66 journalists Dead in 2014 as terror continues

James Foley in Aleppo, Syria in November 2012. This photo was circulated widely as part of a backlash against the release of a video that claimed to depict his murder.

Image: Nicole Tung

KIEV, Ukraine — Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday that at least 66 journalists were killed over the course of the year as the number of reporters' kidnappings soared in 2014.
While the number of journalists’ deaths dropped slightly from 71 in 2013, the high-profile beheadings of Western reporters at the hands of Islamic State militants in the Middle East signaled a grisly new threat in the types of violence used against the media, according to the latest report on abuses against journalists by the international media watchdog.

“The murders are becoming more and more barbaric and the number of abductions is growing rapidly, with those carrying them out seeking to prevent independent news coverage and deter scrutiny by the outside world,” the report says.

On Aug. 19, Islamic State released a gruesome video of 40-year-old James Foley, a reporter for GlobalPost and Agence France-Presse, being beheaded.
Two weeks later, on Sept. 2, a second Islamic State video was released showing the beheading of Steven Sotloff, a U.S. journalist held in Syria since the summer of 2013.
Of the 66 reporters killed this year, two-thirds died in war zones. In Syria, which continues to be the deadliest country for journalists, 15 were slain. Source: Mashable