At a time when armed conflict has reached historic levels around the world, journalist killings also reached an all-time high primarily due to the actions of one government: Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all journalist and media worker killings in 2025, driving the total number killed worldwide last year to a record 129 — the highest ever number documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) since the organization started keeping records more than three decades ago., according to the report ‘Record 129 press members killed in 2025; Israel responsible for 2/3 of deaths‘.

This marks back-to-back record years for press fatalities due to Israel’s continued and unprecedented targeting of journalists and media workers. More than 60% of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire in 2025 were Palestinians reporting from Gaza, where human rights groups and U.N. experts agree a genocide is taking place. Over three-quarters of all press deaths in 2025 were in conflict settings. While the number of journalists and media workers killed in Ukraine and Sudan increased slightly in 2025 compared to the previous year, to four and nine deaths in each country respectively, the numbers were still very low compared to Israel, which remains a significant exception. The rising number of journalist deaths globally is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity for attacks on the press: Very few transparent investigations have been conducted into the 47 cases* of targeted killings (classified as “Murder” in CPJ’s longstanding methodology) documented by CPJ in 2025 — the highest number of journalists deliberately killed for their work in the past decade — and no one has been held accountable in any of the cases. These killings of journalists violate international humanitarian law, which stipulates that journalists are civilians and should never be deliberately targeted.

The continued failure of government leaders to protect the press or hold their attackers to account also lays the groundwork for more killings, including in countries not at war. Journalists were killed in Mexico, India, and the Philippines in 2025, all countries that have persistently failed to secure justice for journalists’ murders. CPJ has called for radical reform of the ways governments investigate journalist killings in order to bring perpetrators to justice, including establishing an international investigative task force and imposing targeted sanctions. The uptick in journalist killings is symptomatic of a wider decline in press freedom and journalist safety globally: A near-record number of journalists were jailed in 2025 amid smear campaigns and legal abuse that sought to criminalize the act of reporting the facts. Online harassment and physical attacks against journalists continued to rise amid increasingly hostile rhetoric towards reporters and media organizations, even in supposedly democratic countries.

At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed – RSF and Avaaz launch international media operation