Journalist killings reached an all-time high in 2025, primarily due to the actions of the Israeli government, which was responsible for two-thirds of all journalist and media worker killings in that year. The total number of journalists killed worldwide last year reached a record 129 — the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its annual report.
According to the independent media organization, this is the highest ever number documented by CPJ since it started keeping records more than three decades ago. At least 104 of the 129 journalists and media workers were killed amid conflicts in 2025. While the number of journalists killed in Ukraine and Sudan increased, the majority were Palestinians killed by Israel, the report said. It was the second straight year that press killings set a record.
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 UN experts agree a genocide is taking place, CPJ said. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) rejected the claims presented in the CPJ report.
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 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,” the report said.
The organization called for radical reforms 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.
“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.”
According to the report, the number of conflicts worldwide is at its highest level since the end of World War II. Researchers note this is a structural shift, with the globe more violent and fractured than it was a decade ago. That raises the risks for journalists, both because of the dangers inherent in conflict reporting — and because, increasingly, journalists are deliberately targeted.
Drone attack
Drones – unmanned aircraft or small flying devices controlled remotely and with the ability to visually identify targets – have emerged as a new tool for journalists’ killers, the report says
“Suspected and documented killings of press members spiked from just two in 2023 — the first year CPJ documented such press killings — to 39 in 2025, CPJ data shows. Military drones were confirmed or thought to be behind 33 of those killings.”
Journalists also face dangers from criminal gangs, corrupt politics, and authoritarian states. “Journalists were killed in Bangladesh, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia… In some of these countries, these killings have become commonplace. At least one journalist has been killed in Mexico and India every year for the past 10 years, and at least one journalist killed in Bangladesh and Colombia — as well as by Israel — every year for the past five years,” it said.
