New york: 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 National Iraqi News Agency, the report, released in New York on Wednesday, states that Israel alone bears responsibility for more than two-thirds of the total victims, following unprecedented targeted killings of journalists by its forces, surpassing 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, an international organization founded in 1981, aims to defend press freedom and ensure journalists can report news safely without fear of reprisal. The committee defines itself as an independent body focused on addressing government harassment and protecting journalists’ right to work under normal p
rofessional conditions.

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

Jody Ginsberg, the committee’s executive chair, noted that “journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever.” Ginsberg emphasized that attacks on the press signify “broader attacks on freedoms,” and the absence of accountability “puts everyone at risk.”

Furthermore, the report documented a significant rise in the use of drones to target journalists, with 39 killings recorded using this method. Notably, 28 were by the Israeli army in Gaza, five by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, one in Iraq due to a suspected Turkish airstrike, and four journalists were killed in Ukraine by Russian drones. This marks the highest number of such deaths in conflic
ts since 2022.

The commission identified a culture of impunity as the primary driver of the rising death toll. Only a limited number of the 47 targeted killings documented in 2025 were transparently investigated by governments, resulting in the highest number of direct assassinations of journalists in a decade, with no accountability in any of these cases.

The report suggested that governments’ failure to protect journalists and hold perpetrators accountable paves the way for further violations, even in non-conflict countries. In 2025, journalists were killed in Mexico, India, and the Philippines, countries with a longstanding history of impunity for media killings, according to the report.

In Mexico, at least six journalists were killed last year, highlighting the ineffectiveness of the federal protection mechanism to curb these crimes, with at least one journalist killed annually there over the past decade. In the Philippines, three journalists were shot dead in 2025, resulting in just one arrest. In Asi
a and Latin America, journalists reporting on corruption and organized crime faced escalating violence.