According to a report published this Tuesday by Human Rights Defenders in the first half of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, violence against journalists has increased by 85%, compared to the first half of his predecessor’s term. The report by Article 19, an international human rights group, described Mexico as “the most dangerous country for journalists” outside of active war zones. Since 2000, 148 journalists have been killed in Mexico, nine were killed in 2021, and seven have been killed as of March 14, 2022. In addition to murders, 343 attacks on journalists were reported in 2020. The report states that “public servants perpetrated 188 of these 343 attacks.” The report follows previous Article 19 calls for Mexico to take action after four journalists were killed in January. It noted that the Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, an independent body funded by the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, has faced “serious budget cuts” since 2020. In addition to physical attacks, Article 19 reported that President Obrador criticized the media “an average of six times a month” in 2021. The human rights group also called for Sanjuana Martínez, director of the state news agency Notimex, to be held accountable for “using public resources to coordinate online attacks against journalists and employees who had been critics of his management.” Even the EU adopted a resolution condemning the “alarming rate at which journalists and human rights defenders are being threatened, harassed and killed”. The resolution indicated that President Obrador has often used press conferences to “denigrate and intimidate independent journalists.” President Obrador responded by calling the EU “sheep” and calling the resolution a “coup-like strategy.” The report sends a somber message. Without action, attacks on the media and freedom of expression are likely to continue.