Last year marked a grim milestone for journalists worldwide. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 2024 was the deadliest on record for journalists, with at least 169 confirmed killed.

The overwhelming majority were the 161 Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza. Two Israeli and six Lebanese journalists also died in 2024.

For context, some of history’s most brutal wars saw fewer journalist casualties

World War II, a defining war in modern history, recorded the deaths of 60 journalists. The Vietnam War saw 63 journalists killed. This comparison is not meant to diminish the tragedies of past wars but to highlight how the dangers facing journalists have escalated.

Journalists Dig for the Truth at Great Personal Risk 

“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go into exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”

Beyond those killed, at least 49 journalists have been injured, two reported missing, and 75 arrested. 

The rising toll on journalists highlights the continued struggle for press freedom in war zones. Their mission has always been to inform the world, to shed light where there isn’t much. But for too many, that mission has come at the ultimate cost.

May all the lives lost rest in peace.