For the sixth year in a row, the number of jailed journalists exceeded 250, according to CPJ.
“This is a stark reminder of a continuing trend of progressive authoritarianism around the world,” CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney told CNN Business. “Governments are becoming increasingly intolerant of independent reporting, criticism, journalists uncovering dirty little secrets like corruption, and they are using a variety of means to stop that, and one of them is imprisonment.”
“The vibrant Hong Kong media we once knew is slowly being strangled,” Mahoney said.
“We spend a lot of time investigating the cases and include only those journalists who we are absolutely sure are in jail for their work as journalists. If there is any doubt, we put them in an unconfirmed category,” Mahoney said. “The bottom line is that the world is becoming a more difficult place for independent journalists. Countries are criminalizing the very act of reporting.”
The CPJ report also found that at least 24 journalists were killed for their work as of December 1, up from 22 last year. That statistic includes 19 journalists who were killed in retaliation. India ranked as the country with the highest number of journalists killed in retaliation, with four confirmed deaths in 2021.
.