PARIS – India has been ranked among top five most dangerous countries forjournalists in 2021 in a ranking issued by the Reporters Without Borders(RSF).
Mexico and Afghanistan are again the two deadliest countries, with sevenjournalists killed in Mexico and six in Afghanistan. “Yemen and India sharethird place, with four journalists killed in each country,” it added.
“Nonetheless, despite this remarkable fall, an average of nearly onejournalist a week is still being killed in connection with their work. AndRSF has established that 65% of the journalists killed in 2021 weredeliberately targeted and eliminated,” read the RSF’s annual round-upreport.
A record number of journalists – 488, including 60 women – are currentlydetained worldwide, while another 65 are being held hostage. Meanwhile, thenumber of journalists killed in 2021 – 46 – is at its lowest in 20 years,it added.
The number of journalists detained in connection with their work has neverbeen this high since RSF began publishing its annual round-up in 1995. RSFlogged a total of 488 journalists and media workers in prison inmid-December 2021, or 20% more than at the same time last year.
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“This exceptional surge in arbitrary detention is due, above all, to threecountries – Myanmar, where the military retook power in a coup on 1February 2021, Belarus, which has seen a major crackdown since AlexanderLukashenko’s disputed reelection in August 2020, and Xi Jinping’s China,which is tightening its grip on Hong Kong, the special administrativeregion once seen as a regional model of respect for press freedom.
“RSF has also never previously registered so many female journalists inprison, with a total of 60 currently detained in connection with their work– a third (33%) more than at this time last year. China, the world’sbiggest jailer of journalists for the fifth year running, is also thebiggest jailer of female journalists, with 19 currently detained,” thereport said.
