Attacks on journalists, including targeted killings, aim to silence those whose reporting holds the powerful to account and shines light in the darkest corners. The United Nations has set Nov. 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists and urges governments to bring to justice those who target journalists.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded 79 journalist deaths so far in 2025, classifying 37 of them as murder.  

It accuses the Israeli Defence Force of the murder of media workers by targeting press tents and offices in Occupied Palestinian Territories, Yemen and Iran — attacks that account for the largest number of journalists’ deaths by far this year.

Latin America and the Caribbean region continues to be plagued with a high number of journalist murders, most of which remain unsolved, the United Nations says.

While killings are the most extreme form of media censorship, journalists are also subjected to countless threats — ranging from kidnapping, torture and other physical attacks, to harassment, particularly in the digital sphere.

World Press Freedom Canada urges governments around the world to work to end impunity for those who target journalists. We celebrate the brave media workers who pursue their work despite the threat of death, injury and intimidation.

Among the victims in 2025:

Miguel Ángel Beltran — Mexico. Print journalist in Durango. Covered drug cartels. Found dead on a highway with a sinister note pinned to him.

Ahmed Mansour — Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories. Editor of Palestine Today. Killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a media tent.

Antoni Lillian — Ukraine. French photojournalist photojournalist. Killed when a Russian drone targeted clearly-marked media workers.

Javier Hércule — Honduras. Crime reporter to ATN Noticias TV. Two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed journalist who had been enrolled in Honduras’ National Protection System for Journalists

Nima Rajapour — Iran. News editor for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Died from injuries in an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s state-owned broadcaster.