Baku. 19 December. REPORT.AZ/ Sixty-five journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2017 in connection with the provision of news and information, according to annual figures published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday, Syria and Mexico were the deadliest countries for reporters, Report informs citing RIA Novosti.
"A total of 65 journalists (including professional journalists, citizen-journalists and media workers) were killed worldwide in 2017. Twenty-six of them were killed in the course of their work, the collateral victims of a deadly situation such as an air strike, an artillery bombardment, or a suicide bombing. The other 39 were murdered, and deliberately targeted because their reporting threatened political, economic, or criminal interests", the report says.
Syria continued to be the world’s deadliest country for journalists with 12 killed, but Mexico was close behind with 11 killed. Iraq and Afghanistan are the third and fourth most dangerous countries for media workers. Nine national journalists were killed in Afghanistan this year and eight journalists in Iraq.
As of December 1, 326 journalists are in prison in connection with the provision of information in the world, 54 more are being held hostages, two are considered missing.
In 2016, according to the organization, 74 journalists were killed or died in the course of their works.
Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, engaged in the protection of the rights of journalists and press freedom around the world.