Yet the organisations covering the crisis have been surprised by the emotional toll it has taken on reporters trying to tell the story.

Counterintuitively, the very fact journalists are reporting from a position of safety about people in such dire situations is making it more difficult for even hard-bitten war reporters to cope with.

“For the combat veterans, I think some of them are particularly hard hit. There’s this feeling when you’re covering this kind of story in a war zone, you’re experiencing some of the same dangers as people around you,” says Phil Chetwynd, global editor-in-chief for Agence France-Presse.

“The thing people have found very hard is that there is no danger to you at all, yet you’re watching boats being overturned and people drowning.”

To read more about how the emotional toll of covering the refugee crisis has surprised news organisations, see INSI director Hannah Storm's article in The Guardian.

Storm also joined Channel 4 News International Editor Lindsey Hilsum on Radio 4’s The Media Show to discuss the emotional toll of reporting on refugees.   Risk assessments, press accreditations, insurance?  As the eyes of the world turn to Rio, we spoke to experts both in-country and out about the main safety risks for journalists heading to the Games. We are looking forward to coordinating an ongoing information exchange for our members before and during Rio 2016. 

Not everyone’s heading to Rio. This month we talked to journalists from the European Journalism Centre in Maastricht about the importance of journalists' safety out in the field.

But journalists aren’t just at risk on the frontlines; reporters are increasingly coming under attack outside of conflict zones. Read our advice about how to keep your newsroom more secure. Looking ahead to next month, we will be releasing our bi-annual journalist casualty report Killing the Messenger, and discussing the kidnapping of journalists.  If you or your news organisation is interested in becoming an INSI member and receiving our exclusive updates on issues such as Zika, Euro 2016 and Rio Olympics, then get in touch on info@newssafety.org.  Image by AFP