The heavy toll on news media covering the conflict in Syria has grown yet again over the past week. A journalist for a pro-government TV station was killed and a Ukrainian journalist has been kidnapped.
Mohammed al-Ashram, a cameraman for the TV station Al-Ikhbariya, was shot and killed on 10 October while covering clashes between Syrian government forces and the rebel free Syrian army in the eastern city of Deir Al-Zour.
Anhar Kochneva, a Ukrainian who has contributed to several Russian news outlets including the Moscow-based Russia Today, disappeared on 9 October after setting out for the city of Homs.
Four days later she was reported to have contacted NTV to say she was held by the free Syrian army and was being treated satisfactorily. Kochneva, a fluent Arabic speaker, has publicly defended the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in TV interviews.
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists