At least 53 journalists were killed while doing their job or for expressing their opinion in 2004, making it the profession's deadliest year in a decade, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Iraq was the world's most dangerous country for journalists, with 19 reporters and 12 media assistants being killed there during the year, RSF said.
"Terrorist strikes and Iraqi guerrilla attacks were the main cause, but the US army was held responsible for the death of four of them," the Paris-based group said in a report. Since the beginning of the US-led war in Iraq, three Reuters cameramen have been killed in the conflict.
RSF said exposing corruption and reporting on organised crime was the next main reason for journalists to be killed.