110 Journalists Were Killed Worldwide In 2015: Report

This year, events across the globe served as stark reminders of the dangers many members of the press face: 110 journalists worldwide were killed in 2015, according to the annual Reporters Without Borders roundup. While the majority of news correspondents killed in 2014 were in war zones, two-thirds of the deaths in 2015 took place in countries that are "at peace." France was also an especially deadly place for journalists in 2015, Reporters Without Borders notes. A group of writers and illustrators at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were murdered at its Paris office in January. That attack, for which a branch of al-Qaida claimed responsibility, contributed to France's ranking as the third-most-deadly country for journalists. Syria and Iraq topped the list. Not all the deaths were abroad — here in the United States, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, a TV anchor and cameraman at Virginia's WDBJ7, were killed during a live broadcast. The gunman, a former colleague, committed suicide after fleeing from police. Reporters Without Borders believes that 67 of the of 110 journalists who were killed in 2015 died because of their job or while working in the field. The organization called on United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a representative to enforce international laws for the safety of the working press. In August, Ban said that he was "deeply concerned about the failure to reduce the frequency and scale of targeted violence that journalists face." Reporters Without Borders has also released its 2015 Freedom Press Index, which indicates the safest and most dangerous places for news correspondents to work. Finland, Norway, and Denmark were the safest places for media workers, while Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Eritrea fell at the bottom of the list. For more on Reporters Without Borders' annual report, view the full PDF here.