US appears on list of deadliest countries for journalists for the first time

The US has been added to the list of the world’s most dangerous countries to be a journalist for the first time.

It comes after six people were killed after a gunman opened fire on the offices of Maryland newspaper Capital Gazette on June 28.

It was the deadliest single attack on the media in US history.

Two more reporters were killed while covering extreme weather, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists report.

The number of journalists killed worldwide in retaliation for their work has nearly doubled this year.

34 journalists were killed in retaliation for their work as of December 14, while at least 53 were killed overall.

That compares to 18 retaliation killings among the 47 deaths documented by the committee in 2017.

The report includes the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a native of Saudi Arabia fiercely critical of its royal regime.

His death on October 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul caused shockwaves across the global political scene amid allegations that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved.

Mr Khashoggi lived in self-imposed exile in the United States, and had gone to the Saudi consulate to formalise his divorce, but was instead strangled and dismembered. Saudi agents are alleged to have been behind the killing.

Asked whether he believed the crown prince had ordered Mr Khashoggi's murder, US president Donald Trump said last month: "Maybe he did and maybe he didn't."

While Mr Trump condemned the violence against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists noted that he has called them "enemies of the people".

In addition to retaliation killings, journalists have died in combat or crossfire, or on other dangerous assignments.

The deadliest country for journalists this year has been Afghanistan, where 13 journalists were killed, some in back-to-back blasts staged by suicide bombers and claimed by the militant group Islamic State, according to the report.

Time magazine last week recognised jailed and killed journalists as its "person of the year", including Mr Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, who is imprisoned in the Philippines, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been jailed in Burma, and staff at the Capital Gazette.

Journalists also died this year in Slovakia, where 27-year-old investigative reporter Jan Kuciak was fatally shot while probing alleged corruption, and in Malta, where Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was on a similar mission, was killed by a bomb placed in her car.

At least four journalists were murdered in Mexico, two in Brazil, and two Palestinian journalists were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers during protests in the Gaza Strip, according to the report.

Additional reporting by Reuters.