Record number of journalists killed in 2025, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of deaths

A new disturbing report was released earlier this week by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), highlighting that a record 129 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, more than any other year since the committee began collecting data in 1992.

It was the second consecutive annual record for press deaths worldwide, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of the global total, according to the report. “Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. 

The report confirmed that the Israeli military has now committed more targeted killings of the press than any other government’s military on record — the vast majority of those killed were Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza.

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.

Drones: The New Tool For Targeting and Killing Journalists

One significant finding in this year’s report was an uptick in the use of drones to kill the press, with 39 cases documented, including 28 killings by Israel’s military in Gaza and five by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, and one by a suspected Turkish strike in Iraq.

In Ukraine, four journalists were killed by Russian military drones, the highest annual number of journalist deaths in the war since 15 were killed in 2022.

The critical point raised by the report is that the unprecedented rise in the number of journalists being killed globally is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity. Very few transparent investigations have been conducted into the 47 cases of targeted killings (classified as “murder” in CPJ’s official 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.

According to CPJ’s website, their teams of researchers and editors employ a rigorous verification process for all cases included in the organisation’s publicly available data. They highlight that each case is independently confirmed through information from at least two credible sources, such as accounts from interviews with family members, colleagues, eyewitnesses, and legal representatives; media reports; local and regional press freedom groups; and official or third-party investigations. The website also confirms that the CPJ never relies on a single unverified account.

CPJ argues that the continued failure of government leaders to protect the press or hold their attackers to account 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 in the ways governments investigate journalist killings to bring perpetrators to justice, including establishing an international investigative task force and imposing targeted sanctions.

In Mexico, CPJ recorded at least six journalists killed in 2025. A federal protection mechanism introduced to address the persistently high level of journalist killings has proven largely ineffective, with at least one journalist killed in Mexico every year for the past 10 years.

In the Philippines, which also has a long history of violence against journalists, three journalists were shot dead in 2025, but only one case has resulted in an arrest.

In Asia and Latin America, journalists reporting on corruption and organised crime were brutally targeted for their work. Authoritarian regimes also continued to punish journalists with death. In Saudi Arabia, prominent columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by Saudi Arabia following seven years in detention.

“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,” concluded Ginsberg.