This story is syndicated from The Black and White, the newspaper of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD. The original version ran here.
Violence against journalists is rising. The trend is both national and global: according to an ongoing report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 45 journalists worldwide died in circumstances related to their work in 2021. Each year since has seen an increase, the number jumping to 124 for 2024 alone.
The recent Israel-Hamas War remains a significant source of journalist-directed violence. According to a 2016 article from Reporters without Borders, 63 working journalists died amid the two-decade-long Vietnam War. Despite the Israel-Hamas War beginning only a year and a half ago, journalist deaths are already nearly triple those of the entire Vietnam War — marking the Israel-Hamas War as the deadliest conflict for journalists in recorded history.
Palestinian journalists are facing threats of violence after being mischaracterized with fabricated evidence, they say. This past October, Israeli military officials claimed that six Palestinian journalists from Al Jazeera were members of either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera repeatedly denied the allegations.
Violence and violent rhetoric against journalists are also escalating beyond war zones in concerning trends. Over the past 20 years, Mexico experienced a steady rise in journalist-targeted violence. According to a 2024 Amnesty International article, Mexico is currently ranked as the most dangerous country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere.
During a human rights protest on Sept. 8, 2024, in Xochimilco, Mexico City, police arrested two journalists covering the protest. According to a 2024 CPJ article, freelance reporter José Meza and another anonymous journalist reported being beaten by police, each suffering minor injuries.
Dana Priest, a professor at the
University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism and journalist for the Washington Post, believes that controlling information can facilitate the emergence of true autocratic power, and that intimidating the media and using violence is one way of controlling people’s beliefs.
“Mexico, for instance, [is] the most deadly place to be as a journalist outside of a war zone,” Priest said. “That’s because the cartels, political leaders, the military and the police are all one. They don’t want certain things to be reported, and cartels are willing to really terrorize journalists and use tactics that terrorists use — like displaying dead bodies.”
In recent years, U.S. journalists have also faced increasing rates of violence. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, during the protests that followed George Floyd’s death in May 2020, police officers targeted over 200 journalists, damaging their equipment, arresting them and assaulting them while they were performing their duties. The database reported that throughout 2020, 146 arrests took place during attempted coverage with at least 640 incidents of police assault.
The 2024 U.S. election has furthered concerns over journalist safety. President Donald Trump made repeated remarks criticizing journalists during his campaign. Just days before the election, Trump held a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where he made comments suggesting that he wouldn’t mind if a press worker were shot. He gestured to the press in attendance, calling attention to their vulnerability and saying they were another layer of bulletproof glass for him.
“I have this piece of glass here, but all we have really over here is the fake news,” Trump said. “To get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.”
Bethesda, Maryland, AP Literature and Journalism teacher Alice Kliefoth is concerned with how violence against journalists impedes First Amendment rights.
“What’s especially troubling now is that it’s kind of infiltrating in democracies too,” Kliefoth said. “Freedom of speech has been the hallmark of our liberty — it’s been the driver of our liberty and our ability to stay the shining city on the hill.”
In June 2018, Maryland resident Jarrod Ramos opened fire on the office of Annapolis-based newspaper The Capital Gazette, killing five employees and injuring two others. Angered by an article written about his stalking of a former classmate, Ramos committed the largest mass shooting targeting journalists in U.S. history and was sentenced to five life sentences without parole.
Selene San Felice, a former Capital Gazette reporter, witnessed the shooting and shared her experience with the Washington Post. In the years following the attack, San Felice grew wary of the violence against journalists and the thankless nature of the publication and industry.
“It was the trauma from the shooting, the trauma from my personal life and the end of my career,” she said. “I just didn’t have anything else to say.”
Before joining the Post, Priest reported for the Tampa Bay Times. While interviewing hurricane victims recovering their houses, an interviewee suddenly attacked her — an extension of the tones often taken against journalists, she said.
“I came upon these three guys standing outside their house, pulling carpet in or out,” Priest said. “One of the guys was really drunk, and he got really upset, just with the normal question, and started trying to pull my hair. I walked away, and he followed. I ran away, and he ran after me.”
A growing number of journalists also face threats and harassment on social media. A 2020 UNESCO study found that 75% of journalists have experienced anonymous online abuse. Minority groups in media bear the brunt of these attacks. A 2024 International Women’s Media Foundation study found that one in three female journalists have considered leaving the field due to online abuse.
According to Vincent Randazzo, Project Director of the Fallen Journalists Memorial, journalists and photojournalists internationally often face threats when they report on controversial topics. Online, these remarks may include threats of murder, kidnapping, harassment and other forms of intimidation.
For Real Deal journalist Joe Lovinger, the most common threat hasn’t been physical, but more of reputational and emotional harm, he said.
“People have threatened to sue me — I can’t even tell you how many times — for just reporting facts,” Lovinger said. “It’s an attempt to shut down your voice and to stop you from doing the important work that you’re doing as a journalist.”
Today, newsrooms are taking more safety measures and precautions to protect their journalists. One approach is to hire personal bodyguards to protect journalists while they’re reporting in the field. Getty Image photojournalist Alex Wong said he’s noticed a rise in national news networks’ hiring private security.
“I think most of the big network TVs, like NBC, ABC, FOX News, all have bodyguards,” Wong said. “Wherever the journalist goes, wherever their crew goes, there are always bodyguards with them.”
Some newsrooms have also installed metal detectors and defense training programs to protect their journalists. The International Women’s Media Foundation offers training to teach journalists about self-defense and first-aid skills.
Despite the violent obstacles that come with their line of work, journalists remain imperative to society, Randazzo said. He believes that journalists serve as vital eyewitnesses to revolutionary political and social movements, citing the Watergate scandal and the Black Lives Matter protests as moments where media proved their significance.
Wong believes that one of journalists’ most critical jobs is monitoring government politicians specifically; if there’s no media, there will be nobody to hold them accountable, he said.
Chair of Tribune Publishing David Dreier began the Fallen Journalists Foundation to educate current and future generations about the critical role of the free press and establish a memorial for slain journalists and media workers. In 2020, Congress approved the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, authorizing the foundation to create a memorial honoring journalists who have lost their lives.
The Capital Gazette shooting inspired the memorial, Randazzo said. He believes that it’s important to remember those who died and recognize journalists who continue to put their lives in danger every day to share the truth. In April 2023, Dreir’s foundation received approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to begin designing the memorial. The Fallen Journalists Memorial will be built entirely out of glass and stand on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
As journalists remain crucial to an informed society and their actions continue to be worthy of commemoration, Kliefoth condemns the rampant violence and hopes to see a change in the future.
“So many people who have devoted their lives to doing the right thing are getting killed for doing it,” Kliefoth said. “If we lose freedom of speech, then we become as controlled as the populations in the dystopian novels we read. We have no purchase on the truth, so it is everything.”