A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed around the world in 2025, with Israel responsible for about two-thirds of those deaths, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
It was the second consecutive annual record for press deaths and the deadliest year since the CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago.
"Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever," CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.
"Attacks on the media are a leading indicator of attacks on other freedoms, and much more needs to be done to prevent these killings and punish the perpetrators. We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news," she said.
Over three-quarters of all the fatalities in 2025 were in conflict settings, the CPJ said in its report.
More than 60% of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire in 2025 were Palestinians reporting from Gaza, it added.
The Israeli military, however, claims that it never deliberately targets journalists.
The number of journalists killed in Ukraine and Sudan also increased in 2025 compared to the year before.
The CPJ highlighted a rise in drones being used, with 39 cases documented, including 28 killings by Israel in Gaza and five by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.
In Ukraine, four journalists were killed by Russian military drones, the highest annual number of journalist deaths in the war since 15 were killed in 2022.
Journalists are increasingly vulnerable due to a persistent culture of impunity, the CPJ said, noting a lack of transparent investigations into killings.
In Mexico, six journalists were killed in 2025 and all the cases remain unsolved. The Philippines saw three journalists shot dead.
Others were killed following their reporting on corruption, such as a Bangladeshi reporter hacked to death by suspects linked to a fraud ring, according to the CPJ report.
Similar organized crime-related deaths were recorded in India and Peru.
In Saudi Arabia, prominent columnist Turki al-Jasser was executed by the state after being convicted on several charges that the CPJ likened to "spurious national security and financial crime allegations" used to punish reporters.
It was the Gulf state's first documented killing of a journalist since the 2018 death of Jamal Khashoggi.
"The numbers were still very low compared to Israel, which remains a significant exception," it added.
The committee said that the rising number of journalist deaths "is fueled by a persistent culture of impunity," with very few transparent investigations conducted into the 47 cases of targeted killings of journalists in 2025.
"No one has been held accountable in any of the cases."
It warned that the continued failure of government leaders to protect the press or hold their attackers to account "lays the groundwork for more killings, including in countries not at war."
CPJ also called for radical reform in the ways governments investigate journalist killings.
"In order to bring perpetrators to justice, including establishing an international investigative task force and imposing targeted sanctions," it said.
