Impunity Is Easy To Hide, Bullet Wounds Not So Much

Michael Hedges May 16, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

We are living in contentious times. It's everywhere, all the time. And it's growing. Explanations of this are also everywhere. News media struggles to cover it all. Then they become part of it. Only a few moments of relief appear. Already there is pining for the good ol' days of coronavirus lockdowns. Not really.

Chilean reporter Francisca Sandoval succumbed last week (May 12) to a gunshot to the head. She had been covering International Worker’s Day May 1st demonstrations in Santiago, the country’s capital, when struck down. Alleged perpetrators have been arrested. Chilean president Gabriel Boric promised “not to allow impunity.” Two other reporters were injured by gunfire.

The 29 year old was a reporter for community television channel La Victoria Signal 3. When shot, she was wearing a marked helmet and marked protective vest. “No one dies by mistake with a shot to the head during a protest, except when you are a reporter,” said left-leaning news portal La Voz de Los Que Sobran (May 13). She was the first Chilean reporter killed on the job since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990, noted Chilean Journalists Union (Colegio de Periodistas) president Danilo Ahumada to Diario Uchile (May 13).

Three reporters in Mexico have been killed in Mexico yet this month, bringing to 11 deaths the total for 2022. The violent targeting of Mexican media workers in recent years shows no sign of abating despite official investigations. Very few culprits are ever apprehended, bringing up repeated cries of “impunity.”

Killed last Monday (May 9) in Veracruz state, Mexico were news portal El Veraz founder and editor Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and video reporter Sheila Johana García Olivera. Both were shot dead in a parking lot. Earlier (May 5) the body of news portal Fuentes Fidedignas columnist and founder Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos was discovered along a dirt road in the Sinaloa state. He had been kidnapped, beaten, shot and left wrapped in black plastic bags.

Sra Mollinedo had covered crime and security issues in southern Veracruz but had recently stopped due to death threats. The publication also removed her byline from previously published reports. Mra Garcia was a recent hire. Sr Ramírez was 59 years old and had been a reporter and columnist for several national news organizations. He was “the most influential political analyst in the state of Sinaloa,” said El Financerio, which published his columns.

“We will reinforce security measures for journalists,” said presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez Cuevas in a statement (May 7). “There will be no impunity.” State-level legal initiatives to protect media workers is stalled by languishing national laws.

Receiving considerable international attention well-regarded Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead while covering an Israeli police operation in the West Bank refugee camp near Jenin. She, too, was wearing a marked helmet and marked protective vest, noted CNN (May 11). Her producer, Ali Al-Samudi, was also shot, currently hospitalized.

A Palestinian-American Ms Abu Akleh had worked for Al Jazeera for more than 25 years, mostly reporting from Israeli-occupied Palestine. She reported for both the Arabic and English services. “"Shireen never shied away from covering any event," said Al Jazeera colleague Givara Budeiri. "She never feared anything, except for standing at the top of a high building.”

As the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is never ending, both sides blamed each other for the killing. And both sides have been conducting independent investigations, which neither side will accept. The UN Security Council unanimously rebuked the killing of Ms Abu Akleh and made the expected call for an independent investigation. A year ago (May 15, 2021) Israeli warplanes bombed and flattened the Gaza City office building occupied by Al Jazeera and news agency AP.

Israeli police added to the tensions by charging mourners carrying the deceased’s coffin with stun guns and batons, reported AFP (May 13). Live coverage of this also went global. Roads were closed along the procession route. With interment complete, the usual tense calm resumed.

See also...

• Hot Topics - Journalism

• Hot Topics - Media in Mexico

• Hot Topics - Media in Israel

• Hot Topics - Al Jazeera

• Hot Topics - Press/Media Freedom