139 journalists killed on the job in 2012
Geneva: A total of 139 journalists lost their lives this year while doing their job in different parts of the world, a 30-percent increase over 2011, the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said on Monday.
Many of those deaths came among reporters covering the conflict in Syria, PEC Secretary-General Blaise Lempen said. PEC said that, after the Iraq war, the civil strife in Syria has become the bloodiest episode for journalists since the beginning of the 21st century, with a total of 36 slain.
Brazil has recorded 11 fatalities up to now, and in Honduras there were at least six. The PEC investigation says that from January 11, 2008 to date, the number of journalists slain totals 569, or an average of 114 a year.
During those five years, the 10 countries where the most journalists died on the job were the Philippines, Mexico, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Honduras, Brazil, Russia and India, which together accounted for two-thirds of the victims.
