According to the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) annual report 2014, at least 128 journalists have been killed so far around the world in the course of the year. This figure is very close to the tally in 2013.

PEC Secretary-General Blaise Lempen said that 2014 was terrible for journalists. New conflicts for media workers opened in Ukraine, in the Israeli assault on Gaza, which led to the killings of many media workers, and in Syria, the situation was unprecedented with the beheading of journalists recorded in video clips.

Gaza leads the list, with 16 journalists killed by Israel during the Operation Protective Edge, followed by Syria (13 journalists killed) and  Pakistan (12 killed).

Iraq comes in fourth place among the most dangerous places for media work, with 10 journalists killed, many of whom lost their lives following the military offensive of the Islamic state.

Ukraine takes fifth place, with 9 journalists killed. In Ukraine, journalists from both sides of the conflict were killed, among them 4 Russian journalists.

Compared to 2013, when 129 journalists were killed, the figures are very close. The figure for the past nine years during which the PEC has been keeping track, stands at more than 1000 journalists (1038, to be precise).

During the past five years (2010 to 2014), the figure stands at a total of 614 journalists killed, which is an average of 123 annually, or 2.4 per week, report Armenpress.