UNESCO report: At least 749 environmental journalists have been attacked between 2009 and 2023

Published by Brent Patterson on May 3, 2024May 3, 2024

Photo: At least 210 environmental journalists have experienced legal attacks between 2009 and 2023. That was the experience of Maya Q’eqchi’ journalist Carlos Ernesto Choc in Guatemala.

The Guardian reports: “More than 70% of environmental journalists have been attacked for their work since 2009, according to a Unesco report, which warns of rising threats against those covering the climate crisis.”

That article adds: “At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, the UN body found. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resulted in just five convictions.”

And it further specifies: “Physical violence – including assaults, arbitrary detention, murder attempts and abductions – were the most common form of attack, and had risen significantly to 111 incidents in the past five years, up from 61 in 2014-2018 and 45 in 2009-2013.”

Findings in the report

The 18-page UNESCO report can be read at Press and Planet in danger: Safety of environmental journalists – trends, challenges and recommendations. It notes:

-“State  actors—police,  military  forces,  government  officials  and  employees,  local  authorities—are  responsible  for  most  of  the  attacks  for  which  there  is  perpetrator  information available. For every ten attacks in the data, state actors committed at least five. Private actors –extractive industry companies, criminal groups, protesters and local communities – committed almost three. There is not sufficient information to identify the remaining two.”

-“Journalists faced attacks while covering a range of topics, with environmental protests (196),  mining  (142),  and  land  conflicts  (115)  showing  the  highest  numbers. Other  issues  were  logging  and  deforestation  (83),  extreme  weather  events  (56),  pollution  and environmental damage (54), and the fossil fuel industry (32).”

-“Journalists  and  media  houses  covering  environmental  issues  who  were  subject  to  legal attacks constitute the second largest group registered in the data, with a total of 210 cases registered since 2009. Criminal charges lead the legal attacks with 94 incidents: 74 involving charges like public order disruption, terrorism, hate speech, and dissemination of fake news, plus 20 cases of criminal defamation.”

Journalists accompanied/known by PBI

At this time, we highlight the cases of environmental journalists who have experienced these attacks including Carlos Ernesto Choc (Guatemala), Norma Sancir (Guatemala), Pablo Isabel Hernández (Honduras), Miryam Vargas Teutle (Mexico), Samir Flores Soberanes (Mexico), as well as Amber Bracken, Michael Toledano and Justin Brake (Canada).

We also note that many other reporters have experienced attacks for their coverage of other issues of social concern including Claudia Julieta Duque (Colombia), Dina Meza (Honduras), Alberto Tejada and Jhonatan Buitrago (Colombia), Abelardo Liz (Colombia), Miroslav Breach (Mexico) and Brandi Morin (Canada).

Video: The Committee to Protect Journalists says that at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza over the last six months. Shireen Abu Akleh was shot to death by the Israeli military on May 11, 2022. In the video below, the Al Jazeera newsroom in Ramallah reacts to her murder.

We continue to follow this.