Violence Is a Growing Threat to Press Freedom Worldwide Council on Foreign Relations

pViolence against the press is a rising trend worldwidewhether in the line of fire in fierce conflicts or on the front lines of covering repressive regimesppEvery four days a journalist somewhere in the world is killed in connection to their work according to the United Nationsand that trend is rising despite it being a breach of international law There have been at least 72 media worker fatalities this year so far and a total of 125 in 2024ppThe growing number of killings follows a pattern in which journalism more generally is being targeted by those in power through a variety of means to stifle independent reporting Jodie Ginsberg CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ told CFR There has been a sharp rise in the number of journalists imprisoned or assaulted while on the job too ppGinsberg stressed that it is not just authoritarian regimes that are seeing this growth Thats also happening in supposed democraciesand thats a trend weve been watching for several yearsppIts not a new problem CFR Press Fellow Alan Cullison a former Wall Street Journal correspondent in Afghanistan and Ukraine echoed Journalist violence is a timeless issue he said The recent rise in press violence largely stems from an overreliance on freelancers without the backing of major outlets in dangerous reporting environments and the declining belief that journalists are objective noncombatantsppWhile violence against journalists is a global issue problem areas often emerge in more localized conflict zones CFR explores the deadliest areas for journalists of late according to watchdog datappSince Hamass October 7 2023 attack on Israel precipitated the ongoing conflict a high percentage of recorded violence against journalists has been concentrated in the Gaza Strip CPJ reported in February that Israel was responsible for 70 percent of reported journalist killings worldwide last year and estimated that 203 have been killed in the territory since the outbreak of the war Of them 189 were Palestinian Gazas Hamasrun government media office puts the total even higher at 238 Meanwhile Israels military has repeatedly denied intentionally targeting members of the press ppForeign reporters are not allowed to enter Gaza so local journalists are the only ones in the enclave able to cover the fallout from the conflict Both CPJ and Reporters Without Borders RSF have characterized some of Israels attacks as directly targeting journalists such as an August 10 strike that killed five Al Jazeera media workers in Gaza City Israel claimed responsibility for the attack saying it had deliberately targeted the reporters because they had a terrorist affiliation with Hamas Israel provided no evidence to support the allegationppWeve received a lot of messages from journalists in Gaza who are terrified of being the next one targeted Martin Roux the head of the crisis desk at RSF saidppNews outlets are also verbalizing their concerns Al Jazeera said it condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific crimes against its own journalists including the five killed in the August Gaza City tent strike and another five killed a week later in a doubletap strike on Gazas largest remaining hospital The Associated Press and Reuters also denounced the hospital strike noting that the location was protected under international law and calling on the Israeli government to explain the journalists deathsppAgence FrancePresse AFP raised alarm that its journalists faced possible starvation in Gaza by mid2025 after global monitors declared famine in the area Since AFP was founded in 1944 none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger the outlets union saidppSudan was tied as the secondhighest country for journalist deaths in 2024 CPJ reported The country has become a dangerous conflict zone since civil war erupted in April 2023 between government forces and a rebel group resulting in famine and mass displacement ppAt least 90 percent of Sudans media ecosystem has been completely destroyed The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate has tallied more than 550 violations against media workers and more than 30 deaths since the wars outbreak CPJ puts that tally at 9 deaths The premises of some media outlets have been ransacked and many journalists fled the country when the war broke out Roux said ppThere are certain areas in Sudan that are just not covered by reporters he added both because few journalists remain and because the war is generally undercovered especially by Western outlets ppPakistan climbed to six journalist deaths last year amid a spike in political unrest over economic woes disputed elections and media censorship after Punjab province enacted a harsh defamation law RSF ranks Pakistan as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists with multiple murders every yearoften linked to corruption Pakistans government using mass surveillance that often leads to detentions and enforced disappearances appears to be prepared to silence any critic once and for all RSF wrote ppMexico has consistently had one of the worst records on disappeared journalists dating back to at least the nineties due in part to corruption by public officials and threats from organized crime groups Deaths recorded by CPJ rose from two in 2023 to five in 2024 ending a period of relative quiet among gangs and political groups ahead of the countrys June 2024 election ppAll of these cases were linked to the journalists reporting on corruption crime scenes environmental issues and public complaints among other things Roux said Ginsburg agreed adding that Mexico had a high degree of collusion between people in positions of power and criminal enterprises ppHowever Latin Americas overall press violence rates are rising at an alarming pace with RSF reporting that journalist deaths in the region in 2025 have already surpassed last years total ppAt least sixteen reporters have been killed since the outbreak of the RussiaUkraine war in 2022 RSF has tallied nearly 150 attacks on Ukrainian press by Russia and Roux said hes spoken with several Ukrainian journalists who have been targeted by Russian forces  ppCFRs Cullison said his own experience covering conflict from inside Russia was rife with fears of kidnapping Russia is a notoriously hostile environment for independent and foreign journalistswith many now banned or labeled as foreign agentsoften leading to arbitrary detentions and sometimes even torture The Russians have become increasingly malevolent toward reporters Cullison told CFR drawing on his own experience in the region covering the Second Chechen War and now Ukraine as a war journalist ppIn recent years as geopolitical tensions have further isolated Russia on the world stage the country has become more and more unfriendly to reporters At the time of writing RSF has documented fortyeight media workers currently being detained in Russia ppSyria notched four journalist deaths in 2024 CPJ reported and currently ranks 177 out of 180 on RSFs Press Freedom Index The transitional government installed after the ousting of longtime dictator Bashar alAssad brought some months of calm but has since faced renewed instability after a spate of violence broke out in the Sweida region in July Israeli air strikes in Damascus that month too severely damaged a local media office and killed and wounded several journalists The country still remains a volatile place for women reporters especially due to rampant sexism and gender role expectations creating higher security risks according to RSF and accounts from women journalists in SyriappEven in places once considered bastions of press freedom threats to journalists are growing Over the past decade for example violence against journalists in the United States has gone up as political rhetoric has increasingly vilified the press since the 2016 election cycle CPJ said In Los Angeles during demonstrations over federal raids in JuneJuly of this year RSF recorded at least seventy attacks on reporters by police The majority of US press attacks in 2025 occurred over the summer at protests across the country over the Donald Trump administrations hardline immigration and deportation schemes These predominantly unfolded in California but also in states like Georgia Minnesota Oregon and Texas ppAs the Trump administration pulls federal funding from statesupported outlets it sends a signal of eroding support that could become more dangerous watchdogs say Politicians open disdain for the media has trickled down to the public RSF wrote The US Press Freedom Tracker has already counted 27 arrests or criminal charges and 104 instances of assault on the press so far this yearppThe mounting threats make journalists work even more crucial Its very important for us to continue to elevate and champion factbased reporting and the value of factbased reporting to all of us as a public good Ginsburg said Especially given that where attacks on journalists begin further restrictions on other freedoms and liberties are sure to followppAustin Steinhart contributed to the graphics for this article ppThis work is licensed under Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercialNoDerivatives 40 International CC BYNCND 40 LicenseppBy Steven A CookppBy Elliott Abramspp2026 Council on Foreign Relationsp