The killings of the journalists were deliberate acts intended to silence them. “They weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work … Key witnesses to history have become inconvenient eyewitnesses, bargaining chips, and people to be ‘eliminated’,” said RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin. 

Groundxero | 9 December 2025

2025 was yet another devastating year for global press freedom, with 67 journalists killed between 1 December 2024 and 1 December 2025, according to the annual report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday.

The number is shocking, but the pattern behind it is far more damning: nearly half were killed in Gaza, overwhelmingly by Israeli armed forces; another significant share died in Mexico, overwhelmingly at the hands of organised crime.

Israel killed more journalists in 2025 than any other country, according to a report by RSF. Israeli forces carrying out the genocidal war in Gaza were responsible for the deaths of 29 Palestinian reporters, RSF said in its annual report. It was the third year running that Israel was named the top killer of journalists by the RSF.

Overall, 67 journalists were killed around the world this year, one more than in 2024. At least 53 of the 67 media professionals killed over the past year are victims of war or criminal networks.

“Journalists do not just die – they are killed,” said RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin, blaming the rise on the “criminal practices” of military groups — both regular and paramilitary — and organised crime.

 “This is where the hatred of journalists leads!” said Thibaut Bruttin. “It led to the death of 67 journalists this year – not by accident, and they weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work.” He blamed the killings on the “failure” of international bodies and governments to protect reporters in conflict zones.

Key points from the RSF annual report:

1.  Since the last RSF round-up, published on 1 December 2024, 67 journalists have been killed because of their work. Nearly half (43%) of the journalists slain in the past 12 months were killed in Gaza by Israeli armed forces. In total, since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 220 journalists, at least 65 of whom were slain either due to their work or while they were working.  At least 79% of those killed were victims of armed forces or paramilitary groups (37 journalists) and criminal networks (16 journalists).  In Ukraine, the Russian army continues to target foreign and Ukrainian reporters. Sudan has also emerged as an exceptionally deadly war zone for news professionals. Four were killed while working this year, at least two of whom died after being abducted by the Rapid Support Forces.

2. In Mexico, organised crime groups are responsible for the alarming spike in journalist murders seen in 2025. This year has been the deadliest of the past three years — at least — and Mexico is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with nine killed. The trend has spread as Latin America has become more “Mexicanised,” accounting for 24% of the world’s murdered journalists.  

3. Journalists are more at risk within their own countries. Only two foreign journalists were killed this year: French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, killed by a Russian drone strike in Ukraine, and Salvadorian journalist Javier Hércules, killed in Honduras, where he had lived for over a decade. All the other murdered journalists reported the news in their own nations. 

4. 503 journalists are currently detained around the world. The world’s largest prison for journalists is still China (121), with Russia (48) now in second place, imprisoning more foreign journalists than any other state: 26 Ukrainians. Myanmar (47) comes in third. After Russia, Israel has imprisoned the largest number of foreign journalists. As of 1 December 2025, 20 Palestinian journalists are behind Israeli bars, 16 of whom were arrested over the past two years in Gaza and the West Bank.

5. As of 1 December 2025, 135 journalists are missing worldwide. 72% of missing journalists disappeared in the Middle East and Latin America. One year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, many of the reporters arrested or captured under his rule are yet to be found, making Syria the country with the highest number of missing news professionals — over a quarter of the world total.

6.  Twenty journalists are currently held hostage worldwide. The Houthi rebels took seven journalists hostage in 2025, making Yemen the country with the highest number of journalist victims to this type of kidnapping over the last twelve months. In Syria, elements of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rose to power after the fall of Assad’s regime, but the group continues to hold several journalists hostage. In Mali, radio journalists Saleck Ag Jiddou and Moustapha Koné have been missing for two years following their abduction in 2023.

‘This is where hatred of journalists leads’

Summing up the alarming situation, in a forceful statement, RSF chief Bruttin underscored that the killings were deliberate acts intended to silence the journalists: “They weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work.”

Bruttin said that while it is “perfectly legitimate to criticise the media”, he warned that criticism of the media, when weaponised by state and non-state actors, easily “descend into hatred of journalists,” — and this stoked up hatred is now causing the “key witnesses to history, to gradually become collateral victims, inconvenient eyewitnesses, bargaining chips, pawns in diplomatic games, men and women to be ‘eliminated.’

Stating that “No one gives their life for journalism — it is taken from them,” Bruttin concluded “journalists do not just die — they are killed.