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Reporters without Borders launches fundraising push as report reveals fall in journalist deaths

Reporters Without Borders has released a new fundraising campaign as an annual report by the free-press advocacy group revealed 74 journalists died in 2016 because of their work.

The campaign, ‘when I grow up’, features children who want to become journalists. But their words reveal the dangers which may confront them once they realise their ambition.

The campaign, created by ad agency BETC Paris, comes as Reporters without Borders included citizen journalists and media contributors – in addition to professional journalists – in its round-up of reporters killed while reporting, or who were deliberately targeted because of their profession.

“Until now the three categories were counted separately,” the report stated. ” The change is due to the fact that citizen journalists and media contributors are playing a growing role in the production of news and information, especially in countries with oppressive regimes and countries at war, where it is hard for professional journalists to operate.”

Of the 74 who died, 57 were professional and nine citizen journalists, while eight media contributors were killed.

The number is down from the 101 who died in 2015 with the report attributing the decline to several countries simply becoming too lawless for journalists to enter, while “terror imposed by press freedom predators” was also responsible.

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