Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is a New York-based independent non-profit organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the rights of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal. Founded in 1981, CPJ maintains the world’s most comprehensive database of journalist casualties in armed conflict, documenting killings, imprisonments, and disappearances. Its data is the primary global standard for journalist casualty assessment.
Key Functions
- Casualty documentation: Maintains the authoritative database of journalists killed, imprisoned, or missing globally; data disaggregated by country, conflict, and cause.
- Advocacy: Files diplomatic representations, legal briefs, and emergency appeals on behalf of journalists at risk.
- Annual reporting: Publishes the annual prison census (journalists imprisoned worldwide) and special conflict-casualty assessments.
Relevance to Vault
- Gaza Journalists — Targeting of Press: CPJ’s tracking data (260–264 killed as of April 2026, 32 formally classified as deliberately targeted) is the primary quantitative foundation for the investigation.
- The War on Witness — Gaza and the Systematic Elimination of the Press: Primary source for casualty benchmarks and the April 2026 formal documentation report.