On International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists

The world has never been a safe place for truth-tellers. Yet, despite the threats, journalists continue to stand firm—writing, speaking, and exposing the stories that power would rather silence.

Across the world, journalists brave the frontlines of wars, corruption, and oppression—armed not with weapons, but with words. Journalism, a cornerstone of democracy and human rights, is also one of the world’s most dangerous professions.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Observatory of Killed Journalists, more than 1,600 journalists have been killed since 1993—their deaths marking a global crisis of accountability, where nine out of ten murders remain unresolved.

Today, November 2, as the world observes the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, we confront a grim reality: truth-telling remains a perilous act. The killings of journalists are no longer isolated tragedies but reflections of a deeper, systemic rot—one that thrives where truth threatens power and silence serves the powerful.

In Gaza, what has unfolded since October 2023 is not merely a war—it is a genocide rooted in decades of Israeli occupation. Over 270 journalists and media workers—the vast majority of them Palestinian—have been killed, many deliberately targeted even while wearing press vests. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has presented evidence that the Israeli military intentionally targeted members of the press—cases now standing before the International Criminal Court.

This is not collateral damage. This is a systematic erasure of witnesses to atrocity.

Impunity thrives where accountability dies. And the Philippines, too, remains part of this global pattern. For the 17th consecutive year, the nation appears on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index, ranking ninth among countries where the killers of media workers go unpunished. The CPJ reports at least 18 journalist murders between 2014 and 2024 that remain unsolved—a haunting continuation of decades of injustice.

This year alone, radio broadcaster Noel Bellen Samar was shot dead in October, becoming the eighth journalist killed under the Marcos Jr. administration, following the murders of Juan “Johnny” Dayang and Ali Macalintal earlier this year. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) notes that more than 200 journalists have been killed since 1986—including 32 victims of the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre—and warns that many in the media now see such dangers as “part of the territory.”

While the Philippines rose from 134th to 116th in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, this statistical improvement cannot conceal the roots of a deeper crisis—low pay, job insecurity, political interference, and disinformation weaponized by those in power. Progress cannot be measured by numbers when the blood of truth-tellers continues to stain our country.

In defiance of silence, The Industrialist, the official student publication of Pampanga State University, stands with every journalist who risks their life for truth—and for every life silenced by oppression, in the Philippines, in Gaza, and across the world. We honor their bravery, we denounce their killers, and we hold to account those who choose silence over justice.

We also stand with those who continue to live under threat—those harassed, red-tagged, censored, and discredited for speaking truth to power. For every story buried by fear and every voice stifled by intimidation, we demand accountability. Truth-telling should never be met with terror. And silence, in the face of injustice, should never be the norm.

When journalists are attacked, the right of the people to know dies with them. Every unpunished killing sends a message that the truth can be silenced without consequence. And until justice is served, impunity ends, and truth is free to speak, journalism will remain both a battlefield and a beacon.

To defend the truth is to defend humanity itself.

Independent. Impartial. In Good Faith.