Since the start of this year, more than 80 journalists and media workers have died. Last week alone four were killed. The death of Foley, who was kidnapped in neighbouring Syria almost two years ago, reignited the debate about the dangers faced by journalists and particularly freelancers. INSI director Hannah Storm paid tribute to the well-liked and well-regarded Foley and wrote of her concern that with a dearth of jobs in newsrooms and overseas bureaux being cut by major news organisations, many freelancers are turning to conflicts to cut their teeth. Though some are well prepared for hostile environments, many set off without proper training and equipment. Sadly, Jim, as he was known to his friends, was not the only one of our colleagues to die this month for doing journalism.  Also in Iraq, the journalist Leyla Yildizh, a photographer and television journalist for the Firat News Agency who used the pseudonym Deniz Firat, lost her life in an attack on 8 August while reporting from the Maxmur refugee camp north of Mosul. In Gaza, Associated Press cameraman Simone Camilli and his translator colleague Ali Shehda Abu Afash died when ordnance left over from fighting between Israel and Islamic militants blew up. Three Gazan police engineers were also killed and an AP photographer was badly injured. Abdullah Murtaja succumbed last week to wounds he sustained in an airstrike in Gaza City two weeks earlier. Also last week, two journalists and a media worker – Irshad Mastoi, trainee reporter Abdul Rasul and accountant Mohammed Younus – lost their lives when a gunman opened fire on their office in Quetta, Pakistan. In Yemen, TV producer Abdulrahman Hamid Al-Din died after being shot in the head in the capital Sana’a, one day after Honduran journalist Nery Soto, who worked for Channel 23 TV, was murdered walking into his home in the northern city of Yoro. Just two days earlier, Colombian journalist Luis Carlos Cervantes was also murdered. He had faced years of threats for the work he did. Luis’s friend Mathew Charles paid tribute to him for INSI. Journalists covering conflicts put themselves at risk for a living, regularly seeing and recording images of shocking and traumatic events. The wars in Gaza, Syria and Iraq have been particularly brutal and journalists are not immune to the emotional damage that exposure to conflict can cause. This month, INSI published advice on dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder written by PTSD expert Neil Greenberg who says up to 30 percent of war correspondents may suffer from the disorder throughout their lives. Upcoming safety advice concerns precautions journalists working in west Africa should take when covering the ebola outbreak. (AP Photo)