World Press Freedom Day

  Journalists and media actors sometimes even fac e several types of attacks at the same time, such as a verbal and a physical attack performed within the same incident by the same aggressor. In this section we show how many alerts involved a certain type of attack.   The types of attacks are grouped into 5 main types with detailed information provided below:        Physical: In more than 1 out of 5 incidents (21.1%, 132 alerts) media actors were physically attacked. In 49 incidents (7.8%) media actors were injured. Three journalists were killed: the investigative journalist Peter R. de Vries in the Netherlands, the television reporter and veteran crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in Greece, and the local radio presenter Hazım Özsu in Turkey.  Verbal: In more than 4 out of 10 incidents (41.1%, 257 alerts), media actors were verbally abused. This includes intimidation/threatening (25.2%, 158 alerts), insult/ab‐ use (78 alerts), discrediting (32), hara...

  Spain follows a trend monitored in several other European countries regarding the safety of journalists during demonstrations, which is becoming an increasingly risky place for media professionals on assignment. With six alerts, they are the main context for physical assaults, threat to professional equipment, and insults. Physical assaults included a protester punching a journalist in the face, journalists hit with batons by riot police, and shot at  point blank range with non-lethal detonating ammunition. During a protest, journalists’ equipment was damaged, with black paint sprayed on one of the camera lenses to prevent them from continuing to record. In February, the newsroom and office building of El Periodico de Catalunya was damaged by protesters who smashed the windows and painted the doors, while shouting anti-media slogans. Finally, Sonia Lopez , Marta Madonado , and a reporting crew for La Sexta TV were insulted and harassed while covering anti-mask and anti...