Press killings in 2025 equal record high of 126 killed in 2024

New York, December 10, 2025一With more than three weeks still to go to the end of the year, the number of journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025 already equals 2024’s record figures, data gathered by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows.

Led by Israel’s attacks on journalists in Gaza, Iran, and Yemen, the number of journalists and media workers killed globally so far in 2025 stands at 126. An increase in killings in Sudan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the Philippines also drove up this year’s total.

“At a time of rising global instability, access to accurate information is more important than ever ー yet journalists continue to be killed in record numbers,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “In too many cases, those responsible for journalists’ deaths are getting away with murder. Another record year of killings show not enough is being done globally to tackle attacks on the press.”

Israel has killed almost 250 journalists since the Israel-Gaza war began in 2023, more journalists than have been killed by any other nation since CPJ began keeping records in 1992.

This year, Israel was responsible for killing at least 86 journalists and media workers (2024: 85), according to CPJ’s research, including after the October ceasefire. In many cases, journalists were deliberately targeted. CPJ has repeatedly called on international authorities to hold Israel to account for its actions in what human rights groups and U.N. experts agree is a genocide. 

Ongoing and escalating conflicts have caused a recent surge in civilian killings worldwide: In Sudan, nine press members were killed, taking the total killed to 15 in a two-year civil war in which journalists have been abducted, raped, and forced to flee by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. In Ukraine, the Russian military killed four journalists, an increase from 2024, when one death was recorded.

Elsewhere, gang violence and political corruption are driving a rise in unsolved killings of journalists. In Mexico, six deaths were recorded in 2025, up from five last year. In the Philippines, killings rose from zero in 2024 to three. In Mexico, there have been no arrests for the 2025 assassinations, and in the Philippines there was only one arrest – but no confirmation that the assassinations were in connection with the journalists’ work. These countries, along with Iraq, India, and Pakistan, have continued their consistent record of journalist killings in 2025, one that has lasted for nearly three decades.  

Editors’ Note:  CPJ will publish a more detailed report on 2025 killings in early 2026.