The past year was another bleak one for journalists, with dozens killed and hundreds more behind bars around the world, according to media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

In its annual round-up for 2025, RSF says that 67 reporters had been killed, 503 detained, 135 missing, and 20 held hostage as of December 1.

As in previous years, Russia was considered one of the worst places for journalists, ranking only behind China in the number of reporters it has incarcerated, with 48 journalists in detention. Belarus and Iran also remain among the world's top jailers, with 33 and 21 journalists imprisoned respectively, placing both inside RSF's global top 10.

Russia, however, stands out not only for its numbers but for the increasing severity of its pressure on the press.

Many reporters there have been imprisoned on controversial charges ranging from extremism to allegedly spreading false information about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

For example, in what RSF described as a "sham" process and "the first collective trial of journalists in Vladimir Putin's Russia," Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, Antonina Favorskaya, and Artyom Kriger were each sentenced to five and a half years in prison in April for "collaborating with an extremist organization" due to their coverage of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who died in prison in February 2024.

The worsening media situation in Russia has also forced many journalists into exile, and nearly 70 of them have been targeted by arrests or convictions in absentia in the past three years - 30 of them in 2025 alone, RSF reports.

Beyond Russia, Moscow has also contributed to Ukraine becoming one of the world's deadliest countries for media workers, with RSF saying "the Russian army continues to target reporters" there, resulting in fatalities from missile strikes, artillery fire, and occupation-related violence.

In October 2025, French photojournalist Antoni Lallican and Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Ivanchenko were targeted by Russian drones in eastern Ukraine. Lallican was killed instantly, while Ivanchenko lost a leg. That same month, reporters Alyona Hramova and Yevhen Karmazin were killed in a Russian drone strike that injured their colleague Oleksandr Kolychev.

Elsewhere in RFE/RL's coverage area, the report outlines similarly severe pressures on independent journalism.