Violence Against Journalists

Journalism has meant different things in different times and places, but however it has been defined, it has encountered some form of violence. In some cases, violence has been an unofficial form of media regulation. In other cases, violence has marked the continuation of political conflicts by other means. In yet other cases, violence has been primarily personal, growing out of a sense of outraged honor or acting as an assertion of sexual power. In every case, violence has had an expressive dimension; in some cases, it has been primarily symbolic. Although usually physical and material, violence in the 21st century has evolved to include “virtual” acts.

This entry is organized around patterns (rather than discrete acts) of violence. Violent acts are often chaotic and random, ...