Press freedom, often described as a cornerstone of democracy, is under visible strain in 2025. On battlefields, journalists are being killed for documenting conflicts. In democratic settings, political rhetoric, new restrictions, and media blackouts are steadily
narrowing the space for independent reporting.
Gaza: the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist
On August 10, 2025, a targeted Israeli airstrike on a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital killed Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with three of his colleagues. Al-Jazeera called it a “blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.” The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) confirmed that the strike was the single deadliest attack on media workers since the Israel–Gaza war began in October 2023. Al- Sharif’s final social media post, quoted in The Guardian, read: “If these words reach you … Israel has succeeded in killing me.” The words have since echoed as a plea not to let Gaza disappear from global attention.
Al-Sharif, only 28, had become one of the most familiar faces reporting from Gaza in his commitment to showing the city’s suffering under bombardment. Israel later claimed without offering verifiable proof, that Al-Sharif was “the head of a terrorist cell,” a characterization widely rejected by press freedom organizations as unsubstantiated. Press freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, rejected the accusation without credible evidence, describing it as an unsubstantiated smear likely intended to justify an attack on a journalist. Al-Sharif’s killing prompted a wave of protests and vigils worldwide, from Cape Town and Manila to London, Mexico City, Dublin, Oslo, Berlin, Karachi, and Ramallah. Demonstrators in Houston also gathered outside a local TV station, denouncing media misrepresentation of Gaza and calling for justice for the slain journalists. This has prompted calls from PEN America and from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for an independent investigation into whether the deliberate targeting of journalists may constitute as a war crime.
The number of journalists killed in Gaza has not been verified. According to the United Nations, 242 journalists have been killed since October 2023. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports at least 180, while the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) puts the figure at 192, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists on record. Regardless of the estimation, the reality for journalists in Gaza is grim. With foreign media effectively barred from entering Gaza, local journalists carry the weight of documenting the war. Their deaths create information black holes at a time when knowledge is most needed.
The United States: hostility turned into policy
The United States has long styled itself as a champion of free press, but recent developments tell a more complicated story. On July 29, 2025, Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez formally issued a dissent against the FCC’s approval of the Paramount– Skydance merger. She warned that the government’s approach to media regulation amounts to “a campaign of censorship and control,” expressing her concern for the erosion of media independence.
Congress has also responded to the growing hostility toward the press. In May 2025, the Senate introduced Resolution 205, a measure condemning Donald Trump’s repeated denunciations of the press and restating the U.S. commitment to press freedom as a democratic cornerstone. Though S.Res. 205 has yet to pass, its introduction signals official concern within Congress about the growing normalization of anti-press rhetoric, especially following repeated attacks by then- President Trump on the “fake news” media, a trend widely denounced as a threat to democratic norms. He has, during his presidency, branded journalists as “enemies of the people.” This language, once shocking, has troublingly become part of mainstream political language in the US.
That hostility is not confined to political rhetoric, it has material consequences on the ground, where reporters covering protests and immigration enforcement have been detained or threatened with deportation. In June, DeKalb County police arrested Atlanta journalist Mario Guevara while he was livestreaming a protest, and local authorities handed him over to ICE custody just days after all criminal charges had been dropped. He remains in immigration detention despite being granted bond, a case press-freedom advocates, including the ACLU, CPJ, Free Press, and the Atlanta Press Club, have described as a “grim erosion of both freedom of the press and the rule of law”. A month later, Covington police arrested two CityBeat journalists, reporter Madeline Fening and intern Lucas Griffith, while covering a protest, drawing criticism from press-freedom groups. Both initially faced felony rioting charges, which were later dismissed. They now continue to face several misdemeanor charges, including disorderly conduct and failure to disperse. Advocacy groups, led by the National Press Club, denounced the arrests as “a direct assault on the First Amendment,” asserting that using criminal charges to intimidate journalists is unacceptable.
This trend within the United States has been observed internationally. Reporters Without Borders confirms that in 2025, the United States ranked 57th out of 180 countries, now classified in a “problematic situation”, on the World Press Freedom Index. They have attributed the decline to heightened political hostility, economic instability, and corporate consolidation. CPJ’s own assessment of Trump’s first 100 days back in office concluded that press freedom is “no longer a given.”
Kenya: silencing dissent on live television
Across the globe in Nairobi, the press is also under pressure. On June 25, amid nationwide protests over police brutality and government corruption, the Kenyan government banned live TV coverage, ordered broadcasters off air, and disrupted transmissions. During the protests, NTV journalist Ruth Sarmwei was struck by a rubber bullet while reporting live, and at least one other journalist was also injured.
The High Court of Kenya swiftly intervened. Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that the ban violated constitutional protections for free expression and ordered the Communications Authority to restore broadcasts. In response, the Law Society of Kenya, joined by over 20 civil society groups, condemned the directive as “a dangerous step towards suppressing fundamental freedoms.” They warned that even in a democracy, such tactics signal how quickly media freedom can be revoked when authorities feel their narrative is threatened. Human rights groups say this reflects a deeper erosion: Kenya is often upheld as a regional model for media freedom, yet security forces routinely crack down on journalists during periods of political unrest.
A worldwide pattern of control
These episodes of censorship, intimidation, and violence against journalists are not isolated. In Gaza, the IDF is killing journalists at an unprecedented rate. In the United States, political hostility and regulatory maneuvering are shrinking media independence. In Kenya, broadcast bans and state intimidation curtail citizens’ access to information.
The 2025 World Press Freedom Index by RWB described the global media landscape as “difficult,” warning that even established democracies are slipping. Gaza, in particular, stands out for its unprecedented journalist death toll, but the crisis is not only about violence. Reporters Without Borders emphasizes that economic fragility, manifesting through shrinking newsroom resources, reliance on political advertisers, and corporate consolidation, has become an increasingly insidious threat to press freedom. This has left media outlets more exposed to censorship, disinformation, and undue influence from political and economic elites.
Why this matters
When Al-Jazeera declared after al-Sharif’s death that “targeting journalists is targeting the truth itself,” the statement echoed warnings from press freedom groups that such attacks undermine democracy and the public’s right to know. A free press is often described as democracy’s “fourth estate,” underscoring its role in holding institutions accountable. In Gaza, killing reporters ensures that atrocities remain unseen. In Washington DC, political hostility and regulatory maneuvering are eroding media independence and undermining accountability. In Nairobi, blackouts deprive citizens of real-time information during protests. The National Public Radio recently put it this way: when journalists are harassed or killed, “the public loses its most vital connection to accountability.”