For the fourth consecutive year, at least 250 journalists are being held in prisons around the world with authoritarian governments continuing to clamp down on critical media coverage. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group, has released its annual census, finding that Turkey is no longer the worst jailer for the first time in four years. In 2019, China is the country jailing the most journalists and 48 are currently being held behind bars.
Over the years, Turkey and China have consistently vied for the unenviable title as the world's worst jailer of journalists and the latter has experienced an increase in line with President Xi Jinping consolidating his control over the country and implementing tighter controls on the media. Arrests have been particularly notable in Xinjiang province where there has been a crackdown on the ethnic Muslim community. That has led to the arrest of dozens of journalists, some of whom were incarcerated for media activity carried out years earlier.
Turkey comes a close second for imprisonments, with its total falling from 68 last year to 47 this year. That decline does not represent an improvement in the Turkish media's situation, however. Rather, it reflects successful efforts by President Erdoğan to clamp down on independent reporting and criticism by closing down over 100 news outlets. The CPJ stated that dozens of journalists not currently jailed in Turkey are still facing trial or appeal and could yet be sentenced to prison while others have been sentenced in absentia and could face arrest upon their return to the country.
After the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia's attitude towards critical journalism needs no introduction. As of December 2019, the kingdom has at least 26 journalists imprisoned and no charges have been disclosed in 18 of those cases. Alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia has the third-highest total on the CPJ's ranking. Eritrea follows with at least 16 jailed journalists, most of whom have not been heard from in nearly two decades. 98% of all imprisoned journalists in 2019 are locals covering their own country - three of the four journalists with foreign citizenship are behind bars in Saudi Arabia while the fourth is being held in China. The majority of jailed journalists are facing anti-state charges while the number charged with "false news" has increased to 30 compared to 28 last year.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
Countries with the highest number of jailed journalists in 2019
