Understanding Journalist Killings

The study address the question of why state authorities murder journalists. After showing that most journalists are murdered in countries with well established democratic institutions, we argue that where local governments are elected, negative reporting could mean that local politicians lose power and influence, especially if they are involved in corrupt practices. Analyzing new global data on journalist killings that identify the perpetrator and visibility of the journalist, we show that local-level elections carry an inherent risk, particularly for less visible journalists. Killings perpetrated by criminal groups follow a similar pattern to those by state authorities, pointing to possible connections between these groups.

Sample

Our sample includes all countries between 2002 and 2016. To identify what it is about democracies that heighten the risk of a journalist being killed, we limit our sample to institutional democracies across the world. For various supplementary analysis we use all countries, irrespective of political regime characteristics.

Main Findings

Between 2002-2015, far more journalists were murdered by state actors or unconfirmed perpetrators in countries with democratic institutions than in autocratic countries, meaning in countries with constraints on the executive, and effective political competition and participation, including regular, free, and fair election. We argued that journalists are most at risk of being murdered by state or unconfirmed perpetrators when political actors have the motivation and opportunity to arrange the killing of a journalist. Politicians are most motivated when they have to worry about their public image because they are subjected to democratic elections and when the risks and stakes of losing office are high. Opportunities for arranging a murder are present if the killing likely receives little attention and when the risk of being held accountable for the murder is low. We empirically capture motivations with elections for local government and high level of public sector corruption, reflecting scenarios where local politicians need to worry about their image, where access to real power is linked to winning elections, and where politicians might have something to hide. Opportunities for arranging a journalist killings are greater when judicial corruption is high, so prosecution could likely be avoided, and when less visible journalists are targeted. Indeed, we find that the most victims are journalists working for local and regional outlets away from the capital city, where their murder attracts less national and international attention. Higher levels of public sector corruption and greater power for locally elected politicians are also associated with a higher risk. Analyzing all countries across all regime types, we found that electoral democracy at the national level does not help protect journalist from any type of perpetrator. Our analyses further highlight similarities in the pattern of killings that are carried out by state perpetrator and by criminal groups.

Policy recommendations/implications

Implications: - national democratic institutions do not automatically effectively protect the lives of journalists, even from state authorities. – Devolving political and economic power to the local level can significantly heighten the risk to journalists. To counterbalance this, effective monitoring and accountability strategies for political actors are necessary.