure that they adhere to media ethics as stipulated in the codes of ethics of their institutions.

Mathe’s sentiments concur with a European Union report commemorating the day which provides a glimpse on why journalists fall prey to killers: “The objective of the attacks is to silence journalists who act as public watchdogs, and ultimately to prevent the creation of a public civic space where citizens can have a democratic debate on issues of public interest.”

So, can the world do without journalists? Absolutely not. The world requires the watchdog facilitation and reporting of goings-on nationally and internationally.

Besides ensuring that journalists do not fall prey to those who wish to silence freedom of expression as a public good, it is critical that countries regarded as safe continue to remain so.

These countries should be at the forefront of consistently condemning and acting against killings of journalists and others as it is clear it can happen anywhere.

Recently a Pakistani journalist was killed in Kenya, a relatively safe haven for journalists and other people whose lives are in danger.

Arshad Sharif, who faced several death threats in his home country, Pakistan, was shot dead on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, under unclear circumstances.

According to Mian Muhammad Nadeem, deputy secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Sharif faced 20 police cases across Pakistan, including complaints of high treason.

Nadeem said Sharif was possibly in Kenya because it issues on-arrival visas to Pakistani citizens.

ALARMING

So, as the day was commemorated last Wednesday, it was heart breaking to note that the number of journalists killed this year alone is alarming.

Of the 61 dead, 17 were murdered, nine died in crossfire, 10 on dangerous assignments, and the rest were murdered in unknown circumstances.

The 2022 figures are already higher than those reported in 2021.

This year, Ukraine has the highest number of deaths – 15. One of the 15, 78-year-old Yevhenii Bal, a writer and journalist, died on 2 April after three days of severe beatings by Russian forces, accordingto the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists.

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