2024 was The Deadliest Year for Media Workers, Record Number of Journalists Killed
At least 124 journalists were killed in 18 countries in 2024, the deadliest year for journalists and media workers. |
WASHINGTON: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday that a record number of journalists were killed worldwide in the year 2024, with Israel responsible for nearly 70% of the deaths. At least 124 journalists were killed in 18 countries in 2024, the deadliest year for journalists and media workers since the committee began recording numbers more than three decades ago, the CPJ said in a statement. At least six journalists and media workers have been killed so far in 2025, the committee said.
The CPJ said 85 journalists have died at the hands of Israeli forces in the Israel-Gaza war, and accused Israel of suppressing investigations into the incidents, shifting blame onto journalists and ignoring its duty to hold people accountable for the killings.
Reacting to this, the Israeli military said, "The IDF has never and will never intentionally target journalists."
“Today is the most dangerous time in CPJ’s history to be a journalist,” CEO Jody Ginsberg said in the statement. “The war in Gaza is unprecedented in its impact on journalists and represents a major deterioration in global norms for the safety of journalists in conflict zones, but it is not the only place where journalists are at risk.”
According to CPJ, the number of journalists and media workers expected to be killed in 2024 has risen sharply compared to recent years. 102 journalists were killed in 2023 and 69 in 2022, compared to 2024.
2024 was the deadliest year for journalists in CPJ’s history.
— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) February 12, 2025
Every journalist killed is the loss of a truth-teller. Those who chronicle our reality and hold power to account deserve justice. We will not stop seeking it.
Read more in CPJ’s new #2024KilledReport:… pic.twitter.com/VAap9O7sxC
The previous record high for deaths was in 2007, when 113 journalists lost their lives, nearly half of them due to the Iraq war, the committee said.
Sudan and Pakistan had the second-highest number of journalist deaths last year.
CPJ said it had recorded an “alarming increase in the number of targeted killings.” At least 24 journalists were deliberately killed because of their work last year, including in Sudan, Myanmar, Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere.
The CPJ has documented at least 10 cases of targeted killings by Israel. The committee said it is also investigating 20 other killings in which it believes Israel may have specifically targeted journalists.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas for the October 2023 attack, which according to Israeli figures killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and 251 hostages.
Israel's retaliatory strikes have killed more than 48,000 people, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials.
