At least 57 journalists have been killed around the world in 2016 while doing their job, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Monday (December 19th).
The press freedom group said 19 were killed in Syria alone, followed by 10 in Afghanistan, nine in Mexico, seven in Iraq and five in Yemen, AFP reported.
Almost all of those killed were locally-based journalists.
Although it was fewer than the 67 killed in 2015, RSF 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".
"The violence against journalists is more and more deliberate," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. "They are clearly being targeted and murdered because they are journalists."
