
1872 Journalists Killed between 1992 and 2019 - ryanmercer
https://cpj.org/data/killed/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed%5B%5D=Unconfirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&start_year=1992&end_year=2019&group_by=year
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dmix
One of the first ones on the list from 1992 had an interesting backstory
that's still relevant today:

The Turkish government assassinated two journalists [1] [2] for uncovering the
fact the Turkish gov (or likely intel agencies) were financially supporting
and training Turkish Hezbollah terrorists in their special forces offices.
Why? These Hezbollah guys were being used as irregular warfare militia to kill
marxist PKK (they killed 500 PPK members), in between their normal terrorist
activity of killing regular citizens for being secular.

Then in February 2019 [3] the government decided to let all 100 of them out of
prison on some questionable legal grounds (that the old court who sentenced
them was Gulen-connected). But when PKK fighters sent to jail by the same
court tried to appeal, on the exact same legal grounds, they were rejected. So
essentially the current Erdoğan gov's policy is to openly support one
terrorist group over others.

This is a classic example of Middle Eastern authoritarian regimes at work,
where each one secretly support any number of sectarian groups when it suits
their interests, while they ignore any tangental atrocities. Which was the
waters Americans/Russians both attempted to wade into and saw it backfire
multiple times.

[1] [https://cpj.org/data/people/halit-
gungen/index.php](https://cpj.org/data/people/halit-gungen/index.php)

[2] [https://cpj.org/data/people/namik-
taranci/index.php](https://cpj.org/data/people/namik-taranci/index.php)

[3] [https://ipa.news/2019/05/22/100-members-of-the-turkish-
hezbo...](https://ipa.news/2019/05/22/100-members-of-the-turkish-hezbollah-
group-released-report/)

~~~
292355744930110
The CPJ sources don't state the fact that "Turkish Hezbollah" is an entirely
different group than Lebanese group. They just say "Hezbollah".

~~~
dmix
The 3rd source does a better job of explaining who the "Turkish Hezbollah"
are. They are indeed a separate Kurdish group located in eastern Turkey.

They are also Sunni Muslims while Lebanon's Hezbollah are Shite.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Hezbollah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Hezbollah)

~~~
anonu
Interesting to note. Hezb Allah just means "party of God" ... So not surprised
there at different groups aligning themselves to the same name.

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flexie
It's terrible that journalists are killed. Press freedom is extremely
important. But if these numbers are correct, they are probably good news. I
don't think there has been any other point in history where worldwide just 70
journalists were killed every year.

Again, if these numbers are correct, many other professions are far more
exposed to politically or financially motivated violence (and the numbers
cover many deaths that are not intentionally inflicted). Another way of saying
it is that journalism is generally a very safe profession if these numbers are
correct. Also, please note that a large part of the deaths occur in the same
few countries.

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galfarragem
That's roughly one journalist killed every 5 days..

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ryanmercer
I was aware that journalism can sometimes be dangerous, what I didn't realize
though is just how common the murder (or work related death by aggression) of
journalists is.

Many of these are in war zones, quite a few by IEDs and similar devices, but
many are stabbings, shootings, show signs of torture, involved kidnap.

~~~
Retric
What makes this so surprising is the individual risks these people take.

By comparison on average 1,300 truckers die in the US each year out of 3.5
million making it far more dangerous on average. However, that’s spread fairly
evenly with only a tiny fraction of journalists entering war zones etc.

~~~
meheleventyone
This chart isn’t all deaths by the looks of it but deaths in specific violent
contexts? So that comparison is maybe not quite as illustrative?

~~~
Retric
I am only including truckers dying from trucking accidents which seems like a
direct occupational hazard. They both die from other things on and off the
job.

PS: Automobile accidents are also often a very nasty way to go.

