Investigative Journalism, reporting on Civil Unrest and War have become increasingly deadly aspects of the profession of journalism.

By John Wilson Photojournalist

The recent death of a journalist Laura McKee while attending a rally in Northern Ireland once again highlighted the dangers faced by journalists going about their work.The number of journalists targeted for murder in reprisal for their reporting nearly doubled in 2018 from a year earlier.

This had driven up the overall count of journalists killed on the job. Afghanistan, where extremists have stepped up deliberate attacks on journalists, was the deadliest country and accounted for much of the increase. In total 54 journalists were killed and 19 were photographers and camera operators.

In fact, the deadliest country for journalists in 2018, Afghanistan, is a mainstay on the annual global Impunity Index maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which spotlights places where journalists are regularly murdered and their killers go free. The 13 journalists killed in Afghanistan in 2018 were the most in any year since CPJ began keeping track--including 2001, when the U.S attacked the country and nine journalists were killed.

As well as the deaths that occurred there would be many stories of near death not only from attempted murder but the difficulty of working in remote locations. I know from personal experience working in many remote locations around the world the threat of falling ill or succumbing to the elements is always close. In my experience covering stories I've had malaria 3 times, almost died from hypothermia, been hospitalized with an undiagnosed condition, nearly drowned with more I won't go into here and on top of having been detained against my will, shot at, and almost blown up. There are many more of my colleagues that will tell similar stories.

Its tragic so many journalists are losing their lives while trying to find the truth and tell the story, and all this hard work for an industry in serious decline and falling incomes for journalists and job loss. Hardly seems worth it but thank god there are some of us that value wanting to know over wanting more money otherwise we'd all be pretty much in the dark about what goes on around the world.

Information sourced from Committee to Protect Journalists.

Read about some of my international work as a photojournalist on my Instagram Account HERE