Citing the murder of Indian journalist Karun Misra, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said every time a journalist is killed anywhere in the world and the press is silenced, the rule of law and democracy get weaker. Ban said this in his remarks upon receiving the German Media Prize in Baden Baden in southwestern Germany yesterday. <br/>Ban stressed that during the past nine years as Secretary-General, he has been working hard to defend the press. He urged civil society and human rights defenders to do their part to preserve the freedom of the press. He said last year alone, 105 journalists lost their lives. Ban said while the murders of Western journalists by ISIS and other violent extremists claimed global attention, 95 per cent of the journalists killed in armed conflict are locally based.<br/><br/>Misra, the district bureau chief of Hindi language daily Jan Sandesh Times in Ambedkar Nagar, was shot in February by unknown assailants in the city of Sultanpur in the Uttar Pradesh. Misra's February 13 murder was condemned by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova as well as by nonprofit organisation The Committee to Protect Journalists.