New global record of reporters in jail

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 09/12/2021

The number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293 in 2021, up from a revised total of 280 last year. At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage so far this year; 18 others died in circumstances too murky to determine whether they were specific targets, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a report.

”China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. Myanmar soared to the second slot after the media crackdown that followed its February 1 military coup. Egypt, Vietnam, and Belarus, respectively, rounded out the top five.”

”The reasons for the relentless climb in the numbers of detained journalists – this is the sixth consecutive year that CPJ’s census has recorded at least 250 incarcerated – differ between countries. But all reflect a stark trend: a growing intolerance of independent reporting.”

”In a world preoccupied with COVID-19 and trying to prioritize issues like climate change, repressive governments are clearly aware that public outrage at human rights abuses is blunted and democratic governments have less appetite for political or economic retaliation.”

Other findings:

• CPJ recorded 19 journalists murdered in retaliation for their work as of December 1, 2021, compared with 22 in all of 2020. Three more were killed this year while reporting from conflict zones, and two others were killed covering protests or street clashes that turned deadly.

• Mexico remained the Western hemisphere’s deadliest country for reporters. Three journalists were murdered in direct retribution for their reporting; CPJ is investigating the other six killings to determine whether they were related to their journalism.

• India has the highest number of journalists – four – confirmed to have been murdered in retaliation for their work. A fifth was killed while covering a protest.

• Six journalists are listed on the prison census for Latin America: three in Cuba, two in Nicaragua, and one in Brazil. While a relatively low number, CPJ has found a disturbing decline in press freedom in the region.

• At least 17 jailed journalists have been charged with cybercrimes. In the West African country of Benin, two are charged under the country’s broadly worded digital code, which is seen as a major challenge to press freedom by allowing criminal prosecution for anything published or distributed online.

• Forty of the 293 detained journalists – less than 14% – are women.

• No journalists were jailed in North America at the time of the census deadline. However, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a partner of CPJ, recorded 56 arrests and detentions of journalists across the U.S. during 2021. Eighty-six percent occurred during protests. In Canada, two journalists arrested while covering land rights protest in northern British Columbia spent three nights in custody before a court ordered their conditional release.