Goodbye 2025, globally a deadlier year for scribes
Guwahati: As the year 2025 bids farewell, it emerged as a deadlier year for journalists since the beginning of the century, after 2024. At least 165 media professionals were killed in 31 countries, where 2024 witnessed 179 journo-casualties around the world, said the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), adding that by regions, the Middle East leads with 87 deaths, ahead of Latin America with 27, Asia with 23, Africa with 16, Europe with 10 and the United States with 2. At least 60 journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip, almost all of them victims of Israeli strikes. Since the start of hostilities triggered by Hamas on 7 October 2023, at least 221 Palestinian media workers have been killed in Gaza (81 in 2023 and 80 in 2024).
The war between Ukraine and Russia has resulted in the deaths of nine journalists, who were killed by either Ukrainian or Russian fire. Three Ukrainian journalists were killed, as was French journalist Antoni Lallican in Ukraine, and five Russian journalists were killed by Ukrainian fire in the border regions (in Ukraine and Russia). Several other Ukrainian journalists have died in combat while serving in the armed forces. According to the Institute of Mass Information (Ukraine), a total of 120 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, including Ukrainian journalists who died in combat. There are no statistics on Russian journalists enlisted in the Russian armed forces who have been killed during the hostilities.
“The increasing uses of undetectable, ultra-fast drones pose a new and serious threat to war reporters on both sides. Access to victims is even more restricted,” lamented PEC president Blaise Lempen. Among the countries most affected, the PEC deplores the deaths of 15 media workers in Yemen, including 13 in an Israeli attack on September 10. Faced with violence from drug traffickers, Mexico remains a country with the highest number of victims, with nine murders in 2025. The situation in Sudan has also worsened due to ongoing fighting, with at least eight deaths among Sudanese media personnel.
The PEC counted six victims in India, five in Ecuador, five in Pakistan and five in Bangladesh, four in Iran, targeted by an Israeli attack in Tehran, and four in the Philippines. In Peru, four journalists were murdered. There were also three victims in Syria. Afghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and the United States lost 2 scribes each last year. One death was recorded in each of Brazil, Haiti, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
Among the PEC's main concerns, impunity remains a major problem. In the absence of independent investigations and prosecutions, these crimes are on the rise. The PEC supports the recommendation issued by the conference on the protection of journalists in armed conflicts, which met in Doha, Qatar, on 8 and 9 October, calling for the creation of an international commission of inquiry under the auspices of the UN pending the adoption of an international convention on the protection of journalists in conflict zones with the creation of an internationally recognised press emblem.
PEC’s south and southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that India lost six media professionals to assailants last year, compared to four media casualties in 2024, including Mukesh Chandrakar (stringer to NDTV from Bastar, Chhattisgarh), Raghavendra Vajpayee (Dainik Jagaran from Imalia Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh), Sahadev Dey (Republic Andaman, from Diglipur, Andaman islands), Dharmendra Singh Chauhan (Fast News India, Gurugram, Haryana), Naresh Kumar (Times Odia, Bhubaneswar, Odisha) and Rajeev Pratap Singh (Delhi Uttarakhand Live, Joshiyara, Uttarakhand) along with the suspected murder of Pankaj Mishra, a freelance journalist based in Dehradun.
On the other hand, Pakistan that witnessed murder of 12 media persons in 2024, recorded the killing of AD Shar (Hum News, Khairpur, Sindh), Abdul Latif (Daily Intekhab/Aaj News, Awaran, Balochistan), Syed Mohammed Shah (Ab-Tak TV, Jacobabad, Sindh), Imtiaz Mir (Metro One News, Karachi, Sindh) and Tufail Rind (Royal News, Ghotki, Sindh) last year. Bangladesh, which reported the murder of seven media workers in 2024, recorded the killing of Assaduzzaman Tuhin (Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, Gazipur), Bibhuranjan Sarkar (Ajker Patrika, Munshiganj), Wahed-uz-Zaman Bulu (Dainik Ajker Kagoj, Dhaka), Khandahar Shah Alam (Dainik Matrijagat, Dhaka) and Imdadul Haque Milon (Bartaman Somoy, Shalua) in 2025.
Philippines with only one casualty in 2024 lost four journalists namely Juan Johny Dayang (Philippine Graphic Magazine, Aklan), Erwin Labitad Segovia (Radio WOW FM, Bislig City), Noel Bellen Samar (DWTZ, Guinabatan) and Gerry Campos (Barangay Sta. Cruz, Surigao del Sur) last year. Afghanistan lost two scribes namely Abdul Ghafoor Abid (Paktia National Radio Television, Khost) and Abdul Zahir Safi (State run media outlet, Kabul) last year, even though it had no journo-casualty in 2024. Nepal, which recorded one journo-murder in 2024, repeated with the killing of Suresh Rajak (Avenues TV, Kathmandu) in 2025. Myanmar, which lost three scribes in 2024, Cambodia (lost 1) and Indonesia (1) along with Bhutan, Sri Lana, Maldives, evaded any media casualty in 2025.
