The number of journalists killed worldwide has risen sharply, with 189 deaths recorded between 2024 and 2025, UNESCO has warned, as armed conflicts, growing risks to freelance journalists and widespread impunity continue to threaten press freedom.
According to UNESCO’s latest Director-General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, journalist killings increased by 20 per cent compared with the previous two-year period, reaching their highest level since 2014–2015. Of those killed, 127 journalists, or 67 per cent, died in countries experiencing armed conflict. UNESCO also reported that 86 per cent of journalist killings worldwide remain unresolved, with perpetrators continuing to escape accountability.
The findings were published ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed on November 2, which UNESCO organises each year to raise awareness of attacks against media workers and the continuing need for accountability.
Freelancers at growing risk
Tarja Turtia, UNESCO’s specialist on freedom of expression and journalist safety, highlighted the importance of labour protections alongside press freedom in responses to questions from DailyStraits, pointing to the particular vulnerability of freelance journalists who often work without the institutional backing, insurance or safety training that staff reporters receive.
Since UNESCO began systematically monitoring journalist killings in 2006, it has recorded 1,641 deaths worldwide — equivalent to approximately one journalist every four days. Every two years, UNESCO requests updates from countries with unresolved cases, with some government responses published through its Observatory of Killed Journalists.
Why impunity matters
UNESCO’s message is that impunity is not only a failure of justice for individual victims, but a threat to the public’s right to know. When killings go unpunished, the organisation warns, it sends a signal that journalists can be attacked with little consequence, chilling reporting from conflict zones and corrupt power centres alike. The 86 per cent unresolved rate, UNESCO says, is itself one of the most damning figures in the report — a measure of how rarely the world holds killers of journalists to account.
