Media Tracker lists the challenges and achievements of the journalists and media organisations worldwide. Here’s a list of journalism at risk stories in the recent month. We would like to thank international media protection organisation and news outlets for their content.
- On Sunday, local police in Southern Kerala, town of Varkala, beat up Gopalan, a reporter for the Malayalam-language Kalakaumudi Weekly newspaper, for writing an unflattering article. Gopalan is in front of his house. After the alleged violence the police filed a case against Gopalan and three friends, accusing them for assaulting police officers who tried to stop them from drinking in public.
According to a 2016 CPJ special report, journalists in small-town India face a greater risk of attacks than those working in larger cities.
(CPJ)
- A journalist with cable television channel Dinraat, Santanu Bhowmik, 28, was stabbed to death in Mandwai near Agartala, capital of Tripura state in northeast India on September 20. He was covering clashes between the supporters of the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal party agitating for a separate state and Ganamukti Parishad. Bhowmik is the fourth journalist to be killed in India this year.
Records of the free expression media watchdogs show that 16 journalists have been murdered in India since 2015, bringing the total number of journalists killed since 1990 to 106.
(IFJ)
- A journalist, Sardar Mohammad Sarwari of Shamshad TV while working on a report about complaints about a local hospital was assaulted and abused by the head of presidency public health in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Dr. Tobaghar refused to provide Sarwari any information regarding the hospital budget and instead threatened him via fake Facebook accounts prior to the physical assault.
(IFJ)
- Since last year, the BBC’s first female political editor Laura Kuenssberg has faced a torrent of online abuse and threats linked to her reporting on events such as the EU referendum and the Labour party leadership election. She has been accused of partiality in her coverage, and subjected to a petition circulated by Labour supporters calling for the BBC to dismiss her that gathered more than 35,000 signatures before being taken down.
The UK is currently ranked 40th out of 180 countries in the world.
(RSF)
