Sara wrote this essay as a summer intern with Washington D.C.’s Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation in 2023.
Killing without Consequence: Reporters Face Increasing Attacks, Perpetrators Get Impunity
The U.S. government has a history of safeguarding its First Amendment freedoms. Supreme Court cases have guarded against censorship of speech and the press in student newspapers (Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, 1988) at school-sponsored events (Morse v. Frederick, 2007), and on social media (Elonis v. U.S. 2010).[1]
Yet, one of the most heinous violations of the First Amendment persists: the kidnapping, assault, torture, and killing of journalists in America and across the globe. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent nonprofit that engages in avenues to protect press freedom in America and abroad, cites a 2022 report from The Global Impunity Index that found that no perpetrator has been held accountable in nearly 80% of journalists’ murders during the last 10 years.[2] Between May 2020 and June 2021, 614 assaults against members of the media were recorded, according to data from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which CPJ co-founded with the Freedom of the Press Foundation in 2017.[3] Those who target journalists, from civic leaders to federal officials to criminals seeking to keep their corrupt agendas concealed from the public, continue their attacks—with impunity.
More and More Dangerous
From planned assassinations to minor assaults, journalists abroad and at home are facing escalating threats and violence. One of the more well-known assassinations is that of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian columnist for the Middle East Eye and The Washington Post. Khashoggi built a reputation for crafting scathing news stories against Saudi rulers King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman due to the ruler’s support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. Khashoggi was last spotted on camera walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. No one saw him leave. News reports claimed he had been murdered and dismembered by a group of Saudi government agents. By mid-November 2018, the CIA concluded that Khashoggi’s murder had been ordered by Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia.
In the United States, journalists have been assaulted and killed in broad daylight. In the early morning hours of August 26, 2015, in Moneta, Virginia, Alison Parker, a reporter for CBS affiliate WDBJ-TV, and cameraman Adam Ward, both in their twenties, were shot and killed on the Bridgewater Plaza during a live interview with the executive director of the local chamber of commerce, Vicki Gardner. Ward’s camera captured part of the tragedy. Parker was speaking with Gardner about upcoming events for the 50th anniversary commemoration of Smith Mountain Lake. Suddenly, the shooter, dressed in black, pointed his Glock-19 directly at Parker’s head. Approximately 15 shots rang out as Parker and Ward collapsed to the ground. Gardner, the only victim to survive the attack, was shot in the back. Ward’s camera, still rolling, captured the victims’ screams on videotape. By the time police arrived at the scene, Parker and Ward had died from wounds to the head and chest. The shooter, Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled former WDBJ7 reporter who had been fired by the news station in 2013 for disrespectful conduct, fled the scene. He shot himself after police surrounded him.[4]
Just two years later in May 2017, Alaska State Senator David Wilson, a freshman Republican lawmaker, attacked Nathaniel Hertz, a reporter with Anchorage Daily News. As the two men strolled down the steps of the Alaska State Capitol Building in Juneau, Hertz asked the lawmaker if he believed a story Hertz had written covering legislation designed to terminate social services funding in Matanuska-Susitna Borough was “reasonable” and “fair.” Wilson had introduced the legislation. In response, Wilson paused, sighed, then scowled at Hertz. “Fair?” he asked, abruptly smacking Hertz in the face before walking away.[5] Hertz later filed a police report.[6]
In the spring of 2016, Alabama Democrat City Commissioner Amos Newsome was caught on camera assaulting WTVY reporter Ken Curtis as he questioned Newsome regarding his connection to voter fraud allegations in the 2013 election. Curtis and his cameraman followed Newsome to his car as Curtis repeatedly inquired about whether he planned to resign. Newsome suddenly lunged at him, striking the right side of his face. The attack drew blood and caused Curtis to fall. Newsome was charged with third-degree assault.
Later, in an interview, Curtis told the city’s daily newspaper, the Dothan Eagle: “This is not about me. This is about freedom of the press. This is for the right we have to ask questions that the public has a right to know about.”[7]
Whether drumming out a story in a local newsroom or investigating authoritarian action overseas, the number of victims of both fatal and non-fatal attacks is rising. Between 2016 and 2020, over 400 journalists were killed, either deliberately or accidentally while on assignment. In 2020 alone, 274 journalists were thrown into jail cells, “the highest yearly total in three decades,” according to a 2021-2022 report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).[8]
As members of the Fourth Estate, journalists are responsible for closely monitoring the actions of government institutions and their members—serving as watchdogs holding the powerful in check. More importantly, journalists are obligated to inform the public with the most trustworthy, reliable information. When reporters are threatened or their work remains unpublished due to censorship or even death, the public—and democracy—suffers.
Crimes without Recompense
Only 13 percent of UNESCO’s recorded cases involving journalists’ deaths have been resolved in the U.S. court system.[9] Among the hundreds of journalists whose names are synonymous with unpenalized crime cases are American Israeli journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, U.S. journalist Charnice Milton, and Indian journalist Jagendra Singh.
Steven Joel Sotloff
(May 11, 1983-September 2, 2014)
Beheaded
As 31-year-old American Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff drove across the border into Aleppo, Syria on August 4, 2013 to cover the Syrian War, a group of militants representing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) abruptly stopped his car at gunpoint, pulled him from the vehicle, and took him hostage. He was held in captivity for one year. When ISIS released a video of American photojournalist and Syrian war correspondent James Foley’s decapitation in August 2014, the militant group warned the U.S. government that Sotloff would suffer the same fate if then-President Barack Obama did not terminate American airstrikes against ISIS.[10]
A Miami native, Sotloff had studied journalism as an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida. According to posts on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, he loved relaxing to Dave Matthews Band and Miles Davis and cheering NBA’s famed Miami Heat.[11]
A freelancer for National Interest and MediaLine, Sotloff soon grew into a fearless reporter, forging his career on his passion for the Middle East. He documented the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings in Libya, Egypt, and Yemen for Time Magazine and other publications, including Foreign Policy and World Affairs. He also crafted news stories detailing the daily human suffering in Syria during the massive Syrian Refugee Crisis. These reports earned him the reputation as “The Voice for the Voiceless.” Sotloff is best known for courageously covering the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi in 2012.
In September 2014, ISIS released a second video. Sotloff, wearing an orange jumpsuit, kneels on the ground, his hands bound behind him. An ISIS militant dressed in black, his head covered, towers behind Sotloff, gripping a machete. The video, titled “A Second Message to America,” concludes with the narrator addressing President Obama: “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people!”[12]
ISIS assassinated Sotkoff moments later on September 2, 2014.
Sotloff’s college friend, Ashley Burns, described him as someone who wrote with “incredible passion, about Benghazi and his experiences in Syria and Turkey, while showing an incredible relationship with – and understanding of – the people that he met in the countries that he has worked in.”
His courage, she said, was “incredible.”[13]
Charnice Milton
(June 19, 1987- May 27, 2015)
Shot by accident
On May 27, 2015, a man on an ATV, accompanied by a group of other riders, shot Milton, a 27-year-old African American journalist, at a bus stop in the Washington, D.C. area A reporter for the Hill Rag, a community news outlet on Capitol Hill, Milton was headed home from an assignment and was killed while switching buses in Anacostia, a predominantly African American community approximately twenty minutes outside the nation’s capital. During the altercation, which police believe to have been gang-related, a man grabbed Milton and held her as a human shield while a man from the opposing gang shot her after missing his target. The perpetrator let her lifeless body fall to the ground.[14]
Police released a video of riders on dirt bikes believed to have been connected to Milton’s killing. However, law enforcement has yet to apprehend the shooter.
A native of southeast D.C., Milton’s journalism professors at Syracuse University where she received her master’s degree in journalism in 2011 recall her passion for fixing local issues. Consequently, rather than turning out news reports for prestigious East Coast papers like The Washington Post, Milton’s post-baccalaureate career involved updating the public concerning local community development projects, prison programs, hiring practices, funding for city healthcare, and similar issues in D.C.’s southeast quadrant.[15]
These matters Milton viewed of highest importance.
But the shooting death of the promising journalist left her unable to pursue her passion for grilling civic leaders on their plans for neighborhood improvement. It also put an end to her habit of enticing young readers with news story updates and photos on her social media sites.
Milton’s father, Ken McClinton, told local TV reporters that he was “frustrated by the fact that crime is allowed to continue."[16]
Jagendra Singh
(? -June 8, 2015)
Burned Alive
An Indian freelance journalist and blogger from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Singh published Facebook posts vituperatively criticizing the state minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Murti Verma, as illegally profiting from land acquisitions and sand mining in his state. In late April 2015, a group Singh believed to be government officials whom Verma had hired assaulted Singh, shattering his foot. Shortly following the attack, Singh posted on Facebook that “politicians, thugs, and police are all after me. Writing the truth is weighing heavily on my life.”[17] Yet, despite repeated warnings from government officials, he continued to denounce Verma as a state criminal.
The events that transpired over the next few weeks remain unsettled. On June 1, 2015, a group of policemen stormed Singh’s home, robbed, and assaulted him. They dragged him outside, doused his body with gasoline, and set him ablaze. Over 60 percent of his body suffered third-degree burns.[18]
He died a week later on June 8, 2015.
Prior to his death, Singh videotaped his own account of the attack. Although he revealed the identity of his assailants, local officials discredited his statements. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) interviewed a state superintendent who informed CPJ that Singh took his own life to prevent a prison sentence for murder. When questioned regarding the crime Singh allegedly committed, the superintendent offered no evidence to corroborate his story.[19]
The exact circumstances surrounding Singh’s death remain a mystery.
Justice Evaded
Many assaults and murders targeting journalists have initiated investigations ending without resolution. The consequence has been a vitalization of perpetrators to continue focusing their attacks on First Amendment defenders in media.
The reasons for impunity vary widely. Sometimes, as in the accidental slaying of Charnice Milton, a journalist’s killers remain at large because of law enforcement’s failure to successfully identify them. In other cases, such as the brutal assassination of Steven Joel Sotloff, political pressure becomes a factor when prominent U.S. politicians are unable to succumb to the demands of overseas terrorist organizations to save the life of an imprisoned American reporter. Political clout can also bolster impunity when high-level politicians in foreign countries practice covert tactics for “disposing” of their enemies in media. As in the murder of Jagendra Singh, the lies of corrupt state officials, who claimed that Singh took his own life, can build barriers between fallen journalists and justice achieved.
The absence of justice becomes particularly menacing for journalists when political authorities and law enforcement officials casually dismiss violent assaults against media truth-tellers as “par-for-the-course.” In such cases, officials perceive attacks as something to be expected because they occur under repressive regimes known for jailing and torturing journalists critical of “the state,” such as those in Russia, China, Turkey, and Syria.
One example is the murders of influential Syrian activist Raed Fares and reporter/photographer Hamoud Jnaid in October 2018 in Syria’s northern Idlib province. As the two men exited their office building and drove through the city of Kafranbel, a gunman opened fire on their car from inside a silver van killing both men. A group linked to al-Qaida is suspected in the attack, but no one has been held responsible for the crime.
Fares, who produced broadcasts for RadioFresh, fashioned a reputation for denouncing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the growth of Islamist extremism during the country’s civil war. Fares’ invective against Assad sprung from having witnessed the murderous acts of the regime’s terrorism as a child. [20]
“The question is, was it worth starting a revolution and confronting Assad?” he inquired in an interview with The Guardian.
He then concluded: “It was indeed important.”[21]
Notable Exceptions
Some perpetrators launching assaults against journalists have been held accountable. One such case involves the shooting deaths of five journalists at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland on the afternoon of June 28, 2018. Two journalists were injured. Staffers took cover beneath their desks and behind office supply cabinets as shotgun bullets shattered the glass doors leading to the Bestgate Road office building. Editorial page editor Gerald Fischman, community beat reporter Wendi Winters, assistant editor and columnist Rob Hiaasen, sports reporter John McNamara, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith lost their lives.[22]
It was the deadliest assault against journalists in American history.
The gunman, Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was arrested at the scene after police found him hiding beneath a desk. He reportedly held a grudge against the newspaper for running a story detailing a harassment charge against him a few years earlier in 2011. Prior to the attack, Ramos had sued journalists at the Gazette for defamation and harassed others at the newspaper on social media. He was charged with five accounts of first-degree murder and later sentenced to five life terms without parole.[23]
A second case involves the stabbing death of Jeffrey German, an investigative reporter covering political issues for the Las Vegas Review Journal found murdered near his home on September 2, 2022. German, in his sixties, suffered seven stab wounds.[24] Using DNA found beneath German’s fingernails, local police identified the assailant as 45-year-old Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles and arrested him four days following the fatal assault.[25]
According to police, Telles waited for German to emerge from his home, then attacked him. An altercation ensued, resulting in German’s murder, according to footage caught on neighborhood surveillance tapes. The motive appears to have stemmed from news stories German had written concerning the “hostile work environment” in Telles’ office as well as his unsuitable behavior toward one of his staffers.[26] Telles, who denied the allegations, had lost re-election in the Democratic primary held in June. His term was set to end in January 2023.
Telles was charged with first-degree murder. He is currently serving as his own counsel in the ongoing murder case.
A CNN report calls Telles’ murder “a chilling case that has raised concerns about press freedoms in the United States.”[27]
Eradicating the Climate of Fear
Protecting freedom of expression means resisting the onslaught of assaults and violence against reporters on assignment in the U.S. and globally. On November 23, 2011, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a global network of organizations that defend free speech, launched a plan to push back against media censorship. IFEX declared November 23 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI).
The date commemorates the anniversary of the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre (also known as the Maguindanao massacre. The massacre, which took place in the town of Ampatuan on Sitio Masalay, Barangay, located in the Philippines, is known as one of the deadliest onslaughts against journalists in history. Fifty-seven individuals were murdered, 32 of whom were either journalists or those who worked in media.
In December 2013, after IFEX lobbied members of the United Nations, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recognizing November 2 as the International Day to End Impunity. November 2 marks the date French journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were kidnapped and assassinated in the small town of Kidal while reporting in northern Mali on November 2, 2013.[28] While the crime has received international attention, the perpetrators involved in the shooting deaths of the journalists have yet to be apprehended, and the motive for the killings remains unknown.[29]
IDEI is one facet of the UN’s Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists to bring together journalists, national authorities, and civil society leaders to increase protection for media workers. The plan has succeeded in bringing “a higher visibility” to impunity against perpetrators of crimes targeting journalists in the UN, according to the IDEA web site.[30] The UN has enacted safety measures to increase protection for journalists in nearly 50 countries.[31] Two of these safety measures focus on “internet transparency” and “the safety of women journalists, according to the web site.”[32]
In the U.S., federal officials have worked to strengthen protections for journalists. On May 3, 2023, U.S. Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) reintroduced legislation known as the Journalist Protection Act. The legislation, first introduced in July 2021, labels acts—either intentional or otherwise—to cause bodily harm to journalists on assignment as federal criminal offenses.[33] The legislation serves as a back-up plan for punishing perpetrators, acting as a guarantee for journalists’ safety when state and local laws fail to do so.
In a press release posted on his web site, Senator Menendez spoke to the importance of “ensuring [journalists’] freedom and personal safety,” a goal towards which the new legislation will “take a significant step.”[34]
The press release quoted Senator Blumenthal who described journalists’ mission to hold the powerful accountable as “vital” to a healthy democracy. The bill, he claims, will enable reporters to work “without fear or interference.”[35]
The Journalist Protection Act is “sending a message” that those who report “the facts . . . must be protected,” said Representative Swalwell.[36]
What More Is Being Done to Protect Journalists?
Federal and state officials in Maryland have taken the reigns when it comes to combatting attacks against freedom of the press. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, Maryland’s senior senator who chairs the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, is a tireless advocate for press freedom. In 2019, he collaborated with fellow Maryland Democrat Senator Chris van Hollen and Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to introduce legislation authorizing a memorial to fallen journalists on Washington D.C.’s National Mall.
Senator Cardin called the free press “critically important” to a functioning democracy: “[The job of] getting important and accurate news is more dangerous than ever. It’s gotten more and more dangerous because of the level of impunity. So, that creates the need for increased public attention. The [Fallen Journalists] Memorial is a visible sign of those who gave their lives.”[37]
Former U.S. Representative David Drier launched the idea for a memorial commemorating fallen journalists following the shooting at The Capital Gazette on June 28, 2018. Senator Cardin remembers the tragedy as a turning point. “We knew we could not let this go,” he explained. “We were all motivated by the heroism of what happened at the Capital Gazette, especially the one person who gave her life for her colleagues.”[38]
That person was 65-year-old Wendi Winters, a community reporter and a mother of four. As shots rang out inside the newsroom, Winters charged at the gunman with a trashcan and a recycling bin, distracting him just long enough for her colleagues to get to safety. She paid with her life.[39]
The Capital Gazette shooting also prompted Maryland State Senator Sarah Elfreth to file legislation in 2019 to annually commemorate June 28th as Freedom of the Press Day in Maryland. The annual commemoration provides a way to honor the right to a free press as guaranteed in the First Amendment and to recognize the important job journalists have of ensuring the public receives accurate information to make informed decisions.
Elfreth believes the annual gathering of her Annapolis community is important “so that the community doesn’t forget” the dangers journalists face every day.[40] Because of the amount of mass shootings that occur every year, Elfreth believes “our attention spans are limited. It’s almost easier just to move on” to the next tragedy.[41]
But what made the Capital Gazette shooting “unique,” Elfreth continues, was “because they were just doing their jobs. They showed up to work.” Freedom of the Press Day serves as a reminder to the public that “we need to do our best to keep this from happening again.”[42]
Preventing these types of tragedies from recurring demands a plan of action. And the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has one.
CPJ has assembled an Emergency Response Team of experts from around the world who specialize in “international media, emergency protection, and safety,” according to the organization’s web site.[43] The team’s mission is to “provide comprehensive, life-saving support to journalists and media support staff worldwide.”[44] The response team specializes in physical, digital, and psychosocial safety, the latter of which involves making certain journalists experience peace of mind. The program targets freelance journalists, in particular, as well as media professionals working for smaller news organizations by offering workshops and providing real-time assistance to journalists under threat across the globe.[45]
Katherine Jacobson is CPJ’s Program Coordinator for the U.S. and Canada. “We offer safety clinics that give journalists a ‘Safety 101’ on what to do in different situations,” she says. According to Jacobson, basic safety measures could involve anything from “best practices for journalists to follow when covering protests” to “situational awareness” in the newsroom.[46]
Aside from physical safety training, journalists are also trained in digital safety precautions. “We cover basic things like making sure your Instagram account isn’t set to notify others of your location,” Jacobson explains.[47]
When it comes to digital online safety, Jacobson stresses how journalists must never let down their guard. “Most journalists just brush aside [online] threats from former employees or readers who don’t like what’s being reported,” says Jacobson. “But what we should be looking at when talking about events like what happened at the Capital Gazette are the dangers of online harassment.”[48]
Yet, educating journalists in safety measures isn’t enough. According to Jacobson, “general media education” is a must. “We need to make sure people have an understanding of what reporters do. There needs to be a deeper understanding [of the dangers reporters face] from people in the community.” [49]
Moving forward, leaders in journalism are keeping close tabs on what is being done to ensure that perpetrators of murders and assaults against journalists are not going unpunished.
Glenn Cook, Executive Editor of the Las Vegas Review Journal, has kept in touch with Katherine Jacobson to ensure CPJ stays updated on the unfolding events regarding the murder trial of Robert Telles, the man charged with Jeff German’s murder in September 2022.
“CPJ understands the importance of the case,” Cook explains. “It is not engaging in hyperbole to say that if we lose this case it sets a precedent for people to be able to get away with the murders of journalists in the U.S.”[50]
According to Cook, Jacobson has crafted “multiple pieces” reporting on German’s murder and what it means in the context of the increasing threats journalists today are facing. “[The case is] one of CPJ’s highest priorities.”[51]
Cook credits America’s “exceptional strength in the rule of law” for preventing much of the heinous treatment of reporters working in America that is habitual in countries like Syria, Turkey, and Mexico. “Journalists overseas face exceptional risks right now because they’re going about their jobs without protections, without laws that rightly protect citizens in countries where criminals are allowed to build their empires without accountability.
“This must stop.”[52]
[1] “First Amendment Activities,” United States Courts, accessed on June 17, 2023, https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/educational-activities/first-amendment-activities
[2] Jennifer Dunham, “Killing with Impunity: Vast Majority of Journalists’ Murderers Go Free,” Committee to Protect Journalists 2022 Global Impunity Index, November 1, 2022, accessed on July 12, 2023, https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CPJ_2022-Global-Impunity-Index.pdf
[3] “Incident Database,” U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, last updated May 2023, accessed on July 25, 2023, https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter%2CBlack+Lives+Matter+1+year&categories=Assault&sort=RECENTLY_UPDATED.
[4] Genevieve Carlton, “Alison Parker, the Promising Young Journalist, Shot Dead by a Co-worker-on Live TV,” AllThat’sInteresting.com, https://allthatsinteresting.com/alison-parker
[5] Reid Wilson, “Alaska State Senator Slaps Report over Story,” TheHill.com, https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/alaska-state-senator-slaps-capitol-reporter-critical-story-article-1.3139967
[6] Ibid.
[7] Fox News, “Alabama Politician Charged after Caught on Camera Striking Reporter,” Fox News.com, May 2, 2016, accessed on June 27, 2023, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alabama-politician-charged-after-caught-on-camera-striking-reporter
[8] “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists,” accessed on June 17, 2023, https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-impunity-crimes-against-journalists
[9] Ibid.
[10] Brian Stelter and AnneClaire Stapleton, “Friends of Steven Sotloff Speak Admiringly of His Talent, Passion,” CNN.com, September 3, 2014, accessed on June 28, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/us/iraq-steven-sotloff/index.html
[11] “Who is Steven Joel Sotloff, Second American Journalist Threatened By ISIS?” NBCNews.com, August 20, 2014, accessed on June 28, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/james-foley/who-steven-joel-sotloff-second-american-journalist-threatened-isis-n184866
[12] Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt, “ISIS Says It Killed Steven Sotloff after U.S. Strikes in Northern Iraq,” The New York Times, September 2, 2014, accessed June 28, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/world/middleeast/steven-sotloff-isis-execution.html
[13] Stelter and Stapleton, “Friends of Steven Sotloff Speak Admiringly of His Talent, Passion.”
[14] Dick Uliano, “Remembering Charnice Milton, Reporter Slain in D.C.,” WTOP News, accessed on July 8, 2023, https://wtop.com/dc/2016/05/remembering-charnice-milton-reporter-slain-d-c-photos/
[15] “2019 Grand Marshal: Charnice Milton,” MLK Holiday Celebration, accessed on June 19, 2023, mlkholidaydc.org/2019/01/2019-grand-marshall-charnice-milton/
[16] Darcy Spencer, “‘Crime Is Allowed to Continue': Father of Slain Journalist Frustrated by Illegal ATVs,” Washington 4, June 16, 2022, accessed on July 9, 1980, https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/crime-is-allowed-to-continue-father-of-slain-journalist-frustrated-by-illegal-atvs/3079342/
[17] Tristan Shaw, “Ten Crusading Journalists Who Died under Mysterious Circumstances,” Listverse.com, November 18, 2015, https://listverse.com/2015/11/18/10-crusading-journalists-who-died-under-mysterious-circumstances/
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Emma Graham-Harrison, “Influential Syrian Activist Raed Fares Gunned Down in Idlib,” The Guardian.com, accessed July 8, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/23/influential-syrian-activist-raed-fares-gunned-down-in-idlib
[21] Ibid.
[22] Joel Shannon, Michael James, and Bart Jansen, “Capital Gazette Shooting Victims: ‘Gifted’ Assistant Editor, Mother of Four, New Hire among Those Dead,” USA Today, June 29, 2018, accessed on July 8, 2023,
[23] Sabrina Tavernise, Amy Harmon, and Maya Salam, “5 People Dead in Shooing at Maryland’s Capital Gazette Newsroom,” The New York Times, June 28, 2018, accessed on July 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/us/capital-gazette-annapolis-shooting.html
[24] Mark Strassman and Andrew Bast, “’Murdered Las Vegas Reporter’s Colleagues Chased Clues as They Grieved,” CBS Mornings, October 12, 2022, accessed on July 8, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-german-las-vegas-reporter-killed-investigating-robert-telles-wrongdoing
[25] Hannah Sarisohn and Steve Almasy, “Las Vegas Administrator Robert Telles Charged with Murder in Stabbing Death of Journalist Jeff German,” CNN.com, October 20, 2022, accessed on July 8, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/us/jeff-german-las-vegas-reporter-killed-suspect-charged/index.html
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists,” accessed on June 17, 2023, https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-impunity-crimes-against-journalists
[29] “Accountability for Targeted Killings of Journalists: Legal and Other Efforts toward Justice,” Global Freedom of Expression, accessed on July 26, 2023, https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/events/accountability-for-targeted-killings-of-journalists-legal-and-other-efforts-towards-justice/
[30] “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists,” accessed on June 17, 2023, https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-impunity-crimes-against-journalists
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] “On World Press Freedom Day, Menendez, Blumenthal, Swalwell, Reintroduce Bill to Protect Journalists,” Bob Menendez for Senate, May 3, 2023, accessed on July 17, 2023, https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/on-world-press-freedom-day-menendez-blumenthal-swalwell-reintroduce-bill-to-protect-journalists#:~:text=The%20Journalist%20Protection%20Act%20would,without%20undue%20harm%20is%20paramount.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Ben Cardin (U.S. Senator), phone interview with the author, Washington, D.C., July 14, 2023.
[38] Ibid.
[39] CNN Wire, “Capital Gazette Staffer Charged at Gunman in Maryland Newsroom Shooting, Which Her Colleagues Say Saved Their Lives,” July 10, 2018, accessed on July 18, 2023, https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/capital-gazette-staffer-charged-at-gunman-in-maryland-newsroom-shooting-which-her-colleagues-say-saved-their-lives/
[40] Sarah Elfreth (Maryland State Senator), phone interview with the author, College Park, MD, July 14, 2023.
[41] Ibid.
[42] Ibid.
[43] “Journalist Safety and Emergencies,” Committee to Protect Journalists, accessed on July 25, 2023, https://cpj.org/journalist-safety-and-emergencies/.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Katherine Jacobson (CPJ Program Coordinator for the U.S. and Canada), phone interview with the author, College Park, July 18, 2023.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Glenn Cook (Executive Editor of the Las Vegas Review Journal,) phone interview with the author, College Park, July 25, 2023.
[51] Ibid.
[52] Ibid.