Fifty Four journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work in 2024, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The number of journalists killed in conflict zones in 2024 was at a five-year-high.
Gaza was the most dangerous region in the world for journalists. Of the 54 journalists that were slain in 2024, one third were killed by the Israeli armed forces.
In Pakistan, Mexico, Sudan, Colombia, Honduras, and Chad armed groups and gangs targeted and killed journalists. In Bangladesh five journalists were killed last year in crackdowns on protests.
Additionally, according to Reporters Without Borders, 550 journalists are currently imprisoned worldwide, in a 7% increase from 2023. China imprisons the most journalists by far with 124 reporters detained, followed by Myanmar which has put 61 journalists behind bars. However the large increase in the number of journalists behind bars in 2024 was due largely to new detentions in Russia (+8) and Israel (+17).
“Journalists do not die, they are killed; they are not in prison, regimes lock them up; they do not disappear, they are kidnapped,” stated Thibaut Bruttin, Reporters Without Borders Director General. “These crimes — often orchestrated by governments and armed groups with total impunity — violate international law and too often go unpunished. We need to get things moving, to remind ourselves as citizens that journalists are dying for us, to keep us informed.”
Early in 2024, Reporters Without Borders published a report on Greece titled “Stemming the Tide of Greek Media Freedom Decline.” The report criticized Greece for engaging in “arbitrary surveillance” of at least 13 journalists, frequent use of gag lawsuits and legal threats, endangering journalists’ safety, and allowing crimes against them to go unpunished—highlighting the 2021 assassination of Giorgos Karaivaz and lack of convictions. It also highlighted concerns about the lack of media pluralism and independence.
