Jailing journalists has become a 'new normal,' says advocacy group
In China, award-winning photojournalist Lu Guang was reportedly taken away by authorities in a region where an estimated 1 million Muslim Uyghurs are being held in state-controlled "re-education camps." In Turkey, Austrian journalist Max Zirngast was arrested, joining dozens of reporters currently imprisoned in the country. In Myanmar, two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were jailed while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims.
These detentions represent just a few examples of a sustained crackdown on press freedoms around the world, which has seen at least 250 journalists jailed annually over the past three years, according to report released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The non-profit group found that least 251 journalists were jailed in 2018 - with 70% facing anti-state charges, such as belonging to or aiding groups deemed terrorist organizations.
This represents a "new normal" as countries around the globe take an "authoritarian approach to critical news coverage," said the report, which does an annual count of detained journalists.
"The West that traditionally stood up to this ... is missing in action," the report's author, Elana Beiser, told CNN. In terms of human rights, "You don't see pressure from any kind coming from the White House, at least publicly," she added. The release of the report comes just days after TIME Magazine named "The Guardians," a group of journalists who have been targeted for their work, as Person of the Year 2018.
Included in the Time magazine group was Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October. "The Guardians" also included the journalists at the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper where five employees were murdered by a gunman last June. Maria Ressa, chief executive of the Philippine news website Rappler, was also featured. Ressa was indicted last month on tax evasion charges — a case that free speech and civil liberties advocates have warned is part of a wider crackdown on dissent by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's administration. She returned to the Philippines to post bail and fight the charges she said are "ridiculous."... read more:
These detentions represent just a few examples of a sustained crackdown on press freedoms around the world, which has seen at least 250 journalists jailed annually over the past three years, according to report released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The non-profit group found that least 251 journalists were jailed in 2018 - with 70% facing anti-state charges, such as belonging to or aiding groups deemed terrorist organizations.
This represents a "new normal" as countries around the globe take an "authoritarian approach to critical news coverage," said the report, which does an annual count of detained journalists.
"The West that traditionally stood up to this ... is missing in action," the report's author, Elana Beiser, told CNN. In terms of human rights, "You don't see pressure from any kind coming from the White House, at least publicly," she added. The release of the report comes just days after TIME Magazine named "The Guardians," a group of journalists who have been targeted for their work, as Person of the Year 2018.
Included in the Time magazine group was Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributor who was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October. "The Guardians" also included the journalists at the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper where five employees were murdered by a gunman last June. Maria Ressa, chief executive of the Philippine news website Rappler, was also featured. Ressa was indicted last month on tax evasion charges — a case that free speech and civil liberties advocates have warned is part of a wider crackdown on dissent by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's administration. She returned to the Philippines to post bail and fight the charges she said are "ridiculous."... read more:
