54 killed journalists are still too few for the IFJ

And another one. Now there are 54 journalists killed worldwide in 2024—or is it 104 media professionals? The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) disagree on the calculation of this humanistically significant figure.

A Gray World. The ground covered in rubble and ash. A destroyed old motorbike lies on the ground. Scattered fire extinguishers. Black clouds of smoke from an active fire. The car is still in flames. The burnt smell lingers in the air. Passersby walk around, their faces blank. Have they grown accustomed to the horrors—could one ever grow accustomed to them? These are the aftermaths of yet another bombing in Aleppo and Idlib.

Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city after Damascus and once its economic capital, lies in the north of the country. Today, it stands as a symbolic, war-torn ruin—a mass grave for thousands. The bloody conflicts in Syria, a 13-year-long civil war, came to an abrupt end with the unexpected fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024.

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A historic day of liberation

For nearly 54 years, Hafez al-Assad, and later his son Bashar al-Assad, ruled Syria with an iron fist. Countless abductions, acts of torture, murders, and human rights violations took place. People were imprisoned in dreaded facilities such as the infamous Sednaya Prison—referred to as "The Slaughterhouse"—from which most never emerged alive. Immediately after the regime's fall, hundreds of people rushed to the prison, hoping to find and rescue their loved ones alive, if they were still held there.

German-Iranian journalist Natalie Amiri arrived on the ground one week after the regime's fall. She reports investigatively on the current situation in Syria, showing the raw, unfiltered reality of a violence-scarred environment. She captures the faces of people reflecting both newfound hope and lingering terror and grief. Torture devices, the cruel stench of old blood, and excrement—emblems of torture and death. In the wake of mass liberations, the grim remnants of what could no longer be cleaned up in time have come to light.

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Blood for a Journalistic Legacy

Anas Alkharboutli, a photojournalist for the German Press Agency (dpa), did not live to witness this historic day. While the 32-year-old documented the ongoing civil war in Syria with a unique visual language, he fell victim to an attack by a fighter jet near the Syrian city of Hama.

His final publication, one day before his death: The airstrike by the Syrian regime on a residential area in Aleppo and Idlib.

dpa Editor-in-Chief Sven G?smann expressed the deep shock within dpa, stating, "We are all infinitely saddened by the death of Anas Alkharboutli. His journalistic legacy is a responsibility to us. With his images, he not only documented the horrors of war, but he always worked for the truth." Anas's death was recorded by IFJ in 2024 as the only journalist fatality in Syria. In total, however, 66 journalists and media professionals lost their lives in the Middle East and the Arab world.

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Deceptive Mexican Police Protection

A warm, tropical breeze, bright sunlight, and the smell of heated leather car seats. Honking cars, passing motorcycles, a few children enjoying ice cream. The car jolts back and forth as it rolls through the streets of Celaya, the third-largest city in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Tripadvisor recommends many attractions, such as the 19th-century religious site, the Temple of Carmen. Well-known travel platforms like Booking.com, Momondo, and Trivago fuel an unstoppable string of vacation enthusiasm. Yet behind the cinematic Mexican backdrop lies one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Eine der gef?hrlichsten St?dte der Welt

On his lap, a notebook with notes about a recent car accident. This would be the last thing Alejandro Alfredo Martínez Noguez would perceive before his death.

In the streets of Celaya, one of the most dangerous cities in the state of Guanajuato, he sat in a car belonging to his security service, the Secretariat for Citizen Security (SSC). Moments later—gunfire. Shattered glass riddled with bullet holes. Chaos. Alejandro was struck multiple times in the head and body. Blood everywhere, screams. Then, sudden stillness. In the hospital, all help came too late for the 57-year-old.

Like Middle East photojournalist Anas Alkharboutli, Alejandro Alfredo Martínez Noguez also fell victim to a regime's rule. According to the annual report by RSF, after Palestine, Mexico, Pakistan, Sudan, Colombia, Honduras, and Chad rank as the largest aggressors against press freedom in 2024.

Unlike Anas, Alejandro did not fall victim to an airstrike. After surviving an attempted murder in 2022, Alejandro had been under police protection since 2023. As the founder of the local media outlet El Hijo del Llanero Solititito, he worked against local organized crime, making him a prime target on a criminal hit list.

Police protection proved as ineffective for him as it has for around eight other media professionals in Mexico in recent years, according to RSF. In 2024, a total of five journalists lost their lives.

Farce of Humanitarian Disunity

Which numbers are correct? Is the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) or Reporters Without Borders (RSF) more accurate with their figures for journalists and media professionals killed worldwide in 2024? Pinpointing an exact number—simply impossible. But such immense differences in the statistics feel as if they come from two entirely different worlds.

This is not just about journalists and media professionals who acted as ubiquitous advocates for press freedom. It’s about individuals now reduced to a mere number. The weight carried by this figure should aim to eliminate misunderstandings stemming from differing calculation methods and foster a more cooperative approach between the two NGOs in this matter.

The publication Spiegel states, "RSF only includes journalists whose deaths >>can be proven to be directly related to their professional activities<<." This strongly implies that RSF only considers journalists in their calculations who were "official" representatives working for a media outlet on location. Consequently, freelance journalists without an official assignment or recognition through an accredited press ID are excluded from this grouping.

This particularly affects undercover journalists—investigative reporters who work under false identities to protect themselves from dangerous or deadly attacks during and after months or even years of research. The most well-known German undercover journalist, Günter Wallraff, would thus be one of those excluded from such a list, should the dramatic, bizarre, and simultaneously macabre scenario of his death ever occur.

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"A Blanket Absolution Pot" for Everyone

In the end, they are all lumped together into one pot. A single annual report for everyone—whether persecuted, tortured, abducted, or murdered. Whether professionally trained journalists or other media workers, they all stood for one thing: global press freedom. A fundamental pillar of freedom of expression, listed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and therefore an integral part of human rights.

The discrepancy of approximately 50 journalists and media professionals not accounted for in RSF's annual report compared to that of IFJ is no trivial matter. Nor are the differing calculation methods of these two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) an absolution for such dramatically divergent results. According to the IFJ, the number of journalists and media professionals killed increased by ten in 2024 compared to 2023. RSF, on the other hand, recorded one less than the previous year.

Both annual reports also note an immense figure for journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. Two figures that are, somewhat unusually, less divergent: 138 (IFJ) versus 145 (RSF).

Despite these collateral differences, a future cooperative effort between the two NGOs is essential in such a critical area of fact-finding, to establish more credible humanitarian statistics.

Report Download: 54 killed journalists are still too few for the IFJ