The video grab purportedly shows an ISIL militant preparing to behead American journalist James Foley.[/caption]Reporters Without Borders says a total of 66 journalists lost their lives in connection to their work so far this year, warning about the rise of what it calls barbaric attacks on correspondents.
In a report on Tuesday, the organization said that at least 119 reporters were also kidnapped during the same period, showing a 37-percent increase from last year.
It added that violent attacks on journalists are on the rise due to conflicts in Ukraine, Libya and the Middle East.
"The Reporters Without Borders round-up for 2014 highlights an evolution in the nature of violence against journalists and the way certain kinds, including carefully-staged threats and beheadings, are being used for very clear purposes," it said.
"Rarely have reporters been murdered with such a barbaric sense of propaganda, shocking the entire world," it added.
Reporters Without Borders called Syria the deadliest country for journalists this year, with 15 reporters losing their lives in the war-torn country.
The ISIL terrorist group, which currently controls swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq, beheaded several journalists in Syria this year.
The report includes only cases in which Reporters Without Borders has clearly established that the victim was killed because of his or her activities as a journalist.
By Press TV
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