IFJ Report: Serbia Among European Countries with the Highest Number of Attacks on Journalists

In the Report on Killed Journalists (Killed List Report 2025), the IFJ emphasizes that 128 journalists' murders were recorded worldwide this year.

“This confirms that the killing of journalists has become an accepted tool of war, repression, and information control,” states the report.

The Middle East and the Arab world were, according to the report, the epicenter of these crimes in 2025.

In Gaza, it is reported that at least 56 Palestinian journalists were killed by the Israeli army, bringing the total number of killed Palestinian journalists since the conflict began in October 2023 to at least 234.

However, judging by what is written in the report, violence against journalists is not limited to conflict zones – in 2025, there has also been an increase in attacks on journalists in many European countries.

In Serbia, 30 more attacks on journalists were recorded than in 2024

When discussing countries that are at least partially in Europe, the highest number of attacks, particularly those related to protests, was reported in Serbia, Georgia, and Turkey, according to the report.

“Journalists were targeted by police and political actors, prevented from reporting or sanctioned simply for doing their job,” the IFJ report states.

The authors of the report also referred to data from the platform “Mapping Media Freedom,” which includes the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), indicating that Serbia recorded the highest increase in attacks on journalists compared to 2024 – 44 compared to 14.

These attacks include excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, as well as arrests, primarily during protests. Journalists and journalism students were also affected, the IFJ writes.

Murders of journalists for which no one has been held accountable

Another concerning finding, states the IFJ, relates to cases of impunity for the murders or disappearances of journalists.

The platform of the Council of Europe currently lists the names of 50 journalists who were victims of crimes for which no one has been held accountable.

Just over a third of them, as noted in the report, lost their lives during the war in Kosovo, and no one has yet been held accountable for that.

As a reminder, the Resolution on Killed and Missing Journalists in Kosovo from 1998 to 2005, proposed by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), was unanimously adopted at the Annual Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) held in Pristina in 2023.

Source: UNS