December 19, 2021
This Week in Human Rights News
Committee to Protect Journalists Reports Global Record High of Jailed Journalists
Sources: CPJ, UN, Reporters Sans Frontières 1, 2, 3, Press Freedom Tracker, The Guardian, Reuters
Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a report indicating that the number of imprisoned journalists has reached a ‘global high’ in 2021. The report illustrates the dire state of global press freedom under threat, especially for journalists covering authoritarian governments.
The global record from CPJ stands at 293 journalists jailed due to their work, an increase from 280 in 2020.
The report defines journalists as ‘people who cover the news or comment on public affairs in any media’ and confirms the identity of each imprisoned journalist. This number does not include journalists who were kidnapped by non-state actors - which the report classifies instead as ‘missing or abducted’.
Press freedom is defined under Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights: “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression…[without interference] and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
In 2021, the countries with the highest incidences of the jailing of journalists are China, Myanmar (following the February 1 military coup), Egypt, Vietnam, and Belarus. The report noted that while the circumstances of journalist detainment and imprisonment are specific to each country, there is a growing trend for an “intolerance of reporting”.
Other countries of note include Ethiopia, which has seen an increase in 2021 of journalist imprisonment following the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018. While Ethiopia’s press freedom actually improved briefly (Ahmed freed ‘dozens’ of imprisoned journalists following his election), the situation has since deteriorated.
In Belarus, the diversion of a civilian RyanAir flight in May 2021 to arrest Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich was a stark example of the crackdown on press freedom in Belarus by President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
In the United States and Canada, journalists faced imprisonment when covering protests. 50 journalists were detained while working in the US in 2021, including journalist Sean Bascom, who was detained while photographing anti-police brutality protests in Oregon, despite identifying himself as a journalist and wearing a helmet with “PRESS” indicated clearly. Journalists in Vancouver were arrested while covering Indigenous-led protests against gas pipelines.
The state of press freedom is monitored, researched, and recorded by several independent organisations such as CPJ. Another organisation, Reporters Without Borders, for example, releases a yearly World Press Freedom Index with a press freedom rating on all countries.