The Pictures That Defined 2025 — and the Ones the Media Left Out

End-of-year photo collections are meant to reflect the moments that defined a year, but they also reveal something else: the editorial judgment behind them. That means what is emphasized, what is framed emotionally, and what is left out altogether.

The Associated Press’ selection of its top 100 photos of 2025 offers a telling example. Nearly one-fifth of the images focus on Israel and Gaza, despite the year including a full-scale war in Ukraine, a genocide in Sudan, armed conflict between India and Pakistan, and ongoing violence across multiple regions in Africa and the Middle East.

Quantity alone raises questions. Framing raises even more.

Images chosen from Gaza overwhelmingly highlight destruction, wounded children, and scenes of suffering. They are dramatic and emotionally potent. By contrast, photos selected from Israel are comparatively muted, often lacking visual urgency and, in some cases, requiring significant background knowledge to understand their relevance. What may be most revealing, however, is what did not appear at all.

Absent were images documenting the condition of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, scenes of Israeli families burying kidnapped loved ones, or visuals capturing the aftermath of Iran’s unprecedented barrage of missiles and drones fired at Israeli civilian areas. These moments were undeniably part of 2025’s global story, yet they were excluded from the visual record presented to audiences.

Photojournalism shapes memory. When certain experiences are repeatedly highlighted while others are minimized or ignored, the result is not just incomplete storytelling but a distorted historical record.

This year’s photo selections did more than reflect events. They reinforced a narrative, one defined as much by omission as by inclusion.

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