Almost 60 journalists killed worldwide in 2016, says Reporters Without Borders
At least 57 journalists have been killed in 2016 while doing their job, Reporters Without Borders said on Monday. The press freedom group said 19 were killed in Syria, 10 in Afghanistan, nine in Mexico and five in Iraq. Almost all of those killed were locally based journalists. Although it was fewer than the 67 killed in 2015, the group put the decrease down to "the fact that many journalists have fled countries that became too dangerous, especially Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and Burundi". It said the withdrawal of reporters from these conflict-ridden countries had created "news and information black holes where impunity reigns". Nine bloggers and eight media workers have also been killed this year. Reporters Without Borders said the fall in deaths was also the result of the "terror" imposed by what it called "press freedom predators", who close media outlets arbitrarily and gag journalists. In countries such as Mexico, this led to journalists self-censoring to avoid bei...
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