It's a dangerous world. With that fact and the very prevalent 24-hour news cycle, more and more journalists are being attacked at gunpoint, held hostage and even murdered. Currently, The Press Freedom Barometer listed on the Reporters Without Borders website has 5 journalists killed and 167 imprisoned in the first three months of this year. It's pretty safe to say that this number will rise.
From the Ukraine to Baghdad to Lebanon to inside our own borders, the practice of enemies taking reporters hostage is not new. However, this horrible act has become more commonplace as the years have progressed.
The following list documents 20 instances reporters have been taken or held at gunpoint around the world. We celebrate those who have returned home safely, mourn those whose lives were lost and pray for those brave souls still unaccounted for.
http://www.ranker.com/list/kidnappings-reporters-held-hostage/aaron-pruner,
Richard Engel
Richard Engel is an American Journalist who works for NBC News. On December 13, 2012, Richard Engel and his crew were dragged from their car at gunpoint and abducted in Syria. Throughout their capture, they were moved to various locations and psychologically tortured. Held for a total of five days, it is still uncertain why they were abducted and who was responsible. Richard Engel
In the April 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, Engel recounts his experience in the editorial titled The Hostage.
James Foley
On November 22, 2012, James Foley was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in the northern province of Idlib, Syria. An American freelance war reporter, Foley was no stranger to being abducted as he was held captive a year prior by pro-Gaddafi forces in Libya.
At this point, Foley has been missing for 488 days and there is no word on his condition or whereabouts. His family and friends have made a website featuring an appeal for his release: freejamesfoley.com
Amanda Lindhout
On August 23, 2008, Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped from Mogadishu, Somalia after arriving two days earlier. Lindhout and her crew were stopped by teenage Hizbul Islam insurgents. In turn, she and her photojournalist Nigel Brennan were taken hostage and held for 460 days. On November 25, 2009, the two were released following receipt of ransom payments paid by their families.
After being released, Amanda Lindhout has been pursuing a philanthropic career instead of journalism. In 2013, she released her book A House in the Sky: A Memoir which became a New York Times bestseller and recounts her experience in Somalia.
Mellissa Fung
Mellissa Fung is a Canadian journalist with CBC News. On October 12, 2008, she was on assignment in Afghanistan when she was abducted by armed men while on her way to a refugee camp near Kabul. Fung was blindfolded and chained up inside a tiny dark cave. An Islamist group called Hizb-e-Islami was responsible for the abduction and were later detained.
Mellissa Fung was released on November 8, 2008, and has authored a book called Under an Afghan Sky that tells of her experiences during those few weeks.
Tyler Hicks
Tyler Hicks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer. On March 14, 2011, he and three other journalists were abducted in Eastern Libya by pro Gaddafi forces while en-route to Benghazi. Pulled from their car at gunpoint, the creweaturing Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, former Boston Globe reporter Stephen Farrell and photographer Lynsey Addario all fled the scene only to be captured in a nearby house.
The four of them were bound, gagged, interrogated and beaten for a handful of days before finally being released.
Anhar Kochneva (Syria, 2012)
Anhar Kochneva is a Ukrainian journalist who was known for strongly criticizing the Syrian opposition. On October 12, 2012, she was traveling from Damascus to the Syrian coast when she was taken hostage by a group of terrorists calling themselves the "Free Syrian Army."
Kochneva spent a total of five months in a cold room with a broken window before executing a successful escape from her kidnappers back to Demascus. She said she finally decided to flee for fear that the terrorists would kill her and blame government forces for her death.
Gregorio Jiménez De La Cruz (Veracruz, 2014)
Gregorio Jiménez De La Cruz was a Mexican journalist who was abducted on February 5, 2014. His body was soon found buried along with two others in the municipality of Las Choapas in Veracruz.
Jiménez was taken from his home after he had dropped his children off at school. He covered crime and security for the newspapers Notisur and Liberal del Sur, which recently included local abductions and violence towards migrants.
Soon after discovering his body, the authorities had a bunch of suspects detained, including the owner of a local bar who they said had ordered the murder for 20,000 peros ($1,500 US) because of a personal dispute. Christina Hernandez, Gregorio's late wife, claimed the bar owner ordered the murder in retaliation for an article Jimenez wrote about a stabbing that occurred near the bar and because of a personal dispute between their daughters.
Euna Lee and Laura Ling (North Korea, 2009)
During the last week of March, 2009, North Korea announced it had detained two American journalists for illegally entering the country. On May 3, they officially announced that Laura Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee were the ones detained. The reason for this action was their failed attempt at filming refugees along the North Korean border with China.
It was in June that the two were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for their illegal entry into North Korea, along with other unspecified hostile acts. The two were finally released in August of that year after former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to the country.
A year later, Laura Ling and her sister Lisa co-wrote the memoir Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home.
Dimitar Kenarov (Crimea, 2014)
Dimitar Kenarov is a freelance journalist who works for Bulgarian, European and American media. On March 7, 2014, it was reported that Kenarov was held up at gunpoint by masked men while in Crimea's Simferpol. The attack happened while he was sitting in a restaurant taking photos with his mobile phone. Marked, armed men entered and put a gun to his head. They proceeded to take his phone, his friend's camera equipment and then sped off in an unmarked van.
Dimitar Kenarov further informed the media that Crimea is now partially under martial law.
Nick Greyling (Nigeria, 2010)
Nick Greyling is a sound engineer who works for South Africa's M-Net SuperSport satellite channel. On March 1, 2010, he was kidnapped by armed men in the Niger Delta oil region along with cameraman Alexander Effiong and and sports commentator Bowie Attamah.
The day following their kidnapping, Effiong managed to escape safely back to Lagos. On the fifth day, Greyling and Attamah were both released per negotiations with South African officials. These types of kidnappings are common in the Niger Delta with ransom being their ultimate goals.