The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has made correct assertion that 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists in its history as that was the deadliest year for journalists in over three decades.
In other words, more journalists were killed in 2024 than in any other year since the Committee to Protect Journalists began collecting data more than three decades ago. The global total of 124 journalist deaths surpasses the previous record of 113 in 2007, a year when nearly half of the casualties were due to the Iraq War.
Nearly 70 percent were killed by Israel. The CJP has pointed out that at least 124 journalists were killed across 18 countries—a staggering 22% increase from 2023. Nearly 70% of these deaths occurred in the Israel-Gaza war, with 85 journalists killed by the Israeli military.
Most of those killed, 82, were Palestinians. Freelancers, often reporting with minimal resources, made up over 35% of those killed.
In Gaza alone, 31 freelancers lost their lives, highlighting the extreme dangers faced by those bringing critical stories to the world.
How ironic it is that the safety of journalists remains elusive just like the objective of accountability for journalists’ deaths, including what the Committee to Protect Journalists has repeatedly recommended—‘the establishment of international investigative task force focused on crimes against journalists’—with a view to help protect journalists who are under attack worldwide.
2024 was also the deadliest year for journalists in Pakistan because it was during this year that as many as 11 journalists were killed. In India, over 30 journalists have been killed since 2015, making the so-called ‘democratic country’ the seventh most dangerous country over the past decade.
Tehsin Wajid Ali (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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