Ask former classmates or relatives who went into journalism. You may hear they are reluctant to pursue some stories because they don't have enough proof to protect themselves against powerful people the stories could be construed to be slandering, but it's almost unheard of for western journalists to be worried about being assassinated at the rate journalists are assassinated in Russia and the territories it dominates.
Watch talks given by Russian journalists before they were assassinated or after they fled. Even compare them to American journalists who died in uncertain circumstances, or whistle blowers like Edward Snowden.
It's an entirely different ballgame.
Maybe Russian journalists are indeed assassinated and western ones (mostly) aren't.
But there are a lot of effective means of coercion that don't involve killing someone, and can actually turn them into an asset rather than a liability..
Compare the numbers to see the different types of attacks on journalists in different places around the world. Then read some of the short articles, or in depth reports.
This would never work in a media world with a Daily Show, for once.
I don't know the answer but it stands to reason that if it works for the Russians it will work for the US aswell