The International Federation of Journalists’ 35th annual tally, published 25 February 2026, records 128 media professionals killed in 2025, including 11 women and nine fatalities classed as accidental, and concludes that assassination has become a routine instrument of war, repression, and information control.

The statistics deepen a grim pattern: in high‑intensity conflicts and in authoritarian settings alike, attacks on journalists are not incidental but strategic, aimed at silencing witnesses and shaping narratives. Impunity compounds the danger because weak investigations and political obstruction signal permissiveness to perpetrators.

The IFJ’s answer is legal, urging UN member states to adopt its proposed International Convention on the Safety and Independence of Journalists, a treaty designed to codify protections, mandate impartial investigations, and establish monitoring mechanisms.

Pragmatically, states and multilateral bodies must also fund independent protection for reporters, expand emergency relocation schemes, and pressure conflict actors to respect humanitarian law that shields civilians performing information roles.

Without a sustained international effort that mixes legal reform, targeted sanctions, and operational protection, journalism will continue to be a battlefield casualty, and societies will lose an essential check on power (IFJ report, 25 February 2026).