99 journalists killed in 2023: Report

NEW YORK

Seventy-two of the 99 journalists killed in 2023 were killed in the Israel-Hamas war, making the last 12 months the deadliest for the media in almost a decade, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. 

Killings of reporters would have dropped globally year-on-year had it not been for the deaths in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon, the CPJ said, although fatalities were stable in Somalia and the Philippines.

The toll is the highest since 2015 and an increase of nearly 44 percent on 2022's figures.

"In December 2023, CPJ reported that more journalists were killed in the first three months of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year," the CPJ said.

The 72 journalists killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict also include three Lebanese and two Israeli victims, the organization said.

"The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war will have long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world,” said CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg.

On Feb. 7, the New York-based press freedom organization said the number of journalists killed in the Gaza conflict had risen to 85.

The greatest reductions in journalist fatalities were registered in Ukraine and Mexico, which both went from 13 killings to two.

One of those killed in Ukraine was AFP journalist Arman Soldin. Soldin, 32, died when his reporting team came under fire near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The CPJ warned that Mexico, along with the Philippines and Somalia, was "one of the world's deadliest countries for the press."