2025 ranks as deadliest year for journalists: PEC report

Geneva: The year 2025 emerged as the deadliest for journalists since the beginning of the century, following 2024. According to the tally of the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), 161 media professionals were killed in 31 countries (179 in 2024).

At least 60 journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip, almost all victims of Israeli strikes. Since the start of hostilities triggered by Hamas on 7 October 2023, at least 221 Palestinian media personnel have been killed in Gaza (81 in 2023, 80 in 2024, 60 in 2025).

The war between Ukraine and Russia resulted in the deaths of nine journalists, killed by either Ukrainian or Russian fire.

Three Ukrainian journalists were killed, as was French journalist Antoni Lallican in Ukraine, and five Russian journalists were killed by Ukrainian fire in border regions (in Ukraine and Russia).

“The increasing use of undetectable, ultra-fast drones poses a new and serious threat to war reporters on both sides. Access to victims is even more restricted,” lamented Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (https://www.pressemblem.ch/).

By region, the Middle East leads with 87 deaths, followed by Latin America with 25, Asia with 22, Africa with 15, Europe with 10, and the United States with 2. Two-thirds of the victims recorded in 2025 were killed in areas of armed conflict (108).

Among the countries most affected, PEC deplores the deaths of 15 media workers in Yemen, including 13 in an Israeli attack on 10 September.

Faced with violence from drug traffickers, Mexico remains a country with the highest number of journalist-victims, with nine murders in 2025.

The situation in Sudan has also worsened due to ongoing fighting, with at least eight deaths among Sudanese media personnel.

PEC counted six victims in India, five in Ecuador, and five in Pakistan. Four were killed in Bangladesh, four in Iran, targeted by an Israeli attack in Tehran, and four in the Philippines.

In Peru, three journalists were murdered. There were also three victims in Syria. Next came Afghanistan, Colombia, Honduras, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the United States, with two killed in each country.

One death was recorded in each of the following countries: Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tanzania, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.

Among PEC's main concerns, impunity remains a major problem. In the absence of independent investigations and prosecutions, these crimes are on the rise. PEC supports the recommendation issued by the conference on the protection of journalists in armed conflicts, held in Doha, Qatar, on 8 and 9 October, calling for the creation of an international commission of inquiry under the auspices of the UN, pending the adoption of an international convention on the protection of journalists in conflict zones, along with the creation of an internationally recognised press emblem.

PEC is also very concerned about the increase in the number of individual requests for support it has received from persecuted journalists seeking safe asylum. Journalists from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Syria, Turkey, and Sudan have requested assistance from PEC.

“Unfortunately, democratic governments are increasingly closed to such requests, and persecuted journalists face almost systematic rejection of their asylum applications. This is distressing,” said the PEC chief, clarifying that, unlike other organisations, PEC includes all journalists killed in its statistics, regardless of whether their death was related to their professional activity.

It is difficult to prove that a crime was committed in connection with a journalist's work without a thorough and independent investigation, which is often lacking.

PEC’s South and Southeast Asia representative, Nava Thakuria, reported that India lost six media professionals to assailants this year, compared to four in 2024, including Mukesh Chandrakar (stringer for NDTV from Bastar, Chhattisgarh), Raghavendra Vajpayee (Dainik Jagaran from Imalia Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh), Sahadev Dey (Republic Andaman from Diglipur, Andaman Islands), Dharmendra Singh Chauhan (Fast News India, Gurugram, Haryana), Naresh Kumar (Times Odia, Bhubaneswar, Odisha), and Rajeev Pratap Singh (Delhi Uttarakhand Live, Joshiyara, Uttarakhand).

Pakistan, which witnessed the murder of 12 media persons last year, recorded the killings of AD Shar (Hum News, Khairpur, Sindh), Abdul Latif (Daily Intekhab/Aaj News, Awaran, Balochistan), Syed Mohammed Shah (Ab-Tak TV, Jacobabad, Sindh), Imtiaz Mir (Metro One News, Karachi, Sindh), and Tufail Rind (Royal News, Ghotki, Sindh) this year.

Bangladesh, which reported the murder of seven media workers last year, recorded the killings of Assaduzzaman Tuhin (Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, Gazipur), Bibhuranjan Sarkar (Ajker Patrika, Munshiganj), Wahed-uz-Zaman Bulu (Dainik Ajker Kagoj, Dhaka), and Khandahar Shah Alam (Dainik Matrijagat, Dhaka) in 2025.

The Philippines, with only one casualty last year, lost four journalists this year: Juan Johny Dayang (Philippine Graphic Magazine, Aklan), Erwin Labitad Segovia (Radio WOW FM, Bislig City), Noel Bellen Samar (DWTZ, Guinabatan), and Gerry Campos (Barangay Sta. Cruz, Surigao del Sur).

Afghanistan lost two journalists: Abdul Ghafoor Abid (Paktia National Radio Television, Khost) and Abdul Zahir Safi (state-run media outlet, Kabul), despite having no journalist casualties in 2024.

Nepal, which recorded one journalist murder last year, recorded the killing of Suresh Rajak (Avenues TV, Kathmandu) in 2025. Myanmar, which lost three journalists last year, Cambodia (1), and Indonesia (1) reported no media casualties this year.