Numerous journalists have been murdered or killed in the United States while reporting, covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist. At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic investigations.[1] The most recent journalists killed in the United States are Alison Parker and Adam Ward, who were killed on August 26, 2015, during a live news broadcast on WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia.
Date |
Name |
Employer |
Location |
Notes |
Refs |
August 26, 2015 |
Alison Parker and Adam Ward |
WDBJ 7 |
Roanoke, Virginia |
Parker, a reporter, and Ward, a photojournalist, were shot on live television by one-time colleague Vester Flanagan while interviewing a subject about tourism. |
[11] |
August 2, 2007 |
Chauncey Bailey |
The Oakland Post |
Oakland, California |
After investigating corruption in his community, Bailey was murdered on his way to work by the target of his reporting. |
[1][7] |
October 5, 2001 |
Robert Stevens |
Sun |
Boca Raton, Florida |
Murdered as one of the media targets of the 2001 anthrax attacks less than a month after 9/11. |
[12] |
September 11, 2001 |
Bill Biggart |
Freelance photographer |
Manhattan, New York City, New York |
Killed while photographing the rescue effort outside the World Trade Center before the tower collapsed. |
[13] |
October 18, 2000 |
James Edwin Richards |
Citizen journalist, editor and publisher |
Venice, California |
Richards was murdered at his Oakwood neighborhood home in the neighborhood where he had established himself as a citizen crime reporter. |
[14][15] |
October 24, 1993 |
Dona St. Plite |
WKAT-AM |
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida |
St. Plite was attending a benefit for former colleague Fritz Dor when he was also assassinated for supporting Jean-Bertrand Aristide. |
[16][17] |
March 11, 1992 |
Manuel de Dios Unanue |
El Diario La Prensa |
Queens, New York City, New York |
Murdered by Colombian drug traffickers for writing about drug trade. |
[18][19] |
March 15, 1991 |
Fritz D'Or |
WLQY-AM (1320) |
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida |
A colleague of Olivier's at WLQY, he was assassinated as he left a club. |
[16][20] |
February 18, 1991 |
Jean-Claude Olivier (a.k.a. Division Star) |
WLQY-AM (1320) |
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida |
A colleague of Dor's, he was known for his controversial commentary and was assassinated on his way to his car. |
[16][21] |
September 22, 1990 |
Triet Le |
Van Nghe Tien Phong |
Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia |
A columnist of controversial content for the same Vietnamese magazine that employed Nhan Trong Do. Assassinated. |
[5][6][22][23][24][25] |
November 22, 1989 |
Nhan Trong Do |
Van Nghe Tien Phong |
Fairfax County, Virginia |
A layout designer who worked with Triet Le, he was the first employer of the Vietnamese-language magazine to be assassinated. |
[5][6][22][23][24] |
August 9, 1987 |
Tap Van Pham (a.k.a. Hoai Diep Tu) |
Mai |
Garden Grove, California |
He was assassinated by arson while sleeping in his office by an anti-communist group that took responsibility. |
[5][6][22][23] |
October 15, 1984 |
Henry Liu (a.k.a. Chiang Nan) |
Freelancer and author |
Daly City, California |
A critic of the Kuomintang who was assassinated by order from the Kuomintang. |
[26] |
June 19, 1984 |
Alan Berg |
KOA (AM) |
Denver, Colorado |
A liberal radio show host who was murdered by a white nationalist group. |
[27] |
August 24, 1982 |
Nguyen Dam Phong |
Tu Do (Freedom) |
Houston, Texas |
Was assassinated at his home by an anti-communist group. |
[5][6][22][23][28] |
July 21, 1981 |
Duong Trong Lam |
Cai Dinh Lang (The Village Temple) |
San Francisco, California |
Killed by gunfire from a member of one of two anti-communist groups that claimed responsibility for his assassination. |
[5][6][22][23][29][30] |
June 28, 1978 |
John A. Kelly |
WHDH-TV |
Boston, Massachusetts |
Killed during the Blackfriars Massacre. |
[31] |
March 9, 1977 |
Maurice Williams |
WHUR-FM |
Washington, D.C. |
He was murdered during the 1977 Hanafi Siege. |
[32] |
June 2, 1976 |
Don Bolles |
Arizona Republic |
Phoenix, Arizona |
Murdered as a result of a car bomb set by the mafia outside the Clarendon Hotel. |
[33][34][35] |
August 29, 1970 |
Rubén Salazar |
Los Angeles Times |
Los Angeles, California |
Salazar was killed by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department while covering the Chicano Moratorium protest in East Los Angeles. The park where the protest took place was later renamed Salazar Park in his honor. |
[36][37] |
September 30, 1962 |
Paul Guihard |
Agence-France Presse |
Oxford, Mississippi |
Guihard was a British-French citizen who was killed during the civil rights era at the University of Mississippi. He was assigned to photograph the events surrounding James Meredith's attendance when he turned his focus on riots and in the confusion was shot. His murder remains an unsolved case. |
[38] |
July 29, 1949 |
W.H. "Bill" Mason |
KBKI radio |
Alice, Texas |
Known as a crusading radio journalist in a county ruled with an iron hand by local law enforcement, Mason was shot dead by Sheriff deputy Sam Smithwick, who Mason had publicly accused of running a strip club. The senate candidate who lost to Lyndon B. Johnson believed that Smithwick had information about how the election had been rigged but Smithwick was hanged before their meeting. Mason's tombstone reads: "He had the nerve to tell the truth for a lot of little people." |
[1][39][40][41] |
January 22, 1945 |
Arthur Kasherman |
Public Press (alternative) |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
His death figured into Hubert Humphrey's mayoral victory. |
[42] |
December 9, 1935 |
Walter Liggett |
Midwest American |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
He wrote about political corruption and organized crime. |
[43][44] |
September 6, 1934 |
Howard Guilford |
The Saturday Press |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Editor of a newspaper that exposed corruption and organized crime. He and partner Jay Near won the US Supreme Court decision in Near v. Minnesota. |
[45][46] |
July 23, 1930 |
Jerry Buckley |
WMBC-AM |
Detroit, Michigan |
Gunned down on election night. |
[47] |
July 16, 1927 |
Donald Ring Mellett |
Canton Daily News |
Canton, Ohio |
|
[1] |
December 25, 1915 |
Huang Yuanyong |
Shao Nian Zhong Guo Weekly |
San Francisco, California |
The Chinese national was murdered while visiting the United States. The case remained unsolved but Kuomintang (KMT) supporters were suspected of carrying out the assassination at the Shanghai Low restaurant. |
[48] |
November 9, 1908 |
Edward W. Carmack |
Nashville American |
Nashville, Tennessee |
Former congressman and senator. He was killed by a former army officer who disapproved of his name appearing in an article and threatened the editor. |
[49] |
January 15, 1903 |
Narciso Gener Gonzales |
The State |
Columbia, South Carolina |
He was killed by Jim Tillman, the Lt. Governor of South Carolina, who was acquitted of murder by a jury. |
[50] |
April 1, 1898 |
William Cowper Brann (a.k.a. Brann the Iconoclast) |
Iconoclast |
Waco, Texas |
Wrote critical articles about Baptists. Shot in the back during a duel. |
[51] |
February 1, 1891 |
Ignacio Martínez |
El Mundo |
Laredo, Texas |
Owned a newspaper that wrote critical articles on the regime of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. His murderers fled to Mexico and were never arrested. |
[52] |
March 27, 1884 |
Charles L. Kusz |
The Gringo and Greaser |
Manzano, New Mexico |
Shot through his window by unknown gunman on horses. His newspaper was reform oriented and created enemies as it sought changes. |
[53] |
November 17, 1881 |
A.B. Thornton |
Boonville News |
Boonville, Missouri |
The town marshal killed Thornton because of criticism from the newspaper and won acquittal based on the perception that the criticism was too intense. |
[54] |
June 12, 1881 |
Jerome James Collins |
New York Herald |
Bennett Island, Bering Strait |
An Irish American, Collins founded the Clan na Gael, an Irish republican organization in the United States, and left on a polar expedition as a reporter and meteorologist with the Jeannette expedition to avoid police. However, all but two survived the sinking of the vessel. |
[55][56] |
April 23, 1880 |
Charles de Young |
The Daily Dramatic Chronicle |
San Francisco, California |
With his brother M. H. de Young, he founded the newspaper that would become the San Francisco Chronicle. The mayor's son killed him in revenge for a feud de Young had with his father. |
[57] |
March 27, 1877 |
J. Clarke Swayze |
Topeka Daily Blade |
Topeka, Kansas |
Swayze was killed after publishing a critical article about his murderer. |
[58] |
June 25, 1876 |
Mark Kellogg (reporter) |
Associated Press |
Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana |
The first Associated Press journalist to die while reporting. |
[59] |
November 5, 1871 |
Frederick Wadsworth Loring |
Appleton's Journal |
Wickenburg, Arizona |
Was killed while on assignment out west in what is known as the Wickenburg Massacre, an attack on a stagecoach by Native Americans. |
[60] |
September 14, 1866 |
Ridgeway Glover |
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper |
Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming |
While covering the American Indian Wars, Glover was killed and mutilated during the construction of Fort Kearny in 1866. |
[61] |
1864 |
Albert Street |
The Mobile Register |
Unknown |
One of the few southern journalists killed during the US Civil War. |
|
May 6, 1864 |
Samuel Fiske (aka Dunn Browne) |
The Springfield Republican |
Fredericksburg, Virginia |
Capt. Fiske wrote under the name Dunn Browne and served in the army and was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness. |
[62] |
October 6, 1863 |
James O'Neal |
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper |
Baxter Springs, Kansas |
O'Neal was an artist-correspondent murdered by Quantrill's guerrillas at the Baxter Springs Massacre. |
[63] |
June 23, 1863 |
Lynde Walter Buckingham |
New York Herald |
Aldie, Virginia |
Killed as a result of an ambush during the U.S. Civil War. He was buried at the Mount Zion Old School Baptist Church-VDHR 53-339 in Aldie. |
[64] |
April 6, 1862 |
Irving Carson |
New York Tribune |
Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee |
First journalist to be killed during the U.S. Civil War. Killed by a cannonball fire while covering the Battle of Shiloh and General Ulysses S. Grant. |
[65] |
May 20, 1856 |
James King of William |
Daily Evening Bulletin |
San Francisco, California |
|
[66][67] |
June 22, 1854 |
Joseph Mansfield |
San Joaquin Republican |
Stockton, California |
Mansfield was killed in a fight with a rival editor, both of whom were Democrats. |
[68] |
September 15, 1848 |
John Jenkins |
Vicksburg Sentinel |
Vicksburg, Mississippi |
Killed in a fight with an attorney after the two had a previous altercation. |
[69] |
February 29, 1844 |
James A. Ryan |
Vicksburg Sentinel |
Vicksburg, Mississippi |
The Vicksburg Sentinel was a Democrat paper and Ryan was killed by his rival Whig counterpart in a duel on their second fight. |
[70] |
June 6, 1843 |
James Hagan |
Vicksburg Sentinel |
Vicksburg, Mississippi |
Hagan was killed by the son of a man he had criticized in his newspaper. |
[69][70][71][72] |
November 7, 1837 |
Elijah Parish Lovejoy |
Alton Observer |
Alton, Illinois |
This abolition editor was killed by a mob supporting slavery in the Union. |
[73][74] |
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The only professional, working journalist to die while covering the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City was photojournalist Bill Biggart, who was killed by falling debris as he was taking photographs.[75][76] However, the International Federation of Journalists, which also counts media workers, said that six other media workers and a journalist who were not working at the time died in the attacks. Among those media workers listed as killed were six broadcast TV engineers, who worked inside a tower, and another professional photojournalist, who was a passenger on the first plane that was flown into the WTC.[77]