At least 20 Russian journalists are killed each year, says Oleg Panfilov, the director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow, but many of these deaths are the result of air crashes, traffic accidents, domestic violence and robberies, as opposed to political motivations. The total figures of journalist deaths therefore are often discrepant, he says, which can damage 'the credibility of watchdogs' conclusions about media freedom in Russia'.
In an attempt to shed some light on the topic, a new report released by the International Federation of Journalists reviews the deaths of more than 300 Russian journalists since 1993 in an attempt to show what percentage of these deaths are work-related. The full list of names can be viewed online.
In an attempt to shed some light on the topic, a new report released by the International Federation of Journalists reviews the deaths of more than 300 Russian journalists since 1993 in an attempt to show what percentage of these deaths are work-related. The full list of names can be viewed online.
The IFJ says that in the past ten years at least 38 Russian journalists have been murdered because of their reporting. Of these killings, only 10 prosecutions resulted, and of those only five killers were convicted. Of those five, only two were sent to prison. The IFJ states: "Crucially, the report confirms that the masterminds of attacks on journalists are getting away with murder. Over the past 15 years those who ordered the killings and arranged for the hire of assassins and their payment have hardly ever been charged, let alone prosecuted." It lists numerous serious systemmic failures of the Russian criminal justice system that have resulted in his outrage.
That's horrifying enough, but then on top of that they list hundreds more journalists who have died of unnatural causes, at least half of which are directly attributable to their professional activities. In view of the Kremlin's various efforts to poison rivals of the regime, one must look skeptically at each and every one of those incidents.
Given the fact that only a handful of the journalists listed by the IFJ are known in the West, it seems far too little is being made of the barbaric slaughter of journalists in Putin's Russia, not too little.