Mexico City, Mar 17 (EFE).– Attacks on the press rose 21.8 percent in Mexico last year, compared to 2014, with seven members of the media murdered and 397 cases, or one every 22 hours, registered, the Articulo 19 press rights organization said in a report.

Public officials were involved in 41.5 percent of the cases, the press rights group said.

The figures show “the seriousness of the situation: violations of the right to freedom of expression and information, as well as attacks on journalists, go hand-in-hand with the absence of a willingness by the state (to take action) and the resulting impunity,” Articulo 19 said in its annual report.

Of the 397 cases registered, officials were involved in 165, while 78 involved non-governmental parties; 35 were the work of organized crime groups; 34 involved political parties; and 85 were incidents where the assailant could not be identified, the press rights group said.

Seven journalists were murdered in Mexico last year, up from the six killed in 2014 and four slain in 2013, making 2015 the worst year for the press since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in late 2012, Articulo 19 said.

Among those murdered were photojournalist Ruben Espinosa, who was killed along with four women, including activist Nadia Vera, in Mexico City.

Both Vera and Espinosa had reported getting death threats and said they feared for their lives due to their work in the Gulf state of Veracruz, which they fled a few months before their murders.

A total of 55 members of the media were murdered in Mexico from 2009 to 2015, making the country one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, Articulo 19 said. EFE