James Rainey and Brittny Mejia at LA Times:
Murders of journalists connected to their work remain a rarity in the United States, especially compared with countries like Mexico, where 13 reporters have been killed since the start of the year. German’s stabbing death outside his home last week would make him the 12th journalist murdered in America in the last 30 years in connection with their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Because of the 1st Amendment and rule of law, journalists here enjoy far more protections than those abroad, where reporters are often killed with impunity.
At the Review-Journal, reporters kept at it. After German’s death, his colleagues staked out Telles’ home and may have been integral to his arrest, having identified a red SUV that matched the description of the getaway car.
The California and Hawaii coasts have always been extraordinary. But The Ritz-Carlton has a knack of making paradise even better, especially with recent upgrades to its shoreline hotels in the Golden and Aloha states.
Despite greater protections in the U.S., a variety of journalism trade groups report a significant recent increase in threats and violence directed at reporters. Newsrooms have stepped up their security markedly, with guards and metal detectors, while many more reporters and photographers now receive training in how to protects themselves during protests, school board meetings and even once seemingly innocuous sidewalk interviews.
“What I hear every day around the country is a significant increase in threats and in a sense of permission that people feel to attack journalists,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the DART Center for Journalism & Trauma at Columbia University. “We’re seeing far more threats and far more actual violence directed at local journalists, in particular.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker found assaults on journalists peaked in 2020 with 454. But attacks have continued.