Twelve journalists died this year in Somalia, where the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab has been waging a violent insurgency against the Mogadishu-based federal government. All were murdered, according to CPJ, which says not a single killer of a journalist has been prosecuted in Somalia over the past decade.
Journalist Marie Colvin, second left, poses for a photograph with Libyan rebels in Misrata, June 4, 2011. She was among 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2012, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The civil war in Syria, targeted shootings in Somalia and continued violence in Pakistan made 2012 a particularly dangerous year for journalists, with at least 67 killed worldwide in direct relation to their work, according to an organization that defends press freedom.
The fatality numbers compiled through mid-December by the Committee to Protect Journalists represent a 42 percent increase over 2011. The committee says 2012 is on track to becoming one of the deadliest years for journalists since it began compiling records in 1992.
Coupled with snapshot figures showing a record-high number of journalists imprisoned worldwide – 232 on Dec. 1 – this year has been a year of living dangerously for those who work to gather and disseminate news, said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“You put all that together and it’s a very bleak picture,” Simon told NBC News on Thursday.
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