A record 129 members of the press were killed in 2025, according to a recent report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
CPJ, a nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, highlighted that this was the highest number of journalists and media workers killed since the organization started keeping records more than three decades ago.
“Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms, and much more needs to be done to prevent these killings and punish the perpetrators. We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news.”
2025 marked the consecutive year-on-year record for press deaths, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2025 and 2024. CPJ noted that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed more targeted killings of journalists and media workers than any other government’s military since CPJ began documentation in 1992.
“The deliberate targeting and killing of a journalist by any military, who are required to protect civilians under international law, constitutes a war crime,” stated the report.
According to CPJ, more than 60% of the 86 members of the press killed by Israel in 2025 were Palestinians reporting from Gaza. A United Nations Commission and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
The CPJ report found that over three-quarters of all press deaths last year occurred in conflict settings, primarily by Israel in Gaza, but also in other contexts, such as Ukraine and Sudan.
CPJ noted that the rising number of journalist deaths globally is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity for attacks on the press. The report stated that a few transparent investigations have been conducted into the 47 cases of targeted killings documented in 2025, which also marks the highest number of journalists deliberately killed for their work in the past decade.
“These killings of journalists violate international humanitarian law, which stipulates that journalists are civilians and should never be deliberately targeted,” stated CPJ. The report underlined the failure of governments to protect the press or hold perpetrators to account, including by highlighting the lack of justice for journalists killed in Mexico, India and the Philippines.
CPJ emphasized a wider decline in press freedom globally by highlighting the imprisonment and detention of journalists, the increase in online harassment, physical attacks and smear campaigns against journalists, and the use of new tools such as drones used to identify and attack journalists.
