Reprisal Murders Of Journalists Nearly Double In 2018 - Watchdog

The number of journalists killed for doing their jobs has almost doubled in 2018, an influential pressure group campaigning for media freedoms said in a report out Wednesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2018) The number of journalists killed for doing their jobs has almost doubled in 2018, an influential pressure group campaigning for media freedoms said in a report out Wednesday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said at least 53 media workers were murdered on duty this year, either in reprisal killings, in combat or on other dangerous assignments.

At least 34 journalists were singled out for murder, it said, up from 18 in 2017. Deaths in combat fell to 11, their lowest since 2011, while eight lost their lives on dangerous missions.

Afghanistan became the deadliest place to be a journalist, with extremists deliberately targeting media workers. The deadliest single attack took place in the US state of Maryland in June when a shooter gunned down five in a newspaper's office.

The murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi received the most attention this year. The Washington Post columnist was killed inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October in what Riyadh claims was a rogue security operation.