Escalating impunity

Today marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Since 1993, thousands of journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public – and the trend has gotten worse in recent years. Those who target journalists with violence, harassment, abuse and censorship are arguably enjoying unprecedented levels of impunity and even legitimacy. Journalism has never been a particularly well compensated profession and it is also fast becoming one that both state and non-state actors can go after while not just avoiding legal consequences, but increasingly with the backing of the law. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the past three years have been the deadliest for journalists and media workers since the organisation began keeping records. Over 125 were killed last year alone, the majority Palestinians at the hands of Israel and, according to Unesco, 85 have been killed this year. And yet, accountability for these crimes remains elusive.

Pakistan is no stranger to this trend, with the Freedom Network, a Pakistan-based media and development sector watchdog, documenting at least 142 cases of violations against journalists and other media professionals between November 2024 and September 2025 in its Annual Impunity Report 2025. These ‘violations’ include one verified murder, four assassination attempts, 39 assaults, 30 threats (online and offline), three kidnappings and three disappearances. As grim as these statistics are, they are only one part of the arsenal being employed against journalists these days. The violations also include 30 instances of legal action and 15 cases of arrest and detention. In this sense, it is apt that the Freedom Network report was released in the same week that a notice was issued to the police regarding a case registered against senior journalist Matiullah Jan last year. Highlighting the growing legal intimidation against journalists, the Impunity Report documents at least 36 formal legal cases filed against 30 journalists and media practitioners by government authorities, with dozens more receiving notifications for alleged infractions under the notorious Peca law. While these are not, strictly speaking, ‘crimes’, they have the same chilling effect on journalism. How are reporters and other media professionals supposed to do their job when the scope for what they can and cannot do is now so broad and ambiguous? Either those responsible for the law heading in this direction did not care or actively sought this outcome. Both conclusions are quite alarming.

What can be done to counter this trend towards violence of those simply reporting what happened and the urge to silence them for doing so? The Freedom Network report notes that Pakistan was the first country to legislate specifically for the safety of journalists, with laws enacted at both the federal and Sindh provincial levels. However, the operationalisation of these laws and the establishment of safety commissions have been inconsistent, with only Sindh and the federal government making significant progress. Meanwhile, the CPJ recommends an independent, international task force to investigate crimes against journalists and increased use of targeted sanctions and incentives against perpetrators of crimes against journalists, among other measures. However, one cannot help but feel that these measures are missing the nature of the problem. How can an impunity index encourage the same people making journalists’ lives more difficult to do better? Why would they be affected? And targeted sanctions do not work against truly powerful actors like Israel. As for investigations, one could argue that we know a lot about who is killing journalists and why. Somewhere along the line, powerful actors have learnt that they can target journalists and, in an era of social media, most people will not care enough to make a difference. How many Americans even know that Abu Akleh was their fellow citizen? Do Pakistanis even know the names of the journalists killed or disappeared? Would they care to? A dangerous line has been crossed and it will likely take the disastrous consequences of a world without journalism to remind everyone why the truth still matters.