2025 Marks Deadliest Year on Record for Journalists, Report Finds

The year 2025 was the deadliest on record for media workers, with 129 journalists killed worldwide according to a new report. This figure represents the highest annual death toll since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began tracking data in 1992.

The organization's annual report, published this week, highlights a pattern of "systematic impunity for attacks on the press." It states that more than two-thirds of all journalist deaths in 2025 are linked to actions by Israel. Specifically, the CPJ attributes 84 of the year's fatalities to Israeli military operations.

Most of those killed were Palestinian journalists covering the conflict in Gaza. The report also notes that Israeli airstrikes led to the deaths of 31 employees of Yemeni newspapers.

Israel is further cited as responsible for most targeted killings of journalists globally. Out of 47 documented cases of targeted killings in 2025, 38 are linked to Israel by the CPJ's investigation. The report asserts that no other government has killed as many journalists since the organization started its records.

The CPJ warns that the actual death toll may be higher. Investigators face significant challenges due to restrictions on press access and dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which complicate incident verification and may have led to evidence being destroyed.

Other sources tracking media casualties report even higher numbers. A memorial site named for Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in 2022, states that nearly 300 media workers have been killed since the start of Israel's war in Gaza.

While Israel has acknowledged some journalist deaths, it has claimed those individuals were affiliated with armed groups. These accusations are rejected by both the victims' employers and the CPJ, which calls them dangerous attempts at discreditation.

Beyond Gaza and Yemen, significant numbers of journalist deaths occurred in Sudan—where nine were killed amid an ongoing civil war—and in Mexico, where six died due to violence linked to organized crime. The report also documents that four Ukrainian journalists were killed as a result of attacks by Russian military forces.