More than 430 freelance journalists received support from the Rory Peck Trust last year, as record levels of conflict and violence placed unprecedented pressure on independent journalism around the world.
The Trust’s newly published Impact Report details the growing demands faced by freelance journalists in 2025 — the deadliest year on record for the profession, with 129 journalists and media workers killed globally, many of them freelancers.
More than 250 people received safety and first aid training through the Trust during the year, while applications to the Rory Peck Trust Crisis Fund continued to rise sharply. The number of freelancers supported through emergency assistance grants increased by more than 12%.
Dozens more received trauma therapy and psychological support after covering conflict and crisis — assistance the Trust says is critical not only to recovery, but to ensuring experienced journalists are able to continue working.
Many of those supported were based in the Middle East and North Africa. Nearly half of all crisis grants awarded in 2025 went to Palestinian journalists in Gaza, while 44 freelance journalists in Lebanon received hostile environment and first aid training.
The report also highlights the Trust’s growing advocacy work on journalist safety and impunity, including engagement with policymakers in the UK and overseas, and convening discussions on the protection of journalists at a time of rapidly deteriorating press freedom worldwide.
Alongside operational data, the report includes personal testimonies from freelancers supported by the Trust during the year.
Jon Williams, Executive Director of the Rory Peck Trust, said:
“In journalism’s darkest hour, thanks to the generosity of our supporters, the Rory Peck Trust has been a lifeline for freelancers from Palestine to Mexico, Britain, Bangladesh and beyond.
“It can mean the difference between a journalist getting out alive, a freelancer in exile being able to continue working, or trauma being treated rather than ignored — at a time when that support is needed more than ever.”
You can read the 2026 Impact Report here.