The deadliest country for those working in communications media was Afghanistan , where 16 people were murdered , according to the international confederation of journalistic unions and associations. Mexico was next, with a total of 11 murders .
Yemen showed nine murders in 2018
while eight journalists were murdered in Syria , stated the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in their annual report.
The IFJ warned of an increase in the number of murdered journalists and communications media workers in 2018 with regard to the previous six years.
The federation added that 94 journalists had fallen victim to targeted murders, bomb attacks, and cross-fire last year , which was 12 more than in 2017.
Before the decrease registered in the past six years, 121 people that worked for news agencies and communications media were murdered in 2012 . Ever since the federation started making their annual report in 1990 , the year in which the most journalists and media workers were murdered was 2006 , counting 155 murders.
Beyond the tragedy of the lives that were lost, these murders are attacks on the search for truth and the exchange of information between different communities and nations, stated the chairman of the International Federation of Journalists, Philippe Leruth: “Journalists are usually targets because they are witnesses (…) and as a result of this, whenever one or several journalists are murdered in a given country, it constitutes a phenomenon of self-censorship.”
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