In its annual assessment of journalists killed worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says 70 journalists were killed in 2012. The New York-based press freedom organization categorizes murders as those with a confirmed motive, those with unconfirmed motives, and the death of media workers (employed in the industry but not reporting the news directly).
According to CPJ statistics there were 31 additional murders in 2012 that they have been unable to confirm the motive for, and 2 additional deaths that were media workers.
For the first time since CPJ has been documenting journalists deaths since 1992, journalists who worked online represented over one-third of those killed in 2012. CPJ says it is the largest segment they have ever documented for online journalists.
The last time more journalists were killed was in 2009 in the Philippines when a caravan including a group of journalists was ambushed on a road. More than two dozen journalists were murdered in that attack alone.
CPJ says one reason for the spike in journalist deaths on the job in 2012 was related to ongoing hostilities and conditions for journalists in Syria.
The deadliest country for journalists in 2012, with 28 killed, followed by 12 in Somalia and 7 in Pakistan. The spike in deaths in Somalia represented a record number of shootings there.
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