Quantitative analysis of data for the period from 2010 to 2024 shows unprecedented degradation of press protection institutions. The geography of fatalities among media workers today clearly outlines areas of systemic institutional collapse, where gathering and disseminating information is tantamount to a fatal mistake. According to satellite and operational data, the highest concentration of threats is observed in regions with active phases of armed conflict: Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (169 deaths) and Syria (161 deaths) remain the absolute leaders in terms of the number of victims. However, the situation in Mexico, where 112 cases have been recorded, is no less alarming. Here we are dealing with a model of “latent conflict”, in which the absence of formal warfare only simplifies the physical elimination of undesirable observers, which has become a routine tool of control.

The timeline of violence shows that the world has definitively left behind a period of relative stability. While 2021 saw a local minimum of 45 recorded deaths, the subsequent decline was rapid and devastating. The year 2024 became a point of absolute statistical anomaly, with 126 journalists killed. This sharp jump in the graph confirms the hypothesis that violence against the press is no longer “collateral damage” but has become a deliberate strategy in hybrid warfare. Each point on this curve is not just a statistic, but a signal of the formation of global zones of information vacuum, where truth is destroyed along with its bearer.

The most damning evidence in this investigation remains the factor of total impunity, reflected in the case status registers. Our database records 1,257 incidents, the vast majority of which are marked as “unconfirmed.” From an institutional analysis perspective, this is equivalent to the complete paralysis of the judicial system on a global scale. The legal vacuum surrounding the 1,257 names turns the murder of a journalist into a “perfect crime”, which is de facto legitimized by the absence of convictions. We are documenting not just the deaths of individuals, but a systemic process in which impunity becomes a catalyst for new violence, and the world loses the ability to verify reality in the most volatile hotspots on the planet.