CPJ statement in response to No Frontier's story on their database's methodology counting "murdered" journalists in Gaza
Statement attributed to Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“Attempts to portray CPJ’s process as a ‘cover-up’ or as aligned with any state’s narrative fundamentally misrepresents both our work and our track record of confronting the perpetrators and parties—including Israel—responsible for killing, harming or obstructing journalists.”
In response to No Frontiers’ email outlining reported findings, data, and statements made by Palestinian journalists, journalist advocates, and activists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) provided a statement that it “rejects any suggestion that its documentation or advocacy is designed to minimize, obscure, or justify Israel’s killing of journalists and media workers.” CPJ outlined its own advocacy work across the Israeli genocide as well as clarified its methodology for investigating the killing of journalists.
CPJ did not challenge any data-based findings that were the crux of No Frontiers’ investigation: 85-88% of journalists killed in Gaza are classified as “dangerous assignment” deaths by CPJ since Oct. 7, including over 60 journalists who were killed in their homes by aerial bombings.
CPJ also did not explain why they steer clear of recognizing or acknowledging the pattern of at-home aerial bombings, which not only kill journalists, but also several and even dozens of family members. This was crucial to the investigation and is central to understanding the experience of Palestinian journalists in their home communities under Israeli genocidal assault.
What remains clear is that CPJ is doubling down on its “longstanding, rigorous and highly-respected methodology,” all while completely ignoring reports that AI targeting systems were at full use to launch aerial bombings to kill Palestinians in their homes, as well as the later IOF development of journalist targeting units like the “Legitimisation cell.”
As AI war systems continue to be used to kill civilians en masse, CPJ must update and expand its methodologies for greater pattern recognition if it hopes to still be trustworthy to the public and journalists it claims to advocate for.
Below is their complete statement:
Statement to No Frontiers from Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists:
November 18, 2025
For over two years, Israel has engaged in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill journalists and media workers that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has ever documented.
Since October 7, 2023, CPJ representatives have given more than 200 media interviews in which we have made clear Israel is wholly responsible for these deaths – and that the deliberate killing of journalists, as well as the disproportionate and indiscriminate killing of any civilian, is a war crime. The perpetrators of these war crimes must be held to account and CPJ is committed to pursuing that accountability.
CPJ’s position is that Israel is killing the press at an unprecedented rate to silence critical reporting of what human rights experts agree is genocide—and we were one of the first, and remain one of the most outspoken, international organizations to explicitly highlight the disproportionate rate of journalist killings by Israel.
CPJ strongly rejects any suggestion that its documentation or advocacy is designed to minimize, obscure, or justify Israel’s killing of journalists and media workers. Our organization does not dismiss or disregard the reports of Palestinian journalists, human rights organizations, or local press-freedom groups; quite the opposite, their testimony and documentation are primary sources for our investigations.
Attempts to portray CPJ’s process as a “cover-up” or as aligned with any state’s narrative fundamentally misrepresents both our work and our track record of confronting the perpetrators and parties—including Israel—responsible for killing, harming or obstructing journalists.
The organizations tracking the violations and atrocities against journalists in Gaza each have different methodologies and definitions. CPJ is applying its longstanding, rigorous and highly-respected methodology, which has been widely cited by United Nations bodies, government officials, and human rights organizations. We recognize that different approaches produce different numbers. One thing is clear amongst all the methodologies: Israel is killing journalists at an unprecedented rate and must be held to account.
Some specific notes on our definitions and methodology in respect of Gaza:
CPJ uses the term “murder” to describe the killing of a journalist if we are able to establish with reasonable certainty that the killing was in direct reprisal for the journalist’s work. One of our key considerations is whether the attackers singled out someone they knew, or should have known, was a journalist e.g. if they had press insignia on their clothing or a vehicle. We consider all of the evidence in each individual case before designating a killing as a murder, including whether a journalist had previously been threatened for their work. Under international law, such killings, when conducted during armed conflict, are war crimes. However, we recognize that there are many other types of war crimes that can be committed against civilians, including journalists. For example, if Israel deliberately or recklessly–as defined by international law–attacked a housing complex, resulting in a journalist being killed in their home, this would be an apparent war crime. For CPJ to classify such a case as murder would require verifying the attack was in direct reprisal for the journalist’s work.
CPJ uses the terms “dangerous assignment” classification, which CPJ defines as a killing while covering a demonstration, riot, clash between rival groups, mob situation, etc.; this includes assignments (including travel to and from reporting) that are not expected to entail physical risk but turn violent unexpectedly. This is our default classification, given the difficulties of confirming information when a war is raging, we work on the assumption that any journalist killed in an area of hostilities during the Israel-Gaza war was involved in trying to provide some form of coverage.
Our database and documentation is dynamic and will continue to be updated as investigations continue. Amid the extreme constraints imposed on Gaza—including a ban on foreign press access, destroyed communications infrastructure, mass displacement, and widespread loss of life—confirming motive is extraordinarily difficult. To this end, we recognise that the total number of journalists deliberately targeted for being journalists is likely an undercount in our database. CPJ continues to investigate at least 20 other cases that show signs of possible targeting. As a result, we anticipate that individual classifications will change as more information becomes available, but for now our focus is on getting as complete a record of all the deaths as possible. We maintained this same process for the Russia-Ukraine war.
The use of other designations (such as “Dangerous Assignment”) should not be interpreted to mean that CPJ considers such deaths lawful. It simply means that CPJ has not yet been able to establish whether an individual was deliberately killed for being a journalist.
In all cases, CPJ researchers independently investigate and verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ requires a minimum of at least two sources of information for any case we publish. CPJ uses a range of sources, including family members, colleagues, eye witnesses, journalism and civil society groups, and governmental authorities. All cases must align with our definition of who is a journalist and who is a media worker and our methodology.
CPJ’s role is to ensure that every journalist killed is named, recorded, and investigated to the highest standard so that their deaths cannot be erased, denied, or politically instrumentalized.
CPJ’s May 2023 report “Deadly Pattern” found that Israel delivered no accountability for 22 journalists killed by the Israeli military over the preceding two decades. To date, there has been no accountability for any of the killings of journalists and media workers in Gaza by Israel since October 7, 2023. Given its longstanding failure to hold its forces to account, any investigation into Israeli forces targeting the press must be undertaken independently of Israeli authorities.
Our focus remains on documenting every case we can verify, protecting the safety and credibility of Palestinian journalists who continue to report under extraordinary threat, and advancing accountability through accurate, defensible data. To do this in accordance with CPJ’s rigorous, longstanding methodology will require a long-term commitment of time, resources. CPJ is committed to this effort. [*]