Yes, Journalism is a Dying Business

2 November: how you can help end impunity for crimes against journalists

The editor of Russia’s opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, winner of the 2016 Golden Pen of Freedom, is so worried about the safety of his staff, that he is to arm them with ‘traumatic’ weapons so that they can protect themselves. This follows the stabbing last week of a Russian radio journalist and the death in 2006 of the paper’s investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Extreme violence against journalists is not unique to Russia. Statistics collected by UNESCO since Politkovskaya’s death tell the chilling story: 930 journalists have been killed worldwide in the ten years to end 2016 one journalist is killed every four days only one in ten crimes committed against journalists over the past eleven years has been resolved 93% of those killed are local, only 7% are foreign correspondents. Next Thursday, 2 November, is an opportunity to honour those journalists who have died in the line of duty. It is the International Day to End Impunity For Crimes Against Journalists. Here is how you can commemorate fallen colleagues and draw attention to the need for justice: Commit space on your editorial pages on Thursday to tell the story. You will find a selection of graphics, facts and figures available online from UNESCO to illustrate the problem. Fuel and share the various 2 November social media campaigns using the hashtags #EndImpunity and #JournoSafe. Pressure your politicians for answers on colleagues who have died. In a letter to editors, which you can read here, UNESCO Assistant Director-General, Frank la Rue says: “It has proven to be of great impact when journalists from various media, beyond their differences and editorial lines, work together to publish a story on a killing of a colleague journalist in their country where the perpetrator has gone unpunished. Such cases should be thoroughly investigated and prominently published and broadcast. This can be a powerful means to denounce these crimes.”

World Editors Forum  Executive Director Cherilyn Ireton cherilyn.ireton@wan-ifra.org info@wan-ifra.org www.wan-ifra.org