"Eighty-five percent of the journalists killed in Syria are local journalists. We often talk about how Syria is unprecedented in terms of the number of kidnappings, the murders of James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, but what's not unprecedented - is that local journalists bear the brunt of the dangers," Stern told Al Jazeera. More than 70 journalists have been killed in Syria since 2011, according to CPJ figures, while dozens of others have been arrested, detained, injured and intimidated. Both President Bashar al-Assad's forces and opposition groups have been accused of cracking down on dissent in areas under their respective control, and of committing abuses against media workers.