Why are journalists increasingly targeted?

Amid the heightening threats, dangers and name-calling, polls show the public's trust in the news media has plummeted.

Reporters are being threatened, harassed, assaulted, imprisoned and killed.

World leaders often target journalists and news outlets they don't agree with, denouncing reporting as "fake news". 

Amid the heightening threats, dangers and name-calling, polls show the public's trust in the news media has plummeted.

What should be done to reverse this dangerous trend? Who should be responsible to protect journalists? What can be done to restore the public's trust in news reporting?

While journalists have been a thorn in the side of authoritarian governments.  With the assent of Donald Trump to the Oval Office he has used the bully pulpit to attack reporters.  Thus giving other repressive governments a green light to oppress a free press.   

Fixers: The unsung heroes of journalism

Fixers are a correspondent's eyes, ears and warning system on the ground, but do they get the recognition they deserve?

Ever watched a foreign correspondent dodging live bullets in the field? Or come across shaky camera footage with a reporter fleeing from the scene? The answer - if you've seen a lot of international news packages, particularly from hostile environments - will most probably be yes.

But what you haven't necessarily seen is the team behind the camera: the cameraman, the producer, the driver and especially, the fixer.

Afghanistan: When journalists become targets

Ten Afghan journalists were killed in Kabul bombings. Plus, the human rights issue of solitary confinement in the US.

The deadliest day for Afghanistan's media

The Afghan journalists rushing to the site of an explosion two weeks ago in Kabul were trying to cover the news. They didn't realise it was a setup. In the aftermath, a second suicide bomber, disguised as a news cameraman, detonated his device.

The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), left 29 people dead, including ten journalists.

Another Afghan reporter was shot dead that same day, and the carnage was a brutal reminder of the perils of being in the news business in Afghanistan.

Kabul bombings: The perils of being a journalist in Afghanistan

Ten journalists were killed in the deadliest attack on Afghanistan's media since 2001. Plus, Winnie Mandela's legacy.

Afghanistan: 10 journalists killed in a single day

The Afghan journalists rushing to the site of an explosion this past week in Kabul were trying to cover the news.

They didn't realise it was set up.

Amid the media scrum, a second suicide bomber, disguised as a news cameraman, detonated his device.

The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS), left 29 people dead, including 10 journalists. They were a brutal reminder of the perils of being in the news business in Afghanistan.

Why are journalists increasingly becoming a target?

At least 10 journalists were killed in Afghanistan on Monday. Reporters in many countries face threats every day.

It's becoming ever more risky to be a journalist in today's world.

Two suicide attacks in Afghanistan killed at least nine journalists on Monday. Another journalist was killed later that day in a separate incident. 

The UN has documented the killing of 14 journalists in Afghanistan in 2017 alone. 

But the issue is not unique to that country. Reporters from North Korea to Syria, and Turkey to Eritrea face threats every day. 

Why are so many journalists being killed in Mexico?

Prominent journalist Javier Valdez was shot and killed in the of Sinaloa on Monday.

Mexico is not a war zone, and yet it is one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters.

Prominent journalist Javier Valdez is the latest of several members of the media who have been killed this year alone.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says widespread impunity "allows criminal gangs, corrupt officials, and cartels to silence their critics".

The Mexican government has repeatedly promised to protect journalists, and freedom of speech.

But the shootings and beatings continue. So, what should be done to stop the targeting of journalists?

Face-off at Egypt's Press Syndicate (Video)

Egypt's Press Syndicate is under fire from the Sisi government; plus, the rise of the far-right in the Dutch media.

For the first time in its 75-year history, the Egyptian Press Syndicate has been taken to court by the state. Three senior members of the Syndicate now join numerous other journalists, dissidents and activists fighting harsh rulings that could leave them in jail for years.

Talking us through the story: Timothy Kaldas, writer and commentator; Khaled Diab, journalist and author; Mohamed Elmasry, media scholar; Marwan Kraidy, author of The Naked Blogger of Cairo.

Egypt: Journalism on trial

A Listening Post special on the jailing of three Al Jazeera staff and the verdict's impact on press freedom.


In Kafka's novel, the story begins: "Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., because he had done nothing wrong, but one day he was arrested."

This week, a trial took place that had something of the Kafka-esque.

In a 20-month-long ordeal, and after months of extended pre-trial imprisonment, repeated postponements, charges that lack convincing evidence and hearings fraught with complexity - three Al Jazeera journalists were sentenced to three years in prison by a Cairo court.

Evidence including footage of a trotting horse from Sky News Arabia; holiday snaps; a pop music video, and like the fictive account of Josef K - a bank employee, who is unexpectedly arrested one morning for an unspecified crime, the story of the 'Al Jazeera 3' makes for uncomfortable reading

Bangladesh: Politics, religion and the limits of speech

Politics, religion and freedom of speech in Bangladesh; plus, the ethics of native advertising.



Bangladesh is a secular state, but the murder of two bloggers who questioned Islamist values represents a danger to freedom of expression.

In February, Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-American blogger and the founder of a secularist website was killed by machete-wielding assailants in a Dhaka street. A few days later another blogger, Washiquir Rahman met a similar end.

The killers of both men were motivated by a desire to silence what they considered to be anti-Islamist views. The murders are testament to the highly charged atmosphere in which the debate about the place of religion in Bangladeshi society takes place.

This story has its roots in the war out of which the state of Bangladesh was born and the ongoing legal process that has seen Islamist leaders convicted and sentenced to death for terrible atrocities.