Five journalists were killed in conflicts in the first half of 2017.

In just the past six months, five journalists have died and one has gone missing while working in conflict zones around the world.

Live by your profession, die by your profession

Most recently, on June 19, French journalist Stephan Villeneuve working for French Television was killed after a mine exploded in Mosul, Iraq.

The intense fighting in Mosul (Iraq) has left many journalists dead while working amid the crossfire of the fighting sides. Photo: Reuters

A few days earlier, also in Mosul, Mr. Bakhtiyar Haddad, a Kurdish journalist working for France 2 TV, was also killed by a bomb in the Old City area, where fierce fighting between the Iraqi army and IS took place. Mr. Bakhtiyar Haddad is the third journalist to die while working in the war zone in Iraq.

On May 26, two journalists, Takieddin al-Hudhaifi and Wael al-Absi, were murdered while reporting on the battle between forces loyal to Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, forces supporting former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthi rebel group that broke out in the suburbs of the central city of Taiz.

According to several journalists working in the area, the Houthi rebels fired artillery at the building where the two journalists were hiding, killing both and seriously injuring their two colleagues, al-Wahbani and al-Qadasi. The two journalists, Takieddin al-Hudhaifi and Wael al-Absi, were also injured while reporting on the war in 2016.

Meanwhile, authorities in eastern Ukraine have pledged to do everything possible to search for freelance journalist Stanyslav Aseyev, who has been missing in Donetsk since June 3.

Journalist Stanyslav Aseyev is a contributor to the US government-funded Radio Free Europe reporting on the war situation in eastern Ukraine under the pen name Stanyslav Vasin.

According to information from Radio Free Europe, journalist Stanyslav Aseyev asked to visit his mother in Donetsk on June 3 and would be at the station later in the day. However, the journalist did not show up at the scheduled time.

Friends and relatives of the journalist went to his house to find that his door had been broken into and the laptop he usually used for work had been stolen.

No article is more precious than human life

Like many of his colleagues, Australian journalist Adam Harvey was lucky to survive despite being shot in the neck by Maute rebels in the Philippines.

The journalist tweeted the word “Lucky” along with an X-ray of his neck where the bullet was lodged. In another tweet, journalist Adam Harvey wrote: “Thanks everyone, I’m fine. The bullet is still in my neck, but it’s not in any dangerous areas.”

Faced with the dangers that journalists may encounter while covering the fighting between government forces and Maute rebels in Marawi, Philippine President Ernesto Abella's spokesman had to speak up and call on journalists to be very careful while working.

“While we understand that you risk your lives to pursue your work, please remember that no story is more precious than a human life. Take all necessary precautions to ensure your safety when reporting in a war zone,” Mr. Abella emphasized.

Mr. Abella also reiterated that the mission of the press is to “be faithful to the truth, report news accurately, timely and appropriately to each target group”: “It can be said that one of the sacred missions of journalists is to become “witnesses to the truth”./.

According to VOV