A record number of journalists was killed in 2024, the The committee to protect journalists said In a report published on Wednesday. At least 124 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide and about two -thirds were Palestinians killed by Israel during his War against Hamas In Gaza, said CPJ.
The previous record was 113 journalists killed in 2007 during the war in Iraq.
Other countries, including Sudan, Pakistan, Mexico and Syria, also killed several cases of journalists last year, according to the report.
The CPJ considers a journalist or a media worker who has covered news or commented on public affairs, in any medium. To be included on his list, the death of the person must have been linked to the work. Death can be deliberate or accidental, as if a journalist is killed in a conflict area. The death of a journalist would not be included if there is evidence that it “encourages violence with an imminent effect or to participate directly as fighter In armed conflicts at the time of their death, “said the CPJ.
The CPJ says that he only understands confirmed cases in his report, which means that he found evidence indicating that the journalist was killed in relation to their work; He indicates that he considers all cases of war zone, as confirmed.
The increase in world conflict leads to record deaths
Of the 124 journalists killed in 2024, the CPJ report said 82 had been killed in the middle of the war in Gaza and three were Killed in Lebanonwhere Israel was fighting Hezbollah. In at least 10 cases, CPJ said that his investigation determined that they were “deliberately targeted”. The group says that it continues to investigate the question of whether at least 20 other cases may have been deliberate.
Thirty -one of the journalists killed in Gaza were Palestinian freelancers who, the CPJ, said “intervened to fill empty information after many media has stopped operating” on the territory.
In a statement sent to CBS News, Israeli defense forces said that it “took all operational feasible measures to mitigate civilians, including journalists” and that it has never and will never deliberately target journalists “.
The FDI sent a list of about half of a dozen “so-called journalists appointed in CPJ reports that have been actively noted and have directed terrorist efforts against Israel”, including at least two that he has Accused of having participated directly “The massacre of October 7” orchestrated by Hamas.
The Israeli army has often alleged that “terrorist agents” in Gaza have doubled as journalists and could therefore be “legitimate military targets”, including some who worked for Al Jazeera. The Qatari network has strongly denied this allegation.
The rise in journalists’ deaths comes in the middle of an increasing number of conflicts around the world, said CPJ. The other killings of journalists in 2024 took place in more than a dozen countries, including Sudan, Pakistan and Mexico.
Sudan and Pakistan have known six killings of journalists each, while Mexico had five. Four journalists were killed in Syria. Three died in Myanmar, where underground journalists are “increasingly treated as enemy fighters”, according to the CPJ. Three other deaths of journalists were Recorded in Iraqmarking the first deaths of journalists since 2020. Two journalists were killed in HaitiWhere “the gangs now openly claim responsibility for journalists’ killings,” said the CPJ.
The CPJ said that he had found countries where journalists are deliberately killed often try to “bury evidence of murders, change repairs and avoid responsibility”. Such actions have put surviving journalists even more in danger, said the group, and removes “the possibility of justice” for those who died.
Around the world, journalists have also been intimidated, censored and arrested or attacked. Such incidents have been reported in Cameroon, Somalia and Afghanistan, even if no journalist was killed in these countries. There was also no death of journalists in the war between Ukraine and Russia, although several attacks that may have targeted injured journalists, said the CPJ. A Ukrainian journalist who was detained In August 2023, he died in Russian police custody last year.
“Conditions can become more deadly for the press when those who kill journalists are not held to account. And fewer journalists mean less information for citizens looking for the truth,” said CPJ.
