CPJ overhauls journalist casualty database, removing 22 and adjusting classifications

After a systematic audit, the Committee to Protect Journalists removed 22 entries from its record of journalists killed in Israel, Gaza and Judea and Samaria, concluding that 20 of those individuals had engaged in combat and three did not meet the group’s definition of a journalist or media worker. The review also restored six names that had previously been dropped and altered the classification of twelve more cases. The CPJ reiterated that Israel accounts for the overwhelming share of journalist fatalities worldwide since 2023.

Among those reinstated were Israeli reporters Shai Regev and Ayelet Arnin, whose on-the-ground reporting during the Nova music festival attack w. Additional reinstatements involved Palestinians such as Assaad Shamlakh and Mohamed Khaireddine, whose status was reassessed based on new evidence. The committee emphasized that its determinations rely solely on whether individuals satisfy its journalist criteria, independent of any affiliations.