NewsTracker Answers for week of Jan. 30, 2023

Q: Sixty-seven journalists were killed around the world in 2022, 50% more than the previous year. The war in Ukraine claimed the most news media workers. Where is Ukraine, on the northern shore of the Black Sea and southwest of Russia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that more than half the journalists died in four countries, 15 in Ukraine, 13 in Mexico, seven in Haiti and four in the Philippines. Journalists also were slain in 20 other nations, including the United States. U.S. reporter Jeff German was killed last year in which city?

A. Chicago

B. Las Vegas

C. New York City

D. Washington, D.C.

B. German, who covered politics and corruption for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was stabbed to death outside his home last September. Police arrested and charged a county administrator who had lost his re-election bid after German reported on alleged mismanagement in the official’s office.

Q: The CPJ said it confirmed that 41 of the 67 journalists were killed “in direct connection with their work,” it still investigating motives for the 26 other slayings. The New York-based CPJ also reported that 363 journalists were imprisoned last year for their work. Which nation locked up the most journalists?

A. Belarus

B. China

C. Iran

D. Turkey

C. Iran had 62 members of the news media locked up, followed by 43 in China, 42 in Myanmar and 40 in Turkey. Belarus ranked fifth with 26 journalists imprisoned. That nation’s authoritarian regime used a fighter jet to force an airliner to land in Belarus in 2021 just so it could arrest a dissident journalist who was a passenger on the plane.

Q: Which nation has passed a “fake news” law to silence critics?

A. Egypt

B. Russia

C. Turkey

D. All of the above

D. Many of the world’s authoritarian regimes use charges of spreading “fake news” to imprison both journalists and ordinary citizens for any news reports or social media posts that are critical of government officials. After it invaded Ukraine last year, Russia passed a law that could imprison a person up to15 years for saying something “wrong” about the country’s “special military operation.”

Q: Journalist Dmitry Muratov was forced to shut down his Russian newspaper last year. Muratov was one of two journalists to receive the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." The other journalist, Maria Ressa, works in which country?

A. Haiti

B. Mexico

C. Philippines

D. Ukraine

C. Ressa founded an online news site which was very critical of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. As a result, she faced charges that could put her in prison. But this month, a Philippine court acquitted Ressa and her news outlet of tax evasion.