averilburystedmunds: Journalism: A Dangerous Occupation

Yet another journalist has recently been killed when reporting from a war zone. Perhaps to be expected? Not really; certainly not necessarily; not even always accidentally because of dangerous surroundings. The more one reads about the daily horrors of war in Gaza or in Sudan, the more resigned, if quietly horrified, one is to the steady, deadly tattoo of journalistic risk and death. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recorded 129 deaths of reporters and other media workers in 2025, the most it has ever recorded. The overwhelming majority of journalist deaths in 2025 happened in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. According to the CPJ, Israeli forces were responsible for two thirds of all the journalist killings around the world last year.

Ceasefire in Gaza.

The most dangerous areas in Gaza are near the ‘yellow line’, the demarcation line marking the areas separately occupied by Israel and Hamas which was established under a partially observed ‘ceasefire’ last October. (2025). Israeli troops regularly fire on anyone approaching this line which is indistinct or
unmarked in places and has crept forward in certain areas over time so that it is often hard to know exactly where the edges of the danger zone are.

Malak Tantesh reporting from Gaza.

The Guardian’s former Gaza correspondent, Malak Tantesh, was evacuated at the beginning of October 2025, along with her photojournalist sister, Enas, following 18 months of gruelling and dangerous work in Gaza. Their planned evacuation almost never happened. The road out of Gaza was blocked with
rubble and by the time this had been cleared, a gunfight had erupted around the evacuees’ bus and the escorts from the International Committee of the Red Cross called off the mission. After an hour’s deliberation, the bus carrying Malak and Enas, together with a group of young Palestinians awarded U.K. university scholarships, resumed its journey and eventually reached safety. The sisters’ cousin, Seham Tantesh, stepped into their journalistic shoes eventually and, rather bravely, continues to file reports for the newspaper.

Reporting from the West Bank

Nowhere is more dangerous for journalists than Gaza but the West Bank is hardly risk-free. Settler violence, frequently armed, is on the rise, often with the acquiescence of the security forces who also have a record of opening fire on journalists. Reporters visiting settlements or besieged Palestinian villages in the West Bank, pack body armour, helmet and medical kit; inform the international desk of their newspape
r where and how they are going; and give their expected time and date of return.

Trump is not always a friend of the Press.

Lebanon too is not safe from Israeli air strikes and journalists have been killed there. William Christou, the Guardian’s correspondent in Beirut, has lost four professional colleagues during the last three years and dodged targeted gunfire himself several times. When he must travel to southern Lebanon which is at the heart of the Israeli-Hezbollah militia conflict, he always informs the U.N. peacekeeping force, Unifil, of his exact routes, and the expected timings of his return.

Lebanon mourns 7th child killed in Israeli air raids.

For the first time, more than half of all countries have been placed in the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom. Across both authoritarian and democratic regimes, a dangerous pattern has emerged: governments are using legislation such as national security laws, to target the rights of the free press. Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the press and journalists have been described as a 'systematic policy' amplified by his increasing use of legal suits as a lever of power. During his second term, he has launched suits against the New York Times, the Wall Street Journall, CNN and BBC, among others - often seeking dizzyingly high amounts in damages.

This means that press freedom around the world is at its lowest ebb in a generation. And yet, in a world facing huge geopolitical crises, the importance of well-resourced, unimpeded journalism has never been more important. The U.N. Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists was instigated in 2012 and under its umbrella, the issue of impunity addresses the fundamental aspects of prevention, protection and prosecution. This is the first-ever systematic global strategy to address the protection of journalists and brings together U.N. bodies, national authorities, media and civil society organisations. Among the many positive results of the U.N. Plan of Action are included:

1.The creation of the U.N. Observatory of Killed Journalists.

2. At least 50 National Protection Mechanisms for the protection of journalists established since 2012.

3. More than 30,000 judicial operators and more than 11,500 security forces from 160 countries trained on safety of journalists and the con