Quick summary:
• At least 54 journalists were killed globally in 2024, with 18 killed by Israeli forces and 145 journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023.
• Reports accuse the Israeli military of war crimes against journalists, including deliberate targeting and media blackouts.
• The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) documented 139 Palestinian journalist deaths since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
• U.S. journalist arrests surged to 48 in 2024, many tied to protests over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
• The New York Police Department accounted for nearly half of U.S. journalist arrests, using controversial “catch-and-release” tactics.
• Global patterns of detentions and criminalization of journalism have worsened in countries like China, Russia, and Israel.
• Press freedom advocates warn of a chilling effect on democracy as journalists face rising violence, arrests, and legal intimidation.
The year 2024 has been one of the deadliest for journalists globally, with Gaza emerging as an epicenter of violence against the press. Reports from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have documented an unprecedented wave of attacks, arrests, and killings targeting media workers. These findings shine a light on the increasing risks faced by journalists in conflict zones and during protests, underscoring a global crisis for press freedom.
RSF’s 2024 roundup revealed that at least 54 journalists were killed worldwide this year while on duty or in connection with their work, with 18 of these deaths directly linked to the Israeli armed forces. Among these fatalities, 16 occurred in Palestine and two in Lebanon. From October 2023 onward, the violence in Gaza escalated dramatically, with RSF documenting 145 journalist deaths, including 35 who were “very likely targeted or killed while working.”
“In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible,” said RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin in the introduction to the report. “Many of these reporters were clearly identifiable as journalists and protected by this status, yet they were shot or killed in Israeli strikes that blatantly disregarded international law. This was compounded by a deliberate media blackout and a block on foreign journalists entering the strip.”
RSF has since filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the Israeli military of committing war crimes against journalists. When combining the journalist fatalities in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023, RSF described the toll as “an unprecedented massacre.” These incidents have raised alarms over the erosion of press protections under international law, particularly in active conflict zones.
The situation in Gaza represents an extraordinary danger for media workers. IFJ has reported that 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers were killed since the Israel-Gaza war began in 2023. Among those killed was journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh. Hamza was killed alongside journalist Mustafa Thuraya when Israeli forces targeted their car in northern Rafah in January 2024. These deaths highlight a pattern of attacks that media watchdogs argue constitute deliberate targeting of journalists.
Bruttin emphasized the magnitude of the violations: “The killings of journalists in Gaza reflect a flagrant disregard for international law.” RSF’s findings are further corroborated by IFJ, which painstakingly listed each of the 139 journalists killed in Gaza since the war began.
The conflict’s challenges for journalism extend beyond physical violence. A deliberate media blackout has restricted foreign journalists from entering Gaza, severely limiting independent reporting. These measures have further compounded the difficulties in holding power to account during the ongoing conflict.
While Gaza’s numbers are staggering, 2024 was also deadly for journalists in other parts of the world. RSF reported killings in countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine. The dangers for journalists extend beyond fatalities, as hundreds have been detained globally, with nations like Israel, China, and Russia leading in arrests. These detentions often serve as an extension of broader efforts to suppress dissent and curtail freedom of the press.
In the United States, the surge in journalist arrests in 2024 paints a worrying picture for press freedom. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented 48 arrests or detentions of journalists this year—more than the combined total of the previous two years. This marks the third-highest number of such incidents since the tracker began cataloging press violations in 2017.
Many of these arrests occurred during protests linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City saw the largest single detainment of journalists this year. Notable among these incidents was the arrest of freelance reporter Roni Jacobson on December 31, 2023. Jacobson, covering a pro-Palestinian demonstration for the New York Daily News, was detained after accidentally bumping into a police officer. She was held overnight before charges, including disorderly conduct, were dropped.
Nearly half of the journalist arrests in 2024 were carried out by the New York Police Department (NYPD), raising serious concerns among press freedom advocates. The NYPD has been criticized for employing “catch-and-release” tactics, temporarily detaining journalists without formal charges but disrupting their ability to report on critical events.
“While [we are] glad that some common sense prevailed by the NYPD not charging these two photographers with any crime, we are very concerned that they are perfecting ‘catch-and-release’ to an art form,” said Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. “The fact that they took two photojournalists off the street, preventing them from making any more images or transmitting the ones they already had on a matter of extreme public concern, is very disturbing.”
Beyond protests, 2024 also saw the criminalization of standard journalistic practices. In Los Angeles, one investigative journalist was repeatedly threatened with arrest while attempting to cover a homeless encampment sweep. He was detained in October but released without charges. These incidents reflect a growing pattern in which journalists face intimidation, arrest, or legal threats for carrying out their work.
The attacks and arrests detailed in these reports have a chilling effect on journalism. Violence and intimidation against journalists undermine their ability to report freely on matters of public interest, eroding democratic values. The Gaza conflict has become a glaring example of how press freedom violations can escalate in the absence of accountability and legal protections.
As RSF’s Bruttin explained, “In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible.”
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