The number of journalists killed while on the job or in retaliation for their work declined worldwide in 2017, but one country remains increasingly perilous _ Mexico.
So far in 2017, 42 journalists worldwide have been killed, compared with 48 a year earlier, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonpartisan group that tracks press freedoms.
Iraq and Syria were the deadliest places for journalists this year, with eight killed in Iraq and seven in Syria. But outside war zones, Mexico is the most dangerous place for journalists.
According to the committee, six Mexican journalists were killed in retaliation for their reporting, often of corrupt government officials or drug cartels. But according to news reports and the group Reporters Without Borders, six additional Mexican journalists died in 2017. The motivation for their slayings remains unclear, but they also often wrote about crime and corruption.
One journalist was shot Tuesday. Many of the 12 were killed in public. Some in front of their own children. Often, they were slain in broad daylight. Two were gunned down the same day.
Courtney Radsch, the committee's advocacy director, said that Mexico's leaders lack the political will to stop the violence against journalists and have repeatedly failed to provide the resources necessary to track down and prosecute the people behind the killings. Except in two cases there have been no arrests in this year's killings.
"The murderers of journalists continue to go free, so it's open season on Mexican journalists," Radsch said.
"We hear from Mexican journalists that they are self-censoring, that they're having to flee their homes and go into exile, and that it just becomes more and more dangerous for journalists in Mexico."
Here are the 12 Mexican journalists killed this year, in chronological order, with the city and state where they died.
