PARIS — Journalist killings worldwide rose sharply in 2024 and 2025, with 189 journalists killed in violent attacks over the two years — a 20 per cent increase on the previous two-year period and the highest level since 2014–2015 — according to UNESCO's latest Director-General's Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, whose highlights were released on Monday, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

Source: UNESCO, Nov 2

The report's bleakest finding is about justice, not only danger. For the first time since UNESCO began measuring the global impunity rate in 2012, it rose — by one percentage point, to 86 per cent — leaving almost nine out of ten journalist killings judicially unresolved, UNESCO said.

Source: UNESCO, Nov 2

189Journalists killed in violent attacks in 2024–2025 (UNESCO)
67%Share of the killings that occurred in conflict zones — 127 journalists
50Journalists killed by drones/UAVs, across just six war zones
86%Global impunity rate — killings that remain judicially unresolved

Drones are changing how journalists are killed

Fifty of the journalists killed were killed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones across just six war zones, UNESCO said, highlighting what it called new technology-enabled threats. Of the journalists killed in countries experiencing armed conflict, 40 per cent were reportedly killed by drones, and local journalists — reporters covering their own communities — accounted for 90 per cent of those killed in conflict-affected countries, DailyStraits reported from the report's findings.

Source: DailyStraits, Nov 2

Fourteen women journalists were killed during the two-year period, all but one of them in a conflict-affected country, the report found. UNESCO said the new risks for women journalists are compounded by gender-based violence, online abuse and other targeted threats.

Source: DailyStraits, Nov 2

Freelancers carry more of the risk — with less protection

The report identifies a growing reliance on freelance and independently employed journalists as news organisations change their business models. While killings of staff journalists have declined in recent years, deaths among non-staff journalists have increased, particularly since 2022, and freelancers frequently lack basic safety training, protective equipment, legal assistance, social protection and psychological support, DailyStraits reported.

Source: DailyStraits, Nov 2

"The safety of journalists depends not only on freedom of expression but on the enjoyment of basic labour rights," Tarja Turtia, UNESCO's Chief of Section for Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists, told DailyStraits, pointing to a recent International Labour Organization report on decent work and the safety of journalists.

Source: DailyStraits, Nov 2

There was one line of progress. In countries not experiencing armed conflict, the number of killings fell to 62 — its lowest level in 18 years — and the impunity rate in those countries has fallen by 17 percentage points to 77 per cent since 2012, UNESCO said. Since UNESCO began systematically monitoring journalist killings in 2006, it has recorded 1,641 deaths worldwide — approximately one journalist every four days.

Source: UNESCO, Nov 2

UNESCO launched the report at its headquarters in Paris on Monday under the 2026 campaign theme "Threats Evolve. Impunity Endures.", followed by a policy dialogue on journalist safety, and called on governments, media and civil society to strengthen accountability so journalists can work "safely and without fear that attacks against them will go unanswered." Separately, UNESCO said 30 media professionals have been killed worldwide so far in 2026.

Source: UNESCO