In another violent year for the press, Latin America was one of the deadliest regions for journalists, an annual report from the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) revealed on Tuesday. According to the survey, one in four murders of professionals in 2025 took place in the region. At the top of this bloody ranking is the Gaza Strip: almost half of the journalists killed last year lost their lives in the Palestinian territory, in the middle of the war that began in October 2023.
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According to RSF figures, 67 journalists died between December 2024 and the start of the month, including 29 in the Gaza Strip. The report accuses the Israeli armed forces of having launched “an unprecedented offensive in recent history against the Palestinian press” and of promoting “an intense international propaganda campaign, with unfounded accusations calling journalists ‘terrorists’ to justify their crimes.” Other organizations and UN agencies have called for the press not to be deliberately attacked on the battlefield, but the Israeli government rejects these allegations and says its targets are “legitimate”.
The text criticizes the restrictions imposed on the international press: since the start of the war, journalists from outside Gaza have been prevented from entering the enclave independently. Sometimes professionals are invited to participate in Israeli army incursions, but without the ability to conduct independent investigations. To be distributed, all material depends on approval from military censorship, replicating a model that has been in effect for decades for the country’s press. According to RSF, 20 journalists are incarcerated in Israeli prisons, one of the highest numbers on the planet.
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On another battlefield, Russia is mentioned without much praise. Three independent journalists were killed in Ukraine in 2025, and two others were seriously injured. In addition to the violence on Ukrainian soil, the Kremlin’s official repression machine has strengthened its siege on critical voices, driving hundreds of opponents into exile and dozens more before the courts: according to the report, Russia is the second largest prison for journalists in the world, with 48 detainees, including 26 Ukrainians. China tops the list, with 121 prisoners for speech crimes. In Myanmar, the third country in the investigation, 47 journalists were arrested.
“In 2025, Russia experienced the worst level of press repression since the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), reaching its lowest position in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index (171st place out of 180 countries),” the report highlights.
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The global attack on the press was not just about wars. In Latin America, the year 2025 was marked by the violence of criminal organizations, accused of 18 assassinations of journalists, including nine in Mexico – until the beginning of the month, 28 other Mexican journalists were missing.
“A year after Cláudia Sheinbaum took office as president of the country, and despite the commitments made to RSF, 2025 has become the deadliest period for journalists in Mexico in at least three years,” the report states.
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In an interview with GLOBO, Artur Romeu, RSF director for Latin America, stressed that professional victims of organized crime were involved in investigations into gang activities and their links to the highest levels of power. A reality that affects journalists throughout the region, not just Mexico.
— We are talking about extremely sensitive relations between criminal organizations and public authorities, especially in territories where these groups exercise consolidated control and are capable of imposing their own laws of silence, — says Romeu. — In Brazil, this is also an absolutely central question. Investigations into topics related to public security, militias, criminal factions, human rights violations and corruption in territories under the control of these groups directly expose journalists and media outlets.
Unlike in previous years, Brazil, which jumped in the press freedom rankings and now ranks 63rd, is not mentioned in the report, which does not mean that national journalism is safe from existential threats.
— Brazil’s worst performance concerns the social indicator, which assesses the prevalence of defamation and disinformation campaigns against journalists, the perception of pluralism in the media environment and self-censorship when discussing topics considered sensitive or dangerous, such as organized crime, human rights violations, political authorities and economic power — explains Romeu. — Although large newsrooms face significant challenges, it is essential to emphasize that local journalism is particularly more vulnerable, more exposed to intimidation, political pressure and economic co-optation in daily life.
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The demonization of the press was evident in the streets. Journalists have been the target of state repression in Serbia, where nearly a hundred of them were injured during acts against the government of Alexander Vucic. In Nepal, a film journalist was killed during a pro-monarchy protest in March, and dozens of professionals were injured in anti-government protests months later.
Targeted attacks also took place in Indonesia, Ecuador and Argentina: President Javier Milei even coined a slogan there: “People don’t hate journalists enough”. At GLOBO, Romeu recalls the case of photojournalist Pablo Grillo, who was injured in the head during a demonstration in Buenos Aires and found himself between life and death.
— Another emblematic case is that of Venezuela, under Nicolas Maduro, which last year arrested more than a dozen journalists who were covering protests against electoral fraud. Some of these professionals have been released, but six others remain in prison, he added.
It is possible to mention the United States, a country that RSF considers to be experiencing “its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history”, worsened by the return of Donald Trump to the presidency. The report cites attacks during protests against the Republican’s immigration policies in Los Angeles, Chicago and Cincinnati by security forces and demonstrators. Last week, the NGO joined the Sports and Rights and Dignity 2026 Alliance, made up of human rights associations, to demand respect for freedom of expression before, during and after the World Cup, which will be held next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
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