NEW YORK: The number of journalists jailed around the world set another record in 2021. Invoking new tech and security laws, repressive regimes from Asia to Europe to Africa cracked down harshly on the independent press, according to a special report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
It’s been an especially bleak year for defenders of press freedom as CPJ’s 2021 prison census by Editorial Director Arlene Getz, found that the number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293, up from a revised total of 280 in 2020. Forty of the 293 detained journalists – less than 14% – are women.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Egypt has 25 journalists in custody for 2021, although a decrease from last year, the ongoing detentions are emblematic of the Abdel Fattah el-Sisi government’s often blatant disregard of its country’s own laws.
In Saudi Arabia, the intimidatory effect of Jamal Khashoggi’s horrific murder and dismemberment in 2018, along with several new detentions in 2019, is likely to have silenced many journalists more effectively than any fresh wave of arrests.
In addition, authoritarian leaders are increasingly finding more sophisticated ways to block independent reporters and outlets – notably internet shutdowns and increased surveillance through high-tech spyware – than keeping them behind bars.