Charlie Hebdo one year after: Freedom, quality, diversity

One year after the massacre at French magazine Charlie Hebdo, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) recalls that 112 journalists were killed in 2015 and near 2200 since 1990.

One year ago in Paris, 10 staff members of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were killed in their newsroom by two terrorists. Today, the entire profession is mourning the loss of giants in French journalism. In a country which saw the Declaration of Human Rights and the Citizen in 1789, these murders had such an impact that millions of citizens and journalists across the world got together to stand in favor of freedom of expression.

On 7 january 2015, the IFJ, which represents 600 000 journalists in the world, was represented at the Place of the Republic in Paris right from 7 January , alongside its French affiliates (SNJ, SNJ-CGT et CFDT-journalistes) ; then on 8 January outside Charlie Hebdo’s building and marched  behind the victims’ families on 11 January as it stood during the massive “republican demonstration” in Paris.

“ In 2015, according to the IFJ statistics, we deplored the killing of 112 journalists across the globe,” says Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. “France sadly shared the top spot in our ranking following Charlie Hebdo’s killings (10 killed) with Yemen and Irak, where journalists’ daily lives are increasingly under threat. I am pleased that we are paying tribute to the French journalists and especially my thoughts are with all these families who have been deeply affected by this tragedy.”

“There have been many debates and thoughts about the role of Charlie Hebdo in the French press and its content,” added Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General Secretary. “France, the country of the Declaration of human rights and citizens, and many other countries around the globe have a strong  tradition of freedom of expression, which acknowledges that journalists are citizens like everyone else and are not above the law. This is the case for Charlie Hebdo’s journalists as well.  It is a weekly satirical magazine which in essence is not meant to be consensual”.

In a few days the IFJ will publish its report on journalists killed in the world over the last 25 years. The statistics are alarming. Very alarming. « Since 1990 the IFJ has kept track of media professionals that died across the world in the course of their profession,” says the IFJ President. «  We deplore the loss of near 2200 journalists in the last 25 years, many of them from the Middle East, at ratio of two journalists killed every week ! ».

On this day of commemoration of the killings of journalists at Charlie Hebdo, the IFJ recalls the absolute necessity to protect freedom of expression. It calls on governments across the world to guarantee the safety  of media professionals  and to condemn impunity so that journalists continue to carry out their duties to inform in complete safefy. 


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The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 139 countries

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