Aggression targeting Colombia’s journalists up 40% in 2015: Press freedom NGO
Aggression targeting Colombia’s journalists up 40% in 2015: Press freedom NGO
Posted by Adriaan Alsema on Feb 9, 2016
Aggression targeting journalists went up 40% last year, victimizing 232 journalists, according to the country’s foundation for the freedom of press FLIP. In total, there were 147 acts of aggression that included homicides and death threats, FLIP director Pedro Vaca said on the foundation’s 20th anniversary.
The steep increase in violence is the highest since 2009 and made Colombia the 11th most dangerous country in the world for journalists and reporters.
Vaca called on journalists and society for reflection, claiming that “often we demand of journalists a series of standards about what can be said, but few times we we ask ourselves what the conditions are for exercising the profession in Colombia.”
Last year’s increase in aggression was mainly due to an increase in death threats and a number of cases of obstruction ahead of local elections. Three journalists were murdered last year.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/232-of-colombias-journalists-suffered-aggression-in-2015-press-freedom-ngo/
