On World Press Freedom Day, U.N. reveals "unbelievable" trends in deadly attacks against journalists

United Nations — The United Nations warned Wednesday, on World Press Freedom Day, of not only a precipitous rise in the killing of journalists around the world, but a disturbing change in the threat to people in the news media.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was "unbelievable" that data revealed earlier this year show the number of journalists killed in 2022 was 50% higher than during the previous year. UNESCO's data record the deaths of 86 journalists during 2022, "amounting to one every four days, up from 55 killings in 2021."

But it's also the nature of that threat worrying officials at UNESCO.