An annual report by the Reporters Without Borders organisation on press freedom says that 54 journalists have been killed worldwide in 2024.

Source : Reporters Without Borders; DW, German international broadcaster and media outlet

Quote : "Around the world, the number of journalists killed for covering conflict zones – in Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and the region affected by the war in Gaza – has reached a five-year high (57.4%)."

Details : The Gaza Strip has been named the most dangerous region, where nearly 30% of the 54 journalists were killed while conducting their duties. Over 145 media workers were killed in total after the 7 October 2023 attack by the radical Islamist group Hamas on Israel, including at least 35 whose deaths were directly linked to their journalistic activities.

According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 13 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Almost half of all imprisoned journalists worldwide are in the prisons of just four countries: China, including Hong Kong (124), Myanmar (61), Israel (41) and Belarus (40). Eight journalists were arrested in 2024 in Russia. Israel has been systematically reporting detentions since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip in 2023: 17 reporters were detained last year.

"Media workers are killed, imprisoned and kidnapped, and too often these brutal crimes go unpunished. We must protect those who inform us. Their courageous work reveals the suffering of people from wars, corruption and abuse of power," Anja Osterhaus, a member of the board of the German branch of Reporters Without Borders, emphasised.

Background : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that the Russians had killed 50 priests and destroyed about 700 churches in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.

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