Here’s positive news at the end of the year: the Philippines, for the first time since 2007, is not included in the 2015 list of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
This, however, is mainly because the motive for the seven murders this year targeting Philippine journalists has not yet been established to be work-related. And the motive has not been established because the cases have not been solved. In August alone, three journalists were killed within a span of two weeks.
The failure to catch perpetrators or send gunmen and murder masterminds to prison is the reason why the Philippines continues to rank high in the Impunity Index when it comes to the killing of journalists. In taking the country out of this year’s list of the “World’s Most Deadly Countries for Journalists,” the New York-based press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists pointed out that motives for the seven murders still have to be determined. The CPJ has been compiling records of journalist killings since 1992.
This year, the terrorist attack that killed 11 people, mostly cartoonists of the satirical newsweekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris put France second only to conflict-torn Syria on the list of the world’s most dangerous places for media workers. CPJ is still verifying reports that up to 35 journalists had been killed or were missing or being held captive by Islamic State militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
It has been pointed out many times that every unsolved murder encourages more attacks. Impunity reigns when murderers believe they can get away with their crime. Nations are measured by their response to such threats to press freedom. So far the Philippine response has been disappointing.