Record number of journalists killed in 2025

A new Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report shows that 2025 was the deadliest year on record for journalists and media workers, with 129 killed worldwide—more than in any year since the organisation began tracking press fatalities in 1992.

26 Feb 2026

Source: www.pixabay.com (Journalist in the Gaza Strip)

About two-thirds of those deaths were attributed to Israeli forces, the CPJ said, particularly in Gaza where most of those killed were Palestinian journalists reporting amid conflict.

The report also found that Israeli forces were allegedly responsible for the vast majority of cases CPJ classified as targeted killings of journalists, something the organisation said it had not documented at this scale from any other government.

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Although the IDF has previously admitted to targeting journalists that they allege had ties to Hamas, they have denounced the report, and claim it lacks the consideration of the complexity of combat.

The report further highlighted a rise in drone-related deaths of journalists in 2025 and stressed a continuing lack of transparent investigations or accountability for many of the killings.

CPJ’s CEO said the unprecedented number of journalist deaths undermines press freedom and the public’s right to information, especially in conflict zones where independent reporting is already constrained.