China is the world’s leading jailer of journalists for the second year in a row, according to an annual survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which also found that 2020 was a record year for the number of journalists imprisoned globally.
As of 1 December, at least 274 journalists were behind bars in relation to their work, according to the CPJ survey. This figure does not include those who had been arrested and released, paroled, or assaulted in the course of performing their duties.
China jailed at least 47 journalists in 2020, 10 more than in Turkey, where journalists continue to be sent to prison despite a fall in numbers since the 2016 attempted coup.
Journalists were also targeted in Belarus, with dozens arrested, including at least 10 still in jail on 1 December, the first time jailed journalists have been recorded in the CPJ survey since 2014. At least seven were jailed in Ethiopia, mostly accused of anti-state crimes. Fifteen journalists were in jail as of 1 December in Iran, where on 12 December Ruhollah Zam was executed, having faced 17 charges including espionage and spreading false news abroad.
Among the journalists jailed in China, several are serving long sentences or are being held without charge. Some have not been heard from in some time, or are known to be held in horrific conditions, including those arrested for reporting on the Wuhan lockdown. Many are accused of espionage.
There was also an alarming crackdown on journalists in the US this year during widespread protests. According to the Press Freedom Tracker, 110 journalists were arrested or charged, and about 300 assaulted – the majority by law enforcement.
Matthew Rodier, a freelance journalist who covered the Hong Kong protests and the Black Lives Matter rallies in Washington DC, said violence against journalists in Hong Kong was largely driven by a government with a poor history towards the media.
“I never thought that type of situation would arise in America so violence specifically directed at journalists here was more surprising, but not unheard of,” he told the Guardian.
“Rightly or wrongly we have always been seen as a beacon of press freedom.”
The CPJ also singled out Donald Trump and his “‘fake news’ rhetoric” for criticism, and said a lack of global leadership on democratic values was perpetuating a crisis in media freedoms. It urged Joe Biden to ensure accountability for attacks on press.
The report found that two-thirds of jailed journalists were charged with anti-state crimes, but no charges had been disclosed in 19% of cases, mostly in Eritrea and Saudi Arabia.
