RSF: 54 journalists killed in 2024, number of imprisoned journalists rises to 550!

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 2024 report. The results, revealing the pressure and censorship faced by the press worldwide, have laid bare some painful data. 

RSF reported that 31 of the 54 journalists killed worldwide in 2024 lost their lives in conflict zones, and the number of imprisoned journalists reached 550, a 7 percent increase.

CONFLICT ZONES HAVE BECOME GRAVEYARDS FOR JOURNALISTS!

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 report points out that half of the journalist murders recorded this year were concentrated in conflict zones, revealing a worrying increase in attacks on reporters. 

Gaza has become the most dangerous region in the world in 2024 and the region with the highest number of journalists killed on duty in the last five years. Since October 2023, more than 145 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, with at least 35 of them targeted in the course of their work.

ARRESTS DECREASED IN TURKEY, JUDICIAL CONTROL INCREASED! 

On the other hand, the number of journalists held in prisons around the world has reached 550, a 7 percent increase compared to last year. 

RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu also stated in his remarks regarding the toll that there was a significant decrease in the number of imprisoned journalists in Turkey in 2024, but he warned:

“The declining number of imprisoned journalists should not mask the existence of other anti-democratic practices in Turkey, such as the rapid spread of judicial control, aimed at restricting the freedom of movement and capturing the minds of journalists. Indeed, we are observing an almost systematic and worrying practice of online censorship, perhaps as a way to replace arrests as a means of silencing and neutralizing news.”

RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin stated that to prevent this dire trend, public awareness is as necessary as the struggle itself. Bruttin said: 

“Journalists are not dying; they are being killed; they are not in prison; regimes are putting them there; they have not disappeared; they have been kidnapped. These crimes, usually organized by governments or armed groups, disregard international law and often go unpunished. We must change the course of events and remind ourselves as citizens that journalists die for us, to inform us. We must continue to count, to name, to condemn, to investigate, and to ensure that justice is served. Fatalism cannot prevail. Protecting those who inform us is protecting the truth.”

The 2024 report prepared by RSF is as follows: 

"The Israeli army killed one-third of the journalists killed

• Painful record: 31 of the 54 journalists killed lost their lives in conflict zones.

Worldwide, the number of journalists killed while reporting in conflict zones such as the Middle East, Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar, and Ukraine has reached its highest level in the last five years (57.4%). 

• Gaza: The most dangerous region in the world for journalists

According to information obtained by RSF to date, one-third of the journalists killed on duty in 2024 were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.

Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists and has been the country with the highest number of journalist deaths in the last five years. According to our information to date, more than 145 journalists have been killed by Israel since October 2023; at least 35 of them were targeted or killed on duty.

RSF continues to investigate the deaths of journalists to condemn the targeting, and has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed by Israel against journalists.

Asia: The second most dangerous region for journalists. Due to the situation in Pakistan, where seven journalists were killed, and in Bangladesh, where five reporters lost their lives while covering protests, the Asian continent has become the second region with the highest number of media workers killed in 2024. 

550 journalists imprisoned

• Increase in journalist arrests

The increase in the number of imprisoned journalists in 2024 (+7.2%) is mainly due to new arrests in Russia (+8) and Israel (+17).

• Israel is the world's third-largest prison for journalists

Israel is by far the country that has imprisoned the most journalists since the war began in Gaza in October 2023.

• 4 countries with high numbers of journalist arrests

The world's four largest prisons - China (124 in total, including 11 in Hong Kong), Myanmar (61), Israel (41), and Belarus (40) - house at least one out of every two imprisoned journalists in the world. 

• 250 years in prison, the total sentence imposed on journalists: 

Arrest as a tool of repression is observed especially in Russia's aggression in Ukraine and Israel's offensive in Gaza. Russia uses its prisons to suppress independent Russian (38) and Ukrainian (19) voices.

In its 2024 Toll, RSF announced that 95 missing reporters have been identified, and 70 percent of the 55 journalists held hostage are being held in Syria. 

Real-time access to the RSF Barometer

You can access information about journalists who are victims of violations (killed, detained, held hostage, missing), which is constantly updated by RSF regional representatives and correspondents, on RSF's online barometer ( https://rsf.org/fr/barometre ). 

Methodology 

Since 1995, RSF has been preparing an annual report on violations against journalists, based on precise data compiled between January 1 and December 1 of the year of publication. The 2024 total for the report includes professional and non-professional journalists as well as media workers. RSF meticulously collects information that allows us to state with certainty, or at least with a very strong assumption, that the detention, kidnapping, disappearance, or death of a journalist is a direct result of practicing their profession. This methodology may explain the differences with the statistics of other organizations."