Record number of journalists imprisoned in 2020, China labelled 'world’s worst jailer'

A United States-based watchdog on December 15 revealed that China jailed a record number of journalists this year, making it “world’s worst jailer for the second year in a row”. According to an annual report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released on Tuesday, governments across the world attempted to suppress the media along with fuelling misinformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. From delaying trials to disregarding health risk in prison, the watchdog also stated that at least two journalists died after contracting the highly-infectious disease in custody. 

This year, a record number of journalists were arrested, making the total of the annual global survey to be 274 as per the statistics on December 1, 2020. CPJ also said that the number of journalists jailed this year exceeded the previous record number of 2016 when 272 media personnel were imprisoned. While China was deemed as ‘world’s worst jailer’, the second in the list is Turkey that according to CPJ “continues to try journalists free on parole and arrest new ones”. Turkey was trailed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 

CPJ wrote about China, “In its annual global survey, the Committee to Protect Journalists found at least 274 journalists in jail in relation to their work on December 1, 2020, exceeding the high of 272 in 2016. China, which arrested several journalists for their coverage of the pandemic, was the world’s worst jailer for the second year in a row.”

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Number of jailed journalists rose in Belarus

As unrest rocked several nations across the globe, a number of jailed journalists according to the US-based watchdog significantly rose in Belarus where mass demonstrations were triggered over the long-time president, followed by Ethiopia where political unrest led to armed conflict. Moreover, the US-based watchdog also noted that 2020 became the fifth consecutive year that the governments across the globe have imprisoned at least 250 journalists. 

For the increased number of jailed journalists, CPJ blamed “lack of global leadership on democratic values – particularly from the United States, where President Donald Trump has inexhaustibly denigrated the press and cozied up to dictators such as Egyptian President Abdelfattah el-Sisi – has perpetuated the crisis.”

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