In 2018, 84 journalists and media assistants were killed, according to Reporters Without Borders - five more than the previous year.
It was the worst year since 2012, when 87 were killed around the world.
Here are the stories of some of those who lost their lives.
Afghanistan is the deadliest country for journalists. Twenty have been killed, including nine in a bombing on 30 April 2018, as they gathered at the scene of another attack.
GETTY IMAGES
One of those killed that day was the BBC Afghan service's Ahmad Shah, 29, targeted while riding his bike. He was a respected and popular journalist.
BBC
The group calls attacks on Mexican journalists “a crime against humanity” and has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate.
AFP
Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead in Indian-administered Kashmir in June last year. India's interior minister called him “a courageous and fearless journalist”.
GETTY IMAGES
A gunman shot dead five employees of Maryland's Capital Gazette in June. The paper won a Pulitzer Prize for the edition survivors produced after the tragedy.
GETTY IMAGES
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in his country's consulate in Istanbul in October. It is believed the order came from within the Saudi government.
GETTY IMAGES
A month later, Syrian radio host and activist Raed Fares was shot dead in Idlib. Fares, who earned the ire of the government and militants, had been targeted before.
RAED FARES
Journalist Lyra McKee was shot dead during a riot in Northern Ireland in April. Her partner called her “a tireless advocate and activist” for the LGBT community.
JESS LOWE/EPA