Reporters Without Borders has published its 2018 worldwide round-up of journalists killed, gone missing, detained or held hostage for the period of January 1 to December 1, 2018. Eighty journalists were killed this year, including 13 non-professional journalists and 4 media workers. Of this, 61 per cent were murdered or deliberately targetted, and 39 per cent were killed while reporting. Sixty journalists were held hostage in the time period, 3 are missing and 348 were detained.

The world’s five most dangerous countries for journalists, according to the report, include India and the US. The report notes that India, Mexico and the US fall into this category despite the countries not being at war or in conflict. The report says: “Six were murdered [in India] this year and many others were the targets of murder attempts, physical attacks, and threats. Hate campaigns against journalists, including incitement to murder, are common on social networks and are fed by troll armies linked to the Hindu nationalist right.”

The reports adds, in the context of India: “Those who murder journalists often use extremely barbaric methods. A village chief in the northeastern Indian state of Bihar killed two journalists, Navin Nischal and Vijay Singh, in retaliation for their reporting by deliberately running them down with his SUV on 25 March. On the same day in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a dump truck was used to run down and kill Sandeep Sharma, a journalist who had been investigating a local ‘sand mafia’. At least six journalists have been killed in the past three years by criminal organizations involved in the illegal extraction of sand or other illegal mining.”