In the grim ledger of press freedom, 2025 etched itself as the deadliest year on record for journalists and media workers, with a staggering 129 lives lost worldwide, the highest tally since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began tracking such tragedies more than three decades ago. Released on February 25, 2026, the New York-based watchdog’s report paints a chilling picture: for the second year running, Israel bore responsibility for two thirds of these deaths, underscoring an unprecedented assault on the press amid the ongoing Gaza conflict, according to The Express Tribune.
At least 104 of the fatalities occurred in conflict zones, where the pursuit of truth proved lethally dangerous. Israeli forces were linked to 86 killings, with more than 60% of those victims being Palestinian reporters bravely covering the war from inside Gaza. Human rights organizations and UN experts have described the scale of violence there as genocidal, and the CPJ notes that Israel’s military has now claimed more journalist lives than any other state force in its records. A single devastating strike on a Houthi media center in Yemen claimed 31 lives, marking one of the deadliest single attacks ever documented.
Beyond the battlefields, the report highlights persistent dangers in non-war settings. India, often hailed as the world’s largest democracy, saw at least one journalist killed each year for work related reasons, a pattern echoed in Mexico, where six media workers died in 2025 (all cases unsolved amid corruption and criminal influence). Bangladesh lost reporter Asaduzzaman Tuhin, hacked to death after filming a public dispute tied to a fraud ring. In India, freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar’s mutilated body turned up in a septic tank weeks after he exposed alleged corruption in a massive road project. The Philippines recorded three shootings, including veteran publisher Juan Dayang, with justice remaining elusive in most cases.
A rising shadow looms in the form of drone warfare; 39 journalists perished from drone strikes in 2025, up sharply from prior years with 33 attributed to military drones. Israel accounted for 28 in Gaza, while others fell to forces in Sudan, Russia, Yemen, and Iraq. Over the past three years, drones have claimed 62 press lives, three quarters by Israel.
The CPJ warns that impunity fuels this bloodshed. No one has faced accountability for Israeli-targeted killings since October 2023 or in the preceding 22 years. Smear campaigns labeling journalists as militants often precede or justify attacks, as seen with Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, who publicly feared for his life after unverified accusations.
In weaker democracies like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and Colombia, journalists probing corruption or crime face brutal reprisals with little protection. The group calls for urgent reforms: international investigative task forces, targeted sanctions, and better government probes to stem the tide.
As press freedom erodes through killings, jailings, censorship, and online harassment, the CPJ sees an early warning for broader democratic decline. In a world hungry for truth, the silence of silenced voices echoes louder than ever.
