Viktoria Marinova murder: are journalists in Europe still safe?
Bulgarian reporter becomes third EU journalist to be killed this year
A Bulgarian investigative reporter has become the third journalist to be murdered in the European Union this year, part of a wider trend that has seen press freedom increasingly under attack across the continent.
Stressing “there is no democracy without a free press”, the European Commission has urged Bulgaria to conduct a rapid investigation into the killing of journalist Viktoria Marinova.
The 30-year-old’s body was found in a park near the Danube river in the norther city of Ruse on Saturday and a preliminary autopsy revealed she had been raped, beaten and suffocated before her body was dumped.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bulgarian media reports said that over the last year Marinova had been reporting on an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption involving the misuse of EU funds by businesses and local politicians, although “it’s not clear if Marinova's murder was related to her journalistic work”, says CNN.
Bulgaria’s government said there was no evidence the killing was linked to Marinova’s journalism for local television station TVN, “but her death has drawn international condemnation and press freedom campaigners have expressed fears of a cover-up”, says The Independent.
Bulgaria ranked 111 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index this year, “lower than any other EU member” says Reuters.
In October 2017, hundreds of Bulgarian journalists protested in central Sofia over threats from deputy prime minister Valeri Simeonov against the country’s biggest broadcasters.
Drew Sullivan, co-founder of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, said the EU should launch an independent probe into the killing.
He added: “Why do we keep leaving investigations to the very governments who the reporters are investigating when they are killed?”
Marinova is the third investigative journalist from the European Union to have been targeted in less than 12 months.
Daphne Caruana Galizia, Malta’s best-known investigative reporter, was killed when a bomb blew up her car in October last year and Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak was shot dead in February.
Europe has seen the steepest decline in World Press Freedom Index regional rankings over the past year: Malta is now ranked 65th, down by 18 points, and Slovakia 27th, down by 10.
It is, however, part of a wider global trend, with one journalist killed on average every week around the world, according to figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
Most of those killed in 2017 were murdered for their investigations into political corruption and organised crime, according to several media rights groups cited by the BBC.
“In the last six years, it's been an incredibly dangerous time to be a journalist,” says Robert Mahoney the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deputy executive director. “Many journalists are not killed in conflicts, they are murdered and deliberately targeted for their work.”
Nor is it just non-state actors who are targeting journalists.
“As security – rather than the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms – becomes the number one priority of governments worldwide, broadly-written security laws have been twisted to silence journalists”, wrote Index on Censorship’s Jodie Ginsburg last year.
Type the word “terror” into the search box of Mapping Media Freedom, Index on Censorship’s European media freedom monitor, and more than 200 cases appear related to journalists targeted for their work under terror laws.
“This includes everything from alleged public order offences in Catalonia to the “harming of national interests in Ukraine” to the hundreds of journalists jailed in Turkey following the failed coup” says Ginsberg.
The Council of Europe’s live tracker currently lists 126 journalists in detention across the EU.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Climate studies are increasingly becoming politicized'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - May 6, 2024
Cartoons Monday's cartoons - university encampments, Florida's abortion ban, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Boeing and NASA ready first crewed Starliner flight
Speed Read Two NASA astronauts are heading to the International Space Station
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Weinstein's appeal: a blow to #MeToo
Talking Point Is 'shocking' reversal of symbolic conviction a sign of weakening movement?
By The Week UK Published
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published