How CPJ Tracks and Reports Attacks on Journalists Worldwide

Updated

CPJ documents attacks on journalists and media workers throughout the year, then publishes the results as running counts and annual datasets on cpj.org. Its researchers verify individual cases, classify them by type (killed, imprisoned, missing), and release aggregate figures such as "130 journalists and media workers killed in 2025," "340 imprisoned as of December 1, 2025," and "85 missing as of December 1, 2025." Those numbers are the site's most visible output and the basis for its claim to be "a rigorous and trusted source of information on the state of press freedom worldwide."

What CPJ counts

The site's data pages organize harms into distinct categories rather than one blended total:

  • Killed — journalists and media workers killed in connection with their work, reported as an annual figure.
  • Imprisoned — a point-in-time census, dated (e.g., "as of December 1, 2025"), not a yearly flow.
  • Missing — also a dated snapshot.

Because the imprisoned and missing figures carry an "as of" date, they are stock measures: they describe how many people were held or unaccounted for on that day. The killed figure is a flow measure for the calendar year. Reading them as if they were the same kind of number will mislead you.

How the tracking works

CPJ describes its researchers as documenting attacks on journalists and media workers "throughout the year," providing "a rigorous and trusted source of information." In practice, that means the site pairs aggregate counts with individual case records and statements. The homepage mixes both layers: a news item on American photojournalist Heidi Levine attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, alongside the 2025 totals. Case-level entries typically name the journalist, the circumstances, and a CPJ response — for example, regional director Sara Qudah's statement that "these repeated assaults are taking place in an environment where perpetrators have little reason to fear consequences."

The site also publishes themed reports and letters that draw on the same documentation, such as a report on an Israeli ad-tech firm enabling spyware targeting of at least 45 Al Jazeera devices, and a letter on the ninth anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder.

Using the data responsibly

If you cite CPJ figures, keep three conditions in mind:

  1. Check the date attached to each number. Imprisonment and missing counts are snapshots; they change as people are released or found.
  2. Distinguish "killed in 2025" from cumulative totals. The annual figure is not a running historical total.
  3. Go to the case record for specifics. The aggregate tells you scale; the individual entry tells you what happened and CPJ's stated position on it.

For anyone researching press freedom conditions, the practical entry point is the site's data section ("Explore our data"), which sits alongside its three program areas — advocacy, awareness, and assistance. The assistance arm offers safety information and emergency help for journalists facing physical, digital, or legal threats, which is separate from the statistics but drawn from the same pool of case knowledge.