Violence and harassment against media have skyrocketed with at least 81 journalists killed doing their jobs last year, according to Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists, the world's biggest organization for journalists, notes Grumpy Editor.
In its annual "kill report," reviewed by the Associated Press, IFJ said reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world.
Eight women journalists were among those killed.
More than 250 journalists were in prison in 2017.
Highest number of media killings was in Mexico, with 13, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq with 11 each, Syria with 10, and India with 6.
The IFJ warned that "unprecedented numbers of journalists were jailed, forced to flee, that self-censorship was widespread and that impunity for the killings, harassment, attacks and threats against independent journalism was running at epidemic levels."
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