As 2020 comes to an end, two significant moments dominate the news media. Journalists all over the globe covered the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and civil unrest in their respective countries.
However, in doing so, there were consequences as 2020 saw a record number of journalists jailed worldwide. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual census, at least 274 journalists were jailed globally as of Dec. 1.
The CPJ discovered that China was the worst jailer for the second year in a row, as 47 are currently in jail. Other countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were also the worst jailers.
When it comes to the charges placed on journalist, the CPJ added that two-thirds of jailed journalists are charged with crimes anti-state crimes like terrorists or memberships in banned groups. Furthermore, in 19-percent of these cases, no information over the charges were disclosed. Meanwhile, in the United States, no journalists were incarcerrated at the time of its census. Nonetheless, 110 were arrested or criminally charged, and around 300 were assaulted, and at least 12 are facing criminal charges.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
