Six in seven journalist killings go unpunished — UNESCO

A new UNESCO report shows that the number of journalists, media workers, and social media producers killed worldwide rose by 20 per cent between 2024 and 2025, reaching a total of 189 deaths. The Malay Mail reports that 2025 saw more journalist killings than any other single year in the previous eight years. Most of these fatalities occurred during armed conflicts, including drone strikes.

Global impunity for these killings has risen, with Punch reporting that six out of seven cases were not brought to justice in 2024-2025. According to the Malay Mail, the highest number of killings were recorded in Arab states with 97 deaths, followed by 37 in Latin America and the Caribbean. Within this period, Palestine saw at least 62 media workers killed, while Ukraine recorded 12 deaths and the Russian Federation recorded two.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Malay Mail — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.