The very high number of reporters killed during the year, bringing the total to 787 journalists killed in the exercise of their duties or as a result of their profession since 2005, is attributed to increasingly deliberate violence against journalists.
On August 6, 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated in his annual report on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity: “I am deeply concerned by the failure to reduce the frequency and scale of targeted violence faced by journalists and the almost complete impunity for such crimes.”
In 2014, two-thirds of the reporters killed worldwide were in conflict zones.
In 2015, the proportion completely reversed: two-thirds of the journalists killed were “in times of peace.” Even in capitals far from armed conflicts, journalists can be targeted, as was the case on January 7 with the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.
The director of Charlie Hebdo, Riss, stated: “On January 7, the war came to us.”
