Last year was one of the bloodiest for journalists, with 121 murdered, up from 107 in 2011.
According to the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists, the heavy death toll in war zones such as Syria and Somalia contributed to the high body count.
Syria, where the United Nations says at least 60,000 people have been killed in a 21-month revolt against the Bashar al-Assad regime, topped the table, with 35 journalists or other media workers killed.
Closer home Somalia weighed in next, with 18. In the East African Community, Tanzania was the year’s hellhole for journalists. In Iringa, police shot Channel 10 TV journalist Daudi Mwangosi at close range with a teargas rifle, and blew him to bits.
Then to ice the cake, the government banned MwanaHalisi, a Kiswahili tabloid.
In Uganda, the media endured weekly threats and a few well-chosen beatings. In an angry end of year message, President Yoweri Museveni promised to ban troublesome FM stations in the days to come if they did not mend their ways.
Journalism is like smoking. It is the only profession in many countries whereby, if you do well, you could end up in prison or dead.
It is our business to stick our pens and cameras where there is darkness and no one wants us to look. And, also, it is our job to get our noses into other people’s businesses.
That gets us many enemies. And if you are in Syria, Somalia, Russia, or Mexico, a few gunmen will be sent around your house or wait for you after dinner at your favourite restaurant and silence you.
Yet, I actually see hope in the fact that anyone still takes the trouble to kill and imprison journalists, ban newspapers, and break the legs of bloggers.
It is a reminder, unfortunate and tragic as it might be, that journalism still matters and afflicts the powerful and evil. That we still say important things to the public that those in power wouldn’t like them to hear.
The state of journalism in the world in recent years has been cause for worry. With the growth of broadcast outlets and explosion of tabloid media, the industry has been flooded with clowns, airheads, bikini-clad “news” anchors, and shameless peddlers of gossip who have brought ridicule upon the craft.
In many countries some years ago, there were fears that they would drown out good reporting and marginalise serious public affairs media.
That enough good journalists who give dictators and mob bosses headaches are still out there holding their own, is evidence that they have survived beyond the point when many said they would have become extinct.
The fact that websites are being shut down, and thugs in alleys waylay bloggers proves that the army of media workers doing good stuff is growing.
It is deeply troubling if at the end of it, these brave men and women aren’t there to celebrate the victory, and cash the cheques for their courageous work, and all they leave behind are widows, widowers and orphans.
As a journalist, though, I can proudly say that at least we left a lot of skin in the game. That we are not all just posers.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: [email protected]. Twitter: @cobbo3