Press freedom group ‘changes’ definition of journalist as Israel sets record for reporters killed

With Israel’s genocide on Gaza killing more journalists than any other modern conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has come under fire over who it counts as a journalist. The prominent press freedom group is reviewing its database of slain Palestinian media workers, months after whistleblowers accused it of scrapping its Global Impunity Index because Israel was expected to rank first.

CPJ announced last week that it is “conducting a full review” of its database of journalists killed during Israel’s war on Gaza. The New York based group claimed that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries “identifying as combatants” individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists. The organisation said the current total of journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza and in Israeli detention centres since 7 October, 2023, “stands at 209.”  

CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said the organisation does not include anyone in its datasets if there is evidence that they were “engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence.”  

Ginsberg also condemned what she described as the “misrepresentation of combatants as journalists,” saying CPJ was reviewing its lists to ensure that no one actively engaged in combat remained included in its data. CPJ said the review is expected to be completed in July.  

“NEW: The Board of Directors at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will formally change its definition of who qualifies as a journalist, to broadly exclude slain Palestinian and Lebanese journalists who worked for government-funded media outlets. Israeli, American, and Ukrainian journalists who work for state-funded outlets or are embedded with the military will remain recognized as journalists, of course”.

El-Kurd  claimed that “The move was catalyzed to appease the right-wing Zionist rag The Free Beacon, which has repeatedly accused Palestinian and Lebanese journalists of being undercover militants or used their political opinions or affiliations as justification for their killing by the IOF.

“This is a racist scandal of massive proportions for everyone involved, and it makes a mockery of the purported mission of the organization. It is absolutely abhorrent that the organization’s resources are wasted on this cowardly witch-hunt, at a moment in history that is the deadliest for journalists, especially in Palestine and Lebanon.”

READ: Israel responsible for 43% of journalist deaths worldwide in 2025: Report

The concern is heightened by the scale of Israel’s killing of journalists. In February CPJ found a record 129 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, with Israel responsible for two-thirds of the global total. CPJ said the rising number of journalist deaths was driven by a “persistent culture of impunity,” with very few transparent investigations into targeted killings.  

2024 was also the deadliest year for journalists since CPJ began keeping records more than three decades ago, with Israel responsible for nearly 70 per cent of those killed. CPJ said Israel’s war on Gaza was “unprecedented in its impact on journalists” and accused Israel of attempting to stifle investigations, shift blame onto journalists and ignore its duty to hold killers to account.  

Research by Brown University’s Costs of War project which found that Israel had killed more journalists in Gaza than were killed in the American Civil War, World Wars One and Two, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined.  

The controversy follows a report by The Electronic Intifada in February, which cited current and former CPJ staff accusing Ginsberg of cancelling CPJ’s Global Impunity Index because Israel was expected to top the ranking. The index, published since 2008, measured countries where those who murder journalists are most likely to escape justice.  

According to the whistleblowers, Ginsberg “decided to cancel [CPJ’s] Impunity Index simply because the math showed Israel is number one.” They alleged that Israel would have ranked near the top, if not first, for years because of the number of journalists killed with no accountability.