And in New York City, the famed Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration will honor the Committee to Protect Journalists this year. Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, said the group chose CPJ to “celebrate the free press and journalism and those who work to protect, preserve and practice it.” Journalists will join in the celebrations, helping to kick off the anticipated “ball drop” countdown to the new year. In its recently released annual report on murdered journalists, CPJ found that at least 53 journalists were killed on the job this year, 34 in reprisal for their work, almost doubling the number of targeted murders against journalists in 2017.