April Quevedo and Shaun Chornobroff at Capital News Service:
At least 3,100 journalists have been killed around the world since 1837 according to a Capital News Service analysis of databases of fallen journalists maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonprofit that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, and the Freedom Forum, the nonprofit organization that operated the Newseum in Washington, D.C. prior to its closure at the end of 2019. Nearly 90% of those recorded deaths have occurred over the last 50 years.
The databases created by both organizations are a result of extensive research into each reported death and require verification before names can be added to their lists, though their parameters are different. The Freedom Forum’s database extends as far back as 1837 (and concludes in 2019), and includes names of individuals tied to newsrooms who died while in the field or otherwise as a result of their work, while CPJ’s efforts began in 1992 and includes only journalists confirmed murdered in direct reprisal for their work; in combat or crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment.
When the Newseum closed, the country lost its only memorial commemorating journalists who lost their lives as a result of their work. Journalist fatalities reached a high in 2017 with 126 recorded fatalities before falling below 50 deaths per year from 2019 through 2022, according to the CNS analysis.
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The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation formed in the wake of the Capital Gazette massacre. In June 2018, a gunman stormed into the publication’s newsroom in Annapolis and killed four journalists and one staff member, the deadliest attack on journalists in American history. Jarrod Ramos was given multiple life sentences for the shooting in 2021.
Congress approved legislation for the memorial in 2020. In September, six years after the shooting, the first public images of the planned Fallen Journalist Memorial in Washington were unveiled. The memorial’s construction will be funded by a nonprofit organization created by former U.S. Representative David Dreier, who served as the chairman of the Tribune Publishing Co. (the former owners of the Capital Gazette) from January 2019 through February 2020.