Jennifer Dunham at The Committee to Protect Journalists:
At least 27 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ final data for the year. Of the total – which has risen by three since the publication of CPJ’s December 9 report on attacks on the press – 21 were singled out for murder in retaliation for their reporting. Four more were killed while reporting from conflict zones, and two others were killed covering protests or street clashes that turned deadly. CPJ is still investigating the deaths of 18 other journalists – including six from Mexico –to determine whether their killings were work-related. While the overall total of journalist deaths dropped from 2020’s number of 32, the number of confirmed retaliatory murders remained roughly the same, suggesting that journalists continue to be seen as targets. The two countries with the highest number of murders – India and Mexico, which registered four and three confirmed murders, respectively – both feature on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where members of the press are singled out for murder and the perpetrators go free.