©Unsplash
Journalists killed for doing their job: documenting. Real journalists. Disturbing, intrusive, nosy. In 2025 alone, 129 of them were murdered, and according to the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists, this is the highest figure ever recorded since CPJ began monitoring the situation thirty years ago.
Considering that at least 104 of the 129 journalists and media workers were killed in conflict situations last year, freedom of press is being thrown out the window. The number of journalists and media professionals killed in Ukraine, Sudan and Israel increased in 2025 compared to the previous year.
More than three-quarters of the deaths of media professionals in 2025 occurred in contexts of conflict. The global rise in murders is fuelled by a persistent culture of impunity for crimes against the press. Of the 47 cases of targeted homicide documented in 2025, classified as 'murder' according to CPJ's methodology, very few transparent investigations have been opened and no perpetrators identified. This is the highest number of journalists deliberately killed for their work in the last decade.
These killings are a violation of international humanitarian law, which recognizes journalists as civilians and prohibits their deliberate targeting.
The lack of commitment by governments to protect the press and prosecute those responsible creates conditions for further violence, even in countries not involved in armed conflict. In 2025, journalists were killed in Mexico, India and the Philippines, countries which for years have been unable to guarantee justice for these crimes.
The rise in murders is part of a more general deterioration in freedom of press and the safety of information professionals worldwide. In 2025, a near-record number of journalists were imprisoned, in a climate marked by defamatory campaigns and the misuse of laws to criminalize journalistic work. The number of online harassments and physical assaults has also risen, fueled by increasingly hostile rhetoric towards the media and reporters, including countries that define themselves as democratic.
"Journalists are being killed in record numbers precisely at a time when access to reliable information is more crucial than ever," said CPJ Executive Director Jodie Ginsberg. "Attacks on the media are often the first signal of a broader offensive against fundamental freedoms. Much more needs to be done to prevent these murders and bring those responsible to justice. When a journalist is killed for reporting the facts, we are all more vulnerable."
The number of conflicts in the world has reached its highest level since the end of the Second World War. According to researchers, this is a structural change: the planet is now more violent and fragmented than it was ten years ago. This increases the risks for those who report, both because of the inherent dangers of reporting in war zones, and because journalists are more and more often deliberately targeted.
In Sudan, nine journalists and media professionals were killed in 2025, compared with six in 2024 and just one case recorded in 2023, as the civil war entered its third year. Tens of thousands lost their lives and millions were forced to flee, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advanced against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Among the victims was the director of the Sudan Taj news agency, al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman, executed by the RSF along with his brother in El Fasher, North Darfur.
Sudanese journalists work in extreme conditions. Since the start of the conflict, CPJ has documented numerous abuses, most of which have been attributed to the RSF: at least 16 media professionals killed, journalists raped, newsrooms turned into detention centers, homes confiscated and reporters kidnapped and held for ransom. In many cases, the perpetrators themselves broadcast images of the violence, displaying a total disregard for any notion of accountability.
In Ukraine, four journalists were killed by Russian military drones, the highest number since 2022, when fifteen victims were counted. Among them were Ukrainian journalists Olena Hramova and Yevhen Karmazin, killed while working for the international public broadcaster Freedom in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
129 names. 129 stories. 129 voices that will no longer be able to tell what is happening where others prefer silence. When you kill a journalist, you don't silence a single person: you extinguish a piece of truth, you shrink the space of democracy, you weaken the right of each and every one of us to know.
(©GreenMe.it 2026 / Managing Editor: Selma Keshkire - The Press Junction / Picture: ©Unsplash)