Baghdad /NINA/ - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) documented the killing of 129 journalists and media workers worldwide during 2025, two-thirds of whom were killed by the Israeli army. This is the highest annual toll recorded since the committee began documenting these cases in 1992.

According to the report, released in New York on Wednesday, Israel alone bears responsibility for more than two-thirds of the total victims, after its forces carried out an unprecedented number of targeted killings of journalists, exceeding those committed by any other government military force.

Most of the victims were Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an international organization founded in 1981. Its mission, by definition, is to defend press freedom and promote the ability of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal. The committee defines itself as an independent body whose priorities include addressing government harassment and protecting journalists' right to work in normal professional conditions.

The report noted that more than three-quarters of journalists killed in 2025 occurred in the context of armed conflict. While four journalists were killed in Ukraine and nine in Sudan during the same year, these figures remained "very low" compared to those recorded in Israel.

"Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever," said the committee's executive chair, Jody Ginsberg.

Ginsberg emphasized that attacks on the press are "a key indicator of broader attacks on freedoms," and that the lack of accountability "puts everyone at risk."

The report also documented a significant increase in the use of drones to target journalists, recording 39 killings using this method:

28 by the Israeli army in Gaza.

5 by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan.

One in Iraq as a result of a suspected Turkish airstrike. Four journalists were killed in Ukraine by Russian drones.

This is the highest number of such deaths in conflicts since 2022.

The commission noted that a culture of impunity is the main driver of the rising death toll. Governments conducted transparent investigations into only a limited number of the 47 targeted killings documented by the commission in 2025, the highest number of direct assassinations of journalists in a decade, and no one was held accountable in any of these cases.

The report indicated that governments' failure to protect journalists and hold perpetrators accountable opens the door to further violations, even in countries not involved in conflict. Journalists were killed in Mexico, India, and the Philippines in 2025, countries with a long history of impunity for media killings, according to the report.

Mexico recorded the killing of at least six journalists last year, amid the failure of the federal protection mechanism to curb these crimes. At least one journalist has been killed there annually for the past decade.

In the Philippines, three journalists were shot dead in 2025, with only one arrest resulting.

In Asia and Latin America, journalists covering corruption and organized crime have been targeted with increasing violence. / End




ليصلك المزيد من الأخبار اشترك بقناتنا على التليغرام