MANILA, Philippines — The number of journalists imprisoned worldwide again hit a new record this year. And for the second year running, more than half of those jailed for their work are in Turkey, China and Egypt, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in its latest survey.
“The pattern reflects a dismal failure by the international community to address a global crisis in freedom of the press,” the CPJ said, adding the United States and other Western powers failed to pressure the three countries into improving the bleak climate for press freedom.
As of Dec. 1, CPJ found 262 journalists behind bars around the world due to their work, an increase from last year’s historic high of 259.
Turkey, tagged by the CPJ as “the worst jailer” with 73 journalists imprisoned for their work as the country continues its press freedom crackdown, was followed by China and Egypt in the second and third spots, with 41 and 20 cases, respectively.
The worst three jailers are responsible for jailing 134 or 51 percent of the total number of journalists in prison, the press freedom watchdog said.
“In a just society, no journalist should ever be imprisoned for their work and reporting critically, but 262 are paying that price,” CPJ executive director Joel Simon said.
“It is shameful that for the second year in a row, a record number of journalists are behind bars. Countries that jail journalists for what they publish are violating international law and must be held accountable. The fact that repressive governments are not paying a price for throwing journalists in jail represents a failure of the international community,” Simon said.
CPJ’s census said 194 journalists, or 74 percent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges, many under broad or vague terror laws.
In Turkey, every journalist on the census is either accused of or charged with anti-state crimes. Although many journalists cover multiple beats, politics was the most dangerous, covered by 87 percent of those jailed. Nearly all the jailed journalists are local and the percentage of freelancers is higher this year, accounting for 29 percent of cases.
Other leading jailers of journalists this year are Eritrea, with 15 cases, and Azerbaijan and Vietnam, 10 cases each.
With this, the CPJ lamented the international community “has done little” to isolate repressive countries and US President Donald Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric and insistence on labeling critical media “fake news” serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists.
CPJ’s 2017 census also found the number of journalists jailed for “false news” doubled this year to 21 cases.
The CPJ likewise reported poor prison conditions as another issue this year, with two journalists jailed in China, including Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died weeks after being released on medical parole, and several others seriously ill.
In Egypt, CPJ found over half of the jailed journalists have health conditions.
CPJ has been conducting an annual survey of journalists in jail since the early 1990s.